xistence
without the forethought and intention of its own creators, that vented
its rule on the Athenians with the full brutality of youth.

What was to be done? The old gentile organization had not only proved
impotent against the triumphant march of money: it was also absolutely
incapable of containing within its confines any such thing as money,
creditors, debtors and forcible collection of debts. But the new social
power was upon them and neither pious wishes nor a longing for the
return of the good old times could drive money and usury from the face
of the earth. Moreover, gentile constitution had suffered a number of
minor defeats. The indiscriminate mingling of the gentiles and phrators
in the whole of Attica, and especially in Athens, had assumed larger
proportions from generation to generation. Still even now a citizen of
Athens was not allowed to sell his residence outside of his gens,
although he could do so with plots of land. The division of labor
between the different branches of production--agriculture, trades,
numberless specialties within the trades, commerce, navigation,
etc.--had developed more fully with the progress of industry and
traffic. The population was now divided according to occupations into
rather well defined groups, everyone of which had separate interests not
guarded by the gens or phratry and therefore necessitating the creation
of new offices. The number of slaves had increased considerably and must
have surpassed by far that of the free Athenians even at this early
stage. Gentile society originally knew no slavery and was, therefore,
ignorant of any means to hold this mass of bondsmen in check. And
finally, commerce had attracted a great many strangers who settled in
Athens for the sake of the easier living it afforded. According to the
old constitution, the strangers had neither civil rights nor the
protection of the law. Though tacitly admitted by tradition, they
remained a disturbing and foreign element.

In short, gentile constitution approached its doom. Society was daily
growing more and more beyond it. It was powerless to stop or allay even
the most distressing evils that had grown under its very eyes. But in
the meantime the state had secretly developed. The new groups formed by
division of labor, first between city and country, then between the
various branches of city industry, had created new organs for the care
of their interests. Public offices of every description had