FOUR FAMOUS MEN OF ATHENS. 177

which any citizen who showed himself dangerous to
the state could be banished for ten years if six thou-
sand votes were cast against him. This was in-
tended as a means of preventing the rise of future
despots.

The people of Athens developed wonderfully in
public spirit under their new constitution. Hach of
them had now become the equal politically of the
richest and noblest in the state, and all took a more
vital interest in their country than had ever been
felt before. It was this that made them so earnest
and patriotic in the Persian war. The poorest citi-
zen fought as bravely as the richest for the freedom
of his beloved state.

Hach tribe, under the new laws, chose its own war-
leader, or general, so that there were ten generals of
equal power, and in war each of these was given
command of the army for a day; and one of the
archons, or civil heads of the state, was made general
of the state, or war archon, so that there were eleven
generals in all.

The leading man in each tribe was usually chosen
its general, and of these we have the stories of three
to tell,—Miltiades, the hero of Marathon; Themis-
tocles, who saved Greece at Salamis; and Aristides,
known as “the Just.”

We have already told how two of these men
gained great glory. We have now to tell how they
gained great diserace. Ambition, the bane of the
leaders of states, led them both to ruin.

Miltiades was of noble birth, and succeeded his
uncle as ruler of the Chersonese country, in Thrace.

I.—m