History of the Peloponnesian War

For the same reason it was also impossible for any man that was offended to pour out his grievances to another and thus plot to avenge himself,[*](Or, “so as to defend himself against one who was plotting against him.”) for he would discover any person to whom he might speak to be either a stranger or, if an acquaintance, faithless.

For all the members of the popular party approached each other with suspicion, as though every one had a hand in what was going on. And, indeed, there were among them men whom one would never have expected to change over and favour an oligarchy; and it was these who caused the greatest distrust among the masses and rendered the most valuable service toward the few in securing their safety by confirming in the populace this distrust of their own people.

It was at this crisis that Peisander and his colleagues arrived and immediately applied themselves to the work that still remained to be done. First they called the popular assembly together and proposed a resolution that ten men should be chosen as commissioners, with full powers, for the drafting of laws, and that these men, after drafting such laws, should bring before the assembly on an appointed day a proposal embodying provisions for the best administration of the state.