15　古希臘自治

古希臘人率先作了艱難的自治嘗試

剛開始，所有希臘人都貧富均等。每個人都有一定數量的牛羊，土棚子就是他們的城堡。他們來去自由，隨心所欲。每當要商議公眾大事時，所有人都聚集在集市上。大家推選村里德高望重的人主持會議，他的職責是讓每個人都有機會發表意見。一旦發生戰爭，大家又會選出另一位有能力、有信心的人作為指揮官。盡管打仗時，村民自愿給予此人領導權，可危險解除后，他們也有權將其罷免。

但是村莊逐漸發展為城鎮。有些人干活賣力，而有些人很懶惰；有些人不太走運，而有些人欺騙別人，詐取錢財。結果，城鎮再也不是貧富均等的社會了。正相反，城里生活著極少數的富人和大多數的窮人。

還有另一個變化。因為善于指揮民眾奪取勝利，從前的指揮官被大家心甘情愿尊為“頭領”或“國王”。但后來這種現象消失了。他的位置被貴族取代。貴族是一個富人階級，他們在相當長的一段時期內霸占了大量的農田和房產。

disappeared from the scene. His place had been taken by the nobles—a class of rich people who during the course of time had got hold of an undue share of the farms and estates.

These nobles enjoyed many advantages over the common crowd of freemen. They were able to buy the best weapons which were to be found on the market of the eastern Mediterranean. They had much spare time in which they could practise the art of fighting. They lived in strongly built houses and they could hire soldiers to fight for them. They were constantly quarrelling among each other to decide who should rule the city. The victorious nobleman then assumed a sort of Kingship over all his neighbours and governed the town until he in turn was killed or driven away by still another ambitious nobleman.

Such a King, by the grace of his soldiers, was called a “Tyrant” and during the seventh and sixth centuries before our era every Greek city was for a time ruled by such Tyrants, many of whom, by the way, happened to be exceedingly capable men. But in the long run, this state of affairs became unbearable. Then attempts were made to bring about reforms and out of these reforms grew the first democratic government of which the world has a record.

It was early in the seventh century that the people of Athens decided to do some house-cleaning and give the large number of freemen once more a voice in the government as they were supposed to have had in the days of their Ach?an ancestors. They asked a man by the name of Draco to provide them with a set of laws that would protect the poor against the aggressions of the rich.Draco set to work. Unfortunately he was a professional lawyer and very much out of touch with ordinary life. In his eye a crime was a crime and when he had finished his code, the people of Athens discovered that these Draconian laws were so severe that they could not possibly be put into effect. There would not have been rope enough to hang all the criminals under their new system of jurisprudence which made

與普通百姓相比，這些貴族享有很多優勢。他們可以買到地中海東部市場上最先進的武器。他們有大量的空閑時間來練習作戰方法。他們住在堅固的房子里，雇士兵為自己打仗。他們彼此不斷爭執，只為決定誰來統治這座城市。然后，獲勝的貴族就對所有鄰居實施王權，并統治城鎮，直到他反過來被另一個野心勃勃的貴族殺死或趕下臺。

這樣的國王被士兵稱為“專制的君主”。公元前7～前6世紀，每個古希臘城邦都曾一度被這樣的君主統治。順便說一下，大多數這樣的君主碰巧都有超人的能力。但從長遠角度來看，這種事態是讓人無法忍受的。于是，大家試圖進行一些改革，并誕生了有史以來的第一個民主政府。

早在公元前7世紀，雅典人就決定推陳出新，給大多數自由公民更多管理政府的發言權，如同古代亞加亞祖先擁有的權利一樣。他們要求一個名叫德拉古的人草

the stealing of an apple a capital offence.

The Athenians looked about for a more humane reformer. At last they found some one who could do that sort of thing better than anybody else. His name was Solon. He belonged to a noble family and he had travelled all over the world and had studied the forms of government of many other countries. After a careful study of the subject, Solon gave Athens a set of laws which bore testimony to that wonderful principle of moderation which was part of the Greek character. He tried to improve the condition of the peasant without however destroying the prosperity of the nobles who were（or rather who could be）of such great service to the state as soldiers. To protect the poorer classes against abuse on the part of the judges（who were always elected from the class of the nobles because they received no salary）, Solon made a provision whereby a citizen with a grievance had the right to state his case before a jury of thirty of his fellow Athenians.

Most important of all, Solon forced the average freeman to take a direct and personal interest in the affairs of the city. No longer could he stay at home and say “oh, I am too busy today” or “it is raining and I had better stay indoors.” He was expected to do his share; to be at the meeting of the town council; and carry part of the responsibility for the safety and the prosperity of the state.

This government by the “demos,” the people, was often far from successful. There was too much idle talk. There were too many hateful and spiteful scenes between rivals for official honor. But it taught the Greek people to be independent and to rely.Upon themselves for their salvation and that was a very good thing.

擬一套律法，以保護窮人免受富人的侵犯。德拉古著手工作。可遺憾的是，他是一位職業律師，接觸不到普通百姓的生活。在他眼里，罪犯就是罪犯。所以當他完成這部法律時，雅典人發現德拉古的法律太嚴酷了，根本不可能實施。依照新法，偷一個蘋果就是死罪，那根本沒有足夠的繩子來絞死罪犯。

雅典人四處尋找一個更為人性化的改革者。終于，他們發現有個人很勝任這項工作，他的名字叫梭倫。他出身于貴族家庭，游歷了全世界，研究過許多其他國家的政治體制。經過再三斟酌，梭倫為雅典制定了一部法律。這部法律的陳詞極好地體現了古希臘品質的中庸原則。梭倫力圖改善農民的生活條件，但不想損害貴族的利益。因為在國家危難之時，貴族可以充當（或相當于）士兵。為了保護較貧苦的階級不受某些法官的瀆職侵害（由于沒有報酬，他們通常從貴族階級中選出），梭倫規定，市民如不服審判，有權在由30個雅典公民組成的陪審團前陳情。

最重要的是，梭倫迫使普通百姓對國家事務產生直接的、切身的興趣。從此，普通百姓不會待在家中說：“哦，我今天太忙了”或“下雨了，我最好還是待在屋子里”。百姓也必須履行自己的義務，必須參加市政會，肩負起國家安定繁榮的職責。

“普通”民眾管理的政府常常很不成功。他們總是夸夸其談，而且經常為爭奪名利而鉤心斗角。但是這種制度教會希臘人獨立自主和自我拯救。這是一件好事。