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What I am arguing, in effect, is that the full democratic system of the second half of the fifth century B.C. would not have been introduced had there been no Athenian empire.

— Moses I. Finley Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

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More quotes by Moses I. Finley

" man is by nature designed to live in the polis, the highest form of koinonia, community; that is man's end or goal if he achieves the full potentiality of his nature.

Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

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.

Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

And nothing inhibited fourth-century orators in the assembly and the law-courts from indulging in savage slander, without a touch of humour in it.

Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

From Aristophanes to Aristotle, the attack on the demagogues always falls back on the one central question: in whose interest does the the leader lead?

Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

Ideal goals are a menace in themselves, as much in more modern philosophers as in Plato.

Democracy Ancient And Modern (Second Edition) (1985)

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