Table Of ContentTHE CITY-STATE
OF THE
GEEEKS AND EOMAN^
A SURVEY
INTRODUCTORY TO THE STUDY OF
ANCIENT HISTORY
BY
W. WARDE FOWLER, M.A.
FELLOW OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD
(jl-?
MACMILLAN AND LIMITED
CO.,
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1913
tti.
r?
Copyright
FirstEdition1893
Reprinted\Sgs> 1902, 1904,1907,1908, 1910, 1911, 1913
TO
IRWIN
S. T.
"Hie muUumvaluit cumvetusamicitia, turnhumanitasejus
et liberalitas, etlitterisetofficiisperspecta nobisetcognita."
Cicero, Ad Familiares, i. 9.
NOTE TO REPEINT OF 1913
Since this little book was written just twenty years
ago, ancient history, and more especially that of
Hellas, has been opened up in every direction.
The discoveries of Sir Arthur Evans in Crete, and
many other excavations on Greek soil : the new
researches into the " HomericAge," e.g. (among many
other works) Professor Ridgeway's Early Aye of
Greece, and Professor Gilbert Murray's Rise of the
Greek Epic fresh investigation of the historical age
:
of Greece, especially from an economic point of
view, as in Dr. Grundy's recent book on the
Peloponnesian war, and in parts of Mr. Zimmern's
Greek Commomvealtli the great advance in our
:
knowledge of the Hellenistic age, to which Mr.
Bevan's NottseofSeleiwiis makes a good introduction
for a British student: all these, without counting
the volume of work done on the Continent and in
America, if they have not revolutionised Greek
history, have at least greatly enlarged its boundaries
and enlightened its votaries. Yet the political
history of Greece remains substantially the same
as it was twenty years ago, and the same may be
VI THE CITY-STATE
said of that of Eome. Though our knowledge of
the administration of the Empire is constantly
increasing, Mr. Heitland's three careful and scholarly
volumes on the Eoman Kepublic show that in the
main our ideas of the development of the Roman
political system have not been revolutionised. Thus
the political biography of the City-State, as sketched
in these chapters, is not, I think, misleading in its
general features, though here and there statements
may be found which are now open to question.
As the book is still called for, 'both in the
British Empire and in the United States, the
question has arisen whether it should now be
thoroughly revised. On consideration I have
decided to leave it as it is, i.e. complete in itself
and free from the patchwork of addition and
correction. I think that the teachers who use it
will be better able to make their own comments
on it if I abstain from attempting to anticipate
them. But I hope that some day an entirely new
"survey" of classical history may be written for the
use of students; for I still believe, as I did when I
wasgivingthe lectures on which this bookwas based,
that the true aim of the scholar should be to bring
a knowledge of the,whole of classical antiquity to
bear on the interpretation of any part of it.
W. W. F.
KiNGHAM, OxoN., UhFebruary 1913.
PREFACE TO REPRINT OF 1895
A REPRINT of' this little book having been called
for unexpectedly, I am only able to correct a few
errors which have been pointed out to me by
the kindness of friends and critics. If the w^ork
should survive, some parts of it mayeventually have
to be more thoroughly revised. Among these is
the second chapter, in which my use of the term
**village community" has been called in question
by an able writer in the Classical Review. Readers
of the recently published works ofMr. Seebohm and
his son, Mr. Hugh Seebohm, on the tribal system in
Wales and in Greece, will understand the bearing of
this criticism. But until it can be clearly shown
that the Kcofjcac which in so many cases immediately
preceded the TroXi? were tribal communities like
the Welsh, and not a species of village community
developed out of a primitive and universal tribal
system, I am content to retain the older term in
the broad sense which I was careful to give it. I
vill THE CITY-STATE
find with satisfaction that Mr. Jevons, in the
Manual of Greek Antiquities just published by
Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., has adopted the
same course, though he was the first scholar, if I
am not mistaken, to point out the true significance
of some of those survivals of the tribal system in
Greece whichare the subject of Mr. HughSeebohm's
researches.
W. W. P.
/
29th October1895. '
PEEFAOE
The object of this book is, I hope, sufficiently
explained in the introductory chapter. It may,
however, be as well to add here that it is an
expansion of a short series of lectures given for
several successive years to men just beginning the
study of ancient history in the school of Literce
Humaniores at Oxford. Few of these men were
likely to become specialists, and as the object of my
course was therefore purely educational, I saw an
opportunity of stimulating their interest, and of
widening their historical horizon, by treating the
subject as a whole, instead of plunging at once into
the examination of a particular period or author.
It occurred to me that I might construct in outline
a biography, as it were, of that form of State in
which both Greeks and Eomans lived and made
their most valuable contributions to our modern
civilisation, tracing it from its birth in prehistoric
times to its dissolution under the Koman Empira
X THE CITY-STATE
Such a biography had indeed already been written,
and by a man of genius, the late Fustel de
Coulanges; but La CiU Antique, brilliant as it is,
is a book of one idea, and did not exactly answer
the purpose I proposed to myself. I wished simply
to sketch the history of the City-State, without
reference to any particular view of the origin oi
its institutions.
In writing out these lectures from the notes I
used I have expanded them considerably, especially
the last two. They will probably, however, betray
their origin as lectures, but I hope they may not
be found less readable on that account. In adding
notes and references it has been my aim to acquaint
the beginner with the names of a few books of the
best repute, both English and foreign, as well as
with the most important original authorities for the
events touched upon. It will probably be found
that there are more citations of the Politics of
Aristotle than of any one other work ; for it was
one of my chief objects to connect the history
of the City-State as closely as possible with the
reasonings of its best philosophical exponent. In
order to make sure that every reader, whether he
understands Greek or not, shall be able to find the
passage to which I am referring without any real
difficulty, I have quoted the Politics by the paging
of the Berlin edition, which will be found on the
