e prohibition of contracts giving the person of the debtor in
lien. Furthermore a maximum limit was fixed for the amount of land any
one individual could own, in order to keep the craving of the nobility
for the land of the farmers within reasonable bounds. Constitutional
amendments were next in order. The following deserve special
consideration:

The council was increased to four hundred members, one hundred from each
tribe. Here, then, the tribe still served as a basis. But this was the
only remnant of the old constitution that was transferred to the new
body politic. For otherwise Solon divided the citizens into four classes
according to their property in land and its yield. Five hundred, three
hundred and one hundred and fifty medimnoi of grain (1 medimnos equals
1.16 bushels) were the minimum yields of the first three classes.
Whoever had less land or none at all belonged to the fourth class. Only
members of the first three classes could hold office; the highest
offices were filled by the first class. The fourth class had only the
right to speak and vote in the public council. But here all officials
were elected, here they had to give account, here all the laws were
made, and here the fourth class was in the majority. The aristocratic
privileges were partly renewed in the form of privileges of wealth, but
the people retained the decisive power. The four classes also formed the
basis for the reorganization of the fighting forces. The first two
classes furnished the horsemen; the third had to serve as heavy
infantry; the fourth was employed as light unarmored infantry and had to
man the navy. Probably the last class also received wages in this case.

An entirely new element is thus introduced into the constitution:
private property. The rights and duties of the citizens are graduated
according to their property in land. Wherever the classification by
property gains ground, there the old groups of blood relationship give
way. Gentile constitution has suffered another defeat.

However, the gradation of political rights according to private property
was not one of those institutions without which a state cannot exist. It
may have been ever so important in the constitutional development of
some states. Still a good many others, and the most completely developed
at that, had no need of it. Even in Athens it played only a passing
role. Since the time of Aristides, all offices were open to all the
citizens.

During the