§ 1. Three tribes of citizens in the Doric states. § 2. Additional
tribes, of inferior rank, in some Doric states. § 3. Each tribe in
Sparta was divided into ten obæ. § 4. Political importance of the
Spartan obæ. § 5. Πάτραι, in other Doric states, corresponding to
the Spartan obæ. § 6. Number of Spartan γένη. § 7. Distinction
between Equals and Inferiors in Sparta. § 8. Powers of the
assembly of citizens at Sparta. § 9. Names of the assembly of the
citizens in the Doric states. § 10. Proceedings of the Spartan
assembly. § 11. Public assembly of Crete.
1. Having considered the subject classes in the several Doric states, we
come to the free citizens properly so called, who, according to an old
Grecian principle,(292) which was actually put in practice in Sparta, were
entirely exempted from all care for providing themselves with the
necessaries of life. The exact distinction between these ranks, and the
advantageous position of the latter class, increased the value of the
rights of citizenship; hence Sparta showed peculiar reluctance to
admitting foreigners to share in them.(293) Before, then, we consider the
body politic of free citizens in its active dealings, it will be proper
first to direct our attention to its component members, to its division
into smaller societies, such as tribes, phratriæ, houses, &c.
In every Doric state there were three tribes, Hylleis, Dymanes (or
Dymanatæ), and Pamphyli. This threefold division belonged so peculiarly to
the nation that even Homer called it “the thrice-divided” τριχάϊκες, which
ancient epithet is correctly explained in a verse of Hesiod, as implying
the division of the territory among the people.(294) Hence in the ancient
fable which this poet has expressed in an epic poem, three sons of the
ancient Doric king Ægimius were mentioned, namely, Dyman, Pamphylus, and
the adopted Hyllus; and the same is confirmed by the direct testimony of
Herodotus, who states that the Doric nation was divided into these three
tribes.(295) Hence also Pindar comprehends the whole Doric nation under
the name of the sons of Ægimius and Hyllus.(296) Thus we should be
warranted in putting forth the proposition stated above in these general
terms, even if in the several Doric states there had been no particular
mention of all these tribes. The fact, however, is, that there are
sufficient accounts of them. Pindar(297) bears testimony to their
existence in Sparta; and from an expression of a grammarian, it may be
conjectured that they were also divisions of the city.(298) Herodotus
states that these tribes existed at Sicyon and Argos.(299) In Argos, the
city was doubtless divided according to them; and Παμφυλιακὸν is mentioned
as a district of the town.(300) The Doric tribes were transmitted from
Argos to Epidaurus and Ægina.(301) Hylleis occur also in the Æginetan
colony of Cydonia.(302) The same name is found in an inscription of
Corcyra:(303) consequently they also existed in the mother-country,
Corinth. It occurs likewise in another inscription of Agrigentum;(304)
they must therefore have also been in existence at Rhodes, as indeed is
declared by Homer.(305) The Pamphylians occur at Megara as late as at the
time of Hadrian.(306) These tribes existed also at Trœzen;(307) but the
Trœzenian colony Halicarnassus seems to have been almost exclusively
founded by Dymanes.(308) On the whole it appears that wherever there were
Dorians there were also Hylleans, Pamphylians, and Dymanes.
2. Wherever the Dorians alone had the full rights of citizenship, no other
tribes of the highest ranks could exist; but if other persons were
admitted in any considerable number to a share in the government, there
were necessarily either one or more tribes in addition to these three.
Thus a fourth, named Hyrnathia,(309) is known to us in the states of Argos
and Epidaurus; in Ægina also an additional tribe of this kind must have
existed, for in this island there were distinguished families not of Doric
origin.(310) In Sicyon the fourth tribe was called the Ægialean. In
Corinth also it appears that there were altogether eight tribes.(311) But
in Sparta, the city of pure Doric customs, we cannot suppose the existence
of any other than the three genuine Doric tribes. At first sight, indeed,
it might appear that the great and distinguished house of the Ægidæ, of
Cadmean descent, was without the pale of these tribes; but it must have
been adopted into one of the three at its admission to the rights of
citizenship.(312) For the number of the Spartan obæ, the gerontes, the
knights, the landed estates, viz., 30, 300, 9000, &c., manifestly allow of
division by the number 3, while they have no reference to the number 4.
