Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/378

 37° OPPOSITION OF PHRYNICHUS [vill of all Tissaphernes, and secondly the King himself, their A few of the oligarchs friend, if they would put down demo- coufer u'i//i Alcibiades. cracy ; the King would then be better Theyfonu o conspiracy ^^j^ ^^ ^^^^^^ jj^^^,^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^.j^, xnthecamp. ihe Kings pay proves a teUing tocracy, on whom the heaviest burdens i argument. P/itynic/ius are apt to fall"^, conceived great hopes tv M* 't,:/, °f g'="i"g *e government into their does Alcibiades care own hands, and Overcoming their ene- aboui oligarchy? What mies. Returning to Samos, the envoys do the allied cities care? ^^^^^ ^^jj g^^,,^ ^^ seemed desirable And ivhy should the King suddenly make accomplices into a Conspiracy, while friendsof hisoldenemies the language held in public to the main the Athenians ? ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ army was that the King would be their friend and would supply them with money if Alcibiades was restored and democracy given up. Now the multitude were at first dissatisfied with the scheme, but the prospect of the King's pay was so grateful to them that they offered no opposition ; and the authors of the movement, «after they had broached the idea to the people, once more considered the proposals of Alcibiades among themselves and the members of their clubs. Most of them thought the matter safe and straightforward enough. Phrynichus, who was still general, was of another mind. He maintained, and rightly, that Alcibiades cared no more for oligarchy than he did for democracy, and in seeking to change the existing form of government was only consider- ing how he might be recalled and restored to his country at the invitation of the clubs ; whereas their one care should be to avoid disunion. Why should the King go out of his way to join the Athenians whom he did not trust, when he would only get into trouble with the Peloponnesians, who were now as great a naval power, and held some of the most important cities in his dominion ? — it would be much easier for him to make friends with them, who had never done him any harm. As to the allies, to whom they had promised the blessings of oligarchy which they were now ■ Cp. viii. 63 fin.