HO THE UPPER CLASSES IV

party, Thrymchos' gang', were a sort of informal hetatna.1
Frequently groups of young noblemen joined company without
any thought of politics The 'young comrades' of Hippolytos
in Euripides' play are of that kind , their aims are not political
power, but a victory in one of the Panhellenic festivals and,
being second in the State, to live on good terms with the 'best
men' 2 Perhaps it is the same kind of people whom Euripides
describes as the young men eager to win glory in just and
righteous warfare.3 But as early as 424 the nobles were cen-
sured for being conspirators 4 The expression 'conspirators'
is, in fact, the word normally used in comedy for the members
of the oligarchic clubs, ° Almost all the passages in which the
f conspirators' are mentioned, testify — although with comic
exaggeration — to the widespread fear that the clubs would
one day try to overthrow democracy, in particular with the
help of oligarchs from other States.6 To democracy the policy
of these clubs or hetama^ meant the same as tyranny, and some-
body 'riding' (the word is used in an obscene sense) was
obviously aiming at a sort of 'Hippias' tyranny'.7 Impoverished
nobles were the natural supporters of a tyrant, aiming at civil
strife and at plundering those who by steady industry had
gained wealth 8 The fact that they had become involved m
everyday politics, secretly or openly, m hetainai or in the

1 W 1302 It seems much more probable that the Phrymchos mentioned here
\\ as the oligarchic leader of later years than the dancer of v 1490 — • unless Andok
I, 47 (<t>puvi)(p$ 6 6pXT]cj6c{Jievo$, altered by A Wilhelm into 'OpXTjaaSJiEVOu)
proves that the dancer is a comic invention to fit in with the name of Phrymchos'
father

2 Eur Hipp 1098, ii79ff — ioi3ff

3 Eur Etk 232f 4 K 257

5 owooiJOTca, K 257, 452, 475^ 628, 862, W 345, 483, 488, 507, 953 In
general, cf G M Calhoun, Athenian Clubs m Politics and Litigation (1913)

6 That is why Ps -Xen II, 1 5 states that the Athenians would get rid of this
fear if they lived on an island Cf also L 577f, words spoken on the stage a few
weeks before the outbreak of revolution in 41 1, and very similar to those of Thuc,
VIII, 54, 4, when he describes the activities of the cruvcouocrica at that very
moment.

8 Eur. Her 588^ Wilamowitz, comparing Plato, Rep VIII, 555 D, takes
this Interesting and realistic passage as a picture of something that could happen
m an oligarchy only. But Euripides describes Lykos' rule, i e the rise of a tyrant
m a mythical monarchy, and if he is alluding to contemporary conditions, as he
undoubtedly is, he is thinking of those people whose political intrigues eventually
led to the oligarchic revolutions of 41 1 and 404