The Athenian Constitution — Aristotle — John Shaqi
The Athenian Constitution
Aristotle · en
These events were followed by the occupation of Munichia by the exiles
from Phyle, and their victory over the Thirty and their partisans.
After the fight the party of the city retreated, and next day they held
a meeting in the marketplace and deposed the Thirty, and elected ten
citizens with full powers to bring the war to a termination. When,
however, the Ten had taken over the government they did nothing towards
the object for which they were elected, but sent envoys to
Lacedaemonian to ask for help and to borrow money. Further, finding
that the citizens who possessed the franchise were displeased at their
proceedings, they were afraid lest they should be deposed, and
consequently, in order to strike terror into them (in which design they
succeeded), they arrested Demaretus, one of the most eminent citizens,
and put him to death. This gave them a firm hold on the government, and
they also had the support of Callibius and his Peloponnesians, together
with several of the Knights; for some of the members of this class were
the most zealous among the citizens to prevent the return of the exiles
from Phyle. When, however, the party in Piraeus and Munichia began to
gain the upper hand in the war, through the defection of the whole
populace to them, the party in the city deposed the original Ten, and
elected another Ten, consisting of men of the highest repute. Under
their administration, and with their active and zealous cooperation,
the treaty of reconciliation was made and the populace returned to the
city. The most prominent members of this board were Rhinon of Paeania
and Phayllus of Acherdus, who, even before the arrival of Pausanias,
opened negotiations with the party in Piraeus, and after his arrival
seconded his efforts to bring about the return of the exiles. For it
was Pausanias, the king of the Lacedaemonians, who brought the peace
and reconciliation to a fulfillment, in conjunction with the ten
commissioners of arbitration who arrived later from Lacedaemonian, at
his own earnest request. Rhinon and his colleagues received a vote of
thanks for the goodwill shown by them to the people, and though they
received their charge under an oligarchy and handed in their accounts
under a democracy, no one, either of the party that had stayed in the
city or of the exiles that had returned from the Piraeus, brought any
complaint against them. On the contrary, Rhinon was immediately elected
general on account of his conduct in this office.
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