"It is called a government of the people [demokratia] because we live in consideration not of the few, but of the majority."
-How Thucydides says Pericles defined the Athenian constitution in his funeral oration for the men who died in the Peloponnesian War.
Athens never ran short of men who were willing to devote themselves to politics though the rewards were mainly honorific, and the personal risks were considerable. Issues were always fought with passion and whoever wanted to be a leader must be ready to fight with passion and be willing to live under constant tension.With the amount of constant tension that leaders had it is not surprising that leaders would seize the opportunity to crush an opponent, often with the uniquely Athenian tool of OSTRACISM.