This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Recommended CitationBurke, Edmund P., "Te Teory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle" (1943). Master's Teses. Paper 77.hp://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/77
PAGE 1Greek poli t ical spiri t---Greek poli t ical prin-
I .
I I .
I I I .
ciples.
SOLON THE FATHER 0]' GREEK DEMOCRACY
Place---Life---Reforms---Poems.
• • • • • • • • • •
THE HISTORIANS AND GREEl{ DEM:OCRACY • •Herodotus---Thucydides.
• • • • • • • •
THE OLD OLIGARCH--A CRITIC OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY •A real is t of position---An uncompromising snob---Hostile to the people, the mob---Dislike forDemos.
• •
8
22
41
IV . AN EDUCATOR AND PAMPHLETEER ON ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY ••• 53Isocrates---The contemporary of Democracy---
V.
VI.
Ancestral DemocracY---Excess of freedom.
PLATO--THE ~ ~ O L U T I O N OF A CRITIC • • • • • •Family posit ion---Poli t lcal philosopher--Ideal State---Death of Socrates---Enemy ofDemocracy.
• • • • •
PLATO YOUNG IDEALIST AND OLD REALIST • • • • • • • • •Rigorous cri t ic---Vlrtue of the second best
l i fe , and the whole duty, of man; that union of human being
r a common end, which could alone produce and exercise a l l the
ins t incts and abi l i t ies of every free individual. Hl
When we speak of Greece, we are often talking of Athens.
could not have been so great without democracy. Without th
there could have been no democracy. Glover sums up fo
what Athenian democracy was and what i t did.
I t was a government of oitizens met in an assembly, where, without Presidents, ministers, am
bassadors or representatives, they themselvesgoverned. They created a beautiful ci ty and alaw-abiding people; they united the Greek worldor a large part of i t ; they defeated the Persian Empire in a l l i t s greatness and drove thePersian from the sea. They made an atmospherewhere genius could grow, where i t could be ashappy perhaps as genius ever can, and where i tflowered and bore the strange f ru i t that hasenriched the world forever. tWhateter we know
of beauty, half i s hers . t The pol i t ica l temper, and the scientific,--philosophy, sculptureand poetry--Athens gave us them a l l in that.period, a century or ep a t longest, whileDemocracy flourished. 2
For the task a t hand this short, eloquent eulogy must suffic
is written by a man who has demonstrated his abi l i ty to transla
e sp i r i t of the ancient world into patterns with which the mode
sympathetio. For Glover has a mind for the universal,
r the unchanging. And the greatness of the Greeks i s that so
of thei r contribution to civi l izat ion was universal, the i r
W. W arde) Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks And Romans, Macmillan & Co. ,Ltd. , London, 1907, ~T. R. Glover, Democracy in ~ Ancient World, Macmillan Co., NewYork, 1927, 73.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
f by a council of five hundred ci t izens chosen ~ ~ from the
body of the ci t izens. All ruled by turn. The judicial
of the State was in the hands of popular courts, the membe
f which were als'o drawn lu: 121 from the general assembly. The
the whole people, ruled and had an equal opportunity,
and duty to share in every kind of pol i t ica l authority. Th
called th is singular ins t i tut ion what i t was,--Democracy,
e rule of the people.
The picture has another side, and ]lowler, who always looks
r the best in the Athenian pol i ty , is forced to make the follow
g admissions in his admirable and understanding work on ~ Cit
of the Greeks and Romans.
I said some way back that I should have aword to say about the weak pOints in this wonder
fu l pol i t ica l creation of the Athenians. Draw-backs there always have been, and always wil l be,to every social organization which human naturecan devise and develop, and a t Athens these wereso serious and so far-reaching in the i r consequences that the remainder of th is chapter must beoccupied in a brief consideration of them.
In two ways, while real is ing ' the goodl i f e ' to such an extent as was pract ical ly possible in a CitY-State, Athens impinged upon whatwe may be disposed to cal l the r ights of otherindividuals and States . She was, in the f i r s tplace, a slave-owning State. Secondly, in th isgolden age of hers she was an imperial State whoseso-called ' a l l i es ' , including nearly a l l the mostimportant ci t ies in and around the Aegean Sea, wereobliged to obey her orders, or r isk the chance ofsevere punishment. Had she been neither a slaveState nor an imperial s ta te , i t is hardly possibleto suppose that she could have attained her highpol i t ica l and in tel lectual level; and this re
f lect ion, a somewhat melancholy one, needs a wordof explanation.
I have a l l along been t reat ing Athens as a
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
democracy, and such, in the view of every Greek,she actual ly was. But we must not entirely forget that , judged by the standard of the nineteenth centQry, she was not real ly a democracy,but a slave-holdLng artstocracy. The number ofslaves in Attica is now estimated a t 100,000 a tthe beginning of the }eloponnesian War, as againsta free population of about 135,000. And th is meansthat a l l the i r menial work, and no doubt a greatpart of the work which is now done by what weca l l the industr ia l classes , was done for theAthenians by persons who Viere in no sense mem-bers 01:' the s ta te , who had nell.lHer 'INill nor s ta tus of the i r ovm, and whose one duty in l i fe wasto obey the orders of the i r masters.
