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146 ANCIENT GREECE, [CHAP. XI.council of five hundred had the care of the public money ;in Sparta,this had been secured by the Ephori. A greatdifference may be supposed to have prevailed in the otherGrecian cities ; certainly with respect to the persons whoheld the offices of collectors and accountants. But we havealmost no historical information respecting any place butAthens.Of all forms of government, those of free cities are perhaps the least adapted to the developing of an artificialsystem of finances. For in them the wants, and the means ofsatisfying those wants, are commonly very simple. Changesare difficult ; for they presuppose the consent of the commonalty. They who propose them, can hardly expectthanks jbut rather hatred, and even persecution. Henceancient usage is preserved as much as possible; and whenextraordinary wants occur, recourse is had to extraordinarymeasures, concerted for the moment, rather than to anychange in the existinginstitutions. It is different in extensive monarchies, where every thing moves more firmly andmore regularly and; though their practice is not so muchfounded on scientific views as on certain maxims,still it isin them that an artificial system of finances can be formed.CHAPTER XLTHE JUDICIAL INSTITUTIONS.UNLIKE the regulations of our modern states, the judiciarydepartment did not form in Greece a distinct, independentbranch of the constitution. On the contrary,it was so intimately connected with -the rest, that it can with difficultybe made a separate object of investigation. Hardly anysubject in Grecian antiquities is so intricate, or so difficultof explanation ;and yet without a knowledge of it,no correct view of the ancient states can possibly be formed.Ourpresent object is, to develope the general character of thejudicial institutions, without entering into particulars re-