Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/327

 €HAP. III. THE FIRST KEVOLUTION. 321 an application as it had in the time of Demosthenes. This people, or political body, was then no other than an aristocracy — that is to say, the entire body of tho chiefs of the yifrj. Theseus, in establishing this assembly, was not neces- sarily an innovator. But in spite of him the forma- tion of the great Athenian unity changed the condi- tions of the government. As soon as these Eupatrids, whose authority remained intact in the families, were united in the same city, they formed a powerful body, which had its rights, and might make its claims. The king of the little rock of Cecrops became the king of all Attica; but instead of being, as in his little village, an absolute king, he was now only the chief of a federative state — that is to say, the first among equals. A con- flict between this aristocracy and royalty could not be long delayed. "The Eupatrids regretted the really royal power which each one of them had previously exercised in his village. It appears that these war- rior priests placed religion in the front rank, and pre- ten<led that the authority of tho local worships had been diminished. If it is true, as Thucydides says, that Theseus attempted to destroy the prytanea of the vil- lages, it is not surprising that the religious sentiment was aroused against him. It is impossible to say how many contests he had to sustain, how many risings he had to repress, by address or by iorce. What is cer- tain is, that he was finally vanquished ; that he was driven from Athens, and died in exile. The Eupatrids then had full sway ; they did not suppress royalty, but they set up a king of their choice, Mencsthcus. After him, the family of Theseus recov- ered tho power, and held it during three generations. It was then rej^hiced by another family — that of the 21