Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/433

 CHAP. IX. NEW PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT. 427 Athenians rejected the old religious form of goyern- inent, they di<l not suppress the archonship, for they had an extreme repugnance to abolishing what was ancient. But by the side of the archons they elected other magistrates, who, by die nature of their duties, •corresponded better with the wants of the age. These were the strategi. The word signifies chief of the army, but the authority of these officers was not purely military; they had the care of the relations with other cities, of the finances, and of whatever concerned the police of the city. We may say that the archons had in their hands the state religion and all that related to it, and that the strategi had the political power. The archons preserved the authority such as the ancient ages had conceived it; the strategi had what new wants had caused to be established. Finally a time came when the archons had only the semblance of power, and the stategi had ail the reality. These new magistrates were no longer priests; they hardly per- formed the ceremonies that were indispensable in time -of war. The government tended more and more to free itself from religion. The strategi might be chosen outside the Enpatrids. In the examination which they had to undergo before they were appointed {doxif^aaUt)^ they were not asked, as the archons were, if they had a domestic worship, and if they were of a pure family ; it was sufficient if they had always performed their du- ties as citizens, and held real property in Attica.' The aichons were designated by lot, — that is to say, by the voice of the gods ; it was otherwise with the strategi. As the government became more difficult and more complicated, as piety was no longer the principal qual- ' Deinarclius, I. 171 (coll. Didot).