Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/193

VI we have seen, was spent in carrying it out himself, or seeing that others did so. It was inevitable that this should be so, where the interests of State and individual were so wholesomely identified as they were at Athens. Assuredly the democratic leaders would never have done away with the supervising authority of the Areopagus, had they not been filled with the conviction that the laws (that is, the constitution) were now in complete harmony with the feelings of the people, and that the people was itself capable of acting as their guardians. In fact, the true justification for this bold transference of trusteeship from an irresponsible body to the people themselves is to be found in the speech of Pericles quoted at the beginning of this chapter. "While we are thus unconstrained in our private intercourse, a spirit of reverence pervades our public acts; we are prevented from doing wrong by respect for authority and for the laws".

And these memorable words were indeed no empty boast. All through his civic life it was the work of the Athenian to watch over the laws and their administration. When as a youth just entering manhood he was enrolled with solemn religious ceremony in the ranks of the Ephebi, he swore not