Greek Life
"Now that these descendants of Perdiccas are Greeks, as they themselves say, I myself chance to know and will prove it in the later part of my history. Furthermore, the Hellenodicae who manage the contest at Olympia determined that it is so, for when Alexander chose to contend and entered the lists for that purpose, the Greeks who were to run against him wanted to bar him from the race, saying that the contest should be for Greeks and not for foreigners. Alexander, however, proving himself to be an Argive, was judged to be a Greek. He accordingly competed in the furlong race and tied step for first place. This, then, is approximately what happened."
Herodotus (484-424)
The Histories
5.22
Throughout the period of Pericles' ascendancy the state was run reasonably well, but after his death there was a marked decline. It was then that the people first got a leader who was not approved by the respectable citizens; before this the leaders had always come from this class. The first leader of the people was Solon, and he was followed by Peisistratus, both of them aristocrats of good family. After the fall of the tyranny there was Cleisthenes, an Alcmeonid, and he had no opponent after the expulsion of Isagoras and his supporters.
Aristotle? (by 322)
Ath. Pol.
28
After the flight of the Medes from Hellas, Cimon was sent out as a commander, before the Athenians had obtained their empire of the sea, and while they were still under the leadership of Pausanias and the Lacedaemonians. During this campaign, the citizen-soldiers he furnished on expeditions were always admirably disciplined and far more zealous than any others; while Pausanias was holding treasonable conference with the Barbarians, writing letters to the King, treating the allies with harsh arrogance, and displaying much wantonness of power and silly pretension, Cimon received with mildness those who brought their wrongs to him, treated them humanely, and so, before men were aware of it, secured the leadership of Hellas, not by force of arms, but by virtue of his address and character.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
Lives
Life of Cimon
Indeed, even if we leave Athens with a force not only equal to that of the enemy except in the number of heavy infantry in the field, but even at all points superior to him, we shall still find it difficult to conquer Sicily or save ourselves. We must not disguise from ourselves that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and that he who undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of the country the first day he lands, or failing in this to find everything hostile to him. Fearing this, and knowing that we shall have need of much good counsel and more good fortune—a hard matter for mortal men to aspire to—I wish as far as may be to make myself independent of fortune before sailing, and when I do sail, to be as safe as a strong force can make me. This I believe to be surest for the country at large, and safest for us who are to go on the expedition. If any one thinks differently I resign to him my command.
Thucydides (460-400)
History of the Peloponnesian War
6.24
For, if it belongs to the original conquerors, have not we a right to hold it? It was mu ancestor, Alexander, who first occupied the site, and, as the first-fruits of the Persian captives taken there, set up a golden statue at Delphi. Or if anyone disputes this and claims it for its later owners, here gain the right is mine, because I besieged and captured the city, after its inhabitants had expelled you and accepted the Lacedaemonians as their founders.
Philip II of Macedon (382-336)
Letter to the Athenians
The Athenians were the first to lay aside their weapons, and to adopt an easier and more luxurious mode of life; indeed, it is only lately that their rich old men left off the luxury of wearing undergarments of linen, and fastening a knot of their hair with a tie of golden grasshoppers, a fashion which spread to their Ionian kindred and long prevailed among the old men there. On the contrary, a modest style of dressing, more in conformity with modern ideas, was first adopted by the Lacedaemonians, the rich doing their best to assimilate their way of life to that of the common people. They also set the example of contending naked, publicly stripping and anointing themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises. Formerly, even in the Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts across their middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice ceased.
Thucydides (460-400)
History of the Peloponnesian War
1.6
Since the siege continued into the late autumn, the Athenians grew weary of their absence from home and their lack of success at taking the fortress. They accordingly entreated their generals to lead them away again, but the generals refused to do that till they should take the place or be recalled by the Athenian state. At that the men endured their plight patiently.
