But while a republican government is the best, it is also the hardest to run. It demands that each one of its citizens shall be educated so that he may be able to vote wisely.
AN ATHENIAN SCHOOLBOY LEARNING TO PLAY THE LYRE
From an Athenian vase
The Greeks had a hard time keeping their self-government. There were shrewd men among them who seized the power in the city and compelled the people to obey them. Such a man the Greeks called a "tyrant." A tyrant was either good or bad. He sometimes gave the people a better government than they had when they ruled themselves. But the Greeks were liberty-loving and liked to govern themselves even though their government was worse than a tyrant's government. So they generally drove out the tyrants and again set up a government under rulers of their own choosing.
THE DISCUS THROWER
269. The Two Rival Cities, Athens and Sparta. The people of Athens were the most democratic in all Greece. The Spartans, on the other hand, were the most soldier-like of the Greeks. The Athenians loved new things while the Spartans liked old ways best. The Athenians made Athens the most beautiful city in the Old World. The Spartans cared nothing for beautiful things. They loved only things that were useful.
All the citizens of Athens came together to make the laws. In the center of their city they met in their assembly, a semicircle of stone seats rising one above another. Here the men of Athens listened to their speakers. Each speaker placed a wreath upon his head before he began speaking.