Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/440

 434 THE BEVOLUTIONS. BOOK IV. was clothed. They did not rule by virtue of a belief and by the will of the gods. They had no quality that had power over consciences, that compelled men to submit. Man is little inclined to bow, except before what he believes to be right, or before what his notion* teach him is far above him. He had long been made to bend before the religious superiority of the Eupatrid^ who repeated the prayers and i^ossessed the gods. But wealth did not overawe liim. In presence of wealth, the most oi'dinary sentiment is not respect; it is envy. The political inequality that resulted from the difference of fortunes soon appeared to be an iniquity, and men strove to abolish it. Besides, the series of revolutions, once commenced^ could not be arrested. The old principles were over- turned, and there were no longer either traditions or fixed rules. There was a general sense of the insta- bility of affairs, which prevented any constitution from enduring for any great length of time. The new aris- tocracy was attacked, as the old had been ; the poor wished to be citizens, and in their turn began to make efforts to enter the body politic. It is impossible to enter into the details of this new struggle. The history of cities, as it gets farther from their origin, becomes more and more diversified. They follow the same series of revolutions; out these revolu- tions appear under a great variety of forms. We can, at any rate, make this remark — that in the cities where the principal element of wealth was ihe possession of the soil, the rich class was longer respected, and held its dominion longer; and that, on tiie coiilrary, in cities like Athens, where there were few lanc'.et< estates, and where men became rich especially by industry, man- ufactures, and commerce, the instability of fortunes