Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/500

 494 MUNICIPAL REGIME DISAPPEARS. BOOK T^ deur, no longer producecl anything but suffering nnil hatred. They began to feel the necessity of abandon- ■ ing the municipal system, and of arriving at some other form of government, than the city. Many men dreamed at last of establishing above the cities a sort of sover- eign power, which should look to the maintenance of order, and compel those turbulent little societies to livfr in peace. It was thus that Phocion, a good citizen, ad- vised his compatriots to accept the authority of Philip, and promised them, at this price, concord and security. In Italy affairs were in much the same condition as in Greece. The cities of Latium, of the Sabines, and of Etruria were distracted by the same revolutions and the same sti-uggles, and love of the city disappeared. As in Greece, every man was ready to join a foreign city, in order to make his opinions and interests prevail in his own. These dispositions of mind made the fortune of the Romans. They everywhere supported the aristocracy; eA'erywherc, too, the aristocracy were their allies. Let us take a few examples. The Claudian gens left the Sabines because Roman institutions pleased them bet- ter than those of their own country. At the same epoch many Latin families emigrated to Rome, because they did not like the democratic government of Latium, and the Romans had just established the reign of the patricians.' At Ardea, the aristocracy and the plebs being at enmity, the plebs called the Volscians to their aid, and the aristocracy delivered the city to the Ro- mans.* Etruria was full of dissensions ; Veii had over- thrown her aristocratic government; the Romans at- tacked this city, and the other Etruscan cities, where th«v > Dionysius, VI. 2. * Livy, IV. 0, 10.