ABSTRACT
The old conception according to which the stranger ceased to be an enemy (e%#/>09) only if he were received as a guest (%evo$) had left many traces in the Greece of classical times. 1 The right of a city to lead foraying expeditions (o~v\av) ,carrying off persons (ayeiv) and property (<f>epeLv) from the territory of another city, remained intact so long as there existed no formal and bilateral convention as obstacle. It was exercised without scruple among the savage tribes of the North-West; 2 nowhere did peoples hesitate to have recourse to it when a claim deemed legitimate failed to receive a satisfactory answer, especially when they considered that justice called for reprisals and there was justification for the seizing of pledges (pvaidfciv) . Within each city aliens had only very limited rights, even if their position were established not only by law but also by a treaty, and even if they were permanently domiciled in it as metics. These principles persisted to the end; but their severity was tempered, in international and public law alike, without, however, infringing the sovereignty of the State, 3
