(17) Reading {oste}, lit. "so as to get a far less just judgment."

But besides this we cannot escape the conclusion that the Athenians have
their festivals to keep, during which the courts cannot sit. (18) As
a matter of fact these festivals are twice as numerous as those of any
other people. But I will reckon them as merely equal to those of the
state which has the fewest.

(18) Lit. "it is not possible to give judgment"; or, "for juries to
sit."

This being so, I maintain that it is not possible for business affairs
at Athens to stand on any very different footing from the present,
except to some slight extent, by adding here and deducting there.
Any large modification is out of the question, short of damaging the
democracy itself. No doubt many expedients might be discovered for
improving the constitution, but if the problem be to discover some
adequate means of improving the constitution, while at the same time the
democracy is to remain intact, I say it is not easy to do this, except,
as I have just stated, to the extent of some trifling addition here or
deduction there.

There is another point in which it is sometimes felt that the Athenians
are ill advised, in their adoption, namely, of the less respectable
party, in a state divided by faction. But if so, they do it advisedly.
If they chose the more respectable, they would be adopting those whose
views and interests differ from their own, for there is no state in
which the best element is friendly to the people. It is the worst
element which in every state favours the democracy--on the principle
that like favours like. (19) It is simple enough then. The Athenians
choose what is most akin to themselves. Also on every occasion on which
they have attempted to side with the better classes, it has not fared
well with them, but within a short interval the democratic party has
been enslaved, as for instance in Boeotia; (20) or, as when they chose
the aristocrats of the Milesians, and within a short time these revolted
and cut the people to pieces; or, as when they chose the Lacedaemonians
as against the Messenians, and within a short time the Lacedaemonians
subjugated the Messenians and went to war against Athens.

(19) I.e. "birds of a feather."

(20) The references are perhaps (1) to the events of the year 447
B.C., see Thuc. i. 113; cf. Aristot. "Pol." v. 3, 5; (2) to 440
B.C., Thuc. i. 115; Diod. xii. 27, 28; Plut. "Pericl." c. 24; (3)
to