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And I desire, even though some will complain that I am straying from my subject, to expound and to explain how much superior this government is to that of the Thirty, in order that I may not be accused of scrutinizing too minutely the mistakes of our democracy, while overlooking the many fine things which it has achieved. I promise, however, that the story will not be long or without profit to my hearers.
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When we lost our fleet in the HellespontAt the Battle of Arginusae, 406 B. C., the beginning of the end of the Peloponnesian War. and our city was plunged into the disasters of that time, who of our older men does not know that the “people’s party,”Many of them had been exiled by the Thirty or had fled for their lives. Thrasybulus placed himself at their head, defeated the Thirty in battle, and restored the democracy. See Xen. Hell. 2.4.10 ff. as they were called, were ready to go to any length of hardship to avoid doing what the enemy commanded, deeming it monstrous that anyone should see the city which had ruled over the Hellenes in subjection to another state, whereas the partisans of oligarchy were ready both to tear down the wallsOne of the terms insisted on by Lysander was that the “long walls” connecting Athens with the Piraeus be demolished. and to submit to slavery?
