How to be Greek -- Three's company. National hero ; State of war ; The Persian mule -- The invention of democracy. The shaking-off ; A friend of the poor ; Charioteers of the soul ; Inventing democracy -- The Persian threat. Eastern raiders ; Fox as hedgehog ; Invasion ; "The acts of idiots" ; "O divine Salamis" -- The empire builders. League of Nations ; The falling out ; The kindly ones ; "Crowned with violets" -- The Great War. The prisoners on the island ; The man who knew nothing ; Downfall ; The end of democracy? -- A long farewell. Sparta's turn ; Chaeronea : "fatal to liberty" ; Afterword : "a God-forsaken hole".