登陆注册
15698700000082

第82章

Grote and other historians regard with doubt the famous division of property into 9000 equal parts, which, according toPlutarch, was effected by Lycurgus. There may be some doubt with regard to the details, but the division, in itself, is entirelyin harmony with the spirit of ancient politics. A division of property seems to have taken place at the time of the foundationof the state, about the year 1000 B. C., and after the conquest of Messenia under Polydorus (700 B.C.). However this maybe, Aristotle reproaches Spartan legislators for not having taken efficient steps to maintain equality of condition. Thepopulation, he Bays, was divided into rich and poor: all the wealth was in the hands of a few individuals, possessed ofcolossal fortunes. According to Aristotle this concentration of landed property was carried so far, that in the time of AgisIII., the whole of Laconia was the property of one hundred persons. The population rapidly decreased. The number of mencapable of bearing arms was reduced from 10,000 to 1,000 even in the time of Aristotle, and was only `704) in the time ofPlutarch. Aristotle saw no other remedy for the decay of the state than a partition of lands, with a view to there-establishment of equality of property. The struggle between the rich and the poor had already begun at the period whenthe Stagyrite wrote. In several towns, he says, the rich had taken this oath: "I swear to be the enemy of the people, and to dothem all the harm in my power." (4) At Sparta, and in many other Greek states, the kings placed themselves at the head of thepeople in opposition to the aristocracy. Caesarism was democratic and socialistic. Agis advocated a division of property, butwas killed. The king Cleomenes (238222 B.C.) carried out the popular programme:the abolition of debts, the partition ofproperty, and the grant of political rights to all who had been deprived of them. Laconia was divided into 15,000 partsallotted to the Periaeci, and 4,500 to the citizens. Cleomenes, overthrown in foreign war, was succeeded by other "tyrants,"who continued to oppress and despoil the rich, to retain the favour of the people. The economic history of Sparta, repeatedin the other Greek states, is very similar to that of Rome. So long as equality was maintained by the families preserving theirpatrimony, political liberty survived. When once the rich usurped the soil, the struggle of classes began, and was only endedby the establishment of despotism and the destruction of the state.

Aristotle, in his Politics , sums up in a few words the conclusion derived from the economic history of Greece. "For them(the legislators) the crucial point seems to be the organization of property, the one source, in their opinion, of revolutions.

Phileas of Chalcedonia was the first to lay down the principle that equality of fortune was indispensable among the citizens."In fact, when the division of property is too unequal, democracy leads to social revolution; for the man who has the suffrage,seeks also to have property. Democratic institutions have only brought man peace, when, as in Switzerland and in primitivetime, manners are simple and conditions very equal.

In the other Greek republics we find the same economic evolution as at Sparta,the concentration of landed property, theadvance of inequality, cultivation by slaves, whose number is continually increasing; and finally depopulation. When Greecebecame a Roman province it was transformed into a desert, where the flocks wandered at will, and wild beasts lurked in theruins of temples and cities. At the end of the first century of our era, the population was so reduced-that the whole ofGreece could hardly produce 3,000 fully armed warriors, the number which Megara alone sent to the battle of Platea.

Equality was the basis of Greek democracies; inequality was their ruin. (5)1. Arist. Politics , iv. 9, 7.

2. Aristotle, Politics , ii. 4, ?4;II. 3, ?7;II. 4, Ё 1, 2.

3. See Herodotus, VI, 57; Pausanias III. 20; Plato, Laws , I, The Cretan towns derived from their common lands, cultivatedby a particular class of serfs, sufficient to provide the public repasts. The citizens had therefore at least the means ofsubsistence.

4. Politics , viii. 7.

5. See the instructive work of Karl Bü;cher, Die Aufstä;nde der unfreien Arbeiter , 1874, ch. iv.

CHAPTER XII.

PROPERTY AT ROME.

