University of Virginia Library

608. ATHENS, Government of.—

The
government of Athens was that of the people


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of one city making laws for the whole country
subjected to them. That of Lacedæmon was
the rule of military monks over the laboring
class of the people, reduced to abject slavery.
These are not the doctrines of the present age.
The equal rights of man, and the happiness of
every individual, are now acknowledged to be
the only legitimate objects of government.—
To M. Coray. Washington ed. vii, 319.
(M. 1823)