Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/256

234 HISTORY OF GREECE. ing from exile, not merely an unmeasured and unprincipled lust of power, but also a rancorous impulse towards spoliation and bloodshed 1 which outran even his ambition, and ultimately ruined both his party and himself. Of all these returning exiles, animated with mingled vengeance and ambition, Kritias was decidedly the leading man, like Anti- phon among the Four Hundred ; partly from his abilities, partly from the superior violence with which he carried out the common sentiment. At the present juncture, he and his fellow-exiles became the most important persons in the city, as enjoying most the friendship and confidence of the conquerors. But the oligar- chical party at home were noway behind them, either in servility or in revolutionary fervor, and an understanding was soon estab- lished between the two. Probably the old faction of the Four Hundred, though put down, had never wholly died out : at any rate, the political hetaeries, or clubs, out of which it was composed, still remained, prepared for fresh cooperation when a favorable moment should arrive ; and the catastrophe of JEgospotami had made it plain to every one that such moment could not be far distant. Accordingly, a large portion, if not the majority, of the senators, became ready to lend themselves to the destruction of the democracy, and only anxious to insure places among the oli- garchy in prospect ; a while the supple Theramenes resuming his place as oligarchical leader, and abusing his mission as envoy to wear out the patience of his half-famished countrymen had, during his three months' absence in the tent of Lysander, con- certed arrangements with the exiles for future proceedings. 3 As soon as the city surrendered, and while the work of demo- lition was yet going on, the oligarchical party began to organize itself. The members of the political clubs again came together, and named a managing committee of five, called ephors in com- 1 Xenoph. Hellen. ii. 2. eirel 61 avrbf psv (Kritias) rpo;rerfa qv fat rb iro7i.?Mijf anoKTeivai, U.TE Kal tyvy&v virb TOV dqfiov, etc. 2 Lysias cont. Agorat. Or. xiii, s. 23, p. 132. 3 Lysias cont. Eratosth. Or. xii, s. 78, p. 128. Theramenes is described, in his subsequent defence, oveidifav fiev rotf <f>eiiyovaiv on 61' avrbv Karsl- dotev, etc. The gereral narrative of Xenophon, meagre as it is. harmonizes with this.