And ultimately, the Athenian government derived its power not from its citizens, but from the imperialist belief that might makes right. It's true that Athens gave us Socrates, but let me remind you, they also killed him. Well, I mean, they forced him to commit suicide. Whatever, Herodotus, you're not the only one here who can engage in historical bias. And lastly, under Persian rule, the Greeks might have avoided the Peloponnesian War, which ended up weakening the Greek city-states so much that Alexander, coming soon the great's father, was able to conquer all of them, and then there were a bunch of bloody wars with the Persians and all kinds of horrible things, and Greece wouldn't glimpse democracy again for two millennia, all of which might have been avoided if they had just let themselves get beaten by the Persians. All of which forces us to return to the core question of human history. What's the point of being alive?