ities the citizens were known as >agajo'i or good, and the
plebeians as kako'i or bad. This latter class is described by the
poet Theognis as having had aforetime neither tribunals nor laws;
they were not allowed even to enter the town, but lived outside like
wild beasts. They had no part in the religious feasts and could not
intermarry with the proper citizens. [195]

This position corresponds exactly with that of the Sudras and the
existing impure castes, who have to live outside the village and
cannot enter or even approach Hindu temples.

M. de Coulanges considers that the plebeians were to a large
extent made up of conquered and subjected peoples. An asylum was
also established at Rome for broken men and outlaws from other
cities, with a view to increasing the population and strength of
the state. Subsequently the class of clients became absorbed among
the plebeians.

78. The binding social tie in the city-states.

Thus the gradation of society in the city-states of Greece and
Italy, the account given above being typical of them all, is seen to
correspond fairly closely with that of the Hindus, as exemplified in
the Hindu classics and the microcosm of Hindu society, the village
community. It is desirable, therefore, to inquire what was the tie
which united the members of the _gens_, the _curia_ or _phratry_,
and the city, and which distinguished the patricians from the
plebeians. On this point M. Fustel de Coulanges leaves us in no
doubt at all. The bond of union among all these bodies was a common
sacrifice or sacrificial meal, at which all the members had to be
present. "The principal ceremony of the religion of the household was
a meal, which was called a sacrifice. To eat a meal prepared on an
altar was, according to all appearance, the first form of religious
worship." [196] "The principal ceremony of the religion of the city
was also a public feast; it had to be partaken of communally by all
the citizens in honour of the tutelary deities. The custom of holding
these public feasts was universal in Greece; and it was believed
that the safety of the city depended on their accomplishment." [197]
M. de Coulanges quotes from the _Odyssey_ an account of one of these
sacred feasts at which nine long tables were set out for the people
of Pylos; five hundred citizens were seated and nine bulls were
slaughtered for each table. When Orestes arrived at Athens after the
murder of his mother, he found the people,