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

120 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
side not only Tissaphernes but also the Great King of Persia. This
time the condition he set, if Thucydides' paraphrase is precise, was
that he would do these things "if they did not retain the democracy,
for in that way the King would have greater trust in them.,,. We may
guess that moderates like Thrasybulus had reacted badly to the word
oligarchy in Alcibiades' earlier communications and that the alert exile
had adjusted his language to reduce unnecessary friction. "Not to retain
the democracy" could be understood differently by moderates and
oligarchs but "replacing the base democracy with an oligarchy" would
not. 55 When they rerurned to Samos with their report, the important
men who had sent them were much encouraged. Thucydides still does
not distinguish among them, saying of all of them that they had great
hopes of bringing the government into their own hands and also of
overcoming the enemy. 56 No doubt, the rwo factions we have discerned
emphasized different aspects of those hopes.
The next step was for the leaders to form "those suitable" into an
effective political body by means of an oath. 57 Thucydides calls this
political body a xynomosia, which often means conspiracy, with all of
its nasty connotations, and he may have intended that sense. But the
word may also mean merely a group of men united for political purposes
and bound by an oath. Thucydides uses the same word to describe
the political clubs of long standing in Athens, and when
Thrasybulus organized the democratic forces at Samos, he had them
swear an oath of loyalty to the democracy." Whatever Thucydides
meant, we should not think of this organization as a secret cell limited
to a few conspirators. "Those suitable" probably included soldiers from
the ranks, for many of the thousand hoplites sent on the Milesian
campaign were at Samos. 59 The organization certainly included Thrasybulus
and, therefore, could not have been simply an oligarchic
consprracy.
"< The organization's next step makes it clear that secrecy was not an
important part of its character, for it called the men of the Athenian
54 8.48.1: El.!-L-ft 8'T)J..LOKpaTotVTo (oln-w -yO.p &v 1TL