Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/441

 CHAP. X. ESTaBMSUMENT OF DEMOCRACY. 435 sooner awakened the cupidity or hopes of the lower orders, and the aristocracy was sooner attacked. The ricli cLasa of Rome offered a mucli stronger re- sistance than that of Greece; tiiis was due to causes which we shall state presently. But when we read Grecian history, we are somowhat surprised that the new nobles defended themselves so feebly. True, they could not, like the Eupatrids, opjDOse to their adversa- ries the great and powerful argument of tradition and piety. They could not call to their aid their ancestors and the gods. They had no point of support in their own religious notions; nor had they any faith in the justice of their privileges. They had, indeed, superiority in arms; but this su- periority finally failed them. The constitutions which the states adopted would have lasted longer, no .loubt, if each state could have remained isolated, or, at least, if it could have lived in peace. But war deranges the machinery of constitutions, and hastens changes. Now, between these cities of Greece and Italy war was al- most perpetual. Military service weighed most heavily upon the rich class, as this class occupied the front rank in battle. Often, at the close of a campaign, they re- turned to the city decimated and weakened, and con- sequently not prepared to make head against the popu- lar party. At Tarentum, for example, the higher class having lost the greater part of its members in a war against the lapygians, a democratic government was at once established in the city. The course of events was the same at Argos, some thirty years before ; at the close of an unsuccessful war against the Spartans, the number of real citizens had become so small that it was found necessary to grant the rights of citizens to