In some States,
like Athens, every change favored the rise of the people, who gradually
obtained the ascendency. They instituted the principle of legal equality,
by which every freeman was supposed to exercise the attributes of
sovereignty. But democracy invariably led to the ascendency of factions,
and became itself a tyranny. It became jealous of all who were
distinguished for birth, or wealth, or talents. It encouraged flatterers
and sycophants. It was insatiable in its demands on the property of the
rich, and listened to charges which exposed them to exile and their
estates to confiscation. It increased the public burdens by unwise
expenditures to please the men of the lower classes who possessed
political franchise.

(M402) But different forms of government existed in different States. In
Sparta there was an oligarchy of nobles which made royalty a shadow, and
which kept the people in slavery and degradation. In Athens the democratic
principle prevailed. In Argos kings reigned down to the Persian wars. In
Corinth the government went through mutations as at Athens. In all the
States and cities experiments in the various forms of government were
perpetually made and perpetually failed. They existed for a time, and were
in turn supplanted. The most permanent government was that of Sparta; the
most unstable was that of Athens. The former promoted a lofty patriotism
and public morality and the national virtues; the latter inequalities of
wealth, the rise of obscure individuals, and the progress of arts.

(M403) The fall of the ancient monarchies and aristocracies was closely
connected with commercial enterprise and the increase of a wealthy class
of citizens. In the beginning of the seventh century before Christ, a
great improvement in the art of ship-building was made, especially at
Corinth. Colonial settlements kept pace with maritime enterprise; and both
of these fostered commerce and wealth. The Euxine lost its terrors to
navigators, and the AEgean Sea was filled with ships and colonists. The
Adriatic Sea was penetrated, and all the seas connected with the
Mediterranean. From the mouth of the Po was brought amber, which was
highly valued by the ancients. A great number of people were drawn to
Egypt, by the liberal offers of its kings, who went there for the pursuit
of knowledge and of wealth, and from which they brought back the papyrus
as a cheap material for writing. The productions of Greece were exchanged
for