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

THE COUP 143
their instructions in February and early March, before Alcibiades'
departure for the meeting with Tissaphernes, the plan of the movement
was to bring him back, and it had the support of moderates such as
Thrasybulus. The whole program bore the stamp of the moderates,
so it is not surprising that their political ideas should have been the
ones proclaimed during the absence of Peisander. To the oligarchs,
this may have been only window dressing, but the moderates must
have been sincere. The movement in Athens had not been informed
of the change in the plan and its shift away from the moderates' goals,
so its members continued to propose the moderate program, whatever
their private views.
Thucydides mentions two motives for the murder of Androcles, but
his account suggests a third as well. We should not forget that the
assassination was only one of several, that the murderers "killed some
others who were inconvenient in the same way, secretly. " 45 These
killings seem to have been part of a calculated policy of terror that
would weaken the. opposition and open the way for the overthrow of
the democracy. Thucydides presents a vivid picture of how effective
that policy was. The popular assembly and council still met but were
managed and dominated by members of the movement who were the
only ones to speak and who completely controlled the agenda. The
lack of opposition came from a sense that the conspiracy had a broad
base and from simple physical fear: "If anyone should speak in opposition,
he was immediately killed in some convenient way. " 46 No
search was made for the criminals, nor were trials held of any one
suspected. No one spoke up, and so great was the fear that merely
escaping harm was thought good fortune. The great size of the city,
which led to a degree of anonymity rare in Greek life, further increased
fear, for it was easy to believe that strangers were conspirators and
that the conspiracy was widespread, and it was hard to get at the truth.
Even members of the democratic faction approached one another with
suspicion, for the most unexpected people were clearly involved in the
movement, including well-known demagogues such as Peisander and
Phrynichus, whose involvement in an oligarchy seemed inconceivable.
"These men created the greatest distrust among the mass of the people
and contributed the most toward the security of the oligarchs by al-
458.65.2·
46 8.66.2.