132 Outlines of European Histofj The Assembly cowed by the nobles The struggle of the peasant class Disunion of the city-states Two unions under Sparta and Athens them. He and his neighbors were of small account in war. When he attended the Assembly of the people in the city, he found but few of his fellows from the countiyside gathered there — a dingy group, clad in their rough goatskins. The powerful Council in beautiful oriental raiment was backed by the whole class of wealthy nobles, all trained in war and splendid in their glittering weapons. Intimidated by the powerful nobles, the meager Assembly, which had once been a muster of all the weapon-bearing men of the tribe, became a feeble gathering of a few peasants and lesser townsmen, who could gain no greater recognition of their old-time right of self-government than the poor privilege of vot- ing to concur in the actions already decided upon by the king and the Council. The peasant returned to his little farm and was less and less inclined to attend the Assembly at all. Indeed, he was fortunate if he could struggle on and maintain himself and family from his scanty fields. Many of his neighbors sank into debt, lost their lands to the noble class, and themselves be- came day laborers for more fortunate men, or, still worse, sold themselves to discharge their debts and thus became slaves. These day laborers and slaves had no political rights and were not permitted to vote in the Assembly. There were hundreds of such city-states in Greece, and, of course, the more powerful endeavored to seize the land of the weaker — a tendency resulting in frequent petty wars, some of which continued for a thousand years of intermittent hostilities down into Roman days. The country was so cut up by moun- tains and deep bays that the various state communities were quite separated. They thus developed local habits and local dialects as different as those of North and South Germany, or Brittany and Provence, or even more different than those of our own Louisiana and New England. Such differences made union difficult. Only two complete and permanent unions were effected among the various groups of Greek city-states : one under the leadership of Sparta in Laconica and the other in
