ĂRĬES (κριός), the battering-ram, was used to batter down the walls of besieged cities. It consisted of a large beam, made of the trunk of a tree, especially of a fir or an ash. To one end was fastened a mass of bronze or iron (κεφαλή, ἐμβολή, προτομή), which resembled in its form the head of a ram. The aries in its simplest state was borne and impelled by human hands, without other assistance. In an improved form, the ram was surrounded with iron bands, to which rings were attached for the purpose of suspending it by ropes or chains from a beam fixed transversely over it. By this contrivance the soldiers were relieved from the necessity of supporting the weight of the ram, and could with ease give it a rapid and forcible motion backwards and forwards. The use of this machine was further aided by placing the frame in which it was suspended upon wheels, and also by constructing over it a wooden roof, so as to form a “testudo,” which protected the besieging party from the defensive assaults of the besieged. [Illustration: Aries, Battering Ram. (From Column of Trajan.)] ĀRISTOCRĂTĬA (ἀριστοκρατία), signifies literally “the government of the best men,” and as used by Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, &c., it meant the government of a class whose supremacy was founded not on wealth merely, but on personal distinction. That there should be an aristocracy, moreover, it was essential that the administration of affairs should be conducted with a view to the promotion of the general interests, not for the exclusive or predominant advantage of the privileged class As soon as the government ceased to be thus conducted, or whenever the only title to political power in the dominant class was the possession of superior wealth, the constitution was termed an oligarchy (ὀλιγαρχία), which, in the technical use of the term, was always looked upon as a corruption (παρέκβασις) of an aristocracy. In the practical application of the term aristocracy, however, the personal excellence which was held to be a necessary element was not of a higher kind than what, according to the deeply-seated ideas of the Greeks, was commonly hereditary in families of noble birth, and in early times would be the ordinary accompaniments of noble rank, namely, wealth, military skill, and superior education and intelligence. It is to be noted that the word ἀριστοκρατία is never, like the English term _aristocracy_, the name of a class, but only of a particular political constitution. [Illustration: Greek Soldier. (From an ancient vase.) Roman Soldiers. (From Column of Trajan.)]