The Romans, after passing the two successive stages of the village community and the family community, were the first toestablish exclusive, individual property in land; and the principles they adopted on this subject still serve as the basis of lawfor continental states. Scarcely, however, was quiritary dominion established, when it threatened the existence of thedemocratic institutions and of the Republic, by its power of encroachment. It was in vain to set limits to it: la grandeproprié;té; consumed la petite . The economic history of Rome is little else than a picture of the struggle against theencroachments of quiritary dominion. (1)

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 在青涩季节里绽放的花蕾

    在青涩季节里绽放的花蕾

    在青涩季节里绽放的花蕾,你知道它最后怎么了吗?也许是灿烂的,但是更多的是凋零心酸。
  • tfboys:傲娇未婚妻

    tfboys:傲娇未婚妻

    这是本大大第一部小说,男主角暂设定为不是明星,四叶草勿吐槽哈~
  • 傲娇帝少,请轻亲

    傲娇帝少,请轻亲

    守了8年的小东西被抢走了还成了未婚夫妻关系,他没计较,居然那个不长眼的家伙和小东西的姐姐偷腥甩了小东西,他忍无可忍。他君亦宸的女人,只能她甩别人,不许别人甩她。他是只手遮天的帝少,外界传言他高贵,冷傲,不近人情,对她却无赖,霸道,小孩子气,宠爱她一身……。“宝贝儿,做我女人,我帮你虐渣渣或者我和你一起虐渣渣”君亦宸邪魅一笑,当天就去了民政局。婚后,“老婆,你喜欢我哪一点?”君亦宸用手撑着脸看着墨小初“我喜欢你离我远一点”墨小初捂着酸痛的腰对君亦宸咆哮道。【男女主身心干净,作者有小洁癖】
  • TFBOYS你还爱我

    TFBOYS你还爱我

    樱花落下的速度是每秒五厘米,我该用怎样的速度,与你相遇——王俊凯。——苏倾倾雨滴降落的速度是每秒十米,我该用怎样的速度,在你之前——王源——苏思悦雪花飘落的速度是无形的,我该用怎样的速度赶在你之前——易烊千玺——苏轻云
  • 重生之丑颜相公

    重生之丑颜相公

    纵然有绝世容颜,关于是否爱你都是浮云我若爱你,哪怕你容颜尽毁,只要还是你那么我都会为了你,而放弃一切。我爱你,只要是你!【慢热文,有甜蜜,也有虐心……】
  • 毒妃撩人:腹黑殿下太霸道

    毒妃撩人:腹黑殿下太霸道

    冷艳绝世的顶级女杀手,一次意外魂回千年的前世之身,她霸气归来,惊才绝艳,让那些瞧不起她的人惊得掉落无数眼珠。她浑身带毒,胆小的人都对她避之若恐,唯独那些不怕死的采花蜂老缠在她后面扑,她杏眸轻挑:“不怕我身上的毒让你七窍流血?”某殿下凛然魅笑:“就怕你的毒,毒不死我。”
  • 强势竞争

    强势竞争

    整套书系内容纵横,伴随整个人生成功发展历程,思想蕴含丰富,表达深入浅出,闪耀着智慧的光芒和精神的力量,具有成功心理暗示和潜在智慧力量开发的功能,具有很强的理念性、系统性和实用性,能够起到启迪思想、增强心智、鼓舞斗志、指导成功的作用。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 笙歌幽 剑光寒

    笙歌幽 剑光寒

    宇文浩天,异于常人,一生被五个“寒”所包围。初出茅庐,遇见俏佳人寒影笙,与她携手天涯。身中剧毒,明知世上无药可解,又是如何得以续命?马语华,娇柔妩媚,清若百合。在二者之间,宇文浩天又是如何选择?人在江湖,身不由己。浩天的心已渐渐入魔。正与邪的较量,孰能成功?人性之泪,究竟能否温暖那已冰冷的心?重出江湖,与狼腾镖局之间会发生什么事情?棺材里的人究竟是谁?到最后,浩天才得知,自己的身世竟然是……
  • 末日之涅槃重生

    末日之涅槃重生

    林天重生在十二年前,此时虫族才刚刚降临,从头开始的他又该如何改变原本属于自己的命运,看林天末日如何创造奇迹。