But it taught the Greek people to be independent and
to rely upon themselves for their salvation and that was a very
good thing.
GREEK LIFE
HOW THE GREEKS LIVED
BUT how, you will ask, did the ancient Greeks have time
to look after their families and their business if they were
forever running to the market-place to discuss affairs of state?
In this chapter I shall tell you.
In all matters of government, the Greek democracy recognised
only one class of citizens--the freemen. Every Greek
city was composed of a small number of free born citizens, a
large number of slaves and a sprinkling of foreigners.
At rare intervals (usually during a war, when men were
needed for the army) the Greeks showed themselves willing to
confer the rights of citizenship upon the ``barbarians'' as they
called the foreigners. But this was an exception. Citizenship
was a matter of birth. You were an Athenian because your
father and your grandfather had been Athenians before you.
But however great your merits as a trader or a soldier, if you
were born of non-Athenian parents, you remained a ``foreigner''
until the end of time.
The Greek city, therefore, whenever it was not ruled by a
king or a tyrant, was run by and for the freemen, and this
would not have been possible without a large army of slaves
who outnumbered the free citizens at the rate of six or five
to one and who performed those tasks to which we modern
people must devote most of our time and energy if we wish to
provide for our families and pay the rent of our apartments.
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