WHENEVER I pass a grupf children playing ball， I almst always hear smene shut， "That"s n fair！"There always seem t be sme players wh think thethers are nt playing fair. Sides are always quarreling.
They need an umpire.
When Athens was yung there were tw sides amng the peple-the rich and the pr， the aristcrats and the cmmn peple-and they were always quarreling. Each side was trying t get mre pwer， and each side said thether wasn"t playing fair.
They needed an umpire.
Athens had had kings， but the kings tk the sidef the rich， and s finally the Athenians had kickedut the last king， and after that they wuld have n mre kings.
Abut the year 600 B.C. things became s very bad that a man named Drac was chsen t make a setf rules fr the Athenians tbey. These rules he made were called the Cdef Drac.
Drac"s Cde made terrible punishments fr anyne wh brke the rules. If a man stle anything even as small a thing as a laff bread， he was nt just finedr sent t jail； he was put t death！ N matter hw small the wrng a man had dne， he was put t death fr it. Drac explained the reasn fr such a severe law by saying that a thief deserved t be put t death and shuld be. A man wh killed anther deserved mre than t be put t death， but unfrtunately there was n wrse punishment t give him.
Yu can understand hw much truble the lawsf Drac caused. They were s hard that a little later anther man was called upn t make a new setf laws. This man was named Sln， and his laws were very just and gd. We nw call senatrs andther peple wh makeur laws slns after this man Sln wh lived s lng ag， even thugh their laws are nt always just and gd.
Still the peple were nt satisfied with Slns laws. The upper classes thught the laws gave t much t the lwer classes， and the lwer classesthught they gave t much t the upper. Bth classes， hwever，beyed the laws fr a while， althugh bth classes cmplained against them.
But abut 560 B.C. a man named Pisistratus stepped in and tk chargef things himself. He was nt elected nr chsen by the peple. He simply made himself ruler， and he was s pwerful that nne culd stp him. It was as if a by made himself captainr umpire withut being chsen by thsen the team.
There werethers frm time t time in Greece wh did the same thing， and they were called tyrants. S Pisistratus was a tyrant. Nwadaysnly a ruler wh is cruel and unjust is called a tyrant. Pisistratus， hwever， settled the difficultiesf bth sides， and thugh a tyrant in the Greek sense， he was neither cruel nr unjust. In fact， Pisistratus ruled accrding t the lawsf Sln， and he did a great deal t imprve Athens and the lifef the peple. Amngther things he did， he had Hmer"s pems written dwn， s that peple culd read them， fr befre this time peple knew themnly frm hearing them recited. It is remarkable hw histries can be passed dwnrally-just by telling the stry. In cultures withut writing， peple had t have very gd memries.
The peple put up with Pisistratus and als with his sn fr a while. Finally the Athenians gt tiredf the sn"s rule and drve all the Pisistratus familyutf Athens in 510 B.C. .
The next man t try t settle the quarrelsf the tw sides was named Cleisthenes. It is hard， smetimes， t learn the namef a stranger t whm we have just been intrduced unless we hear his name several times. I will sayver his name s that yu can get used t hearing it：
CLEISTHENES；
CLEISTHENES；
CLEISTHENES.
stracism（陶片放逐制度）
Yur parents may be prr they may be rich.
If they are pr each hasne vte when there is an electin.
If they are rich each hasne vte butnlyne vte and n mre.
If peple break the laws， whether they are richr whether they are pr， they must g t jail.
It was nt always s； it is nt always s even nw. But lng ag it was much wrse.
Cleisthenes gave every man a vte-rich and pr alike-but he did nt give wmen a vte. In ancient times， wmenften were keptutf plitics. Still， the peplef Athens believed that Cleisthenes ruled wisely and well. Cleisthenes started smething calledstracism. If fr any reasn the peple wanted t get ridf a man， all they had t d was t scratch his namen any piecef a brken ptr jar they might find and drp it in a vting-bxn a certain day. If there were enugh such vtes， the man wuld have t leave the city and stay away fr ten years. This was calledstracism， frm the Greek name fr such a brken piecef pttery，n which the name was written. Even tday we use this same wrd t speakf a persn whm nne will have anything t d with， whm nne wants arund， saying he had beenstracized.
Have yu ever been sent away frm the table t the kitchenr t yur rm fr misbehaving？
Then yu， t， have beenstracized.