Now we have to face the fac t that the smallCltV-State,--even such an one as Athens--could not
reach the highest level of hUman l i f e at ta inablein tha t day, without sacr-tficing the freedomand in teres ts of other Stt;.tes -V,l1 ~ s e capacityfor good may have been as <J.;reat as her own.Athens deprived the subjects of her empire ofindependence, - -of the tl 'ue poli t icd.l l i fe of theGreek State ,--and used the i r resources for herown glory and adornnent. Pericles does nothesi ta te to t e l l the } ~ t h . e : l i a n s that the i r empireis a tyranny, and thei r s ta te a t .yrant.-- 'you
have come by th i s tyranny, ' he t e l l s them, 'andyou can not go back from i t ; you have outrun thetardy motion of' the Greek world of pol i t ica lideas . ' 9
Fowler, 1 7 7 - 1 ~ 2 .
7
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Neither shal l we obey you, nor wil l you find everything
to you."
Peace was Solon's aim, and he put the blame for the lack of
on the wealthy.14 But above a l l Solon was a fair-minded man.
indeed i s his f ines t qual i ty, and, as we shal l see, a quali ty
him to choose the part icular reforms that he did. There
he avoided with great caution any undue al ienat ion of the
In the passage quoted a t the beginning of th is chapter he
his platform. "To the common people I have given such a
of privi lege as suff iceth them, nei ther robbing them of
e r ights they had, nor holding out the hope of greater ones; and
have taken equal thought for those who were possessed of power
d who ,!'!ere looked up to because of the i r wealth,· careful that
too, should suf ter no indignity.I
have taken a stand which
me to hold a stout shield over both groups, and I have
nei ther to triumph unjustly over the other."15 In th is
is found, I think, the focal point of Solon's pol i t ica l
~ IYou wil l remember that he says: EfTI??V S'al,uq!lGS'AWv
" / 16__- 1 e " - F . P . . . . ; o : ; . . . ; . . v _ . . . ; c r : . - ; : c I ~ ! f . ; : ; D ~ r _ . : I c I - f ) 1 1 L . . 1 j ~ D _ - r . : . . . . l l o E . . , p : : ; . . ¥ Q " ' - / . . : : c r ; . . . . . = . . ,__ tt I s t 0 0 d ho1ding
strong shield over both par t ies ." He t r ied to make i t plain
he wished to give every man what was his due. His f i r s t act
Ib d ., 5, 3Ibid . , 12, 1; t ranslated in 1.1:1. Linforth, Solon the Athenian,Macmillan Co., New York, 1920, 135
Aristot le , 12, 1
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
the ignorance and fol ly that an unguided mob would be
of, ei ther because of mass adulation or mass blindness,
he warned the people against i t . "The people through thei r
folly sink i n t ~ slavery under a single lord. Having raised a
n to too high a place, i t is not easy la ter to hold him back;
is the time to be observant of a l l things.,,22
In his own l i fet ime Solon saw his predictions unheeded and
e tyranny established. Then there came from his l ips the f i r s t
wordS, spoken in his disappointment, and long sharpened by
S o ¥ ~ prophetic foresight of what the ignorant crowd could do.
I f ye have suffered the melancholy consequencesof your own incompetence, do not at t r ibute th isevi l fortune to the gods. Ye have yourselvesraised these men to power over you, and havereduced yourselves by th is course to a wretchedstate of servitude. Each man among you, indiv-
idually, walketh with the tread of the fOX, butcolle9tively ye are a se t of simpletons. Forye look to the tongue and the play of a man'sspeech, and regard not the deed which is donebefore your eyes. 23
knew as well as any man the weakness of democracy. I t was
t always the ra t ional sta te , not always wisest in i t s choices.
not strong under foreign attack; i t was guil ty of
The voice of the people could be a power wielded
a "set of Simpletons". Democracy was vulnerable to the bland-
of a strong popular leader. But Solon, wise in the Wis-
of the Seven Ancient Sages of Greece, knew, as every man who
Athens was to learn, that his task was done and done well ,
Diodorus Siculus, IX, 20; t rans. in Linforth, 145Ibid . , 145
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
s a man of the f i f th century, who l ived for a great while in
or in her colonies and was possibly a c i t i zen , l he has a
Athenian contribution to democracy. After Solon's cr
of the i r ideal ci t izenship the Athenian was l i t t l e by l i t t l
to the rea l iza t ion of his own importance in the working
Athenian c i ty-s ta te . Educated inliividually to the know-
tha t each one had some role to play in the business of Sta
tha t inevi tably the lo t would f a l l upon him to play his
joyful and eager to support the direct ion of the State with
l l his s trength, yet fearful sometimes l es t the unseeing lo t
ra ise him to heights beyond the power of h is wits to carry
the Athenian was f i r s t and foremost a ci t izen. And breathin
the sp i r i t of freedom his ci ty bred, the Athenian was a
Democracy, in i t s e l f , is government by discussion. I t is government 'by the word'. And a l lthings are thrown for sett lement into an arenain which 'one shrewd thought devours another ' .From the c o n s t ~ n t discussions of pol i t i ca l det a i l the cit izens of a Qreek democracy natura l ly rose to the discussion of po l i t i ca l principles . Democracy cannot exis t on inheri tedand unexplained t rad i t ion . I t l ives in thefree a ir of nimble tllOue;ht, and the discuss-ion of principles i s as v i ta l to i t s l i f e as thediscussion of pol ic ies . 2
The Third Book of herodot us 3 i s the f i r s t manifestat ion tha
H.J.Rose, Greek Litera ture , Macmillan Co., New York, 299.E(rnest) Barker, Greek Pol i t ica l Theory--Plato And His Predece
~ , London, Methuen & Co., 1918, 4.Herodotus, I I I , 80-82.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
s an Asiat ic , and the Asiatic always loved the despot.
had usually turned in that direction.
