§1I. — — Μύρωνος καθ᾿ ἱερῶν ὀμόσαντες ἀριστίνδην.
I.... [prosecuted by Myron], after they had sworn by the sacred victims, selected according to merit.
καταγνωσθέντος δὲ τοῦ ἄγους α[ὐ]τοὶ μὲν ἐκ τῶν τάφων ἐξεβλήθησαν, τὸ δὲ γένος αὐτῶν ἔφυγεν ἀειφυγίαν.
But when the pollution had been adjudged, they themselves were cast out from their tombs, and their clan was condemned to perpetual banishment.
Ἐ[πι]μενίδης δ᾿ ὁ Κρὴς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐκάθηρε τὴν πόλιν.
On this account, Epimenides the Cretan purified the city.
§2II. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτα συνέβη στασιάσαι τούς τε γνωρίμους καὶ τὸ πλῆθος πολὺν χρόνον [τὸν δῆμον].
II. After this, it happened that the nobles and the multitude were in strife for a long time.
ἧν γὰρ αὐτῶν ἡ πολιτεία τοῖς τε ἄλλοις ὀλιγαρχικὴ πάσι, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐδούλεον οἱ πένητες τοῖς πλουσίοις καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες.
For their constitution was in all other respects oligarchic, and in particular the poor were enslaved to the rich, both themselves and their children and their wives.
καὶ ἐκαλοῦντο πελάται καὶ ἑκτήμοροι· κατὰ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν μίσθωσιν [ἠ]ργάζοντο τῶν πλουσίων τοῦς ἀγρούς.
And they were called pelatai and hektemoroi (sixth-part tenants); for it was under this lease that they worked the fields of the rich.
ἡ δὲ πᾶσα γῆ δἰ ὀλίγων ἧν· καὶ εἰ μὴ τὰς μισθώσεις ἀποδιδοῖεν, ἀγώγιμοι καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ παῖδες ἐγίγνοντο.
All the land was in the hands of a few; and if they did not pay their rents, both they and their children became liable to arrest.
καὶ οἱ δανεισμοὶ πᾶσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς σώμασιν ἧσαν μέχρι Σόλωνος· οὗτος δὲ πρῶτος ἐγένετο τοῦ δήμου προστάτης.
And all loans were made on the security of the person until the time of Solon; he was the first to become champion of the people.
χαλεπώτατον μὲν οὗν καὶ πικρότατον ἧν τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν κατὰ τὴν πολιτείαν τὸ δουλεύειν· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐδυσχέραινον· οὐδενὸς γάρ, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἐτύγχανον μετέχοντες.
Now, the most grievous and bitter thing for the multitude in the constitution was their state of servitude; not but what they were also discontented in other respects, for they had, so to speak, no share in anything.
§3III. ἧν δ᾿ ἡ τάξις τῆς ἀρχαίας πολιτείας τῆς πρὸ Δράκοντος τοιάδε.
III. The arrangement of the ancient constitution before Draco was as follows.
τὰς μὲν ἀρχὰς [[καθ]ίστασαν ἀριστίνδην καὶ πολουτίνδην· ἧρχον δὲ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διὰ [βίου], μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα [δε]καέτειαν.
The magistrates were appointed according to noble birth and wealth; and they ruled at first for life, but afterwards for a term of ten years.
μέγισται δὲ καὶ πρῶται τῶν ἀρχῶν ἧσαν βασιλεὺς καὶ πολέμαρχος καὶ [ἄ]ρ[χω]ν·
The greatest and earliest of the offices were the King, the Polemarch, and the Archon.
τούτων δὲ πρώτη μὲν ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως (αὕτη γὰρ ἧν πάτριος), δευτέρα δ᾿ ἐπικατέστη [πολ]εμαρχία διὰ τὸ γενέσθαι τινὰς τῶν βασιλέων τὰ πολέμια μαλακούς· ὅθε[ν κ]αὶ τὸν Ἴωνα μετε[πέ]μψαντο χρείας καταλαβούσης.
Of these, the first was that of the King, for this was ancestral; and the second was established, the Polemarchy, because some of the kings proved soft in war; wherefore they also sent for Ion when a need arose.
τελευταία δ᾿ ἡ τ[οῦ ἄ]ρ[χ]οντ[ος· ο]ἱ μὲν γὰρ πλείους ἐπὶ Μέδοντος, ἔνιοι δ᾿ ἐπὶ Ἀκάστου φασὶ γενέσθαι [ταύ]την·
The last was that of the Archon; for most authorities say this was established in the time of Medon, but some in the time of Acastus.
τεκμήριον δ᾿ ἐπιφέρουσιν ὅτι οἱ ἐννέα ἄρχοντες ὀμνύουσι[ν ὥ]σπερ [ἐ]πὶ Ἀκάστου τὰ ὅρκια ποιήσειν, ὡς ἐπὶ τούτου τῆς βασιλείας παραχωρησάντων τῶν Κοδ[ρι]δ[ῶν] ἀντὶ τῶν δοθεισῶν τῷ ἄρχοντι δωρεῶν.
