From Aristophanes to Aristotle, the attack on the demagogues always falls back on the one central question: in whose interest does the the leader lea… - Moses I. Finley

Political leaders, lacking documents that could be kept secret (apart from the occasional exception), lacking media they could control, were of necessity brought into a direct and immediate relationship with their constituents, and therefore under more and direct and immediate control.

The Athenians made mistakes. Which governmental system has not? The familiar game of condemning Athens for not having lived to some ideal of perfection is a stultifying approach.

for it is conflict combined with consent, not consent alone, which preserves democracy from eroding into oligarchy.