The debate at tr ibuted with grotesque inappropriateness to the three Persian nobles is nothingelse than a representation of Hellenic ins t i tu-
t ions and a reflect ion of Hellenic ideas. (Thedebate as a whole is unreal and impossible, butthe characteris t ics at tr ibuted to the const i tut ions are ent i rely Greek and un-Oriental)."5
25
He, a t
The point of history that brought on this unusual debate
an intr iguing l i t t l e t a le . 6 A group of Persian noblemen,
of the highest rank in the kingdom, discovered that there
over Persia by means of t r ickery and fraud a Magian who ca l l
himself Smerdis, Cyrus' Son. 7 These Grandees were otanes, In
Gobryas, Megabyzus, Aspathines, Hydarnes, and Darius. 8
conspired together to r id the realm of the usurper and suc
9Afterwards the rebels held a council on the whole state
affa i rs , a t which words were uttered "which to some Greeks seem
Three of the council advanced the i r views on the
course of the Persian government, Otanes speaking for dem
Megabyzus for oligarchy, and Darius, who was ultimately to
king, for monarchy. Two remarkable facts stand out in the
that Herodotus t e l l s . Firs t of a l l , the discussion i t se l f
Ibid . , 3Herodotus, I I I , 67-88Ibid. , 67-70Ib id . , 70Ibid. , 71-79Ibid. , 80-82
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
i t is called, or the American s ta te , which aChieved s tabi l i ty
permanence through a separation of the executive, legis la t ive
judicial functions of the government.
The best that each of the grandees could say for his poli ty
contained in the definitions that ' each was careful to give.
gives a descriptive definit ion of democracy:
J \
d.fXriJ. ) / co / \
40ytL A v7TGu9t1YoV III ' " 7
/
Ii., .J
a 1.11 AIl.! U sil z:. 7rJ. yr.a ISI
. ) I J \
TijJ Z Z : t Z ~ J w .)/
sJ It.d ,,4. l>e., . >sI e ~ 1'£I i f ) c
/
7lrJrTlIJV
7
\P lv
J , ~ /q Dr21Y lJe<J>
\,
TO f rO IVbV
, / .13Z:-d lL.'3. " T ~
Firs t of al l , the rule of the multitude has the mostexcellent name of a l l , signifying equality before thelaw. Offices are held according to lo t , and thosewho hold them have to give an account of the i r con-
~ u c tafterwards; and a l l decrees are brought upbefore the general assembly.
, /gives the essence of oligarchy more brief ly as: T6 !!fA T'
... ( ' / ~ - "'".) /
S Df' I).J '"5 J"slpWY rc.uy sA f lO'" TW v , "the rule of a company
14 \ / J 1the best men. f1 I ~ ~ o n a r c h y , of course, is : Ttl I"rf?t:I. TO ; e l k " . J ? ~ r, .... .) / 1
TOl l eI PI (TTov , "the rule of the one best man." 5. / I
All the best that CQuld be said for democracy has been in -
in Otanes' defini t ion. Three sal ient points stand out:
before the law; an elective office for the executive
Ibid. , I I I , 80Ibid. , 81
Ibid. , 82
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Thucydides created pol i t ica l history. Herodotus was not a pol i t ica l historian, for l ike Inanyothers he wrote pol i t ica l history in a non-politi ca l spi r i t . In the quiet city of Halicarnassuswhere he was born, he had seen nothing of pol i t -i ca l l i f e ; and when he f i r s t met i t in fu l lswing in post-war Athens, he took no part in i t ,but looked on from outside as an admiring specta tor . Thucydides on the other hand was a truecit izen of Periclean Athens, and the breath ofl i fe to Periclean Athens was pol i t ica l act ivi ty.Since the social upheavals of the sixth century,when Solon had laid the foundation for the sound
pol i t i ca l sense which early distinguished theAthenians from the i r Ionian kinsmen, every leading"citizen of Athens had taken part in pol i t i cs ,and the Athenians had thereby acquired a vastbody of p o l i t i c a ~ 2 e x p e r i e n c e and well-markedpol i t ica l ideas.
32
The testimony of such a man on any point of pol i t i ca l his -
is invaluable and,we might say, unique. His account is t rus
beyond a l l others, f i r s t , because he was himself ident if ied
the greatest days of the Athenian democracy, secondly, be
l ived long enough to see the beginning of the decline and
therefore in a bet ter cr i t i ca l position to estimate t ruly the
in the Athenian system tha t led to deter iorat ion, and,oecause the principles that guided him in his writing
less exacting than those of the best modern his tor ical me
as he explains himself:
W(erner) Jaeger, Paideia, The Ideals of Greek Culture, t rans.from the Second German Edition by G(ilbert) Hight, OxfordUniversity Press, New York, 1939, 380-381.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
aristocracy of ta lent is supreme. Logically,tha t implies the principle tha t i f one man issupremely valuable and important he wil l be re cognized as the ruler of the sta te . This concept ion would, on the one hand, allow tha t the poli t i ca l act ivi ty of each individual has some value for the community; yet i t also admits the
fact--recognized in Thucydides even by the radi ca l demagogue Cleon--that the people alone cannot possibly govern a large and dif f icul t empire.Thucydides considers tha t Periclean Athens wasa happy solution of a problem which was becomingacute in the s tate of 'freedom and equali ty ' , thati s , in the complete democracy of mob-rule--theproblem of the relationship which ought to existbetween a superior individual and the pol i t ica lcommunity.
