state by espousing the cause of the commonalty, and using the
strength of the people to put down the oligarchy by force. At
first they were popular with the general body of the citizens,
who were glad to see the humiliation of their former masters.
But discontent soon began to arise; the tyrant had recourse to
violence to quell disaffection; and the government became in
reality a tyranny in the modern sense of the word.

Many of the tyrants in Greece were put down by the
Lacedaemonians. The Spartan government was essentially an
oligarchy, and the Spartans were always ready to lend their
powerful aid in favour of the government of the Few. Hence they
took an active part in the overthrow of the despots, with the
intention of establishing the ancient oligarchy in their place.
But this rarely happened; and they found it impossible in most
cases to reinstate the former body of nobles in their ancient
privileges. The latter, it is true, attempted to regain them and
were supported in their attempts by Sparta. Hence arose a new
struggle. The first contest after the abolition of royalty was
between oligarchy and the despot, the next was between oligarchy
and democracy.

The history of Athens affords the most striking illustration of
the different revolutions of which we have been speaking.

Little is known of Athens before the age of Solon. Its legendary
tales are few, its historical facts still fewer. Cecrops, the
first ruler of Attica, is said to have divided the country into
twelve districts, which are represented as independent
communities, each governed by a separate king. They were