Herodotus (484-424)
The Histories
9.118
Nevertheless, since the others are so lacking in spirit, I think it is opportune for you to head the war against the Kind; and, while it is only natural for the other descendants of Heracles, and for men who are under the bonds of their polities and laws, to cleave fondly to that state in which they happen to dwell, it is your privilege, as one who has been blessed with untrammelled freedom, to consider all Hellas you fatherland, as did the founder of your race, and to be ready to brave perils for her sake as for the things about which you are personally most concerned
Isocrates (436-338)
Address to Philip
After the destruction of the Athenian expedition to Sicily, the peoples of Chios, Lesbos, and Cyzicus all sent delegations at the same time to Sparta to discuss the prospects of a revolt against Athens. The Boeotians supported Lesbos’s appeal and Pharnabazus that of Cyzicus, but the Spartans, on Alcibiades’ advice, chose to help Chios before all the others. Alcibiades himself sailed out and succeeded in inciting almost all the Ionian cities to revolt, and as he cooperated closely with the Spartan generals he did great harm to the Athenians. However, Agis had now become his personal enemy because of the wrong Alcibiades had done him as a husband, and he was also displeased at the reputation Alcibiades was winning for himself, since it was commonly said that most of Sparta’s success was due to his efforts.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
LivesMeanwhile Brasidas, afraid that help would arrive by sea from Thasos, and learning that Thucydides possessed the right of working the gold mines in that part of Thrace, and had thus great influence with the inhabitants of the mainland, hastened to gain the city, if possible, before the people of Amphipolis should be encouraged by his arrival to hope that he could save them by getting together a force of allies from the sea and from Thrace, and so refuse to surrender.
Thucydides (460-400)
History of the Peloponnesian War
1.102.1-3
Concerning Lycurgus the lawgiver, in general, nothing can be said which is not disputed, since indeed there are different accounts of his birth, his travels, his death, and above all, of his work as lawmaker and statesman; and there is least agreement among historians as to the times in which the man lived. Some say that he flourished at the same time with Iphitus, and in concert with him established the Olympic truce. Among these is Aristotle the philosopher, and he alleges as proof the discus at Olympia on which an inscription preserves the name of Lycurgus.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
Lives
Life of Lycurgus
Ephialtes the son of Sophonides became champion of the people; he had a reputation for incorruptibility and justice in public life. He launched an attack on the Areopagus/ First, he removed many of its members on charges of administrative misconduct. Then, in the Archonship of Konon, he stripped it of all its additional powers including the guardianship of the constitution; he distributed them among the Boule, the Ekklesia, and the dikasteria. He was aided in the reforms by Themistocles, who was a member of the Areopagus, but was facing a charge of treason with Persia.
Aristotle (by 322)
Ath. Pol.
25
Now if any of you, men of Athens, seeing Philip's good fortune, thinks that this makes him a formidable enemy to fight against, he reasons like a sensible man: for fortune weighs heavy in the scale-- nay, fortune is everything, in all human affairs. And yet, if I were given the choice, it is the fortune of Athens that I should choose, rather than that of Philip, provided that you yourselves ware willing to act even to a small extent as you should act. For I see that there are far more abundant grounds for expecting the goodwill of Heaven on your side than on his. But here, of course, we are sitting idle; and one who is a sluggard himself cannot require his friends to help him, much less the gods.
Demosthenes (384-322)
The Second Olynthiac of Demosthenes
During this interval the Athenians succeeded in placing their empire on a firmer basis, and themselves advancedDuring this interval the Athenians succeeded in placing their empire on a firmer basis, and advanced their own home power to a very great height. The Lacedaemonians, though fully aware of it, opposed it only for a little while, but remained inactive during most of the period, being of old slow to go to war except under the pressure of necessity, and in the present instance being hampered by wars at home; until the growth of the Athenian power could be no longer ignored, and their own confederacy became the object of its encroachments. They then felt that they could endure it no longer, but that the time had come for them to throw themselves heart and soul upon the hostile power, and break it, if they could, by commencing the present war. And though the Lacedaemonians had made up their own minds on the fact of the breach of the treaty and the guilt of the Athenians, yet they sent to Delphi and inquired of the god whether it would be well with them if they went to war; and, as it is reported, received from him the answer that if they put their whole strength into the war, victory would be theirs, and the promise that he himself would be with them, whether invoked or uninvoked.