History has shown that this solution dependson the appearance of a genius to lead the s ta te- an accident as uncommon in a democracy as in othertypes of s ta te . 3?
No more str iking example of the lack of prodigali ty with
36
history has supplied democracy with such inspired leadership
be chosen than the plight in which Athens found herself af ter
lost the genius of Pericles . 38 His successors were more of a
mediocre men lacking the ta lent to rise to supremacy on
own merits . Consequently in the struggle for the foremost
in the sta te , they were prepared in thei r lus t for power to
to the whims of the people even in the conduct of public
This was a fateful mistake for a great and imperial
to make. The people are not prepared themselves to balance
judge delicate questions of foreign policy and military s t ra t -
Many blunders resulted, especially the disasterous Sici l ian
Jaeger, 406Thucydides, i i , 65, 10-13
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
he said as an accomplished fact , that thei rs was not a mech
equality. All stood the same before the law, for the i r own
All had equal opportunities, but only those with sup
pol i t ical abi l i ty could achieve public honors. Poverty was
bar to public off ice , nor was obscurity of rank. Personal
t was the only qual i f icat ion . And no :!lan was hindered from
part in public af fa i r s , nay, i t was each man's duty to do
J \" 1 - /. UOYfJt. d=dP Toy 7'£ unrfGI / TU /YdF u eT t ! ! . ( CVTa 2I' ) ),
I j.J ~ "If d?I f J..J7u Dri= J cl J) 4' aI/PJ £/ 0 Y YO JU { ~ § v "For we alone
the man taking no part in these affairs not as one mind
g his own business, but as good for nothing."60
Thus did the supporters of the Athenian const i tut ion view
as the t rue State,
where man was equal to man, and an impart ial lawruled all--A State which served no part icular int e res t , but did just ice to every class. Democracy made room for the r ich in f i n ~ n c e , the wise incounCil, the masses in decision. bl
was the State tha t l ived a Golden Age, that exoerienced
l i fe" perhaps more than any other. I t provided the
relaxation from to i l : games and sacr i f ices and homesout with elegance and good t as te , providing days f i l led
pleasure; and the ci ty became so great because of i t that
the products of a l l the earth flowed in upon i t ; a l l the
musiC, and a r t o ~ men found there a congenial home. 62 But
Ibid . , i i , 40,2.Barker, 150.Thucvdl.des. i i .18 .
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
I f you look for good government, you wil l see,in the f i rs t .nlace , the most capable men legislat ing for the community, and in the second, thegood will hold the bad in check and wil l not a llow madmen to advise or speak or s i t in the assembly. As a resul t of these excellent conditions theldemocracy would very soon fa l l into
salvery. 4
46
Democracy, indeed, possessed i t s own slaves. Over a third -
possibly half of the population belonged to th is or to the
alien class . Neither of these gr·oups were cit izens or
the r ignts of ci t izens. St i l l they were a large and
minority, doubly powerful under the Athenian system.
al l , a maritime empire and as such needed/the
Iof the metics ( J"l I: ]=01 t r o l ) , 'o r resident aliens, for hand
r
trade, and the f lee t . The slaves were needed for a l l the
work and for a great uart of the work which i s now done by
e industr ial classes. The whole social organization of the
was bui l t on this system, and upon i t thei r prosperity de
At Athens, however, the Old Oligarch saw what he thought
evidence of a gradual deterioration of the old system. The
found in the l icense a t Athens and in the Athenians' con-
on matters of power and wealth an opportunity to make
masters aware of the corporate strength of the slave-classes
e ci ty-s ta te in i t s lus t for empire had enslaved i t se l f , from
considerations, to i t s slaves and resident al iens. To
Ibid. , I , 9; Trans. in Brooks, 11-12.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
e horror of the upper class, the slaves, l ike thei r masters,
In dress and appearance they becaome no different from
e cit izens. No longer could a ci t izen chastise a slave. Rarely
d the slave yield the walk to the cit izen.15 With a l l this the
of Athens were content,--reasonably so from thei r viewpoin
had struck a bargain with the spir i ts of Wealth and Empire.
Led by the same sp i r i t the people were inclined to repress
that they themselves could not ~ a r t i c i p a t e in or gain
benefit to themselves. They were hosti le to gymnastics and
as arts beyond the i r capacity, or in which they found no
But yet they were outspoken in the i r demands
r dramatic choruses and athle t ic t raining and the wquipment of
because:
they real ise that i t is the rich who furnishchoruses and the people who are furnished withthem, and the rich who undertake athlet ic t ra in-ing and triremes and the people who have themundertaken for them. At the same time the peopleclaim to receive pay for thei r services as singers, runners, dancers, and on board ship, inorder that they themselygs may gain, and therich may become poorer.
