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36
After his victorious campaigns in the East, which led to complete Roman
domination over Asia Minor, he returned to Rome and formed the first triumvirate
together with Caesar and Crassus. But he had never expected that Caesar would
soon become his enemy and defeat him.
Read, translate, entitle the text, and get its main idea.
For the phenomenon as complex as democracy, its first appearance is remarkably
easy to pinpoint: the city-state of Athens in the fifth century B.C. Periclean
Athens, named for its most celebrated leader, inspired generations of later political
theorists and statesmen. Yet many aspects of Athenian democracy appear strange
and unfamiliar to modern eyes,
The central political institution in Athens of the sixth and fifth century B.C. was
the assembly, usually composed of 5,000 to 6,000 members, and open to all adult
male citizens. (Women, slaves and foreigners were excluded). By simple majority
vote, the Assembly could decide virtually any domestic issue without any legal
restrictions. Trials were conducted by juries of 501 citizens who also decided guilt
or innocence majority vote.
Perhaps most remarkably, the leaders of the Assembly were not elected, but
chosen by lot, since Athenians believed that any citizen was capable of holding
public office. Not that there were many such offices to fill:
Generals were elected for one-year terms, but otherwise Periclean Athens lacked
any recognizable executive institutions such as president, prime minister, Cabinet
or permanent civil service. The weight of decision-making fell almost exclusively
upon the citizen-members of the Assembly – a burden of public service that most
people today would find unacceptable.
Without constitutional limits, the Athens of Pericles was prone to factionalism and
manipulation by shrewd or eloquent orators. It was democratic Athens, after all,
which condemned to death the philosopher Socrates – thereby earning the undying
enmity of Socrates’ most celebrated pupil and fervent antidemocratic, Plato.
36 After his victorious campaigns in the East, which led to complete Roman domination over Asia Minor, he returned to Rome and formed the first triumvirate together with Caesar and Crassus. But he had never expected that Caesar would soon become his enemy and defeat him. Read, translate, entitle the text, and get its main idea. For the phenomenon as complex as democracy, its first appearance is remarkably easy to pinpoint: the city-state of Athens in the fifth century B.C. Periclean Athens, named for its most celebrated leader, inspired generations of later political theorists and statesmen. Yet many aspects of Athenian democracy appear strange and unfamiliar to modern eyes, The central political institution in Athens of the sixth and fifth century B.C. was the assembly, usually composed of 5,000 to 6,000 members, and open to all adult male citizens. (Women, slaves and foreigners were excluded). By simple majority vote, the Assembly could decide virtually any domestic issue without any legal restrictions. Trials were conducted by juries of 501 citizens who also decided guilt or innocence majority vote. Perhaps most remarkably, the leaders of the Assembly were not elected, but chosen by lot, since Athenians believed that any citizen was capable of holding public office. Not that there were many such offices to fill: Generals were elected for one-year terms, but otherwise Periclean Athens lacked any recognizable executive institutions such as president, prime minister, Cabinet or permanent civil service. The weight of decision-making fell almost exclusively upon the citizen-members of the Assembly – a burden of public service that most people today would find unacceptable. Without constitutional limits, the Athens of Pericles was prone to factionalism and manipulation by shrewd or eloquent orators. It was democratic Athens, after all, which condemned to death the philosopher Socrates – thereby earning the undying enmity of Socrates’ most celebrated pupil and fervent antidemocratic, Plato.
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