The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1940-03-19
Ia ~ BY van
u llG OlOlY Ol ACIllOCldCX
Democracy Fell as Bad Leadership
Replaced Craftsmanship
ny HENDRIX WIII.EM
VAN LOON
CHAPTER THIRrEEN
ulustraaed BY the Author

VAN LOON
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ulustrated BY the Author
Had Athens been a true democ-
Fncy. a. pericles had claimed, or
had II been . thinly disguised
outocracy under the leadership Of
= man Of such great wisdom that
h never made his fellow citizens
feel that they were In reality his
eubjects7 Our final verdict VIII
depend upon our own prejudiccs,
Tor 4 good case can be made out
Tor either statement.
Personally. I feel inclined TO re-
xnrd that whole episode Of the
Athenian democracy tremendous
u important to al W because 1t
still spooks around In peoples
heads) a. an experiment in en-
Nxhtencd dictatorship." For the
very moment that the enlightened
lsader- had disappeared from the
scene, Athenian democracy col
lopoed most piteously.
n Gelden Age Apparently
= - Mt u cAny.
This whole period Of the great
Reloponnesian war--the suicide OF
- Athenian democracy been
most carefully recorded In the
works Of Thucydides. II you want
- read something completely mod
ern. something that might have
been written yesterday. get your
eli Z cheap edition Of Thucydides
famous classic.
1T was the work Of an insider-
IN Athenian general who had
bsen deprived Of his command
after = defeat. for popular forms
e government then a. now are
very severe on their unsuccessful
military men.
--However. there 10 very little AK
nrinding in this story Of the end
~ war. II u recital Of the
1acts without very much comment.
hut what makes It 90 interesting
10 the modern reader IL this inti-
mate glimpse Of q democracy of
- centuries ago which might as
well have been 4 democracy of
. thousand years ago or Of today.
There are the same magnifi-
cent outbursts Of courage On
H. part Of the common people
while they were still being
domlnated BY men Of the cali
~ II . PericIes. But the mo-
ment these leaders have suf-
~fered . setback. the petty
z1lttle demAgogues, who have
always smarted under their
own sense Of inferority, not
snly see their chance, but also
take u.
You win recognize all the types
which since then we have come
70 associate with the word de-
mocracy. There IL the leather
merchant. Clean lfull OF envy Of
the aloof and aristocratic PERI
eles). able. completely corrupt, but
. marvellous rabble-rouser. Plut-
arch describes him as the first
man who ever addressed the
Athenian town meeting pulling
off his cloak and humping his
sides with his fists" And when
he found that this sort of thing
worked. he forgot that he was one
u the richest men of his town and
thereafter went around In the dirty
HOUSE Of . common workingman.
Hike . modern college boy slightly
tinged with bolshevism living in a
luxurious dormitory but affecting
q dirty collar. q leather coat and
. lot Of hair on his head.
Yet this lover Of the people
quietly condemned every male
citizen Of Mytilene to death when
mat town had dared 10 repei
against the terrific taxes forced
upon its possessing classes" by
Athens. The Athenian assembly
pverruled this ghastiy sentence,
hut Cleon persuaded the Athenian
general In Nytilene to send him q
thousand Of the ring-leaders Tread
sthe richer people Of the COM
munity'') and the moment they
reached Athenian soil. he had all
q them killed.
with that type Of person In con-
troll, Ill sorts Of things were pos
dbae.
Ard - n went from bad 10
worse and the AtheniAn de-
nsocracy perished - practical