3. The tribes of Sparta were again divided into obæ, which are also called
phratriæ.(313) The term _phratria_ (φρατριὰ) signified among the Greeks an
union of houses, whether founded upon the ties of actual relationship, or
formed for political purposes, and according to some fixed rule, for the
convenience of public regulations. Thus the word _oba_ comprehends houses
(γένη, _gentes_), which were either really founded on descent from the
same stock, or had united themselves in ancient times for civil and
religious purposes, and afterwards continued to exist as political bodies
under certain regulations.(314) The Spartan obæ appear to have likewise
been local divisions, since the name ὠβὰ, _i.e._, οἴα, signifies _single_
hamlets or districts of a town; although in the case of Sparta it is not
evident what relation they bore to the five divisions of the city, of
which we have spoken above.(315) It should be, moreover, observed, that
this does not prevent us from supposing that, as in the parallel case of
the phratriæ, the obæ contained the houses; since we may be allowed to
infer with great probability, from the simple and coherent regularity of
the Spartan institutions, that the tribes had taken possession of
particular districts of the town, and that these were again divided into
smaller partitions, according to the obæ; a conjecture which, perhaps,
will be confirmed by the statement, that a place in Sparta was called
Agiadæ:(316) now this was the name of one of the royal families, which, as
being an oba, appears to have given its name to one district of the town.
The obæ were thirty in number;(317) that is, there were ten of the
Hyllean, ten of the Dymanatan, ten of the Pamphylian tribe. Of the
Hyllean, two must have belonged to the royal families of the Heraclidæ.
For since the councillors, together with the kings, amounted to thirty,
and as this number doubtless depended upon and proceeded from that of the
obæ, it follows that the two royal families, although springing from one
stock, must nevertheless have been separated into two different obæ, of
which they were in a manner the representatives. And if we proceed to
conclude in this manner, we shall be obliged, since there were Heraclidæ,
exclusive of the kings, in the gerusia,(318) to suppose that there were,
besides these, other Heraclide obæ in Sparta; although I am not of opinion
that all the Hyllean houses derived themselves from Hercules, and were
considered as Heraclidæ.
4. With respect to the influence and importance of the obæ in a political
view, it was equal to, or even greater than, that of the phratriæ in
ancient Athens. For, in the first place, the assembly of the people, in
obedience to a rhetra of Lycurgus, was held according to tribes and obæ;
afterwards the high council was constituted, and probably the 300 knights
were chosen, upon the same principle. At the same time, all public
situations and offices were not filled in this manner, but only where
distinguished dignity and honour were required: this mode of election, as
will be shown below, had always an aristocratic tendency. Magistrates, on
the contrary, of a more democratical character, particularly the ephors,
were nominated without regard to the division of tribes, as their number
alone shows: it is probable that this had some relation to the number of
the divisions of the city, of which, as was shown above, there were five.
A striking analogy, with regard to this numerary regulation, is afforded
by Athens, while yet under an aristocratic government. The tribe of the
nobles and knights was in this state divided into three phratriæ, which
may be compared with the three tribes of the Doric Spartans. Now, when the
nobility (like a chamber of peers) constituted a court of justice over the
Alcmæonidæ, 300 eupatridæse, 100 out of each phratria, composed the
court.(319) And when Cleisthenes the Alcmæonid had been expelled by the
aristocratic party, and the democratic senate (βουλὴ) overthrown, Isagoras
established a high council of 300.(320) Whereas the senate, to which
Cleisthenes gave existence and stability, consisted of 500 citizens, and
was chosen, without any regard to the ancient division into phratriæ,
according to the new local tribes.
