PREFACE.

I LAY before the public speeches delivered in civil causes in Athenian courts of justice. These have hitherto not received the attention which they deserve. They do not indeed involve matters of the same interest and importance as the political speeches, nor can we expect to find in them the same fiery eloquence, which

Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece

To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne.

But they possess a peculiar merit of their own. Though we no longer recognize the lofty spirit of the statesman addressing the general assembly, we may find much to admire in the subtle reasoning of the lawyer, in the zeal and energy of the suitor, or his advocate, addressing the jury, expatiating upon his injuries, demanding his rights, inflaming the passions, and appealing to the sympathy of the audience. The genius of Demosthenes is still the same, though exerting itself in a humbler sphere.

The greater number of the forensic speeches were not delivered by the author himself, but written by him for others. The Athenians had no distinct class of men, like the English bar, whose

business and privilege it was to be heard on behalf of their clients. If a man felt himself incompetent to address the court, he was at liberty to require the assistance of any friend he pleased to speak for him; or he might open the case himself, and procure a more experienced person to finish it. The more usual and approved course, however, was, for the party to conduct his own case from beginning to end; and the counsel, (if he retained any), merely prepared his speech out of court. This may in some measure account for certain peculiarities of style, which the reader will not fail to observe, and which would appear strange in the address of counsel to an English jury, but are suitable enough to the language of an Athenian, pleading his own cause before his country

men.

There is, attached to these relics of forensic oratory, an interest independent of their value as pieces of composition. They give us, more than any other of the records of antiquity, an insight into the private affairs of the Athenian people. Here we see the citizen of Athens, not as depicted by Thucydides, in the assembly or the camp; not caricatured, as by Aristophanes, but in his real and individual character, in all the relations of social and active life; in the corn market, or on the exchange; in the factory or the bankinghouse; attending to his farm in the country, or negotiating in the harbour with merchants and

shipowners; assisting at the registration of a birth, or surrounded by friends on his death bed, and making his last will and testament. Any thing which tends to throw light upon the history of a people, who have exercised so important an influence over the destinies of mankind, cannot fail to excite our curiosity; but no part of history is more instructive or pleasing than that which brings us behind the curtain of society, exhibiting to us men as they are seen in domestic life, in their dealings and intercourse with their neighbours.

The Athenians were the first people who appear to have paid much attention to mercantile law. After the defeat of the Persians, and the establishment of its naval power, Athens became the great centre of the commercial world. Foreigners from all parts flocked thither. The beauty of the place, the magnificence of its public buildings, theatres, shows, and entertainments; the charms of its society, arts, and literature; all these were powerful attractions. But, as an emporium of trade, Athens possessed natural advantages. Its position was central with respect to the rest of Greece; its harbours were commodious and so placed as to receive vessels during all winds. Attica was celebrated for the fineness of its fruits, especially figs and olives, and also for its honey. The fisheries in the neighbourhood were productive. The mines of Laurium, which extended along the coast for seven miles, yielded silver, lead, and

metallic earths. The quarries of Pentelicus and Hymettus furnished beautiful marble. These were the chief articles of native produce exported by the Athenians. But their manufactures were in great request, especially those of cloth, leather, armour, hardware, earthenware, jewellery. They imported gold, iron, copper, timber for ship-building, leather, wax, tar, and other raw produce from the coasts of the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean; wine from the Ægean Islands; carpets and fine wool from Phrygia and Miletus. But the import of greatest importance to them was corn; for the soil of Attica was meagre, and though it was highly cultivated, and produced both wheat and barley, it did not produce enough to feed half a million of men, which was about the population (slaves and all) in the flourishing time of the republic. One third of the corn consumed by this people is said to have been imported. It came chiefly from Euboea, Macedonia, Thrace, Pontus, Egypt, Syria, and Sicily. There were severe regulations to insure a plentiful supply of corn, and to prevent its exportation. One of their laws was, that no Athenian should convey corn to any place but Athens.

While trade was an object of national policy, it was far from being disreputable to the individuals who carried it on. Cleon, the great demagogue, was a tanner. Many most respectable citizens had large manufactories, which they superintended them

selves, the manual labour being usually performed by slaves. A great number of foreigners resided at Athens, solely for the purpose of commerce, which they seem to have prosecuted with spirit and success. The orators draw the most lively pictures of the capitalist of their day,-a bustling active man, full of enterprise, eager to embark in any speculation with a reasonable chance of profit; yet withal not destitute of wariness and prudence. We may observe him lending his money upon some perilous adventure across the sea, yet at the same time keeping a sharp eye upon the borrower; seeing that the goods, on which his money was advanced, were duly put on board; giving directions to his correspondent to look to the return cargo in the foreign port, and anxiously watching for the ship's arrival home. The same person may be seen careful and exact in drawing up his agreements in writing, making all his payments in the presence of witnesses, in short, taking all those precautions which are usually adopted by men of business, who know how to look to the main. chance in their worldly affairs.

The period of greatest prosperity to Athens was about half a century before the close of the Sicilian war. Conquered by the Peloponnesians and reduced to servitude, she again revived after the battle of Cnidus; and between that time and the battle of Chæronea she had regained much of her naval pre-eminence, and become (at least in point of