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In pursuance of this policy they took down from the hill of Areopagus the laws of Ephialtes and Archestratus relating to the Areopagite Council; they also repealed such of the statutes of Solon as were obscure, and abolished the supreme power of the law-courts.
To Athens then the scene changes, where Orestes' case is tried: Apollo defends him; Pallas is the judge; the Furies the accusers; the Court of the Areopagus the jury. The votes of these are equally divided; but Athene gives her casting vote in his favor; and to compensate the Erinyes, turns them into Eumenides from Furies to goddesses of good omen and fortune.
It is enough to say that it was by means of Pericles that the magistrates were stripped of judicial power, and the Areopagus of all its jurisdiction, except in cases of homicide, and numerous and paid and popular dikasts were substituted to decide judicial cases, and repeal and enact laws; this, says Grote, was the consummation of the Athenian democracy.
Paul to the Athenians on Areopagus: "Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." It is with this attitude in mind, I am convinced, that we must interpret the doctrine, so often enunciated by the early Christian writers, but especially by St. Justin Martyr and St.
And who is the student of the Scriptures, be he a Christian or philosopher of the Epicurean or the Stoic system that could reasonably argue that the oration on the Areopagus made by Paul to the Athenians being the masterpiece and model of the most convincing speeches ever made in the Christian era?
He could address a Roman governor directly at Paphos because that governor had learned Greek at Rome, either in school or under his nurse or tutor. He could stand before the Areopagus at Athens and address that distinguished body in its own tongue because it was also one of his own tongues. Not that one could expect the Greek culture, or even the language, to remain pure when thus spread abroad.
To th' ante-mural temple flock apace, Where he that long ago composed of brass Great Jupiter, Thrasonic old bald pate, Now scribbles impious books, a boastful ass! meaning books which prove there are no gods. Euripides the tragedian durst not openly declare his sentiment; the court of Areopagus terrified him. Yet he sufficiently manifested his thoughts by this method.
The name "Community" was rejected because all the societies organized under that name held their property in common, which the "Association" distinctly did not. There were other changes made at this time, more important in idea than in practice. The name "Areopagus" was applied to an enlarged general council, and our leader got in this connection, without warrant, the name of "the Archon."
This, at all events, is the conclusion pointed at by the legal history of the two great states of antiquity, with tolerable clearness in one case, and with absolute distinctness in the other. The primitive penal law of Athens entrusted the castigation of offences partly to the Archons, who seem to have punished them as torts, and partly to the Senate of Areopagus, which punished them as sins.
Milton protested against this, as against every other form of tyranny, and his Areopagitica so called from the Areopagus or Forum of Athens, the place of public appeal, and the Mars Hill of St. Paul's address is the most famous plea in English for the freedom of the press.
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