You also had statesmen like Pericles, whose famous funeral oration brags about the golden democracy of Athens with rhetoric that wouldn’t sound out of place today.
It isn't just that Pericles should have the dominant say b ecause he has the best judgment, and that will lead to the best outcomes, to the best consequences for the citizens.
The city's overcrowding exacerbated the plague – Pericles had called all Athenians inside the city to protect them from the Spartan army, but Athens was not built to support so many people.