Aristotle and Xenophon on democracy and oligarchy ;

321 Pages·1986·9.27 MB·English

by  John Michael (trans.)

ARISTOTLE AND XENOPHON ON
DEMOCRACY AND OLIGARCHY
ARISTOTLE
AND XENOPHON ON
DEMOCRACY AND
OLIGARCHY
ARISTOTLE’S
The Constitution of Athens
The Constitution of the Athenians
Ascribed to XENOPHON THE ORA TOR
XENOPHON’S
The Politeia of the Spartans
The Boeotian Constitution
From the OXYRHTNCHUS HISTORIAN
TRANSLATIONS WITH INTRODUCTIONS
AND COMMENTARY BY
J. M. MOORE
RADLEY COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
©J. M. Moore 1975
ISBN: 0-520-02863-5 cloth-bound
0-520-02909-7 paper-bound
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-16713
Printed in the United States of America
For
N IC H O LA S
In the hope that he also may one day enjoy
the history of Greece

Contents
Preface page 9
PART I
THE CONSTITUTION OF THEA THENIANS 19
Ascribed to Xenophon the Orator
Introduction 19
The Main Topics 24
The Constitution of the Athenians 37
Commentary 48
Select Bibliography 60
THE POLITEIA OF THE SPARTANS 65
By Xenophon
Glossary 66
Introduction 67
The Politeia of the Spartans 75
Commentary 93
Select Bibliography 122
THE BOEOTIAN CONSTITUTION 125
From the Oxyrhynchus Historian
Introduction 125
The Boeotian Constitution 127
Commentary 129
Select Bibliography 134
Appendix to Part I: Herodotus 111,80-82 135
PART II
THE CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS 139
By Aristotle
Glossary 141
Introduction 143
7
CONTENTS
The Constitution of Athens 147
Commentary 208
Appendix to Part II 311
Select Bibliography 313
Index 314
Maps
1. Ancient Greece pages 12-13
2. Boeotia and Attica pages 14-15
3. Messenia and Laconia pages 62-63
8
PREFACE
The aim of this book is to make some of the basic texts written on
political practice by authors in Ancient Greece available to those
who cannot read them in the original. All translations are my own,
and are intended to reproduce the Greek texts as faithfully as may
be; the Commentary is designed to make them comprehensible to
those not intimately familiar with the history of the period and the
society for which they were written. In so far as it was possible, I
have tried to write a running commentary rather than disjointed
notes on individual points; the nature of the texts has made some
of the latter inevitable, but I hope that it may be possible to read a
chapter or group of chapters followed by the relevant section of
the Commentary as consecutive units, rather than refer backwards
and forwards continuously.
Naturally, the works translated were not constructed in the
way in which such treatises would be written to-day; I have
taken them as they are, and explored the ideas which the authors
were discussing, resisting the temptation to branch out into topics
which may be fascinating but are not raised by the passage under
consideration. Different types of constitution and forms of society
must have something of interest for modern readers; the study of
what succeeded or failed in the past can contribute to contempor­
ary debates, and also to the consideration of politics and con­
stitutional practice at other periods of history. It is with this field
in view, as well as the study of the Ancient World itself, that this
book has been written.
Each work has been treated in a self-contained section of the
book so that the reader who wishes to consult only one may do so
without inconvenience; at the same time, there are some cross-
references where they are appropriate, and it is hoped that the
Index will assist those studying topics rather than individual
works. There is no separate index of passages from ancient authors
9