Finally, among the German vanquishers of the Roman Empire, the state sprang up as a direct result of the conquest of large foreign territories, which the gentile constitution had no means of ruling. The victory of the plebs burst the old gentile constitution asunder and erected on its ruins the state, in which both the gentile aristocracy and the plebs were soon wholly absorbed. In Rome gentile society became an exclusive aristocracy amidst a numerous plebs, standing outside of it, having no rights but only duties. Here the state sprang directly and mainly out of the class antagonisms that developed within gentile society. Athens represented the purest, most classical form. Above we discussed separately each of the three main forms in which the state was built up on the ruins of the gentile constitution.
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