Part 12 - The appearance and construction of Democracy - childhood to maturity in Greece

While the long saga of dealing with hubris and the focus on seeking power and wealth demonstrates the allure of these dynamics, at long last (in part due to exhaustion?) Athens showed that it could lessen the influence of these cancers.   By the Fall of 403 the control of the demos had returned and the constitutional changes that went with it marked the onset of 80 years of a stable democracy. 

The victors over the oligarchs showed admirable maturity, generosity, and grace. While they were tempted to exact revenge this course was not selected. It is worth quoting at length a summary of a speech given at the time.  It “demonstrates the extent of the grievances felt by the Democrats, but also their willingness to overcome them. The speech was directed at the oligarchs..the speaker (Thrasybulus).. advises them to ask themselves what grounds they had for the arrogance  that made them seek to rule over the people.  On the score of justice, the demos, the poor, had never done them any wrong for the sake of money, while they had done many disgraceful things for gain. On the score of courage, the way both had conducted the war was the best measure of superiority. On the score of intelligence, despite having walls, weapons, money and Peloponnesian allies, they were beaten by men who had none of these. Even their allies abandon them and deliver them to the demos they had wronged. He ended by saying that in spite of all that he expected them to abide by the oaths they had sworn and assured them that they had no need to be fearful, but did need to adhere to the traditional legal order.”(Mitchell)  

The desire of the Oligarchs to rule had been fully discredited and rule by the people restored.  The covenant of 403 was praised at the time and no doubt was  highly unusual. It was full of notions of honor, justice, the rule of law, and the centrality of power as held by the demos. The demos determined that the best course was to be forward looking (and to leave the past behind), take the high road, encourage healing, and reconstruct a united and secure society.  As Aristotle noted, the sweeping amnesty applied to all except the key leaders of the oligarchs, showed very high statesmanship but those who might have exacted justifiable revenge.  In addition, every citizen was required to swear an oath to support the agreement.  This helped ensure a broad basis for support. 

It is worth noting that what in hindsight was a significant exception to reconciliation - the death of Socrates in 399.  The traditional view of this has been that Socrates was an incredible genius with the deepest moral integrity who only sought to seek out what was good for humanity.  The manner of his death has been seen as a horrific act against a saint. However, upon deeper examination, the reality is considerably more complicated. By the 420s Socrates was famed throughout Athens and was known as focusing on virtue and examine life closely to achieve it. Socrates faced two charges, that he would not recognize the gods of the state and the introductions of new divinities, and, that he had corrupted the youth.  

The former was likely based on his early involvement in what we would call the natural sciences. This is a charge that might have been brought up over the prior two decades and it is likely they were brought up to add weight to the latter, corrupting the young. This charge was drawn from the belief that Socrates bore some responsibilities for the disasters of the late 5th century since he was the most prominent mentor to many of the aristocratic young radicals who were responsible for so much strife and damage. His defense was not helped by the fact that he had a considerable aversion to democracy, in particular the idea every citizen should be considered of equal value. One could make a case that he provided an intellectual justification for the violent attack on democracy.  

As testimony to the complexity of humans in general, on the one hand, he was undoubtedly brilliant and noble of character.  On the other  hand, “the jury of 500 ordinary citizens in 399 only knew him as an eccentric public presence who disturbingly challenged people’s normal assumptions and values, and was generally surrounded by a coterie of the younger aristocratic elite. They had fresh memories of the trauma of two revolutions in which leading figures were members of that elite and known followers of Socrates. It was not difficult to convince them that he was more a threat than a benefit to democracy.”(Mitchell)

Early on after the defeat of the oligarchs, reform and updating laws was recognized as an urgent need. A council was chosen by lot who elected lawgivers who were responsible for the reform and updating.  In the meantime, the laws of Solon and Draco were to govern.  It was clear that after nearly 200 years, there were a large number of overlapping laws and degrees and considerable ambiguities and vagueness that needed correction.  An overarching review and codification of the broad body of existing law was needed.  In addition, some of the laws had only been haphazardly recorded in varied forms and places. With this awareness, the legal reforms were more comprehensive and impactful than prior efforts. 

In addition to clarifying the place of law in the newly restored democracy, new mechanisms were developed for regular review of the body of established law and for any changes to it.  While the new code was not seen as inviolate, and changes were possible, there were considerable hurdles put in place to make these alterations.  First, all new legislative proposals had to be put in writing and posted in the Agora for public inspection.  Then, a series of meetings of the Assembly, including roles for subgroups, would determine if the proposed law was to be approved. 

Another notable development was the introduction of pay for attendance at meetings of the Assembly.  The amount of pay was continually increased as were the number of meetings. By Aristotle’s time, there were forty set meetings a year.  This measure was clearly designed to encourage attendance, particularly of the lower classes, who could ill afford sacrificing a day’s pay from their regular work. 

I will turn to the effects of the reforms in the next post but it needs to be noted that as we have seen the democrats of Athens worked hard and long to hold on to their democracy sometimes against all odds.