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

THE FALL OF ATHENS 411
a treaty would mean. Even so, some Athenians resisted the kind of
peace the ambassadors had brought from Sparta. During the months
that Theramenes had been negotiating with the Spartans, at first alone
and then with the other ambassadors, a fierce struggle had been going
forward in Athens between those prepared to make peace and those
who still wanted to resist. The chief resisters were passionate adherents
of the full democracy like Cleophon, who knew that any peace agreed
to at that time was certain to put an end to a thoroughly democratic
constitution and bring back exiles bitterly hostile to it. Such men were
certain to turn against the leading politicians of the extreme democratic
faction. Without in any way casting doubt on the sincerity of the
democratic leaders' devotion to their cause, we may, nonetheless, believe
that the vehemence and tenacity of their resistance was increased
by the knowledge of their likely fate after the peace.
Their opponents in Athens found it necessary not only to argue in
favor of peace but also to remove its most able opponents, and during
one of Theramenes' absences, they trumped up a charge against Cleophon,
brought him to trial, and had him executed."' Even with the
boldest resister gone, however, the opponents of peace did not give
up. Some of the generals and taxiarchs and other citizens--Strombichides,
Dionysodorus, and Eucrates among them-went to Theramenes
to complain about the peace terms. The supporters of the peace,
in fear that the assembly might be swayed, brought charges of plotting
against the people against all of the resisters they could identify and
had them imprisoned.'" These actions were carried through with remarkable
and, perhaps, unconstitutional swiftness, for on the day after
the arrival of Theramenes and his colleagues, the Athenian assembly
met to consider Sparta's terms of peace."' Theramenes spoke on behalf
of the ambassadors in favor of accepting the offer. Even at this last
moment, when the outcome was inevitable, some Athenians voted
against the proposal. The great majority, however, voted in favor. On
that day in March 404, just twenty-seven years "and a few days over,"
as Thucydides says, the great war between the Athenian Empire and
the Spartan Alliance came to an end.'" Not long afterward, on the
sixteenth day of the Athenian month Munychlon, toward the end of
mxen. I.7·35i Lys. IJ-IZ, JO.IO-I4. Krentz, Thirty, 36, n. 23.
136
Lys. IJ·IJ-zo, 47-48, 84; •B.s.
mFor a defense of this very crowded account of events, which derives from combining
Lysias with Xenophon, see Krentz, Thirty, 4 3, n. 35.
ll05·26,I-J.