This text comes from a pamphlet that was erroneously attributed to Xenophon in the manuscript tradition. Its anonymous author strongly disapproves of Athenian democracy. However, he explains to a fictitious audience of critics how democracy functions consistently and effectively in a way that benefits those who support it, specifically the poor and uneducated masses. Of the various dates proposed by scholars, we accept its placement in the first half of the years 20s of the 5th century BC.
In the passage in question, the author complains that in Athens it is not possible to immediately distinguish a citizen from a non-citizen, be they a metic or a slave. In fact, the law prohibits the beating of slaves and metics precisely to prevent Athenian citizens from being beaten by mistake. In response to a hypothetical observer wondering why the Athenians allow their slaves to become wealthy and display no fear of the citizens, unlike in Sparta, the author explains that this is an inevitable consequence of being a naval power, where masters depend on their slaves’ wealth. Therefore, it is in their interest for their slaves to earn money and avoid being extorted by others. The implicit reasoning behind the answer is probably that the Athenians need to maintain a large fleet, which requires substantial funding; this makes it crucial for them to enrich themselves by employing their slaves in various trades that generate substantial earnings for their masters and, in turn, the slaves themselves. Following this line of thinking, the author argues that in Athens freedom of speech would also be granted to metics and slaves in the presence of citizens precisely because the city needed them for the numerous trades involved in maintaining the fleet – and, one might add, the related industries.
Setting aside the arguments put forward by the anonymous author, it is worth noting here that this passage is often used by scholars to show how difficult it was in Athens to distinguish between citizens and non-citizens. In reality, citizens and non-citizens tended to mix and mingle, despite the barriers created by civic status, frequenting the same workplaces and social spaces.
According to Vlassopoulos (2007), the difficulty of distinguishing between citizens and non-citizens can be attributed to several factors: the size of the city and the Athenian territory, meaning that most community members did not know each other; the presence of a large non-citizen population; widespread internal migration within Attica; and the fact that slaves could work far from their masters. However, the main reason was the peculiar nature of the political regime. Athenian democracy allowed political participation not only to landowners but also to the numerous citizens who worked as artisans and traders, i.e., the same trades in which most metics and a large number of slaves were employed, while in other poleis the distinction was based on land ownership. Therefore, in Athens it was not immediately possible to determine whether an artisan or trader was a citizen, metic, or slave. As craftsmen and traders could not be discriminated against because many of them were citizens, a certain level of protection and freedom also extended to metics and slaves practicing the same trades.
(10) “τῶν δούλων δ᾿ αὖ καὶ τῶν μετοίκων πλείστη ἐστὶν ᾿Αθήνησιν ἀκολασία, καὶ οὔτε πατάξαι ἔξεστιν αὐτόθι οὔτε ὑπεκστήσεταί σοι ὁ δοῦλος.” οὗ δ᾿ ἕνεκέν ἐστι τοῦτο ἐπιχώριον, ἐγὼ φράσω· εἰ νόμος ἦν τὸν δοῦλον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐλευθέρου τύπτεσθαι ἢ τὸν μέτοικον ἢ τὸν ἀπελεύθερον, πολλάκις ἂν οἰηθεὶς εἶναι τὸν ᾿Αθηναῖον δοῦλον ἐπάταξεν ἄν· ἐσθῆτά τε γὰρ οὐδὲν βελτίων ὁ δῆμος αὐτόθι ἢ οἱ δοῦλοι καὶ οἱ μέτοικοι, καὶ τὰ εἴδη οὐδὲν βελτίους εἰσίν. (11) εἰ δέ τις καὶ τοῦτο θαυμάζει, ὅτι ἐῶσι τοὺς δούλους τρυφᾶν αὐτόθι καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς διαιτᾶσθαι ἐνίους, καὶ τοῦτο γνώμῃ φανεῖεν ἂν ποιοῦντες· ὅπου γὰρ ναυτικὴ δύναμίς ἐστιν ἀπὸ χρημάτων, ἀνάγκη τοῖς ἀνδραπόδοις δουλεύειν, ἵνα λαμβάνωμεν ἃς πράττει τὰς ἀποφοράς, καὶ ἐλευθέρους ἀφεῖναι. “ἐν δὲ τῇ Λακεδαίμονι ὁ ἐμὸς δοῦλος σ᾿ ἐδεδοίκει.” ἐὰν δὲ δεδίῃ ὁ σὸς δοῦλος ἐμέ, κινδυνεύσει καὶ τὰ χρήματα διδόναι τὰ ἑαυτοῦ ὥστε μὴ κινδυνεύειν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ. ὅπου δ᾿ εἰσὶ πλούσιοι δοῦλοι, οὐκέτι ἐνταῦθα λυσιτελεῖ τὸν ἐμὸν δοῦλον σὲ δεδιέναι. (12) διὰ τοῦτ᾿ οὖν ἰσηγορίαν καὶ τοῖς δούλοις πρὸς τοὺς ἐλευθέρους ἐποιήσαμεν, καὶ τοῖς μετοίκοις πρὸς τοὺς ἀστούς, διότι δεῖται ἡ πόλις μετοίκων διά τε τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τεχνῶν καὶ διὰ τὸ ναυτικόν· διὰ τοῦτο οὖν καὶ τοῖς μετοίκοις εἰκότως τὴν ἰσηγορίαν ἐποιήσαμεν.
(10) “And again the slaves and the metics at Athens enjoy extreme license, and it is not possible to beat them there, nor will a slave step aside for you”. Well, I shall tell you the reason why this is their local practice. If it were legal for the slave or the metic or the freedman to be beaten by a freeborn citizen, he would often beat an Athenian by mistake, thinking that he was a slave. For the demos there are no better dressed than the slaves and the metics, nor are they any better in their appearance. (11) And if anyone is also surprised at the fact that they allow the slaves to live luxuriously there and, some of them, in a grand style, it will become clear that they do this too with good reason. For where there is a naval power based on money, it is necessary to be slaves to our own slaves in order to obtain our share of what they earn through their labor, and then set them free. “But in Lacedaemon my slave fears you”. Yes, but if your slave fears me, there will be a risk that he will also offer me his money so as not to be in any danger. And where there are rich slaves it is no longer to my benefit as a master there that my slave should fear you. (12) This is then the reason why we have established equality of free speech as between slaves and free men; and also as between metics and citizens, since the city needs metics because of the great number of their trades and the requirements of the fleet. So that is why we have, naturally, established equality of free speech for the merics too.
- Cohen E.E., The Athenian Nation, Princeton 2000
- Marr J.L. – Rhodes P.J., The ‘Old Oligarch’. The Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Xenophon, Oxford 2008
- Serra G. (ed.), Pseudo-Senofonte. Costituzione degli Ateniesi, Milano 2018
- Vlassopoulos K., Free Spaces: Identity, Experience, and Democracy, CQ 57, 2007, 33-52