【中文阅读】
每次我从一群玩球的孩子们身旁经过时，几乎总会听到有人喊叫："这太不公 平了。"好像总有一些参赛选手认为别的选手没有公平比赛，双方老是争吵。 他们需要一个裁判员。 当雅典还是一座新兴城市的时候，雅典人分成了两派--富人和穷人，也就是贵族和平民--而且他们老是发生争执。每派人都试图获得更多的权利，而且每一 派人也总是说另一派人不按规矩行事。
他们需要一个裁判员。 雅典以前有过国王，但是国王总是站在富人一边，所以，雅典人撵走了最后一个国王，从那以后，雅典再也没有国王了。
大约在公元前 600 年，雅典的状况变得很糟糕，于是，大家选出了一个叫德拉 古的人制定了一套规则让雅典人遵守。他制定的这套规则被称作《德拉古法典》。
《德拉古法典》规定任何触犯法律的人都将受到严酷的惩罚。如果一个人偷了 点东西，哪怕就是一块面包，不是罚他款，或把他关进监狱，而是将他处死！不管 一个人犯的过错多么轻微，他都要被处死。德拉古在解释他制订严刑峻法的理由时 是这样说的，小偷就该被处死，而且应当被处死。杀人犯应受比死刑更严厉的惩罚， 但可惜没有比死刑更严厉的惩罚了。
你们现在能明白《德拉古法典》带来了多少纠纷吧。这法律实在太过严酷，所 以，不久人们就呼吁另一个人来制订一部新的法典。这个人名叫梭伦，他制订的法 典非常公正合理。现在我们把参议员和其他立法议员称为"梭伦"，就是源于这个古代的立法者，不过现在的立法议员所制订的法律可不见得都是公正合理的了。 但是人们对梭伦的法典还是不满意。上层阶级的人认为法典给了下层阶级的人民太多的好处，而下层的平民则感觉法典过于袒护上层的贵族。然而，尽管两个阶 级的人都抱怨法典对自己不公平，但是在一段时间内，他们都还是遵守这个法典的。 但是，大约在公元前 560 年，有个名叫庇西特拉图的人步入政坛，并大权独揽，掌管了国家事务。他没有经过人民的选举或挑选，就自立为王了，而且他的势力非常强大，没有人阻止得了他。这就好像一个男孩没经过队员们的挑选就自立为队长 或裁判员一样。
此后，不时有其他希腊人也做这种自封为王的事，他们都被称为"僭主"。因此， 庇西特拉图是个僭主。现在，只有那些残暴不仁的统治者才叫僭主。庇西特拉图虽 然是希腊人所说的僭主，但他解决了贵族和平民总是争执的难题。庇西特拉图不残 暴，相反，还很公正。其实，庇西特拉图是遵照梭伦的法典来治理雅典的，而且他 还采取了很多措施来建设雅典、改善雅典人的生活。除此以外，他还让人把荷马的 诗歌抄录下来，以便人们阅读，因为在此之前，人们只能通过口口相传才知道这些 诗。怎样通过口述--只是通过讲故事就把历史流传下来真是很了不起。没有文字 的文化传承只能依靠人们的好记性。
人们容忍了庇西特拉图的统治，也容忍了他儿子一段时间，但是最后雅典人厌 烦了他儿子的统治，于是在公元前 510 年把所有庇西特拉图家族的人都赶出了雅典。 下一个试图解决贫富两派冲突的人名叫克里斯提尼。有时候，我们很难记住一 个刚介绍给自己的陌生人的名字，除非我们多听几遍他的名字。现在，我把他的名字多说几遍，这样你听惯了也就熟悉了。
克里斯提尼
克里斯提尼
克里斯提尼
你们的父母可能是穷人，也可能是富人。 如果他们是穷人的话，每次选举的时候，他们俩各自都可以投一张票。 如果他们是富人，每次选举的时候，他们俩也各自有一张选票，但仅仅一人一票，不会更多了。 如果有人犯法了，不管他是富还是穷，都得进监狱。
过去情况并不总是这样，即使现在，情况也不见得都是这样。但是在古代社会， 情况可就糟糕多了。
克里斯提尼给了每个男人选举权--穷人和富人都一样--但是他没有给女人 选举权。在古代，女人经常被排除在政治之外。尽管这样，雅典人还是认为克里斯 提尼的统治是贤明的、令人满意的。克里斯提尼开创了"陶片放逐制度"。 如果出 于某种原因，大家想要除掉一个人，他们所要做的就是在他们随手捡起的破陶罐的 碎片上刮上这个人的名字，然后在一个特定的日子里将这个碎片扔进"投票箱"里即可。如果"选票"达到了足够的数目，这个人就必须离开雅典，在外面待上十年。 这就叫"陶片放逐制度"，希腊语这个词的意思就是写着名字的陶器碎片。即使今 天，我们还经常用"放逐"（stracize）一词。如果有个人，大家都不愿意搭理他， 也不愿意待在他周围，我们就说他被放逐了，意思是他受到大家的"排挤"。
你有过因为调皮捣蛋被家人从餐桌边赶到厨房或自己房间的时候吗？ 如果有，那么你也被"放逐"过了。
公元前 500 年