. In the first place,
extreme democracy in that early period was more open than now to
excessive dangers. It was in danger of control by mobs, who were
ignorant of their own real interests and the interests of popular
government; it was in danger of falling into the hands of tyrants, who
would rule for their own private interests; it was in danger of falling
into the hands of a few, which frequently happened. And this democracy
in the ancient time was a rule of class--class subordination was the
essence of its constitution. There was no universal rule by the
majority. The franchise was an exclusive privilege extended to a
minority, hence it differed little from aristocracy, being a government
of class with a rather wider extension.

The ancient democracies were pure in form, in which the people governed
immediately. For every citizen had a right to appear in the assembly
and vote, and he could sit in the assembly, which acted as an open
court. Indeed, the elective officers of the democracy were not
considered as representatives of the people. They were the state and
not subject to impeachment, though they should break over all law.
After they returned among the citizens and were no longer the state
they could be tried for their misdemeanors in office.

Now, a state of this nature and form must of necessity be small, and as
government expanded and its functions increased, the representative
principle should have been introduced as a mainstay to the public
system. The individual in the ancient democracy lived for the state,
being subordinate to its existence as the highest form of life. We
find this entirely different from the modern democracy, in which
slavery and class subordination are both excluded, as opposed to its
theory and antagonistic to its very being. Its citizenship is wide,
extending to its native population, and its suffrage is universal to
all who qualify as citizens. The citizens, too, in {241} modern
democracies, live for themselves, and believe that the state is made by
them for themselves.

The decline of the Athenian democracy was hastened, also, by the
Peloponnesian war, caused first by the domineering attitude of Athens,
which posed as an empire, and the jealousy of Sparta. This struggle
between Athens and Sparta amounted almost to civil war. And although
it brought Sparta to the front as the most powerful state in all
Greece, she was unable to advance the higher civilization, but r