Thucydides (460-400)
History of the Peloponnesian War
1.118
Moreover, the allies of the Lacedaemonians were offended at Agesilaus, because, as they said, it was not upon any public ground of complaint, but by reason of some passionate resentment of his own, that he sought to destroy the Thebans. Accordingly, they said they had no wish to be dragged hither and thither to destruction every year, they themselves so many, and the Lacedaemonians, with whom they followed, so few. It was at this time, we are told, that Agesilaus, wishing to refute their argument from numbers, devised the following scheme. He ordered all the allies to sit down by themselves promiscuously, and the Lacedaemonians apart by themselves. Then his herald called upon the potters to stand up first, and after them the smiths, next, the carpenters in their turn, and the builders, and so on through all the handicrafts. In response, almost all the allies rose up, but not a man of the Lacedaemonians; for they were forbidden to learn or practise a manual art. Then Agesilaus said with a laugh: ‘You see, O men, how many more soldiers than you we are sending out.’
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
Lives
Life of Alcibiades
And so Aspasia, as some say, was held in high favor by Pericles because of her rare political wisdom. Socrates sometimes came to see her with his disciples, and his intimate friends brought their wives to her to hear her discourse, although she presided over a business that was anything but honest or even reputable, since she kept a house of young courtesans.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
LivesLife of Pericles
Once more the Lacedaemonians summoned the Athenians to come to their aid against the Messenians and Helots in Ithome, and the Athenians went, but their dashing boldness awakened fear, and they were singled out from all the allies and went off as dangerous conspirators. They came back home in a rage, and at once took open measures of hostility against the Laconizers, and above all against Cimon. Laying hold of a trifling pretext, they ostracized him for ten years. That was the period decreed in all cases of ostracism.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
Lives
Life of Cimon
The reason they did not plan to arrest him in the city was that they did not know how great was the extent of the plot, and they wished to hear from Cinadon who his accomplices were before these should learn that they had been informed against, in order to prevent their escaping. Accordingly, those who made the arrest were to detain Cinadon, and after learning from him the names of his confederates, to write them down and send them back as quickly as possible to the ephors. An so seriously did the ephors regard the matter that they even sent a regiment of cavalry to support the men who had set out for Aulon.
Xenophon (430-355)
Hellenica
After this, Lysander sailed to the various cities, and ordered all the Athenians whom he met to go back to Athens, for he would spare none, he said, but would slaughter any whom he caught outside the city. He took this course, and drove them all into the city together, because he wished that scarcity of food and a mighty famine should speedily afflict the city, in order that they might not hinder him by holding out against his siege with plenty of provisions. He also suppressed the democratic, and the other forms of government, and left one Lacedaemonian harmost in each city, and ten rulers chosen from the political clubs which he had organized throughout the cities. This he did alike in the cities which had been hostile, and in those which had become his allies, and sailed along in leisurely fashion, in a manner establishing for himself the supremacy over Hellas.
Plutarch (50-120 AD)
Lives"Surely, Lacedaemonians, neither by the patriotism that we displayed at that crisis, nor by the wisdom of our counsels, do we merit our extreme unpopularity with the Hellenes, not at least unpopularity for our empire. That empire we acquired by no violent means, but because you were unwilling to prosecute to its conclusion the war against the barbarian, and because the allies attached themselves to us and spontaneously asked us to assume the command. And the nature of the case first compelled us to advance our empire to its present height; fear being our principal motive, though honour and interest afterwards came in."
Thucydides (460-400)
History of the Peloponnesian War
1.75