tive; conservative, not necessarily of petty customs which do not affect the vitality of the State, but of all great principles, written or unwritten, on which the constitution is based. Nowhere, since the days of Athens, has this conservative tendency asserted itself more strongly than in the great democratic State of the modern world.[1]
I hope I have now said enough to indicate the line of study to be taken by any one who really wishes to understand the nature of this most perfectly developed form of the ancient City-State. He should set himself to discover in detail, first, how it was possible for the Athenians to govern themselves, or in other words, what they meant by calling their constitution a δημοκρατία; secondly, how such a government could be carried on, and must necessarily be carried on, in strict accordance with the law. Following closely this plan of inquiry, if I am not mistaken, he will come to appreciate the truth of the proposition, that in the golden age of Athens the interests of the State and the individual were more perfectly identified than in any other State of antiquity; that we here reach the highest development of which the πόλις was capable. That there were drawbacks even here,
- ↑ See Bryce's American Constitution, vol. i. chaps. 31-34; or Maine, Popular Government, Essay 4. For the securities for the maintenance of the Athenian constitution, see especially Grote, vol. iv. 116 foll.; but the student cannot do better, if he would see for himself how hard it was to effect a revolution when once the democracy was complete, than examine carefully the difficulties with which the oligarchical party had to contend in B.C. 411, in Thucyd. viii. 47 foll.
