that marked a mortgaged homestead. Secondly, Solon aimed at establishing a permanent equilibrium between classes. He classed the citizens by their rated property as (1) Pentakosio-medimnoi, (2) Hippeis, (3) Zeugitai, (4) Thetes. The first class alone could hold the archonship ; the fourth had no political privilege except that of voting in the assembly. But Solon made the assembly (eK/cA??<na) what it had never before been, a real power. He gave to it (1) the right of passing laws, (2) the right of calling magistrates to account, (3) the right of electing archons. At the same time he created a council of fouv hundred, to be elected annually by the people, through which all business should be introduced to the assembly. He strengthened the old Eupatrid Areopagus, by adding to its jurisdiction in homicide a general power of moral censor ship, and provided that the archons of each year should, if found worthy, pass at the end of it into this senate. Athenians of a later age often described Solon as the founder of the democracy. This was not his own concep tion of his work. We have his own description of it : " I gave the people as much strength as is enough, without taking away from their due share (rt/x^s), or adding thereto. But as for those who had power and the splendour of riches, to them also I gave counsel, even that they should not uphold violence. And I stood with my strong shield spread over both, and suffered neither to prevail by wrong." Solon was not a champion of popular rights, but a philo sophic mediator between classes.
The removal of the urgent pressure of usury, the sub stitution of wealth for birth as the canon of privilege, and the bestowal of strictly limited political power on the people were Solon s achievements. It is no proof of their inadequacy that they were soon followed by the appearance of a successful demagogue. The Attic population was locally divided into three classes, the Diacrii or the " highlanders " of the north-east district (the poorest) ; the Parali, the boatmen and fishermen of the coast ; and the " Pedieis," the richer farmers of the Attic plain. Each of these classes formed a political faction, with an ambitious noble at its head. The Diacrii were led by Pisistratus, the Parali by Megacles, the Pedieis by Lycurgus. On the pretence that he had been murderously assaulted by the enemies of the people, Pisistratus obtained a guard of 50 men. It was presently increased to 400. He then seized tha Acropolis (560 B.C). After having been twice driven out by the combined factions of the Plain and the Shore, he finally established himself as tyrant in 545 B.C., and reigned till his death in 527 B.C. He did not abolish Solon s con stitution, though he reserved some of the higher offices for members of his own house. His government appears to have been mild and wise. He set the example of submis sion to the laws. By many new enactments he promoted good order and morality. The convenience of the citizens and the beauty of Athens were consulted by the construc tion of new buildings, roads, and aqueducts. There were but two things to remind Athenians that this paternal rule had been founded in force, the presence of hired troops, and the levy of tithes on private lands. Pisistratus was suc ceeded by his eldest son Hippias. In 514 B.C. Hipparchus, the brother of Hippias, was murdered by Harmodius and Aristogiton, in revenge for an affront offered to the sister of Harmodius. The rule of Hippias, which had hitherto resembled that of his father, now became cruel. The Alcmceonidre who had been in banishment since the final return of Pisistratus in 545 had won the favour of the Delphic priesthood by an act of liberality. The temple at Delphi having been burned down, they had undertaken to rebuild it, and, instead of common limestone, which would have satisfied the contract, used Parian marble for the east eide of the temple. They now exerted their influence. Whenever Sparta or a Spartan consulted the oracle, the response always included a command to set Athens free. At last Cleomenes, king of Sparta, took the field. The children of Hippias fell into his hands, and, to save them, Hippias voluntarily withdrew from Athens (510 B.C.). The End c rule of the Pisistratid house was now at an end. In the Pisist phrase of the song which gave ill-merited glory to Harmo- titl ru dius and Aristogiton, Athens was once more under equal laws.
But there was a vehement strife of factions. The Eupatrid party, under Isagoras, wished to restore the aris tocracy of pre-Solonian days. The party of popular rights was supported by the Alcmseonidae, and led by Clisthenes, whose father, Megacles, had married the daughter of Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon. Clisthenes, in the words Refor of Herodotus, took the people into partnership, and by ot Cli his reforms became the real founder of the democracy. thenei Abolishing the four Ionic tribes, which had included the Eupatridse, he instituted ten new tribes, which included all The t the free inhabitants of Attica. Each tribe was composed tribes of several denies (townships) not adjacent to each other, thus securing that the old clans should be thoroughly broken up among the new tribes. The number of the Council (Boole) was raised from 400 to 500, 50 members The being elected from each of the ten new tribes. Further, it Coutu was arranged that each tribal contingent of 50 should take it in turn to act as a committee (Trpuravets) of the council, a board of presidents (irpoeSpot), and the chairman of the day, being again chosen in rotation from the committee. A new office was also instituted. The command of the army was given to a board of ten Generals (strategi), one being Genei elected by each of the tribes. In later times the strategi became ministers of foreign affairs. Jury courts of citizens were organized out of the assembly, to share the adminis- Jury- tration of justice, which had hitherto belonged to the court! archons and the Areopagus. As a safeguard for the state against party struggles, it was provided that, if the Council Ostra and the Ecclesia should declare the commonwealth to be in cism. danger, each citizen might be summoned to indicate by ballot the name of any man whom he thought dangerous, and that, if the same name was written on 6000 tickets (oo-T/aaKct), the man so indicated should go into exile for ten years, without, however, losing his civic rights or his pro perty. This was the institution of ostracism. Finally, choice by lot was substituted for voting in the election to the archonship, thus diminishing the danger of factious partisanship.
Isagoras, the leader of the party opposed to these reforms, had a zealous ally in Cleomenes, king of Sparta, Clisthenes, they alleged, was aiming at a tyranny such as that of his grandfather and namesake at Sicyon. Sparta, the leading Dorian state, was in a manner the recognized champion of aristocracy against revolution. The Spartan herald summoned the Athenians to banish the accursed Alcmseonidse, and Clisthenes voluntarily left Attica. Cleomenes arrived at Athens with his army. Isagoras was made archon ; seven hundred " democratic " families were banished ; the newly constituted Council of five hundred was dissolved. But now the people rose in arms. Cleomenes and Isagoras were besieged on the Acropolis. On the third day of the siege they surrendered. Cleomenes and his troops were allowed to withdraw. Isagoras escaped, but his Athenian adherents were put to death. Clisthenes now returned to Athens. He seems, however, to have excited popular indignation by promoting a treaty with Persia, by which the supremacy of the Persian king was acknowledged. He thus lent colour to the accusation of his enemies that he was aiming at a tyranny ; and he was banished. Cleomenes presently invaded Attica a second time, with the Peloponnesian allies. But the other Spartan