Ever in pursuit of wealth the democracy has made i t s al l ies
e slaves of the Athenian people. 17 This they have accomplished
uphold.ing the bad(or democratic) cause in a l l the subject-ci t-
De Republica Ath., I , 10Ibid . , I , 13; t rans . in Brooks, 13-14.De Republica Ath., I , 18
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
a t public fes t ivals , rather than to public-spir i ted men of
1 .) 1 .J ~ I I
d>1pO!(fd..TItl,S ovtnlS DUIC !6"TI TCtJ.fI'?Ztrld..· "Though this is
democracy, there is no freedom of speech • .,9
Isocrates feared the democracy was l iving on i t s name. I t
a reputation for equality with equity. But democracy
d been betrayed and now educated i t s ci t izens to feel that " in-
was democracy, transgression of the law was l iber ty , that
tongue was' equality, and l iber ty to do anything
a l l was happiness."\ J /
Y U £ v 01 } fo ?t oHr I el vI
I \ \ / ~ I
.d G Y e e F I Ii v , T '1 k ~ E J r oJ?? 17 g- I rl k -' rr a va ,?C l 4. VJ
, .) / "-- 1 __' ~ I .10~ v - - > , " " - ) . c . . . , . r ~ O ; : . . . ; ; ; U . . . ; ; a - - - ' - ' ; : : c l . . . : ; v , - - _ T , L . . . ; : o : . . ; v ~ _ 7 T " , " , - . l . d d u l C , - T ~ ~ ~ 7 i " " 7 r . . . . . . ; ; ! ) ~ ( - , , e ~ J v «U a,.( l . ,u 0 V I A II'
Isocrates proposed a simple remedy,--the restorat ion of the
ins t i tu ted by Solon and re-established by Cleisthenes.
-' ~ , ~ / ~ I I:J/
0 tJ!C cot v ~ v,P 0 l ,Ll A ~ () ({ Tt: <f?Z},u 0711£ T ~ , e d ¥ 0 (J r£
" 1 4\ . / .117[o;l i ( j iJJ4bf' 0: v,.u , ! ~ p ovcrJ r " A government than
we could find none more democratic or more advantageous to
ci ty ." History gives the l i e to Isocrates ' statement here.
was mentioned in the chapter on Solon--and there is ample proof
r i t in Aristot le ' s Constitution of Athens--that Solon did not
a democracy, nor could the poli ty as long as he guided
For Whole paragraph ef . Isoerates , Peace, 1), 14.lsoerates, AreoDagitieus, 20.
Ib d., 17 •
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
be called democratic. As the work stood when Solon l e f t i t ,
had been inst i tu ted only in the judicial sphere. ffHe
the people not so much the control of public p o l ~ c y , as the
of being governed legal ly in accordance with k n o ~ nrt12 In other respects Solon believed firmly in the rule
law and in holding the people in close res t ra in t . So that , in
Solon's actual government was an aristocracy which ruled
5
Isocrates, of course, was perfectly well aware of th is fact ,
such a constitution met his desires exactly. He gives complet
to the "ancestral democracy", picturing i t for what
was, a consti tut ional aristocracy.
Our forefathers had resolved that the people,as the supreme master of the s ta te , should appoint
the magistrates, cal l to account those who fai ledin thei r duty, and judge in cases of dispute; while.those ci t izens who could afford the time andoossessed suff ic ient means should devote themselvesto the care of the commonwealth, as servants ofthe people, ent i t led to receive commendation i fthey proveQ fa i thful to the i r t rus t , and contenting themselves with th is hOllor, but, condemned,on the other hand, i f they governed badly, to
m e e ~ ~ i t h n ~ 3 m e r c y , but to sut ter the severestpunJ.snment.
confirms the fact that th is was Solonian practice , name-
for the people to select the i r own magistrates and have the
to cal l them to account for thei r conduct, though, as Iso-
recommends, the selection \A,raW to be from "men of reputation
Barker, 44.
Isocrates, Areopagiticus, 26, 27; t rans. in Norlin, 119-121.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
wall, and the only hope for the salvation of socie ty is tha t philosophers should become rulersor rulers philosophers. 8
64
that Plato was the ablest thinker of his day and,
Athenian of the Athenians, the recollection tha t with a l l his
and ar t i s t i c genius he should have been, by a l l the usual
bet ter prepared to estimate the magnitude of Athenian
under the democracy, and the knowledge tha t his writ-
have made him for us the l iving, breathing sp i r i t of Greece,
emphasis to a serious question raised in the minds of every
e whoestimates Plato ' s greatness t ru ly . How could he have been
blind to the vir tues of democracy? Could i t be tha t he was
t blind, that he gave us a true picture of democracy in Athens?
so, his views cannot be l ight ly dismissed.
Plato, we have said, was, especially in his younger and
years, an ideal is t in pol i t i cs . He had conceived an ideal
or which he gives us a ru l l explanation in his l i terary
the Republic. How much Plato ' s noble ideal may have
his views of pract ical pol i t ics is hinted a t in Barker's
Pol i t ica lTheory.
