The Fall of the Athenian Empire-(A New History of the Peloponnesian War) Donald Kagan - (1987)

THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT I 19
Both men, therefore, may well have had pressing personal reasons to
fear the continuation of democracy and so to favor a change.
Whatever their motives, these men, unlike Thrasybulus, did not
join the movement to make possible the return of Alcibiades, the
reversal of Persian support, and therefore an Athenian victory. Phrynichus
resisted the return of Alcibiades from the outset, denied that he
could do what he promised, intrigued to prevent his return, and became
active in the conspiracy only after Alcibiades and the prospect of
Persian help had been excluded from it.'"' Peisander, after he learned
that Alcibiades could not or would not deliver Persian support, joined
in excluding him from their future plans and then took a leading part
in trying to establish oligarchy in Athens.'" Once they joined the
movement, these men were firmly, vigorously, and permanently committed
to the oligarchical cause. Thucydides says of Phrynichus that
"he showed himself, beyond all others, the most eager for the oligarchy;
... once he set to work he revealed himself as the most reliable.""
Peisander was the one who put forth the motion to establish the oligarchy
of the Four Hundred and, according to Thucydides, was the
man in the public arena who played the greatest and most zealous part
in the destruction of the democracy. He also took the lead in forming
an oligarchic conspiracy on Samos, and when the oligarchy was overthrown
at Athens, he went over to the Spartan camp at Decelea. 52
Although Peisander and Phrynichus may have come to the position
for purely opportunistic reasons, both clearly and fully deserve the
designation "oligarchs." The men on Samos, then, who came together
and decided to negotiate with Alcibiades were from the first divided
into two distinct types whom we may call ~'oligarchs" and "moderates."
The response of the "trierarchs and the most important men" at
Samos to Alcibiades' messages was to send representatives to hold
discussions with Alcibiades. Thucydides does not mention any names,
but Peisander and Thrasybulus were probably members of the delegation.
53 There they heard the same promises to bring over to Athens'
~8.48-4-?; so-si; 68.].
50
B.s6; 6J.J-4·
51
8.6J.J·
ns.67; 7J.2; 98.1.
n8.48. 1. Thucydides merely says that TLvE.;; crossed over from Samos. Nepos (Ale.
3) names Peisander as one of the intermediaries, calling him a general, which he was
not. Perhaps he was a trierarch, although we have no evidence to that effect. In any
case, his leading role in the entire affair makes his participation likely (see Busolt, GG
III:z, 1467, n. z). The suggestion that Thrasybulus took part derives from his position
as trierarch and his continuing close association with Alcibiades.