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“It was about that time [415 BCE] that the poet Diagoras of Melos was proscribed for atheism, he having declared that the non-punishment of a certain act of iniquity proved that there were no gods. It has been surmised, with some reason, that the iniquity in question was the slaughter of the Melians by the Athenians in 416 BCE, and the Athenian resentment in that case was personal and political rather than religious. For some time after 415 the Athenian courts made strenuous efforts to punish every discoverable case of impiety; and parodies of the Eleusinian mysteries were alleged against Alcibiades and others. Diagoras, who was further charged with divulging the Eleusinian and other mysteries, and with making firewood of an image of Herakles, telling the god thus to perform his thirteenth labour by cooking turnips, became thenceforth one of the proverbial atheists of the ancient world, and a reward of a silver talent was offered for killing him, and of two talents for his capture alive; despite which he seems to have escaped.”

ReasonAtheismPoetGodsDeath PenaltySuperstitionFreethoughtAtheniansHerculesHeraklesAlcibiadesEleusinianDiagorasDiagoras Of MelosImpiety
Book:A Short History Of Freethought: Ancient And Modern
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“Athènes devint à partir de 450 avant Jésus-Christ la capitale culturelle du monde grec. La philosophie aussi prit un nouveau tournant. Les philosophes de la nature étaient avant tout des hommes de science qui s'intéressaient à l'analyse physique du monde et, à ce titre, ils tiennent une place importante dans l'histoire de la science. Mais, à Athènes, l'étude de la nature fut supplantée par celle de l'homme et sa place dans la société. Petit à petit, une démocratie avec des assemblées du peuple et des juges populaires vit le jour. Une condition sine qua non pour l'établissement de la démocratie était que le peuple fût assez éclairé pour pouvoir participer au processus démocratique. Qu'une jeune démocratie exige une certaine éducation du peuple, nous l'avons bien vu de nos jours.”

EducationDemocracyEducational PhilosophyGreeceAthensAthenians
Book:Sophie’s World
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“Per tutti, Ateniesi e non, simpatizzanti e nemici, Atene è la città dei processi, o meglio, come nelle Vespe di Aristofane, una città malata di processi, in cui tutto passa per i tribunali, in modo fin troppo disinvolto: nei processi, scriveva il sofista e retore Antifonte, che di queste cose se ne intendeva, conta la capacità di persuadere e non l’accertamento della verità.”

PhilosophyItalianoSocratesAtheniansAntifonteAristofane
Book:Processo a Socrate
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“The wide difference between the two characters, the slowness and want of energy of the Spartans as contrasted with the dash and enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest service, especially to a maritime empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character, and also most successful in combating them.”

WantTwoCharacterEnergyDifferencesSuccessfulWideOpponentsEnterpriseEmpiresAthensSlownessAtheniansMaritime
Book:The history of the Peloponnesian War: illustrated with maps from the 1820 Oxford edition
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“If the modern spirit, whatever that may be, is disinclined towards taking the Lord's word at its face value (as I hear is the case), we may observe that Isaiah's testimony to the character of the masses has strong collateral support from respectable Gentile authority. Plato lived into the administration of Eubulus, when Athens was at the peak of its jazz-and-paper era, and he speaks of the Athenian masses with all Isaiah's fervency, even comparing them to a herd of ravenous wild beasts.”

IfsMayCharacterFacesSpiritValuesSpeakStrongLordCasesSupportModernAuthorityPaperMassJazzAdministrationErasCompareBeastPlatoTestimonyRespectableHerdsAthensWild BeastsGentilesCollateralFace ValueAthenians
Author:Albert J. Nock
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“Eloquence, when at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection; but addressing itself entirely to the fancy or the affections, captivates the willing hearers, and subdues their understanding. Happily, this pitch it seldom attains. But what a Tully or a Demosthenes could scarcely effect over a Roman or Athenian audience, every Capuchin, every itinerant or stationary teacher can perform over the generality of mankind, and in a higher degree, by touching such gross and vulgar passions.”

LittlesReasonPassionUnderstandingRoomsAudienceTeacherMankindEffectsWillingHigherDegreesHighestReflectionAffectionFancyTouchingVulgarGrossEloquenceGeneralitiesStationaryAthenians
Book:An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
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“[M]ore than they wanted freedom, the Athenians wanted security. Yet they lost everything-security, comfort, and freedom. This was because they wanted not to give to society, but for society to give to them. The freedom they were seeking was freedom from responsibility. It is no wonder, then, that they ceased to be free. In the modern world, we should recall the Athenians' dire fate whenever we confront demands for increased state paternalism.”

WorldGivingShouldStatesWantedLostResponsibilityWonderFateModernSecurityComfortDemandSeekingRecallsModern WorldLost EverythingAtheniansPaternalism
Author:Margaret Thatcher
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“The Andrians were the first of the islanders to refuse Themistocles' demand for money. He had put it to them that they would be unable to avoid paying, because the Athenians had the support of two powerful deities, one called Persuasion and the other Compulsion.The Andrians had replied that Athens was lucky to have two such useful gods, who were obviously responsible for her wealth and greatness; unfortunately, they themselves, in their small & inadequate land, had two utterly useless deities, who refused to leave the island and insisted on staying; and their names were Poverty and Inability.”

