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

408 THE FALL OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE
in Athens that would be as subservient to him as the decarchies were
throughout the empire. Insistence on that point might bring on a
political struggle in which Lysander would drive the two kings together
against him. Instead, Theramenes could offer to accept the return of
the political exiles friendly to Lysander and to include them in a government
that was moderate, docile, and friendly to Sparta and to
Lysander and was broadly based and popular enough not to cause an
immediate and embarrassing resistance, perhaps even a civil war among
the Athenians."'
The outcome of the discussion was probably an agreement to include
in the peace treaty a provision for the return of exiles and a clause
specifying that Athens could retain the patrios politeia, the ancestral
constitution. The term was imprecise and deliberately so. Its meaning
lay in the ears of each listener. To most, it would denote the full
democracy that had existed with only brief interruptions since the
reforms of Ephialtes in 462. To others, it would bring to mind still
older and more moderate forms of democracy between the reforms of
Cleisthenes in 508 and those of Ephialtes. Some would think of the
Solonian constitution of the sixth century, and a few might even think
of the dimly remembered days of Draco's laws in the seventh century.
124 Theramenes, no doubt, believed that the term would be defined
by those who held political power immediately after the peace and
expected himself and his friends to be the leaders of that group. Lysander,
on the other hand, must have thought that since real power
remained in his hands, he could define the term as he liked after the
conclusion of peace. 125
It is possible that Theramenes had still another argument to help
persuade Lysander to support concessions. In part, the Spartan commander's
strength lay in his support within Sparta but even more,
perhaps, on the financial and military support given him by Cyrus
and the promise of future support from him based on their close personal
association. After Aegospotami, however, Cyrus' current influence
and future prospects came into serious question. Even before the
battle he had been recalled from his command in Asia Minor in response
to the complaints of his enemies. 126 When he reached his father's
12 JKrentz, Thirty, 40.
124
McCoy, YCS XXIV (1975), IJ9-I4Ii A. Fuks, The Ancestral CQtlstitution (London,
1953); M. I. Finley, The Ancestral Constitution (Cambridge, 1971).
"'McCoy, YCS XXIV (1975), IJ9·
wXen. Hell. 1 .8-9.