Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/137



picture given in the last chapter of the rule of the aristocracies was necessarily a somewhat ideal one. We were dealing with a period of which we have no direct historical evidence; we had to interpret the work of the aristocracies by attributing to them a certain stage of development in the life of the City-State, which cannot, so far as we can see, be accounted for in any other way. That work must have been partly destructive, partly constructive. The loose fabric of ancient monarchy was pulled down; but a new fabric slowly arose, more compact, and better suited to