Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/425

 CHAP. VIII. CHANGES IN PKIVATE LAW. 419 touch the lustral water, or the vessels used in the ceremonies.' His laws appeared cruel to succeeding generations. They were, indeed, dictated by an implacable reli- gion, which saw in every fault an offence against the divinity, and in every offence against the divinity an unpardonable crime. Theft was punished with death, because theft was an attempt against the religion of property. A curious article of this legislation which lins been preserved shows in what spirit it was made.* It grants the right of prosecution for a murder only to the rela- tives of the dead and the members of his gens. We see by this how powerful the gens still was at that period, since it did not permit the city to interfere in its affairs, even to avenge it. A man still belonged to the family more than to the city. In all that has come down to us of this legislation we see that it does no more than reproduce the ancient law. It had the severity and inflexible character of the old unwritten law. We can easily believe that it established a very broad distinction between the classes; for the inferior class always detested it, and at the end of thirty years demanded a new code. The code of Solon is entirely different; we can see that it corresponded to a great social revolution. The first peculiarity that we remark in it is, that the laws are the same for aU. They establish no distinction be- tween the Eupatrids, the simple free men, and the Thetes. These names are not even found in any of the articles that have been preserved. Solon boasts in his ' Aulus Gellius, XL 18. Demosthenes, in Lepi., 158. Por- phyry, De Absiineniia, IX.
 * Demosthenes, in Everg., 71; in Macart., 67.