ABSTRACT
It must not be supposed that Greek democracy established equality among all free men. Athens refused citizenship to the foreigners domiciled on her territory. At first she was not very particular; an Athenian formed a line of Athenians, whatever the country of his wife. But when the development of trade drew masses of foreigners to Attica mixed marriages became frequent. At the same time the triumphant democracy was increasing the material and moral advantages attached to citizenship. The more keenly these were sought by those who were excluded from them, the more resolutely those who enjoyed them defended their privilege. In 451 a law proposed by Pericles himself provided that to be a citizen a man must be born of a citizen father and a citizen mother. The Athenian who presented a son to his phratry must swear that his wife was an Athenian; if not, the child was impure, a bastard, a nothos. Six years later the usefulness of this restriction became manifest; because they had demanded their share in a distribution of corn, thousands of men born in Attica were sold as slaves. One of the first steps which the people took after the civil troubles was to bring the law of exclusion into force again. As soon as it was suspected that illegitimate entries had been made on the registers of citizens, a decree ordered a general revision of all registers. Athens consented to confer citizenship on a foreigner only as a national reward for distinguished services. The democracy guarded its golden book with jealous care.