5. No Doric state, with the exception of Sparta, appears to have given the
name of oba to a division of the people. But neither can the name
_phratria_, so common in other places, be proved to have been used by any
Doric people. On the other hand, phratriæ occur at Athens, in the Asiatic
colonies,(321) and in the Chalcidean colony of Neapolis, that is, chiefly
in Ionic states; and Neapolis affords a solitary instance of their being
distinguished by certain proper names, such as Eumelidæ, Eunostidæ,
Cymæans, Aristæans, &c.(322) Pindar however mentions _patræ_ (πάτραι) in
the Doric states of Corinth and Ægina; an expression which, according to
the precise definition of Dicæarchus, is equivalent to houses or γένη,
signifying persons descended from the same ancestor (πατήρ). It was
indeed, although not at Athens, in use among the Ionians of Asia Minor and
the islands, who appear however to have also employed the terms πάτρα or
πατρία for the more extensive word phratria.(323) In Ægina and Corinth it
will be safest to consider the patræ as houses, since they are always
denoted by patronymic names, going back to fabulous progenitors; and by
Pindar himself they are also called “houses.” Since however, as being not
only a natural, but also a political division, the patræ may sometimes
have comprised _several_ houses, and as there was probably in these states
no intermediate division (like the phratria at Athens and the oba at
Sparta) between them and the tribes, the ancient commentators have
neglected their more restricted and original sense, and have compared and
identified them with phratriæ.(324)
6. The name which the _houses_ or γένεα bore at Sparta, and the number of
them which was contained in an oba, may be perhaps ascertained from a
passage of Herodotus,(325) in which he mentions the Enomoties, Triacades,
and Syssitia, as military institutions established by Lycurgus. Other
inferences from this passage we shall not anticipate, remarking only that
the Syssitia appear to have answered to the obæ, from which it is probable
that the Triacades were contained in these latter divisions. Now in
Attica, at an early period, a triacas was the thirtieth part of a
phratria, and contained thirty men, the same number as a γένος.(326)
Following then the argument from analogy (by which we are so often
surprised and guided in our inquiries into the early political
institutions), triacas was in Sparta also the name of a house, which was
so called, either as being the thirtieth part of an oba, or, as appears to
me more probable, because it contained thirty houses. The relation of the
triacas to the enomoty,—a small division of warriors, which originally
contained twenty-four men,—is quite uncertain. The basis of the whole
calculation, and in this case a sufficiently fixed standard, was found in
Sparta in the families (οἶκοι) connected with the landed estates;
indifferently whether these contained several citizens, or whether they
had become extinct and been united with other families.(327)
7. We now proceed to mention another division of the citizens of Sparta,
which concerns the difference of rank. In a certain sense indeed all
Dorians were equal in rights and dignity; but there were yet manifold
gradations, which, when once formed, were retained by the aristocratic
feelings of the people. In the first place, there was the dignity of the
Heraclide families, which had a precedence throughout the whole
nation;(328) and, connected with this, a certain pre-eminence of the
Hyllean tribe; which is also expressed in Pindar. Then again, in the times
of the Peloponnesian war, “men of the first rank” are often mentioned in
Sparta, who, without being magistrates, had a considerable influence upon
the government.(329)
Here also the difference between the _Equals_ (ὅμοιοι) and _Inferiors_
(ὑπομείονες) must be taken into consideration; which, if we judge only
from the terms, would not appear to have been considerable, yet, though it
is never mentioned in connexion with the constitution of Lycurgus, it had
in later times a certain degree of influence upon the government.
