Page "Metic" Paragraph 10

Metics whose family had lived in Athens for generations may have been tempted to " pass " as citizens.

On a number of occasions there were purges of the citizen lists, effectively changing people who had been living as citizens into metics.

In typical Athenian fashion, a person so demoted could mount a challenge in court.

If however the court decided the ejected citizen was in fact a metic, he would be sent down one further rung and sold into slavery.