The Athenians say that it is not so terrible to be vanquished by outside powers as to be vanquished by subjects who by themselves attack and overpower their rulers. What do they mean here?Probably the most obvious thing they are referring to is revolution. But it is interesting that they say it would be worse to be vanquished by revolutionaries than outside antagonists. Why would they say this? Well, in ancient Greece, having honor was important to a culture, and to people. The very fact that revolutionaries existed signified that the culture, government or people were weak; that took away honor, leaving shame. Perhaps, fear of shame was what caused them to say this. Another possible reason could be that a divided nation is easily conquered.
