Ancient times are not then so opposite to the present--and the safety of the state may excuse, in a republic as in a monarchy, a thousand acts of abstract injustice.

But the banishment of Aristides has peculiar excuses in the critical circumstances of the time.

The remembrance of Pisistratus was still fresh--his son had but just perished in an attempt on his country--the family still lived, and still menaced: the republic was yet in its infancy--a hostile aristocracy within its walls--a powerful enemy still formidable without.

It is a remarkable fact, that as the republic strengthened, and as the popular power increased, the custom of ostracism was superseded.

The democratic party was never so strong as at the time in which it was finally abolished.