Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/325

 CHAP. III. FIRST REVOLUTION. . 319 he slew victims, and when the signs were favorable, he gave the signal for battle. During the combat he was surrounded by diviners, who indicated to him the will of th*2 gods, and flute-players, who sounded the sa- cred hymns. The Spartans said the king commanded, because he was in possession of both religion and the auspices; but the ephors and the polcmarchs directed all the movements of the army.' We can therefore justly say that the royalty of Sparta was merely an hereditary priesthood. The same revolution which suppressed the political power of the kings in other cities suppressed it also in Sparta. The power belonged really to the senate, which directed, and to the ephors, who executed. The kings, in all that did not concern religion, obej^ed the ephors. He- rodotus could therefore say that Sparta did not know the monarchical regime,' and Aristotle, that the gov- ernment of Sparta was an aristocracy.* 3. The same devolution at Athens. We have seen above what the primitive population of Attica Avas. A certain number of families, indepen- dent and without any bond of union among them, occupied the country ; each one of them formed a society, governed by an hereditary chief. Later these families were united in groups, and from their associa- tion grew the Athenian city. The great work of com- pleting the ixnity of Attica is attributed to Theseus. But the traditions add — and we can easily believe — that Theseus must have met with strong resistance. The class of men who opposed him were not the clients, or
 * Xenophon, Gov. of Laced.
 * Herodotus, "V. 92. Aristotle, Politics, VIII. 10 (V. 10).