I t has been suggested that the main-spring ofthe Reoublic is Plato ' s aversion to contemporary capitalism, and his desire to subst i tutea new scheme of socialism. This would make ofthe Republic an economic t reat ise ; and theauthor of the suggestion enforces his point
Shorey, What Plato Said, 6; cf. Plato, Republic, 496c-e,cr. also Laws, 660c, Republic, 473c-d.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
coamons in providing themselves with horses andsuperior arms. They ••• had a greater stake inthe State and they bore the greater burden.What wonder, then, i f they ••• ceme to lookdown on the Deople as louts who could not andwould not f ight , unworthy alike of honor on thebat t lef ie ld, and of power in the consti tut ion. 12
67
Modern commentators on Plato feel that he, as an inheri tor
this t radi t ion, could not escape i t s effects on his own phil
of the s ta te , and they at t r ibute his disaffection for the
of the people to thi.s Cause. I t is a simple solution
the question, but not one that quiets serious doubts that
have raised. Barker maintains that " i t would be a mistake
judge the pol i t ics of Plato ' s family from the career of Cri-
or to maintain that Plato inherited from his family a prej
against Athenian democracy."l) Grundy defends Plato ' s
with an acute analysis of the whole picture .
Ideal is t histor ians have renresented the Athenian democracy as an ideal consti tut ion wherein the selfishness inherent in human nature wasreduced to a minimum, and the good of the in dividual waB merged in the good of the commun-i ty . I f this view be accepted, i t must beassumed tha t the upper and wealthier classesin Greek democracies, and above a l l in Athens,
were uniformly and singularly bad, for theyhated this ideal consti tution with a hatredthat was singularly whole-hearted. The intens i ty of the feeling between oligarch and dem-ocrat a l l the Greek world over was such thatparty patriotism held in men's esteem a placeabove a l l devotion to the s ta te ••• Those who
would account for the intensity of this feelingby differences in theoret ical pol i t ics assignto i t a cause which is obviously inadequate.
118.Barker, 109.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Men do not die fo r pol i t ica l theories , unlessthese theories embody some pract ica l principlewhich makes a mater ial difference in the l i fewhich they l ive . 14
68
The argument dravm from Pla to ' s years is a double-edged swo
s cr i t i cs wield i t against him, contending tha t Plato l ived so
tha t the Athens he knew had los t the gif ted and animated
of the Golden Age and had suffered sadly a t the hands of
r andoest i lence . In the i r opinion: " I t is unscientif ic to
of the working of Athenian ins t i tu t ions in the f i f th century
by the opinions of men who knew them only as worked by a
population in the fourth.,,15 Admirers of Plato who de
also to be fr iends of democracy use the length of his days
the i r own s a t i s f a c ~ i o n and consolation. Plato 's eighty years
long enough, since he was fe r t i le and productive to the end,
provide two dis t inct periods in his pol i t i ca l thought,-- the
of the Gorgias and the Republic and the period of the
and the Laws. In these l a t te r Plato, we shal l see, seem
to adopt, a more tolera.nt at t i tude to the democracy of Athens.
many years had perhaps made the res t less tor rent
his impetuous idealism run slower, more content to hold i t se l f
the more comfortable channel of pract ical i ty . Or the i r
hau dimmed the memory of the stain which Athenian democra
had to bear forever in the midst of many proad boasts and glor-
deeds,-- the murder of Pla to ' s beloved master, Socrates.
G.B. Grundy, r:I.'hucydides And the History of His ~ , John 1iur
ray, London, 1911, 107-8.
Fowler, 153-4.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
I t is never easy to knovT which is Socrates' thought and whic
Plato ' s own. Socrates l e f t no v ~ i t i n g s of his own. We know
chiefly through the influence of his mind on Pla to ' s . (Xen-
too, W : ~ ' l s Socrates' disciple and has l e f t loving and rever
t accounts of him.) S t i l l , i t is possible to some degree to
Socrates' contribution to Plato ' s pol i t i ca l thought.
af te r reviewing with thoroughness Plato ' s pol i t i ca l theor-
summarizes Socrates' contribution to them.
@ocrate;r had cri t ic ised the characteris t icsof Athenran democracy--the use of the lo t ;the composition of the assembly; the ignorance of the Athenian statesmen. He hadpreached that the handling of pol i t ics required some esoteric mystery of knowledge; andsuch preaching in a democratic State was a tthe best gnCiVisme, and a t the worst lesema,jeste. l
pol i t i ca l implications contained in this doctrine are apparent
teaching reached i t s logical fulfi lment in the theories of
~ o c r a t e ; J h e l d that pol i t ics not only r e ~ i r e dknowledge, but also unselfish devotion •• ~ l h el a t t e ~ i s a conception which no advocate of thedemocratic cause could do otherwise than endorse.But Socrates had preached the sovereignty of
knowledge, and the doctrine of the sovereignty ofknowledge might easily become, in i t s pol i t ica lapplication, a doctrine of enlightened despotism. This, indeed, is what i t became, a t anyrate for a time and during the middle periodof his l i fe , in the hands of Plato. Such atheory of enlightened despotism was necessar-i ly inimical to democracy; i t m.ight also become
Barker, 94.Ibid . , 96-7.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Two men looked a t the same real i ty; one saw i t as i t was;
other saw i t in perspective, from the vantage point of forty
years. Whose testimony should be accepted? The philosopher'
the historians?
A very recent work of William Kelly Prentice, The Ancient
accepts Plato ' s verdict without question. I shal l quote
passage in fu l l merely to show that i t is not a t a l l unusual
r careful students of Greek antiquit ies to agree unreservedly
Plato 's condemnation of Athenian ins t i tut ions, despite the
t radit ion that has painted, and will ever picture, the
democracy as an ideal state and a model for a l l others.
decide that question would require a fu l l and comparative study
Athenian with the l a te r democratic inst i tu t ions and of the.
state with the other successful sta tes of the past and
Here the question is l e f t entirely open, though Plato ' s
is presented by Prentice in an extremely favorable l ight .