According to Demosthenes,(330) the prize of virtue in Sparta was to become
a master of the state, together with the Equals. Whoever neglected a civil
duty, lost, according to Xenophon,(331) his rank among the Equals. Cinadon
wished to overthrow the government, because, although of a powerful and
enterprising mind, he did not belong to the Equals.(332) About the king’s
person in the field there were always three of the Equals, who provided
for all his wants.(333) It also appears that there were many peculiarities
in the education of an Equal.(334) Whoever, during his boyhood and youth,
omitted to make the exertions and endure the fatigues of the Spartan
discipline, lost his rank of an Equal.(335) In like manner, exclusion from
the public tables was followed by a sort of _diminutio capitis_, or civil
degradation.(336) This exclusion was either adjudged by the other members
of the table, or it was the consequence of inability to defray the due
share of the common expense. To them the Inferiors are most naturally
opposed; and if the latter were distinct from the Spartans, by the
Spartans, in a more limited sense of the word, Equals are sometimes
probably understood.(337) From these scanty accounts the unprejudiced
reader can only infer that a distinction of rank is implied, which
depended not upon any charge or office, but continued through life,
without however excluding the possibility of passing from one rank into
the other, any Equal being liable to be degraded for improper conduct, and
an Inferior, under certain circumstances, being enabled to procure
promotion by bravery and submission to the authorities; but if this
degradation did not take place, the rank then remained in the family, and
was transmitted to the children, as otherwise it could not have had any
effect upon education.(338)
8. After these preliminary inquiries concerning the divisions and classes
of the citizens, we have now to examine the manner in which the political
power was distributed and held in Sparta and the other Doric states.
As the foundation of these inquiries, we may premise a rhetra of Lycurgus,
which, given in the form of an oracle of the Pythian Apollo,(339) contains
the main features of the whole constitution of Sparta.(340) “_Build a
temple to Zeus Hellanius and Athene Hellania; divide the tribes, and
institute thirty obas; appoint a council, with its princes; convene the
assembly between Babyca and Cnacion; propose this, and then depart; and
let there be a right of decision and power to the people._” Here then
there is an unlimited authority given to the people to approve or to
reject what the kings proposed. This full power was, however, more nearly
defined and limited by a subsequent clause, the addition of which was
ascribed to kings Theopompus and Polydorus: “_but if the people should
follow a crooked opinion, the elders and the princes shall dissent_.”(341)
Plutarch interprets these words thus; “That in case the people does not
either approve or reject the measure _in toto_, but alters or vitiates it
in any manner, the kings and councillors should dissolve the assembly, and
declare the decree to be invalid.” According to this construction, indeed,
the public assembly had so far the supreme power, that nothing could
become a law without its consent. But it probably could not originate any
legislative measure; inasmuch as such a power would have directly
contravened the aristocratical spirit of the constitution, which feared
nothing so much as the passionate and turbulent haste of the populace in
decreeing and deciding. The sense of the rhetra of Lycurgus is also given
in some verses from the Eunomia of Tyrtæus, which, on account of their
antiquity and importance, we will quote in their original language:—
Φοίβου ἀκούσαντες, Πυθωνόθεν οἴκαδ᾽ ἔνεικαν
μαντείας τε θεοῦ καὶ τελέεντ᾽ ἔπεα.
ἄρχειν μὲν βουλῆς θεοτιμήτους βασιλῆας,
οἷσι μέλει Σπάρτης ἱμερόεσσα πόλις,
πρεσβυγενεῖς δὲ γέροντας, ἔπειτα δὲ δημότας ἄνδρας
εὐθείαις ῥήτραις ἀνταπαμειβομένους.(342)
δήμου τε πλήθει νίκην καὶ κάρτος ἕπεσθαι.(343)
By the sixth line Tyrtæus means to say that the popular assembly could
give a _direct_ answer to a law proposed by the authorities, but not
depart from or alter it.
