Status Updates From تاریخ تمدن: یونان باستان

"Demagogues arise who point out to the poor the inequality of human possessions, and conceal from them the inequality of human economic ability; the poor man, face to face with wealth becomes conscious of his poverty, broods over his unrewarded merits, and dreams of perfect states. Bitterer than the war of Greece with Persia, or of Athens with Sparta, is, in all the Greek states the war of class with class" (281).

"The merchants who accompany their goods to all quarters of the Mediterranean come back with changed perspective, & alert & open minds; they bring new ideas & ways, break down ancient taboos & sloth, & replace the familial conservatism of a rural aristocracy with the individualistic & progressive spirit of a mercantile civilization. Here in Athens East & West meet, & jar each other from their ruts" (276).

"This corrupt and incompetent democracy is at least a school: the voter in the Assembly listens to the cleverest men in Athens, the juror in the courts has his wits sharpened by the taking and sifting of evidence, the holder of office is molded by executive responsibility and experience into a deeper maturity of understanding and judgment; 'the city,' says Simonides, 'is the teacher of the man'" (266-7).

Nice little bit on Polybius

"The good government & cultural patronage that had adorned Athens in the age of Peisistratus were continued now with equal unity & decisiveness ...but also with the full...consent of a free citizenship. History through [Pericles] illustrated again the principle that liberal reforms are most ably executed & most permanently secured by the cautious & moderate leadership of an aristocrat enjoying popular support" (249).