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

THE RESTORATION 249
Thasos, and Euboea in the Aegean; a number of places on the Thracian
coast; Abydos in the Hellespont; and Byzantium and Chalcedon on
both sides of the Bosporus. From antiquity to modern times, the general
opinion has been that this peace proposal was, nonetheless, an offer
that the Athenians should not have refused. Diodorus tells us that "the
most reasonable of the Athenians" favored accepting the Spartan offer,
but the assembly rejected it, deceived by "practiced warmongers who
made private profit from public troubles." With the benefit of hindsight,
he calls it an error from which the Athenians were never able
to recover. 11 Most modern scholars have made similar judgments. Only
a half-year earlier the Athenians had been in a desperate condition,
and now they ought to have been happy to recover the greater part of
their empire. Every reasonable person must understand that Athenian
resources were inadequate to recover the lost territories. Even if the
peace should not last, every year without war should be counted an
invaluable gain." Athenian resources, stretched to the limit of the
almost-exhausted treasury, would not be adequate against the inexhaustible
wealth of Persia that could easily replace whatever ships the
Athenians sank." The Athenians, moreover, could expect no better
offer from the Spartans, who could not restore the recently liberated
cities of the Athenian alliance without violating their own honor. 14
The leader of those opposing the offer was Cleophon, "the greatest
demagogue at that time."" Like most popular politicians in the last
quarter of the century, Cleophon was the butt of satirical attacks by
the comic poets and treated with a mixture of contempt and loathing
by more serious writers. He is referred to as a lyre-maker, just as Cleon
was called a tanner, Lysicles a cattle dealer, Eucrates a flax merchant,
and Hyperbolus a lamp-maker. His mother is alleged to have been a
barbarian and he himself a rapacious foreigner, a lowly craftsman of
no family background." More serious writers depict him as a drunkard,
a cut-throat, and a raving wild man in his public behavior. 17 Although
111 3·53·
12
Meyer, GdA IV, 312.
uBusolt, GG III:2, •537·
14
Beloch, GG l1:1, 395·
151 3·53· 2 ·
111
For references, see Busolt, GG Ill:2, 1537• n. 1.
17 Diodorus (1 3· 53· 3) calls him a flatterer of the people. Aristotle (Ath. Pol. 34· 1) tells
us that he came drunk into the assembly wearing his military breastplate. Aeschines
(De Falsa Legatione 76) says he threatened to cut the throats of his opponents in the
assembly.