Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/152

 J34 HISTORY OF GREECE. Each deme had its own local interests to watch over ; but the tribe was a mere aggregate of demes for political, military, and religious purposes, with no separate hopes or fears, apart from the whole state. Each tribe had a chapel, sacred rites and festi- vals, and a common fund for such meetings, in honor of its epony- mous hero, administered by members of its own choice ; l and the statues of all the ten eponymous heroes, fraternal patrons of the democracy, were planted in the most conspicuous part of the agora of Athens. In the future working of the Athenian government. we shall trace no symptom of disquieting local factions, a capi- tal amendment, compared with the disputes of the preceding century, and traceable, in part, to the absence of border-relations between demes of the same tribe. The deme now became the primitive constituent element of the commonwealth, both as to persons and as to property. It had its own demarch, its register of enrolled citizens, its collective property, its public meetings and religious ceremonies, its taxes levied and administered by itself. The register of qualified citi- zens 2 was kept by the demarch, and the inscription of new citizens took place at the assembly of the demots, whose legitimate sons were enrolled on attaining the age of eighteen, and their adopted sons at any time when presented and sworn to by the adopting citizen. The citizenship could only be granted by a public vote of the people, but wealthy non-freemen were enabled sometimes to evade this law and purchase admission upon the register of borne poor deme, probably by means of a fictitious adoption. At make the demes constituting each tribe discontinuous, and that they desired to prevent both the growth of separate tribe-interests and ascendency of one tribe over the rest. It contradicts the belief of those who suppose that the tribe was at first composed of continuous demes, and that the breach of continuity arose from subsequent changes. Of course there were many cases in which adjoining demes belonged to the same tribe ; but not one of the ten tribes was made up altogether of adjoining demes. 1 See Boeckh. Corp. Inscriptt. Nos. 85, 128. 213, etc.: compare Demosthen. cont. Thcokrin. c. 4, p. 1326 R. J We may remark that this register was called by a special name, the Lexiarchic register; while the primitive register of phrators and gentiles always retained, even in the time of the orators, its original name of the tommon register Harpnkration, v, Koivbv ypafiuaTelov Kal t.rjl inpiKav.