Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/457

 CHAP. XII. men AND POOR — THE TYRANTS. 451 only slart'S at work, he despised labor. Thus eco- nomic habits, moral dispositions, prejudices, all com- bined to prevent the poor man escaping from his misery and living honestly. Wealth and poverty were not constituted in a way to live together in peace. The poor man had equality of rights ; but assuredly his daily sufferings led him to think equality of for- tunes far preferable. Nor was he long in perceiving that the equality which he had might serve him to ac- quii-e that which he had not, and that, master of the votes, he might become master of the wealth of his city. He began by undertaking to live upon his right of voting. He asked to be paid for attending the assem- bly, or for deciding causes in the courts. If the city was not rich enough to afford such an expense, the poor man had other resources. lie sold his vote, and, as the occasions for voting were frequent, he could live. At Rome this trnffic was regular, and was carried on in broad dny; at Atiiens it was better concealed. At Rome, where the poor man did not act as a judge, he sold himself as a witness; at Athens, as a judge. All this did not relieve the poor man from his misery, and reduced him to a state of degradation. These expedients did not suffice, and tho pooi» man nsed more energetic means. He organized regular warfare against wealth. At first this war was dis- guised under legal forms ; iho rich were charged with all the public expenses, loaded with taxes, made to build triremes, and to entertain the people with shows. Then fines were multiplied, and property confiscated for the slightest fault. No one can tell how many men were condemned to exile for the simple reason that they were rich. The fortune of the exile went