Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/376

 370 THE EE VOLUTIONS. BOOK IV. indeed, is the name which they took in most of the Greek cities. The other he calls the class of the bad, xuxol / this, too, is the name by which it was custom- ary to designate the inferior class. The poet describes the ancient condition of this class: "Formerly it knew neither tribunals nor laws;" this is as much as to say that it had not the right of the citizenship. These men were not even permitted to apjM'oach the city ; " they lived without, like wild beasts." They took no part in the religious repasts; they had not the right to marry into the families of the good. But how changed is all this ! Rank has been over- thrown; "the bad have been placed above the good.'^ Justice is disturbed ; thv.- ancient laws are no more, and laws of strange novelty have replaced them. Kiches have become the only object of men's desires, because wealth gives power. The man of noble race marries the daughter of the rich plebeian, and " marriage con- founds the races." Theognis, who belonged to an aristocratic family, vainly strove to resist the course of events. Con- demned to exile, and despoiled of his property, he could no longer protest and fight except in his verses. But if he no longer hoped for success, at least he never doubted the justice of his cause. He accepted defeat, but he slill preserved a sense of his rights. In his eyes, the revolution which had taken place was a moral evil, a cjime. A son of the aristocracy, it seemed to him that this revolution had on its side neither justice nor the gods, and that it was an attempt against re- ligion. "The gods," he says, "have quitted the earth ; no one fears them. The race of pious men has dis- appeared ; no one now cares for the Immortals." But these regrets are useless, and be knows it welL