The existing constitution being generally condemned, a revolution took
place, and fifty-one men came to the front as rulers of the
revolutionary government, namely eleven in the city and ten in the
Peiraeus-each of these bodies being in charge of the market and
municipal matters-while thirty were appointed rulers with full
powers over public affairs as a whole. Some of these were relatives
and acquaintances of mine, and they at once invited me to share in
their doings, as something to which I had a claim. The effect on me
was not surprising in the case of a young man. I considered that
they would, of course, so manage the State as to bring men out of a
bad way of life into a good one. So I watched them very closely to see
what they would do.
And seeing, as I did, that in quite a short time they made the
former government seem by comparison something precious as gold-for
among other things they tried to send a friend of mine, the aged
Socrates, whom I should scarcely scruple to describe as the most
upright man of that day, with some other persons to carry off one of
the citizens by force to execution, in order that, whether he wished
it, or not, he might share the guilt of their conduct; but he would
not obey them, risking all consequences in preference to becoming a
partner in their iniquitous deeds-seeing all these things and others
of the same kind on a considerable scale, I disapproved of their
proceedings, and withdrew from any connection with the abuses of the
time.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25