The Politics of the Just

In the sixth century B.C., Athens overthrew a series of petty tyrants who had dominated its politics for decades. The citizens found another more satisfying and less brutal way to deal with the chronically selfish: ostracism. Every year they would gather in the marketplace and write on a piece of earthenware, an ostracon, the name of an individual they wanted to see banished from the cityfor ten years. If a particular name appeared on six thousand ballots, that person would instantly be exiled. This ritual expulsion became a kind of festival. What a joy to be able to banish those irritating, anxiety-inducing individuals who wanted to rise above the group they should have served