master's hand. There are no traces in the treatise either of variety of
authorship or of incompleteness, though there are evidences of
interpolation.

_Contents._--The treatise consists of two parts, one historical, and the
other descriptive. The first forty-one chapters compose the former part,
the remainder of the work the latter. The first part comprised an
account of the original constitution of Athens, and of the eleven
changes through which it successively passed (see c. 41). The papyrus,
however, is imperfect at the beginning (the manuscript from which it was
copied appears to have been similarly defective), the text commencing in
the middle of a sentence which relates to the trial and banishment of
the Alcmeonidae for their part in the affair of Cylon. The missing
chapters must have contained a sketch of the original constitution, and
of the changes introduced in the time of Ion and Theseus.

The following is an abstract of Part I. in its present form. Chapters
2, 3, description of the constitution before the time of Draco. 4,
Draco's constitution. 5-12, reforms of Solon. 13, party feuds after
the legislation of Solon. 14-19, the rule of Peisistratus and his
sons. 20, 21, the reforms of Cleisthenes. 22, changes introduced
between Cleisthenes and the invasion of Xerxes. 23, 24, the supremacy
of the Areopagus, 479-461 B.C. 25, its overthrow by Ephialtes. 26,
27, changes introduced in the time of Pericles. 28, the rise of the
demagogues. 29-33, the revolution of the Four Hundred. 34-40, the
government of the Thirty. 41, list of the successive changes in the
constitution. It may be noted that the reforms of Solon, the tyranny
of Peisistratus and his sons, and the revolutions of the Four Hundred
and the Thirty, together occupy considerably more than two-thirds of
Part I.

Part II. describes the constitution as it existed at the period of
the composition of the treatise (329-322 B.C.). It begins with an
account of the conditions of citizenship and of the training of the
_ephebi_ (citizens between the ages of 18 and 20). In chapters 43-49
the functions of the Council ([Greek: boule]) and of the officials
who act in concert with it are described. 50-60 deal with the
officials who are appointed by lot, of whom the most important are
the nine Archons, to whose functions five chapters (55-59) are
devoted. The military officers, who come under the head