And in order to clear the city of pretended and false members, it was decreed, in the second year of the nineteenth olympiad, Archias being then Archon, that a strict inquisition should be made into causes of this nature, by men of the same borough with the accused. This enquiry was conducted in the following manner : When any person was accused, the prefect of the borough, to whose care was confided the public register of the Citizens, convened the members of his borough then the names of all the Citizens of that borough being called over, the accused was obliged to declare the ward of which he claimed to be a member, and to prove his right of succession by sufficient witnesses; or, in case he claimed his freedom as the gift of the people, and not by inheritance, he was then to produce the public decree of the popular assembly, whereby his privilege had been conferred. Then the judges of proscription, having first been sworn to do justice, and having duly deliberated on the evidence before them, gave their opinions by balloting; in which case, if the number of the white beans exceeded that of the black, the person was acquitted; but if the black appeared to be most numerous, he was deprived of his freedom. This verdict was to be given in before sun-set; and the person thus deprived of his freedom, was ranked with the sojourners.

If however the person thus disfranchised, refused to abide by the decision of his borough, he might appeal to the Thesmothetæ, who appointed proper judges to hear his appeal, and if it received their approbation, he was restored to his family; but if it was disallowed, and the justice of his sentence confirmed, he was then sold for a slave. Farther; as much as possible to prevent such litigations as these, all fathers were obliged to enrol their sons in the proper register of their particular ward; at which time, they made oath, that every son so registered, was either born to them in lawful matrimony, or was lawfully adopted. Notwithstanding which, the members of that ward had the liberty of rejecting any person, on sufficient evidence

being produced of his inadmissibility; this also was done by ballot. Then again, if the person was supposed to be unjustly rejected by the men of his own ward, he was allowed to appeal to the magistrates; if they declared in favor of his legitimacy, he was then registered by his own and his father's name, as in the following instance, "Thrasyles, the son of Apollodorus." The adopted sons were registered on the festival Thargetia, in the month Thargetion; the natural sons on the third day of the festival Apaturia.

At what age children were thus registered, is not agreed. Some are of opinion, that at every return of the Apaturia, it was customary to register all the children that had been born that year. Others affirm, that they were commonly three or four years old before they were registered. Cnenon, in Heliodorus, is said to have been enrolled after he had learned the letters of the alphabet. And the chorus, in the Rana of Aristophanes reflects upon Archedemus, as not having been admitted into his ward till he was seven years old. By this they seemed to intimate, that he had fraudulently insinuated himself into the number of the Citizens, it being usual for those who were free-born, to be registered before that age; though from these circumstances it appears, that the time of doing this was unsettled, and in some measure, optional.

There were two other seasons in which the young Athenians were registered, which, by some learned men, are confounded with that already mentioned; it may be necessary to explain this by observing, that the second time of registering was, when the young men had attained the age of eighteen years; they were then admitted into the number of the Ephebi. And this registering appears to have been mistaken for the former, because both were done on the same day; viz. the third day of the festival of Apaturia. At this second time of registering, they cut off a part of their hair, and consecrated it to some of the gods. The third time of registering the young Athenians was be

fore the festival Panathenæa; when those who were twenty years old, were introduced, at a public meeting, to the members of the same borough, and entered in a register, containing the names of all the persons of that borough, who were of age, to succeed to the inheritance of their fathers. This was called registering among the men. The persons thus enrolled, were from that time their own masters, being freed from the government of their guardians.

After Cecrops had settled a form of government amongst the Athenians; for the better administration of justice, and the prevention of fraud and deceit in their transactions with each other, he divided the people into four tribes: each tribe he subdivided into three parts, and each of these into thirty families. names of the tribes were,

The

1st. The tribe of Cecrops, for it was usual with the ancients, out of an earnest desire of perpetuating their memories, to call cities or countries, or any monuments that seemed likely to remain to succeeding ages, after their own names.

