Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/244

 238 TUE CITY. BOOK III. principles dispute for the government of the people^ and the people at times rejecling all social organization. No such spectacle was seen in ancient Greece, or in ancient Italy; their history does not commence with conflicts: revolutions appeared only at the close. Among these populations, society formed slowly and by degrees, while passing from the family to the tribe, and from the tribe to the city, but without shock and without a struggle. Royalty was established quite naturally, in the family first, in the city later. It was not devised in the imagination of a few ; it grew out of a necessity that was manifest to the eyes of all. Dunng long ages it was peaceable, honored, and obeyed. The kings had no need of material force ; they had neither army nor treasury ; but, sustained by a faith that had a powerful influence over the mind, their authority was sacred and inviolable. A revolution, of which we shall speak farther on, overturned ihe kingly power in every city ; but when it fell, it left no rancor in the hearts of men. That contempt, mingled with hatred, which ordinarily at- tends on fallen grandeur, it never experienced. Fallea as it was, the afiection and respect of men remained attached to its memory. In Greece wo see something which is not very common in history : in the cities where the royal family did not become extinct, not only was it not expelled, but the same men who had despoiled it of power continued to honor it. At Ephesus, at Marseilles, at Cyi'ene, the royal family, de- prived of power, remained surrounded with the respect of the people, and even retained the title and insignia of royalty.' ' Strabo, IV. 171; XIV. G32; XIII. COS. Athenajus, XIIL 676