Constitution of the Athenians

​XL. When the reconciliation had taken place in this way, and those who had fought on the side of the Thirty were in fear, and many were intending to emigrate but were procrastinating their registration until the last days, as indeed everyone is accustomed to do, Archinus, seeing their large number and wishing to retain them, secretly cut off the remaining days of the registration, with the result that many were forced to remain against their will until they grew confident. And Archinus seems to have acted as a wise statesman in this matter, as well as in later indicting the decree of Thrasybulus for unconstitutionality, in which Thrasybulus was sharing the citizenship with all those who returned with him from Peiraeus, some of whom were clearly slaves. And thirdly, when one of those who had returned began to harbor a grudge, he arrested him and brought him before the Council, and persuaded them to put him to death without trial, saying that they would now show whether they wished to preserve the democracy and abide by their oaths, for by letting this man go they would encourage others, but by putting him to death they would make him an example to all. And this indeed happened; for after he was put to death, no one ever again harbored a grudge. Rather, they seem to have handled the past misfortunes in the finest and most statesmanlike manner of all, both individually and collectively; for they not only wiped out the charges concerning past events, but also repaid the Lacedaemonians collectively the money which the Thirty had received for the war, although the covenants ordered each side to pay back separately, namely the men from the city and those from Peiraeus, because they believed this should be the first step towards concord; whereas in other cities, those who have established a democracy, so far from contributing from their own property, actually redistribute the land. They also made peace with those who had settled in Eleusis in the third year after the emigration, in the archonship of Xenainetus.

​XLI. These things indeed happened in later times, but at that time the people, having become masters of affairs, established the present constitution, under the archonship of Pythodorus, when the people seemed to have taken the constitution justly because they had achieved their return by their own efforts. This was the eleventh change in number. For the first transition was from the original state, under Ion and those who settled with him; for then first they were divided into the four tribes and appointed the tribe-kings. The second, and the first after this which had the form of a constitution, was that under Theseus, deviating slightly from the kingship. And after this, that under Draco, in which they also first wrote down the laws. The third was that after the dissension, under Solon, from which the beginning of democracy arose. The fourth was the tyranny under Peisistratus. The fifth was that of Cleisthenes after the overthrow of the tyrants, more democratic than Solon’s. The sixth was after the Persian Wars, when the Council of Areopagus directed the state. The seventh and after this, which Aristeides pointed out and Ephialtes completed by overthrowing the Areopagite Council; during which it happened that the city made very many errors because of the demagogues on account of the maritime supremacy. The eighth was the establishment of the Four Hundred and after this, the ninth, democracy again. The tenth was the tyranny of the Thirty and that of the Ten. The eleventh was that after the return from Phyle and Peiraeus, since which the constitution has continued until the present, always adding more power to the multitude. For the people itself has made itself master of everything, and all things are administered by decrees and courts, in which the people is the sovereign power. For indeed the judicial powers of the Council have passed to the people, and they seem to do this rightly, for the few are more easily corrupted than the many, both by gain and by influence. At first they decided not to make the assembly paid; but when they did not assemble for the assembly, and the prytaneis devised many plans to bring the multitude there for the ratification of the vote by show of hands, first Agyrrhius provided an obol, and after him Heracleides of Clazomenae, surnamed ‘the king’, a diobol, and again Agyrrhius a triobol.