Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/88

 72 HISTORY OF GREECE. Athenians and the Atticans, as well in physiognomy as acter and taste. 1 In the history set forth to us of the proceedings of Theseus, no mention is made of these four Ionic tribes ; but another and a totally different distribution of the people into eupatrida), geo- mori, and demiurgi, which he is said to have first introduced, ia brought to our notice ; Dionysius of Halikarnassus gives only a double division, eupatridce and dependent cultivators ; corre- sponding to his idea of the patricians and clients in early Rome. a As far as we can understand this triple distinction, it seems to be disparate and unconnected with the four tribes above mentioned. The eupatridse are the wealthy and powerful men, belonging to the most distinguished families in all the various gentes, and principally living in the city of Athens, after the consolidation of Attica : from them are distinguished the middling and lower people, roughly classified into husbandmen and artisans. To the eupatridae, is ascribed a religious as well as a political and social ascendency ; they are represented as the source of all authority on matters both sacred and profane ; 3 they doubtless comprised those gentes, such as the Butadae, whose sacred ceremonies were looked upon with the greatest reverence by the people : and we may conceive Eumolpus, Keleos, Diokles, etc., as they are de- scribed in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, in the character of eupatridae of Eleusis. The humbler gentes, and the humbler members of each gens, would appear in this classification con- founded with that portion of the people who belonged to no gens at all. From these eupatridoe exclusively, and doubtless by their selection, the nine annual archons probably also the pry tanes 1 Dikaearch. Vita Grsecise, p. 141, Fragra. ed. Fuhr. 2 Plutarch, Theseus, c. 25 : Dionys. Hal. ii, 8. 3 Etymologic. Magn. EuTrarpidat oi avrb rb uarv olicovv-Ef, /ca? /zere^ov- ff TOV ficadiKov yevovf, KOI TT/V T TTOIOV/ICVOI. The 8aac7(.iKbv yei-of includes not only the Kodrids, but also the Erechtheids, Pandionids, Pallantids, etc. See also Plutarch, Theseus, c. 24 ; Hesychius, Yet Isokrates seems to speak of the great family of the AlkmieoTiidw as not incluicd among the cupatridae. (Orat xvi, DC Bigis, p. 351, p GO6, Bck.)