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Chapter 15
第十五章
Greek self-government
古希臘的自治制度
The Greeks were the first people to try the difficult experiment of self-government
古希臘人是歷史上最早進行自治實驗的民族
IN the beginning, all the Greeks had been equally rich and equally poor. Every man had owned a certain number of cows and sheep. His mudhut had been his castle. He had been free to come and go as he wished. Whenever it was necessary to discuss matters of public importance, all the citizens had gathered in the market-place. One of the older men of the village was elected chairman and it was his duty to see that everybody had a chance to express his views. In case of war, a particularly energetic and selfconfident villager was chosen commander-in-chief, but the same people who had voluntarily given this man the right to be their leader, claimed an equal right to deprive him of his job, once the danger had been averted.
一開始，所有希臘人貧福均等。人人都有一定數量的牛羊。泥糊的小屋就是自己的宮殿。平時，人們按自己的意愿行事，一旦有重要的事務需公眾討論，所有市民便聚集在市場上議事。人們選出一位眾望所歸的老人作為會議主席，他的職責就是保證每一個人都能平等得到表達意見的機會。當有戰事發生，一位精力特別充沛且自信心極強的村民便會被推舉為軍事領袖，和選舉他為統帥、自愿交 給他指揮權，當然，人們同時也保留著等危機過去使解除他職務的權利。
But gradually the village had grown into a city. Some people had worked hard and others had been lazy. A few had been unlucky and still others had been just plain dishonest in dealing with their neighbours and had gathered wealth. As a result, the city no longer consisted of a number of men who were equally well-off. On the contrary it was inhabited by a small class of very rich people and a large class of very poor ones.
可漸漸地，小村莊發展為城市。有些人工作勤奮，有些人好逸惡勞；有些人交 了霉運，可另有些人卻靠欺詐手段發了財。于是，整個城市不再由許多財富均等的市民組成。相反，城市的居民變成了一小群富人和一大群窮人。
There had been another change. The old commander-in-chief who had been willingly recognised as "headman" or "King" because he knew how to lead his men to victory, had disappeared from the scene.
同時還發生了另一個變化那些困帶領人們取得戰爭勝利而被眾人心甘情愿推為"首腦"或"國王"的老式軍事統帥從歷史舞臺上銷聲匿跡了。
