The Athenian Constitution   

fruit from it. Pericles' private property was quite unequal to this
magnificence and accordingly he took the advice of Damonides of Oia
(who was commonly supposed to be the person who prompted Pericles in
most of his measures, and was therefore subsequently ostracized),
which was that, as he was beaten in the matter of private
possessions,
he should make gifts to the people from their own property; and
accordingly he instituted pay for the members of the juries. Some
critics accuse him of thereby causing a deterioration in the
character
of the juries, since it was always the common people who put
themselves forward for selection as jurors, rather than the men of
better position. Moreover, bribery came into existence after
this, the
first person to introduce it being Anytus, after his command
at Pylos.
He was prosecuted by certain individuals on account of his loss of
Pylos, but escaped by bribing the jury.

Part 28

So long, however, as Pericles was leader of the people, things
went tolerably well with the state; but when he was dead there was a
great change for the worse. Then for the first time did the people
choose a leader who was of no reputation among men of good standing,
whereas up to this time such men had always been found as leaders of
the democracy. The first leader of the people, in the very beginning
of things, was Solon, and the second was Pisistratus, both
of them men
of birth and position. After the overthrow of the tyrants there was
Cleisthenes, a member of the house of the Alcmeonidae; and he had no
rival opposed to him after the expulsion of the party of Isagoras.
After this Xanthippus was the leader of the people, and Miltiades of
the upper class. Then came Themistocles and Aristides, and after
them Ephialtes as leader of the people, and Cimon son of Miltiades
of the wealthier class. Pericles followed as leader of the
people, and
Thucydides, who was connected by marriage with Cimon, of the
opposition. After the death of Pericles, Nicias, who
subsequently fell
in Sicily, appeared as leader of the aristocracy, and Cleon son of
Cleaenetus of the people. The latter seems, more than any
one else, to
have been the cause of the corruption of the democracy by his wild
undertakings; and he was the first to use unseemly shouting
and coarse
abuse on the Bema, and to harangue the people with his cloak girt up
short about him, whereas all his predecessors had spoken decently
and in order. These were succeeded by Theramenes son of Hagnon as
leader of the one party, and the lyre-maker Cleophon of the
people. It
was Cleophon who first granted the twoobol donation for the
theatrical
performances, and for some time it continued to be given; but then
Callicrates of Paeania ousted him by promising to add a third obol
to the sum. Both of these persons were subsequently condemned to
death; for the people, even if they are deceived for a time, in the
end generally come to detest those who have beguiled them into any
unworthy action. After Cleophon the popular leadership was occupied
successively by the men who chose to talk the biggest and pander the
most to the tastes of the majority, with their eyes fixed only on
the interests of the moment. The best statesmen at Athens,
after those
of early times, seem to have been Nicias, Thucydides, and