9. The usual name of a public assembly in the Doric states was ἁλία. This
is the name by which the Spartan assembly is called in Herodotus;(344) and
it is used also in official documents for those of Byzantium,(345) of
Gela, Agrigentum,(346) Corcyra,(347) and Heraclea;(348) ἁλιαῖα was the
term employed by the Tarentines(349) and Epidamnians;(350) the place of
assembly among the Sicilian Dorians was called ἁλιακτήρ.(351) In Crete it
was known by the ancient Homeric expression of ἀγορά.(352) In Sparta the
ancient name of an assembly of the people was ἀπέλλα, whence the word
ἀπελλάζειν in the rhetra quoted above. In later times the names ἐκκλησία
and οἱ ἔκκλητοι appear to have been chiefly in use, which do not, more
than at Athens, signify a select body, or a committee of the
citizens;(353) although in other Doric states select assemblies sometimes
occur under similar names.(354) There was also an assembly of this last
kind at Sparta, but it is expressly called the _small ecclesia_;(355) and,
according to a passage in which it was mentioned, was chiefly occupied
concerning the state of the constitution, and perhaps consisted only of
Equals; for it can hardly be supposed that an assembly was convened of
magistrates alone.(356) To the regular assembly, however, all citizens
above the age of thirty were doubtless admitted, who had not been deprived
of their rights by law.(357) The place of meeting was in Sparta, between
the brook Cnacion(358) and the bridge Babyca, where afterwards was a place
called Œnus, near to Pitana, and therefore situated to the west of the
city;(359) but, whatever might have been the precise spot, it was in the
open air.(360) The time for the regular assembly was each full moon;(361)
yet, for business of emergency, extraordinary meetings were held, often
succeeding one another at short intervals.(362)
Our chief object now is to ascertain what were the subjects which,
according to the customs of Sparta, required the immediate decision of the
people. In the first place, with regard to the external relations of the
state, we know that the whole people alone could proclaim war, conclude a
peace, enter into an armistice for any length of time, &c.;(363) and that
all negociations with foreign states, although conducted by the kings and
ephors, could alone be ratified by the same authority. With regard to
internal affairs, the highest offices, particularly the councillors, were
filled by the votes of the people;(364) a disputed succession to the
throne was decided by the same tribunal;(365) changes in the constitution
were proposed and explained, and all new laws (as often as this rare event
took place), after previous examination in the council, were confirmed in
the assembly.(366) Legally also it required the authority of the assembled
people to liberate any considerable number of Helots, as being their
collective owner.(367) In short, the popular assembly possessed the
supreme legislative authority; but it was so hampered and restrained by
the spirit of the constitution, that it could only exert its authority
within certain prescribed limits.
10. This circumstance was shown in an especial manner in the method of its
proceedings. None but public magistrates, chiefly the ephors and kings,
together with the sons of the latter,(368) addressed the people without
being called upon, and put the question to the vote;(369) foreign
ambassadors also being permitted to enter and speak concerning war and
peace;(370) but that citizens ever came forward upon their own impulse to
speak on public affairs, is neither probable, nor do any examples of such
a practice occur. A privilege of this kind could, according to Spartan
principles, only be obtained by holding a public office.(371) As therefore
the magistrates alone, (τέλη, ἀρχαὶ) were the leaders and speakers of the
assembly, so we often find that stated as a decree of the authorities
(especially in foreign affairs),(372) which had been discussed before the
whole community, and approved by it.(373) The occasional speeches were
short, and spoken extempore; Lysander first delivered before the people a
prepared speech, which he procured from Cleon of Halicarnassus.(374) The
method of voting by acclamation has indeed something rude and barbarous;
but it has the advantage of expressing not only the number of approving
and negative voices, but also the eagerness of the voters, accurately
enough, according to the ancient simplicity of manners.
11. The public assembly of CRETE was, if we may judge from some imperfect
accounts, similar to the Lacedæmonian. It included all the citizens,
strictly so called; and likewise had only power to answer the decree of
the chief officers (cosmi or gerontes) in the negative or
affirmative.(375) In the other Doric states the influence of the assembly
is too closely connected with the historical epoch to allow the collection
of the scattered accounts in this place to form an uniform whole. There
were everywhere popular assemblies, as long as they were not suppressed by
tyrants; nor indeed did every tyrant suppress them; in every state also
they represented the supreme power and sovereignty of the people; its will
was the only law. That this will, however, should be properly directed,
and that the supreme decision should not be intrusted to the blind impulse
of an ignorant or excited populace, was the problem which the founders of
the Doric governments undertook to solve.