History of the Peloponnesian War

Now it was Pisander who moved this resolution, and in other respects was openly the most forward in assisting to put down the democracy. But the person who devised the whole business, and the means by which it was brought to this issue, and who for the longest time had given the subject great attention, was Antiphon, a man second to none of the Athenians of his day in point of virtue, and who had proved himself most able to devise measures, and to express his views; who also, though he did not come forward in the assembly of the people, nor by choice in any other scene of public debate, but was viewed with suspicion by the people through his reputation for cleverness, yet was most able for any one man to help those who were engaged in contest, whether in a court of justice, or before a popular assembly, whoever of them might consult him on any point.

And he himself, too, when the party of the Four Hundred had subsequently fallen, and was severely treated by the commons, appears to me to have made the best defence of all men up to my time, when tried for his life on the subject of this very government, on a charge of having assisted in setting it up.

Phrynichus, too, showed himself, beyond all others, most zealous for the oligarchy, through fear of Alcibiades, and the certainty that he was acquainted with the intrigues he had carried on at Samos with Astyochus; for he thought that, in all probability, he would never be restored by an oligarchical government. And he showed himself, when once he had undertaken their business, by far the most capable of facing dangers.

Theramenes the son of Hagnon was also a leader amongst those who joined in abolishing the democracy, a man of no small power, either of language or intellect. So that, conducted as it was by so many clever men, it was not unnatural that the business should succeed, though an arduous one. For it was a difficult matter to deprive the Athenian people of its liberty, about a hundred years after the deposition of the tyrants, and when it had not only been subject to none, but accustomed also, for more than half of that period, to rule over others.