In the wake of the Mytileneans' surrender, a heated debate took place at Athens over their fate. One faction, led by Cleon, advocated executing all of the men in the city and enslaving the women and children, while another faction (one spokesman was Diodotus) preferred more moderate treatment in which only men who had been identified as ringleaders would be executed. The Athenian assembly wavered; an order for mass execution was issued on the first day of debate but countermanded on the next. In the end, the city as a whole was spared, but 1,000 "ringleaders" (although this figure is viewed sceptically, and it is believed that due to a misreading by a scribe, the figure was actually closer to 30) were executed without trial.