The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1895-07-05
ARlsTorLE's TREATISE.
The Newly discovered hook Makes so'ns
arta=..a,n,,s n, A&het,iau Eiistory,

LUe NtWty Dt4tnNthUtt stOuN NAest>Ns tfFttssN
Alterations in Athenlan History,
Since the world Of observation-disclosures
was startled by the discovery of hith-
erto unknown work by Aristotle there
has been great eagerness to find what
new facts it may bring to light, what
theories it may confirm or explode, says
the Boston Advertiser, This manu-
script was found during some Egyptian
excavations, and its authenticity Is es-
tablished beyond doubt. 1t Is in the
possession Of the British museum and
has been published. It Is entitled "A
Treatise ON the Constitutional Athens"
and will clear up many disputed points
concerning the government and history
Of the Attic capital. The first copies
arrived in this country about q week
ago, and one OF these, il in the hands Of
Prof. w. W. Goodwin, of Harvard.
The manuscript is in four papyrus
rolls, three of them in good condition
and the last fraginentary. The writing,
as is usually the case, is on the reverse
Of the papyrus, which originally held
some mercantile accounts dated 10 A. y.
Allowing, therefore, reasonable
length of time for those to become use
less before the reverse side would be
used, the date may pretty safely be fixed
! at the end of the first century Refer
ence to the treatise is undoubtedly
made in catalogue Of Aristotle's
works, none Of whose titles correspond
with anything previously known. Since
the clearness of the latest work marks
II in contrast with the technical style Of
Aristotle's other writings, a confirma-
ton is i iund in the old theory that the
catalogue is list of Aristotle's popular
/ works,
The treatise falls into two sections,
The first consists Of a history Of the de-
velopment OF the Athenian state and Is
/ complete. The second is q description
f. of the Athenian government q
Aristotle's time. The last part is frag-
mentary. but we know most of il
through quotations from it by the gram,
marian Pollux. In the first part. how
ever, there is an abundance of hitherto
unknown material. A few months age
Prof. j. Fl. Wright, Of Harvard, com
menced an article for the Harvard elias
sical studies, in which he maintained,
merely on literary grounds, that ths
Cylonian conspiracy took place at {
much earlier date than that accepted b.
Grote. In the very first chapter Of thii
\ new manuscript the date is fixcd,as Prof
\ Wright argued it should be, before th'
I Legislation of Draco Furthermore th,
hitherto unknown fact is established
that Draco instituted the Athenian sen
H ate and that Areopagus was in ex
4 istence before his time.
Solon's reforms are explained anew
4 1t appears that his reduction Of TIN
coinage was much later than his ahUl
i ishnent Of debts, but that both wer,
accomplished by him. The nine archon
were chosen, as was not before snp
posed, by lot from forty men, elect q il
tens from the four tribes. The divisl7l
/ Of the tribes equally into mountain
plain and seashore Is now known 70
the first time. The flight Of Them
gtocles from Athens at the time Of tn
revolt at Naxos, which marks the frs
break in the ascendency OF Athens,
shown to be as late as 462 b. g. Thii
with other and less important reveii
tions, sets the whole history Of thi
period. The history continues down t
the time of Aristotle, but the state
ments concerning the latter period ar
, mostly already well lmown or are NJ
important.