Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/328

 322 THE KEVOLUTIONS. BOOK IV. Melanthidae. This whole period must have been very unquiet; but no definite account of the civil wars has been preserved. The death of Codrus coincides with the final victory of the Eupatrids. They did not yet suppress royalty, for their religious notions forbade this ; but they took away its political power. The traveller Pausanias, who lived long after these events, but who carefully consulted the traditions, says that royalty then lost a great part of its attributes, and "became dependent," which signifies, doubtless, that it was thenceforth sub- ordinate to the senate of the Eupatrids. Modern histo- rians call this period of Athenian history that of the archonships, and rarely fail to say that royalty was then abolished. But this is not strictly true. The descendants of Codrus succeeded each other from father to son during thirteen generations. They had the title of archon, but there are ancient documents which give them also that of king,' and we have already said that these two titles were exactly synony- mous. Athens, therefore, during this long period, still had hereditary kings; but it had taken away their power, and had left them only the religious functions. This is what had been done at Sparta. At the end of three centuries, the Eupatrids found that this religious royalty was still more powerful than they desired, and they weakened it still more. They decided that the same man should not be clothed with this high sacerdotal dignity for more than ten years But they continued to believe that the ancient royal family was alone qualified to fill the office of archon.* 1; Plato, Menexenes, p. 238, c. ; ^lian, V. II., V. 13.
 * See Parian Marbles, and Comp. Pausanias, I. 3, 2; VII. 2,
 * Pausanias, IV. 3.