[108]
Did not the meddlesomeness of the partizans of Athens cause the various states to become partisans of Sparta, and did not the insolence of the partisans of Sparta force these same states to become partisans of Athens? Did not the people themselves, because of the depravity of the popular orators, desire the oligarchy which was established under the Four Hundred? And have not we, all of us, because of the madness of the Thirty,1 become greater enthusiasts for democracy than those who occupied Phyle?2
1 For the excesses of the Thirty see Isoc. 7.66 ff.
2 Thrasybulus, the leader of the “people's party,” seized the fortress of Phyle on Mt. Parnes and held it against the Thirty until the democracy was restored. See Isoc. 7.64, note.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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