Socrates' question to Call icles6 implies
that Plato thought the Athenian voters had beencorrupted by Pericles, who had made them lazy,cowardly, disputatious, and greedy for the mon-ey paid to them by the government. Under Periclesthe state came to exist chiefly to support thedemos. I
I t is possible that Pericles, l ike others,_
Thucydides, Funeral Oration, i i , 35-46.Plato, Gorgias, 5l5e.Aristot le, Pol i t ics , l293a.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Plato blruaes Pericles in principle for th is gradual deter i
of the demos. This at t i tude of the philosopher is based
shrewdness and pract ical i ty on the undeniable fact that Per-
was r e s p o n ~ i b l e for introducing the practice whereby the
or jurors received payment from the s ta te for their servi-
The Constitution of Athens by Aristot le says that more than
men were receiving s ta te pay as jurymen and members of the
being maintained at the public expense as public ser:
or benefactors. This high figure means that one out of ev-
four, or even one out of every three ci t izens were engaged
received wages as public c iv i l servants. 9
Zimmern, an authority ~ n the Greek pol i t ics and economics
f if th century, is not in agreement with Plato ' s condemnatio
this pract ice.
Regular pay for s ta te work, such as Periclesinst i tu ted for jurymen and counCillors, is not'corruption' but a great advance ••• 'The laboureris worthy of his hi re ' : and Athenians weresensible enough not to be ashamed of receivingi t . The effect of i t s introduction was not somuch to tempt poor men into public l ife[The Old .Oligarch, Isocrates, and Plato infer the c o n t r a r y ~as to compensate the moderately well-to-do forthe i r time and trouble. lO
There comes for th, nevertheless, from the pages of Plato an
W(illiam Kelly) Prentice, The Ancient Greeks, University Press,Princeton, 1940, 151-2.Zimmern, 175.
Ibid. , 176, note.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
different from the idealized ci t izen of Thucydides. The
Plato saw was not the kind to devote his body to his coun-
as'though i t belonged to another man. Quite al tered, too, is
portra i t of the ImDerial City to which "al l the products of
earth flow in . ,,11 ; where l ive "the lovers of beautY",12 with
"many relaxations from tOil,,;13 and the i r homes "f i t ted out
good taste and elegancen • 14 All Plato saw was a "wound fes-t/
under the scar", - - V Tr CJ u t\ ()' .
And't is said they have made the city great; but
they do not perceive that this greatness is butthe swelling of a wound festering under the scar,caused by those men of a former time. For without teillperance and just ice they l-::.ave stuffed thecity with harbors and arsenals and walls andt r ibute and suchlike foolery.15
then says that when the crash comes, as come i t must to a
l a i ~ on feeble foundations, the people will blame the coun
who are ruling them and who are merely reaping the evi l
of other men's mistakes. And Themistocles and Cimon and
the causes of a l l these evi ls , wil l go unblamed. 16
does not side-step. He lashes out fearlessly. I t may be
he is rather rigorous in his view; yet there is an element of
in his c h a r ; : ~ e s . Pericles did go fa r toward teaching the
to l ive off the s ta te , instead of depending on thei r own
I I , 38.Ib id . , 40.Ibid. , 38.Ibid. , 38.
Plato, Gorgias, 518e, 519a.Ibid. , 519a.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
and i t is true tha t Pericles ' course may have been de
by the necessi t ies of his pol i t ica l posit ion. I t was the
e panem e t ciroenses of a l a te r age, and of every pol i t ical sys
wherein the people have begun to feel the i r power.
But the question of payment admits of another explanation, which shows i t to be connected necessari ly with a pol i t ica l ideal such asthat which he Pericles Dursued. P a ~ n e n t to radministrative services was clearly a necessityof a true democratic const i tut ion ••• Since popular tl;overnment meant personal government onthe part of the demos, and such personal govern
ment, which implied the pol i t ical education ofthe masses, was part of the Periclean ideal , tosecure services from the poorer ci t izens somecompensation for the loss of time was necessary,and the numerical equality which democracy demandswould have been a mere f ict ion had not these services been secured by pay.17
S t i l l and al l , Plato has scored a point . Whether Pericles
i t or not, and whether he knew i t or not that the innovatio
dangerous,and thought tha t by his personal influence, as in
many other things, he could keen the tendency for more and more
to the people from becoming exaggerated, th is reform be-
the chief change connected with his name. The abuses tha t
la ter on in Athenian history as the resul t of th is sys
natural ly opened the persons of i t s promoters, and especially
i t s inaugurator, to the charge that they and he had resorted to
bribery in order to establish the i r own influence. I t struck
A.H.J. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Consti tutional History,New York, 1902, 163-4.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
that there was some absurdity involved in the idea of a
Ie paying i t se l f for attendance on public business.