FirstsTwoWould BeNamesWealthPowerfulPovertySupportLandGreatnessLuckyDemandResponsibleRefuseUselessIslandsStayingPersuasionInabilityDeitiesCompulsionInadequateAthensAthenians
Author:Herodotus
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“The Parisian is to the French what the Athenian was to the Greeks: no one sleeps better than he, no one is more openly frivolous and idle, no one appears more heedless. But this is misleading. He is given to every kind of listlessness, but when there is glory to be won he may be inspired with every kind of fury. Give him a pike and he will enact the tenth of August, a musket and you have Austerlitz. He was the springboard of Napoleon and the mainstay of Danton. At the cry of "la patrie" he enrols, and at the call of liberty he tears up the pavements. Beware of him!”

GivingKindMayGivenSleepLibertyCryTearsGloryInspiredGreekParisIdleFuryMisleadAugustFrivolousBe InspiredPavementAtheniansSpringboards
Book:Les Misérables
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“Our society is falling back increasingly on rampant consumerism and self-promoting social media as a way for people to feel that their lives matter - self-centered means of numbing the questions of mattering. Culture has relapsed back into the self-aggrandizing, glorifying answers that the Athenians had presumed, which had Socrates railing against them until he got so annoying that they killed him.”

PeopleWayFeelsMeanSelfMatterFallCultureSocialAnswersMediaSocial MediaOur SocietyAnnoyingConsumerismPromotingSelf CenteredNumbingAthenians
Author:Rebecca Goldstein
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“In the end, more than freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all – security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.”

GivingEndsWisdomWantedLostResponsibilityLibertySecurityComfortComfortableLibertarianTyrannyLibertarianismAthensLibertarian PartyAtheniansComfortable Life
Author:Edward Gibbon
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“Through the forest have I gone. But Athenian found I none, On whose eyes I might approve This flower's force in stirring love. Night and silence.--Who is here? Weeds of Athens he doth wear: This is he, my master said, Despised the Athenian maid; And here the maiden, sleeping sound, On the dank and dirty ground. Pretty soul! she durst not lie Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy. Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe. When thou wakest, let love forbid Sleep his seat on thy eyelid: So awake when I am gone; For I must now to Oberon.”

SaidSoulMightEyeLyingNightFoundForceSoundSleepSilenceGoneFlowerMastersForestsDirtyAwakeCharmSeatsWeedCourtesyDespisedMaidsStirringMaidensAthensEyelidsAtheniansDank
Book:The Family Shakspeare, in One Volume: In which Nothing is Added to the Original Text, But Those Words and Expressions are Omitted which Cannot with Propriety be Read in a Family
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“Ares always reemerges from the chaos. It will never go away. Athenian civilization defends itself from the forces of Ares with metis, or technology. Technology is built on science. Science is like the alchemists' uroburos, continually eating its own tail. The process of science doesn't work unless young scientists have the freedom to attack and tear down old dogmas, to engage in an ongoing Titanomachia. Science flourishes where art and free speech flourish.”

ArtYoungForceProcessTechnologyTearsCivilizationSpeechEatingBuiltScientistChaosGoing AwayDogmaFree SpeechTailsOngoingAlchemistAthenians
Author:Neal Stephenson
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“We are usually told that democracy originated in ancient Athens - like science, or philosophy, it was a Greek invention. It's never entirely clear what this is supposed to mean. Are we supposed to believe that before the Athenians, it never really occurred to anyone, anywhere, to gather all the members of their community in order to make joint decisions in a way that gave everyone equal say?”

WayBelieveMeanPhilosophyOrderCommunityDecisionDemocracyClearEqualMembersAncientInventionGreekJointsAthensAthenians
Author:David Graeber
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“The members of the department became like the Athenians who, according to the Apostle Paul, "spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing." Anyone who thought he had a bright idea rushed out to try it out on a colleague. Groups of two or more could be seen every day in offices, before blackboards or even in corridors, arguing vehemently about these 'brain storms.' It is doubtful whether any paper ever emerged for publication that had not run the gauntlet of such criticism. The whole department thus became far greater than the sum of its individual members.”

TryingTwoIdeasWholeRunningScienceIndividualBrainGreaterGroupsMembersOfficePaperCriticismStormArguingDepartmentNew ThingsColleaguesApostlesPublicationDoubtfulCorridorsApostle PaulAtheniansBlackboardGauntletBright Ideas
Author:Joel Henry Hildebrand
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“[Regarding legislative assemblies,] the number ought at most to be kept within a certain limit, in order to avoid the confusion and intemperance of a multitude. In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever characters composed, passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.”

Has BeensStillsReasonCharacterCertainOrderPassionNumbersFailingOughtCitizensLimitsCongressConfusionMultitudesAssemblyLegislatureIntemperanceAthenians
Book:The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States
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