Classical Theology.—Xxv.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XXV .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JULY 11 , 1800 .

VIII . ' —MAKS AND OCTOBER . AT what time the court of Areopagus was first instituted is uncertain , and different opinions prevail as to its origin . Plutarch and Cicero consider its foundation as recent as Solon ' s time , but this is contradicted by Aristotle ; and it appears , indeed , that one of the laws of Solon , mentioned by Plutarch himself , refers to a judgment in this court rji'evious

to the reform of the commonwealth by that lawgiver . The most reliable historical documents fix the establishment of the Areopagus at a date far anterior to the age of the great p hilosopher and lawgiver , whose science and admirable code of laws after all could not save him from the tyranny of Pisistratus . This famous courtin factmost likely dates as

, , early , or even earlier than Oecrops , the founder of Athens , and was probably continued and augmented by him , and made a higher court than thc Eplieice appointed by Demop hoon , with an augmentation of the authority and privileges previously exercised by that body . Thc number of members composing this ancient senate has

been variously estimated . With some old authorities they range from nine to fifty-one elders , besides nobles and persons who were conspicuous for their virtue , or admitted amongst them in deference to their riches . Others affirm that the number of nine ajijilies solely to the Archons , chosen from tho ThesmothetiB ; or that the Avehons themselves passed

from that office once a year into this body . In either case , their number could not always have been the same , unless they wore only allowed to remain in this eminent assembly a restricted period—which was not the case , we know , in after times , and as far back as when Rufus Festus was proconsul of Greece , It is , in fact , obvious from an ancient inscription upon the column erected at Athens , to the memory of Pes tus , that the great senate of the Areopagus consisted of three hundred persons at that time .

The Archons themselves ivere not indiscriminately admitted into the Areopagite administration . They had , like the rest , to give an account of the discharge of the duties of their oflice , and to pass an examination of a rigorous and formal kind before the Logistce , whose approbation it was necessary to obtain . Thereupon , after the performance of

special sacrifices to Bacchus , at a place called Limnce , in Athens , they were entitled to their admittance upon set days . This was a regulation constituted by Solon , and for many ages most strictly observed , but which , in the decline of Athenian grandeur , together ivifch other excellent ordinances , was either wholly neglected or abrogated . At this period of

decadence , the Archons by their own right , and even other persons of loose lives , and dubious or disreputable position , strangers too , who were not previously allowed , found their way into this onco exclusive , venerable , and then general assembly . Of such we believe the Eufus Pestus of thc honorary column was an instance , at least , as described by

thc learned Meursius . Before this degeneration , the Areopagus was undoubtedl y , as Aristidos tells us , "the most sacred and venerated tribunal in all Greece . " The poets feign that the Amazons were tlie daughters of Mars , and when , they invested Athens they encamped on its hill , and there offered to their father , the god of war and blood

, appropriate sacrifices whereupon some say this place was therefore named ' Apetorj Tlayoc . But if the court was first held , us others affirm , for the arraignment of Mars , ho himself being ono of thc twelve Dvi magni , it is questionable whether his acquittal was on the just grounds of an equal division or bthe main right of majoritof To have

, y a y one . sat or been seen in a tavern , iva . s once with tho Athenians a sufficient reason to disqualify an Archon for admission into this altogether exact , virtuous , and august council ; and if " any one of their house was convicted of crime or immorality , he was forthwith expelled without mercy or favour , AVe

are told that reverence and aive attached to tho senators themselves individually , exclusive of the general approbation and sanctity emanating from their solemn proceedings . "Once chosen into its tribunal , " says Isocrates ( although , in his days , it had already lost much of its pristine rectitude ) , "the worst presently preferred to conform to tho orders and manners of that court rather than to return to their loose and vicious inclinations or otherwise evil course of life . " And

Demosthenes goes so far ns to assert that up to Jus time , so upright and impartial were the adjudications of this court , that "there had never been so much as one sentence of which either plaintiff or defendant could find a just reason to complain . " Indeed this was so conspicuously true and so universally allowed , that controversies between rival states were willingly submitted to the decision of this ( to them )

foreign tribunal . As one example of this , may be quoted that of the Mcssenians , who before their first war with the Spartans , were particularly anxious , as ifc appears from tho account of Pausanias , to bring the cause of their difference before the Arcopagites , and that both parties should abid by the judgment of that court .

Among the decreed regulations of the Arcopagites it was nofc thought enough to enact that their lives were scrupulousl y honest and unblamable—their whole conduct , their words , actions , and demeanour , were to be more magnanimous , beneficent , and grave and serious than that of the ordinary humanity which they observed around them . It AVUS held

to be an act of intolerable levity to laugh or to indulge in ridicule , in their stately ordered and carefully elected assembly . There-was even a so 2 * iarato injunction of the statutes , as referred to by Plutarch { De Gloria , Atheniens . ' ) , " strictly prohibiting any of them to write a comedy . " In the j'ear of the forty-sixth Olympiad , Solon was made

an Archon—the Arehontes , or chief magistrates of Athens , consisting of nine . Athens , being invaded by the Peloponnesians and Thvacians , the answer of the oracle was , "The invaders may succeed if the Athenian king be not slain . " Oodrus , renowned more for his ingenuous bravery than his good fortune , implicitl y believing the supernatural injunction , and preferring the welfare of his country to his own safet y ,

disguised himself in the homely habit of an armed peasant , and made his way to the enemies' camp , Avhere he soon found the heroic and patriotic death he sought . In veneration of his memory , and the success of the self sacrifice—for the adverse host , on the demand of the herald for the body of thc king , became suddenly despondent and broke up in all haste ,

without attempting to strike a blow—tho Athenians woulel never more allow to their ruler the title of king , but from the time of this event were governed by the Arehontes in succession , that is , by those of the blood royal , who were to hold their dignity for life . The first of these was Medon , the eldest son . of Codras , from whom the thirteen that

followed were surnamedMedontidse , as signifying their descent . There is scarcely any memorable deed on record of any of these rulers , and the very names of some of them have passed into oblivion . In the first year ofthe seventh Olympiad , both tho power and succession of the whole Athenian government devolved

upon the rights of the people , who , the more readily to restrain the arrogance and sway of the Archons , limited them to a decennial term of office . The first , after this decision , who was elevated and adorned ivith thc Archonial crown , was Charops , the son of iEschylus ; but this change , pressing on from a kingdom badly managed brought down to a

commonwealth , as a matter of course did nofc long content them , anel in about seventy years after , in order that the Arehontes might be more dependent on thc favour of the citizens it was decreed that their authority should virtually become extinct once a year , when they were obliged to render a public account of their administration . The first who entered in this manner upon his charge was C'leou , in tlie year of the twenty-fourth Olympiad ,