And they bring forward as evidence the fact that the nine archons swear to perform their oaths "as in the time of Acastus," showing that in his time the Codridae surrendered the kingship in exchange for the privileges given to the Archon.
τοῦτο μὲν οὗν ὁποτέρως ποτ᾿ ἔχει, μικρὸν ἄν παραλλάττοι τοῖς χρόνοις·
This, then, whichever way it is, would differ but little in date.
ὅτι δὲ τελευταία τούτων ἐγένετο τῶν μικρὸν ἄν σημεῖον καὶ [τὸ] μηδὲν τῶν πατρίων τὸν ἄρχ[ο]ντα διοικεῖν, ὥσπερ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ ὁ πολέμαρχος, ἀλλ᾿ἁπλῶ[ς] τὰ ἐπίθετα· διὸ καὶ νεωστὶ γέγονεν ἡ ἀρχὴ γεμάλη, τοῖς ἐπ[ι]θέτοις αὐξηθε[ῖ]σα.
But that it was the last of these offices to be established is also indicated by the fact that the Archon administers none of the ancestral duties, as do the King and the Polemarch, but only those newly added; and therefore the office has only recently become important, having been increased by these added duties.
θ[εσ]μοθέται δὲ πολλοῖς ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ῇρέθησαν, ἤδη κατ᾿ ἐνιαυτὸν αἱρουμέ[νων] τὰς ἀρχάς, ὅπως ἀναγράψαντες τὰ θέσμια φυλάττωσι πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀμφι[σ]βητ[ού]ντων κρίσιν· διὸ καὶ μόνη τῶν ἀρχῶν οὐκ ἐγένετο πλείων ἐνιαυσίας.
The Thesmothetae were elected many years later, when the offices were already being chosen annually, so that they might record the laws and preserve them for the decision of disputes between litigants; for which reason this office alone among the magistracies was never held for more than a year.
τοῖς μὲν οὗν χρόνοις τοσοῦτον προέχουσιν ἀλλήλων.
In respect of their dates, then, they precede one another by so much.
ἧσαν δ᾿ οὐχ ἅμα πάντες οἱ ἐννέα ἄρχοντες, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μὲν βασιλεὺς εἷχε τὸ νῦν καλούμενον Βουκολεῖον πλησίον τοῦ πρυτανείου (σημεῖον δέ· ἔτι καὶ νῦν γὰρ τῆς τοῦ βασιλέως γυναικὸς ἡ σύμμειξις ἐνταῦθα γίγνεται τῷ Διονύσῳ καὶ ὁ γάμος), ὁ δὲ ἄρχων τὸ πρυτανεῖον, ὁ δὲ πολέμαπχος τὸ Ἐπιλύκειον (ὃ πρότερον μὲν ἐκαλεῖτο πολεμαρχεῖον, ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἐπίλυκος ἀνῳκοδόμησε καὶ κατεσκεύασεν αὐτὸ πολεμαρ[χ]ήσας Ἐπιλύκειον ἐκλήθη)· θεσμοθέται δ᾿ εἷχον τὸ θεσμοθετεῖον.
And the nine archons were not all together, but the King had what is now called the Boukoleion, near the Prytaneion (in proof of which, even to this day, the union and marriage of the King's wife with Dionysus takes place there), while the Archon had the Prytaneion, and the Polemarch the Epilykeion (which was formerly called the Polemarcheion, but when Epilykos rebuilt and furnished it while acting as Polemarch, it was called the Epilykeion); and the Thesmothetae had the Thesmotheteion.
ἐπὶ δὲ Σόλωνος [ἅπ]αντες εἰς τὸ θεσμοθετεῖον συνῆλθον.
But in the time of Solon they all came together into the Thesmotheteion.
κύριοι δ᾿ ἧσαν καὶ τὰς δίκας αὐτοτελεῖς [κρίν]ειν καὶ οὐχ ὥσπερ νῦν προανακρίνειν.
And they had power to decide cases on their own authority, and not, as now, merely to conduct a preliminary inquiry.
τὰ μὲν οὗν περὶ τὰς ἀχὰς τοῦτον εἷχε τὸν τρόπον.
Such, then, was the manner of the magistracies.
ἡ δὲ τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν βουλὴ μὲν 6 τάξιν εἷχε τοῦ διατηρεῖν τοὺς νόμους, διῷκει δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα καὶ τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ κολάζουσα καὶ ζημιοῦσα πά ντας τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας κυρίως.
And the Council of the Areopagus had 6 the duty of safeguarding the laws, and administered the greatest and most important of the affairs of the city, having full authority to punish and fine all who misbehaved.
ἡ γὰρ αἵρεσις τῶν ἀρχόντων ἀριστνδην καὶ πλουτίνδην ἧν, ἐξ ὧν οἱ Ἀρεοπαγῖται καθίσταντο· διὸ καὶ μόνη τῶν ἀρχῶν αὕτη μεμένηκε διὰ βίου καὶ νῦν.
For the election of the archons was according to noble birth and wealth, from whom the Areopagites were appointed; wherefore this alone of the offices has remained for life even down to the present day.