The cri t icism of democracy found in the Gorgias is bi t ter ly
In the Republic,which was possibly ~ ~ i t t e n seven
ten years after the Gorgias,18 Plato ' s views have reached a
maturity, and, while no less condemnatory, his words are
constructive. By that period he had constructed a defini te
on which to defend his anti-democratic at t i tude. Building
from this foundation he formulated a new plan for an
reject ing as he bui l t every part of l i fe , in
and law that fe l l away from his ideal . One such was
e democracy of Athens. Plato 's ideal was a s ta t ic society of
functional groupings, based on what has been cal led "the
of specific function".19 This ideal made Plato an en-
y of Democracy. His mind sought direct ly af te r cer tainty and
i r r i ta ted by the ever-chausing pol i t i ca l opinions of the Ath-
assembly and i t s leaders.
I t is impossible, in Plato 's view, to speak ofany single or agreed rule of l i fe in democrAcy.
I t contravenes entirely his fundamental concept ion of the s ta te as a social type to 'INhich everymember must beotrained to conform-by a processof education.2
Cf. P{aul} Shorey, Plato the Republic, I , William Heinemann,Ltd., London, 1935, xxiv-xxv.Barker, 256.Ibid. , 255.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
The democratic system, in Plato ' s view, because i t ignored
e p r i n c i ~ l e of function, was aff l ic ted with two serious flaws.
ignorance and ins tabi l i ty . Ignorance, in fact , was
e especial curse of democracy. Plato saw nothing but fol ly in
fai lure to use to the fu l l man's natural aristocracy
t a lent . In democracy the professionsl statesman had no place.
was government by amateurs, government of shif t ing opinions
d of no permanent values nor of steady policy.
In Athens especially democracy seemed only to mean
the r ight divine of the ignorant-to govern wrong.Any man might speak in the Assembly and heln swayi t s decisions: Any man, whatever his capacity,might be appointed to executive office by thechance of the 10t . 21
Plato ' s pol i t i ca l thought a t this period was rooted in the
that knowledge was the basis of government. How far he
from admitting the principle of consent that has f i l led the
of modern pol i t ica l writers and has become the tes t of
established government in modern times is clearly seen
his thihly veiled contempt for the democratic man who bounces
in the assembly and says whatever comes into his head. 22 The
might be a smith, a shoemaker, a merchant, a sea-captain, a
man, a poor man, well-born or base. I t mattered not. Such
s each man's r ight and by this formula did democracy thr ive.
Ibid. , 149.Plato, R e p u b l ~ , 56ld.
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
Athenian fe l t only exaltation in the nobil i ty of the ideal and
i t as his own discovery and glory.
Under the incentive of our constitution each ofus can present himself to the community adequate,in his own resources, a t one and the same time,for many act iv i t ies , and that with a versat i lecapacity, and without ta i l ing in the graces. 23
t this system won no admiration from Plato; the very ideal he
downright unjust.
Just ice meant, in his eyes, that a man should dohis work in the stat ion of l i fe to which he wascal led by his capaci t ies. Everything has i t s
function. An axe which is used to carve a t reeas well as to cut i t down, is an axe misused;24and a man who attempts to ~ o v e r n his fellowswhen at best he is only f i t to be a tolerablecraftsman, is a man not only mistaken, but alsounjust. 25
At best , a best that Plato was unwilling to admit in the
the democratic s ta te could only hope to str ike a medi-
average between vir tue and vice. Too slOW, too shifty to be
i t was too weak to be vicious. But the vir tue of medio
was not enough for Plato. }ie had his oVvn grand ideal of
e philosopher king. In his young idealism, he could not con
of admitting a second or a third best , of let t ing bet ter
n be shoved aside merely to capture some elusive l iber t ies ,
that often enough were snares of evi l that entrapped and
corrupted the men who ran fas tes t toward them. Democracy
Ibid . , 56ld.Ibid. , 353a.Barker, 149; cf. Plato, Republic , Ek. I , ent i re .
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle
F(rancis), An Athenian Crit ic of Athenian Democracy, Bein~ Translation of the De Republica Atheniensium, London,David Nutt, 1912.
J(oannes), Platonis Opera, Oxonii: E Typographeo Claren -doniano, 1905.
J.B. , Plato with an English Translation, London, WilliamHeinemann, 1926, 9 vols . ; Laws in 2 vols.
S.H., Demosthenis Orationes, Oxford, Clarendon Press,IJ..lomus I .
E., Anthologia Lyrica, I , Lipsiae, in aedibus B.G. Teubne1931.
H ( a r o l d l . l ' l T ~ , Plato with an English Translation, I I I , TheStatesman: Philebus ( included in vol. with: Lamb, 1 . R . M . , IonLondon, William Heinemann, 1925.
K ~ t h l e e n ) , The Work And Life of Solon, with a Translatioof His Poems, London, Humphrey Milford, 1926.
C(arolus), Herodoti Historiae, Oxonii: E Typographo Claren-doniano.
F(rederic) G., Atheniensium Respublica, Oxford, ClarendonPress, 1921 (included in: The Works of Aris tot le , t ranslateinto English under the Editorship of W.D. Roes, X).
W.R .M., Plato with an English 'J.1ranslation, IV, Laches, Pro-tagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, London, William Heinemann, 1924.
Plato with an English Translation, V, Lysis, Sympes~ , G o r g i ~ s , London, William Heinemann, 1925.
G(eorge), Isocrates with an English Translation, London,William Heinemann, 1929, 3 vols.
E., Aristot le ~ the Constitution of Athens, t ranslated an
annotated, second edition, IVlacmillan, 1892.86
7/27/2019 The Theory of Greek Democracy Before Aristotle