e
far from subordinating the material side of life to the intellectual.
Also, though they dealt not in money-making after the eager fashion of
modern men, they had still concerns of immediate practical interest with
which to busy themselves. Each one of these twenty-five thousand free
Athenians was not only a free voter, but an office-holder, a legislator,
a judge. They did not control the government through a representative
body, but they were themselves the government. They were, one and all,
in turn liable to be called upon to make laws, and to execute them after
they were made, as well as to administer justice in civil and criminal
suits. The affairs and interests, not only of their own city, but of a
score or two of scattered dependencies, were more or less closely to be
looked after by them. It lay with them to declare war, to carry it on
after declaring it, and to pay the expenses of it. Actually and not by
deputy they administered the government of their own city, both in its
local and in its imperial relations. All this implies a more thorough,
more constant, and more vital political training than that which is
implied by the modern duties of casting a ballot and serving on a jury.
The life of the Athenian was emphatically a political life. From early
manhood onward, it was part of his duty to hear legal questions argued
by powerful advocates, and to utter a decision upon law and fact; or to
mix in debate upon questions of public policy, arguing, listening, and
pondering. It is customary to compare the political talent of the Greeks
unfavourably with that displayed by the Romans, and I have no wish to
dispute this estimate. But on a careful study it will appear that the
Athenians, at least, in a higher degree than any other community of
ancient times, exhibited parliamentary tact, or the ability to sit still
while both sides of a question are getting discussed,--that sort of
political talent for which the English races are distinguished, and to
the lack of which so many of the political failures of the French are
egregiously due. One would suppose that a judicature of the whole town
would be likely to execute a sorry parody of justice; yet justice was
by no means ill-administered at Athens. Even the most unfortunate and
disgraceful scenes,--as where the proposed massacre of the Mytilenaians
was discussed, and where summary retribution was dealt out to the
generals who had neglected their duty at Arginusai,--even