2. The Autocthenes, from a king of that name, supposed to have reigned in some part of Attica, before Cecrops; or more probably, they were so called from the epithet Autocthenes, which has been noticed before, and in which the Athenians gloried not a little.

3. Actœa, so called from Actæus, or Actæon, another of the kings before Cecrops; or from Acte, which signifies a shore; because a great part of Attica, and that part in particular, where this tribe inhabited, lay, towards the sea shore; and this was the reason why the whole country was sometimes called Acte; and the same reason is assigned, for the name of the fourth tribe, which they called Paralia, from its nearness to the sea.

In the reign of Cranaus, new names were imposed upon the tribes; and they were called,

1. Cranais, from the king's name. 2. Athis, from a young lady, the daughter of Cranaus. 3. Mesogæa. 4. Diacris. Both these seem to have taken their names from their situation; the latter being seated on a craggy shore, the former in the interior of the country. Erecthonius, being advanced to the kingdom, called them after the names of Jupiter, Minerva, Neptune, and Vulcan.

Afterwards, under Erectheus, they received new names from the sons of Ion, a man of great repute among the Athenians, and general of their armies, as Herodotus reports. The names were, 1. Geleontes; 2. Oplitæ ; 3. Ligicora; 4. Argades.

To these names, Euripides is supposed to refer, when he introduces Minerva speaking thus of Ion.

"Here nurse, Creüsa, since this child by birth
Claims the just privilege of Erectheus' line,
Take him to Athens, and proclaim him king;
For he has just pretensions to the crown.
His blooming courage is a previous sign,
With how much prowess, policy, and art,
Greece's dominions he will sway. The Gods
Shall bless him with four sons, by whom, in tribes,
High seated Athens, shall divided be,

And bear her several names derived from them."

This was the judgment of Herodotus; but Plutarch and others were of opinion, that the tribes were named after their occupations; that the soldiers were called Oplita; the craftsmen, Ergate; the farmers, Georgi; the shepherds and the graziers, Ligicore.

Afterwards, when the number of inhabitants was increased, Clisthenes, having first consulted Apollo's oracle, as was usual in every affair of moment, altered the number of the tribes, increasing them from four to ten, and gave them new names, taken from certain ancient heroes, all born in Attica, except Ajax, the son of Telamon, to whom he gave a place among the rest, as being a neighbour, friend, and companion in the wars ;

for, as Homer reports, Ajax's forces were joined to those of Ministheus, the Athenian general.

"Twelve ships from Salamis, stont Ajax brought,

And ranged his men, where the Athenians fought."

And Plutarch reports, that when the Athenians and Megarensians both made pretensions to Salamis, and chose the Spartans to decide the controversy, these lines of Homer being produced by Solon, did the Athenians much service, by strengthening their title to that island. The names of these heroes, according to Pausanias were; Erectheus, Cecrops, Egeus, Pandion, Acamas, Antiochus, Leo, Œnius, Hipothoon, Ajax.

Afterwards, when Antigonus and Demetrius freed the Athenians from the Macedonian slavery, they augmented their tribes, by adding two to the former number; which in honour of their deliverers, they named after them. But the gratitude of the Athenians being no longer lived than the good fortune and successes of these two princes, these tribes soon changed their first name, and called themselves after Attalus, king of Pergamus, and Ptolemy, king of Egypt; from both of whom the Athenians had received considerable favours. This continued to be the settled number of the tribes, as long as Athens maintained its liberty and form of government. Each of these tribes were divided into several parts, as before noticed; and the better to preserve a good understanding and harmony among them, they had public feasts, where they all met together and made merry, These feasts were first instituted by Solon.

In Attica were little boroughs, called Demoi, several of which belonged to every tribe; these, though they were reckoned together in the business of the commonwealth, yet had separate habitations, and distinct rites and ceremonies in the performance of their religious worship; and also different gods; for each of them adored particular deities, but all were unanimous