History of the Peloponnesian War

Upon that it was at length plainly declared, that no one should any longer either hold office, or receive pay, according to the present constitution; that they should elect five men as presidents, who, again, should elect a hundred, and each of the hundred three for himself, and that these, amounting to four hundred, should enter the council-chamber, and govern as they might think best, with full powers, and should elect the five thousand also, whenever they might please.

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.