Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/112

 68 General History of Europe V. REFORMS OF SOLON AND CLISTHENES 99. Development of Athens ; Solon. Of the Greek cities Athens was to become by far the most important and was to make a name for itself which should never be forgotten. Its first great citizen was Solon, who was in 594 B.C. given full power to intro- duce needed reforms. Although a noble himself, he reduced the oppressive power of his fellow nobles, relieved the peasants of the heavy mortgages that lay on their lands, and set a limit to the amount of land a noble might hold. He made it possible for any- one, however poor, to have his lawsuit tried before a jury of citi- zens selected by lot. Only the nobles were permitted to hold the higher offices, but the peasants could hold the lower ones, and all free citizens were assured a vote in the assembly of the people. Solon is the first Greek statesman about whom we have any reliable information. 100. Clisthenes. In spite of Solon's reforms a tyrant, Pisis- tratus, gained control of Athens for a time. Although he ruled wisely and with success, the prejudice of the people against ty- rants was so great that when he died, in 528 B.C., one of his sons was killed and the other forced to flee. Clisthenes, a second Solon, broke up the old class divisions and established election districts in which the nobles were always bound to be in the minority. He also arranged that once a year the people might declare any prominent citizen dangerous and banish him for ten years. The names were written on bits of pottery, instead of paper ballots such as we use today. The name of this pottery ballot was ostracon, and to ostracize a man meant originally to banish him. These measures made it difficult for anyone to succeed in making himself tyrant. They also tended to make Athens a democracy ; that is, a government in which the power lies in the hands of the people at large. 101. Expansion of Sparta. Meantime the future rival of Athens, Sparta, also had greatly increased in power. Long before 500 B.C. the Spartans had forced the neighboring states into a combination, called the "Spartan League/' which included nearly