DRACO (DRAGON) (7th century B.e.), Athenian statesman, was Archon Eponymus (but see Sandys, Const. of Athens, p. 12, note) in 621 B.C. He codified the laws, which had previously been unwritten and administered arbitrarily by the Eupatrids. The fixing of the law was a great boon to the people, although later ages regarded Draco's code, in which "for nearly all crimes there was the same penalty of death" (Plut. Solon), as barbarously severe. For the institution of the 51 Ephetae and their relation to the Areopagus in criminal jurisdiction, see GREEK LAW.
But in 1891 appeared Aristotle's treatise on the constitution of Athens, the 4th chapter of which credits to Draco the construction of an entirely new constitution for Athens, the main features of which were: (I) extension of franchise to all who could provide themselves with a suit of armour; (2) the institution of a property qualification for office (archon to mince, strategus 10o mince) ; (3) a council of 4o1 members (see Bova) ; (4) magistrates and councillors to be chosen by lot ; further, the four Solonian classes are said to be already in existence.
But the passage is now generally considered spurious on the following grounds: (I) It is ignored by every other ancient au thority, except an admittedly spurious passage in Plato;' whereas Aristotle says of his laws "they are laws, but he added the laws to an existing constitution" (Pol. ii. 9. 9). (2) It is inconsistent with other passages in the Constitution of Athens. It embodies some of the most advanced features of Solon's constitution, yet, according to ch. vii., Solon repealed all laws of Draco except those relating to murder. (3) Its ideas are alien to the 7th century. That the qualification of the strategus should be ten times that of the archon is reasonable in the 5th but preposterous in the 7th century. Again it is unlikely that, had a wealth qualification for citizenship been established, Solon, a democratic reformer, would have reverted to an aristocratic birth qualification. (4) The terminology of Draco's constitution is that of the 5th century, whereas the chief difficulty of Solon's laws is the obsolete 6th century phraseology. (5) Lastly, the "Draconian Constitution" (hoplite census, nobody to hold office a second time until all duly qualified persons had been exhausted, fine for non-attendance in Boule), embodies the ideals of Theramenes and the moderate oligarchs, which they expressed by the phrase 7) srarptos sroX tTELa.
Criticism of the text supports the hypothesis that ch. iv. is an interpolation. Chapter iv. breaks the connection of thought be tween iii. and v. Moreover, an interpolator has inserted phrases to remove obvious contradictions : thus (a) in ch. vii., where we are told that Solon divided the citizens into four classes the interpolator adds "according to the division formerly existing," which was necessary in view of the statement that Draco gave the franchise to the Zeugites; (b) in ch. xli., the words "the Draconian" (i ApaKovros) are inserted in the list of consti tutions, though the subsequent figures are not accommodated to the change. Solon is also here spoken of as the founder of democracy, whereas the Draconian constitution of ch. iv. contains several democratic innovations. Two further points may be added, namely, that whereas Aristotle's account mentions a money fine, Pollux quotes a law of Draco in which fines are assessed at so many oxen ; secondly, that though the treatise was widely read in antiquity there is no reference to Draco's constitution except the two quoted above. In any case, whatever were Draco's laws, Solon abolished all of them (Plut. Solon) except those dealing with homicide.
See J. E. Sandys, Aristotle's Constitution of Athens (end ed. 1912) ; G. Gilbert, Constitutional Antiquities (Eng. trans. 1895) and works, quoted in article CONSTITUTION OF ATHENS ; Grote, Hist. of Greece (ed. igo7), pp. 9—II, with references; and histories of Greece published after 1894.