Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/267

 CHAP. XII. THE CITIZEN AXD THE STRAXGEB. liGl for such an act the people did not consider themselves entirely free, and were seized with religious scruples; for they knew that the national gods were disposed to repulse the stranger, and that the sacrifices would per- haps be rendered useless by the presence of the new comer. The gift of the rights of a citizen to a stranger was a real violation of the fundamental principles of the national religion ; and it is for this reasorj that, in the beginning, the city was so sparing of it. We must also note that the man admitted to citizenship with so much difficulty could be neither archon nor priest. The city, indeed, permitted him to take part in its worship, but as to presiding at it, that would have been too much. No one could become a citizen at Athens if he was a citizen in another city ; ' fur it was a religious impos- sibility to be at the same time a member of two cities, as it also was to be a member of two families. One could not have two religions at the same time. The participation in the worship carried with it the possession of rights. As the citizen might assist in the sacrifice which preceded the assembly, he could also vote at the assembly. As he could perform the sacri- fices in the name of the city, he might be a prytane and an archon. Having the religion of the city, he might claim rights under its laws, and perform all the ceremonies of legal procedure. The stranger, on the contrary, having no part in the religion, had none in the law. If he entered the sacred enclosure which the priests had traced for the assem- bly, he was punished with death. The laws of the city did not exist for him. If he had committed a ' Plutarch, Solon, 24. Cicero, Fro Ccecina, 34