Epimenides was greatly honoured by the Athenians, and was offered
large sums of money by them, and great privileges, but he refused them
all, and only asked for a branch of the sacred olive-tree, which he
received and went his way.
XIII. When the troubles about Kylon were over, and the accursed men cast
out of the country, the Athenians relapsed into their old dispute about
the constitution. The state was divided into as many factions as there
were parts of the country, for the Diakrii, or mountaineers, favoured
democracy; the Pedioei, oligarchy; while those who dwelt along the
seashore, called Parali, preferred a constitution midway between these
two forms, and thus prevented either of the other parties from carrying
their point. Moreover, the state was on the verge of revolution, because
of the excessive poverty of some citizens, and the enormous wealth of
others, and it appeared that the only means of putting an end to these
disorders was by establishing an absolute despotism. The whole people
were in debt to a few wealthy men; they either cultivated their farms,
in which case they were obliged to pay one-sixth of the profit to their
creditors, and were called Hektemori, or servants, or else they had
raised loans upon personal security, and had become the slaves of their
creditors, who either employed them at home, or sold them to foreigners.
Many were even compelled to sell their own children, which was not
illegal, and to leave the country because of the harshness of their
creditors.
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