Megacles was the son of that Alcmeon, whom Croesus had extremely enriched for a particular service he had done him. He had likewise married a lady who had brought him an immense portion; her name was Agarista, the daughter of Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon. This Clisthenes was at this time the richest and most opulent prince in Greece. In order to be able to choose a worthy son-in-law, and to know his temper, manners, and character, from his own experience, Clisthenes invited all the young noble.nen of Greece to come and spend a year with him at his house; for this was an ancient custom in that country. Several youths accepted the invitation, and there came from different parts to the number of thirteen. Nothing was seen every day but races, games, tournaments, magnificent entertainments, and conversations upon all sorts of questions and subjects. One of the gentlemen, who had hitherto surpassed all his competitors, lost the princess, by using some indecent gestures and postures in his dancing, with which her father was extremely offended. Clisthenes, at the end of the year, declared for Megacles, and sent the rest of the noblemen away, loaded with civilities and presents.* Pisistratus was a well-bred man, of a gentle and insinuating behaviour, ready to succour and assist the poor;† wise and moderate towards his enemies; a most artful and accomplished dissembler; and one who had all the exterior of yirtue, even beyond the most virtuous; who seemed to be the most zealous stickler for equality among the citizens, and who absolutely declared against innovations and change. It was not very hard for him to impose upon the people, with all his artifice and address. But Solon quickly saw through his disguise, and perceived the drift of all his seeming virtue and fair pretences; however, he thought fit to observe measures with him in the beginning, hoping, perhaps, by gentle methods, to bring him back to his duty. It was at this time Thespis began to change the Grecian tragedy;§ 1 say change, because it was invented long before. This novelty drew all the world after it. Solon went among the rest for the sake of hearing Thespis, who acted himself, according to the custom of the ancient poets. When the play was ended, he called to Thespis, and asked him, "Why he was not ashamed to utter such lies before so many people?" Thespis made answer, "that there was no harm in lies of that sort, and in poetical fictions, which were only made for diversion." "No," replied Solon, giving a great stroke with his stick upon the ground; but if we suffer and approve of lying for our diversion, it will quickly find its way into our serious engagements, and all our business and affairs." In the mean time, Pisistratus still pushed on his point; and in order to accomplish it, made use of a stratagem that succeeded as well as he could expect.¶ He gave himself several wounds; and in that condition, with his body all bloody, caused himself to be carried in a chariot into the market place, where he raised and inflamed the populace, by giving them to understand that his enemies had treated him in that manner, and that he was the victim of his zeal for the public good.** An assembly of the people was immediately convened, and there it was resolved, in spite of all the remonstrances Solon could make against it, that fifty guards should be allowed Pisistratus for the security of his person. He soon * Herod. 1. vi. c. 125-131. We are not here to understand such as begged or asked alms; for in those times, says Isocrates, there was no citizen who died of hunger, or dishonoured his city by begging.-Orat. Areop. p. 309. Plut. in Solon, p. 95. Plut. in Solon, p. 95. Tragedy was in being a long time before Thespis; but it was only a chorus of persons that song, and said opprobrious things to one another. Thespis was the first that improved this chorus, by the addition of a personage or character, who, in order to give the rest time to take breath, and to recover their spirits, reeited an adventure of some illustrious person. And this recital gave occasion afterwards for introducing the subjects of tragedies. THerod. 1. 1. c. 59-64. ** Plut. in Solon, p. 95, 96. augmented the number as much as he thought fit, and by their means made himself master of the citadel. All his enemies betook themselves to flight, and the whole city was in great consternation and disorder, except Solon, who loudly reproached the Athenians with their cowardice and folly, and the tyrant with his treachery. Upon his being asked, what it was that gave him so much firmness and resolution? "It is," said he, "my old age.' He was indeed very old, and did not seem to risk much, as the end of his life was very near; though it often happens, that men grow fonder of life, in proportion as they have less reason and right to desire it should be prolonged. But Pisistratus, after he had subdued all, thought his conquest imperfect till he had gained Solon; and as he was well acquainted with the means that are proper to engage an old man, he caressed him accordingly; omitted nothing that could tend to soften and win upon him, and showe him all possible marks of friendship and esteem, doing him all manner of honour, having him often about his person, and publicly professing a great veneration for the laws, which in truth he both observed himself, and caused to be observed by others. Solon, seeing it was impossible either to bring Pisistratus by fair means to renounce this usurpation, or to depose him by force, thought it a point of prudence not to exasperate the tyrant by rejecting the advances he made him; and hoped, at the same time, that by entering into his confidence and counsels, he might at least be capable of conducting a power which he could not abolish, and of mitigating the mischief and calamity which he had not been able to prevent. Solon did not survive the liberty of his country quite two years: for Pisistratus made himself master of Athens under the archon Comías, the first year of the 51st Olympiad, and Solon died the year following, under the archon Hegestratus, who succeeded Comias. The two parties, whose leaders were Lycurgus and Megacles, uniting, drove Pisistratus out of Athens; where he was soon recalled by Megacles, who gave him his daughter in marriage. But a difference that arose upon occasion of this match having embroiled them afresh, the Alcmæonidæ had the worst of it; and were obliged to retire. Pisistratus was twice deposed, and twice found means to reinstate himself. His artifices acquired him his power, and his moderation maintained him in it; and without doubt his eloquence, which even in Tully's judgment was very great, rendered him very acceptable to the Athenians, who were but too apt to be affected with the charms of discourse, as it made them forget the care of their liberty.* An exact submission to the laws distinguished Pisistratus from most other usurpers; and the mildness of his government was such as might make many a lawful sovereign blush. For which reason the character of Pisistratus was thought worthy of being set in opposition to that of other tyrants. Cicero, doubting what use Cæsar would make of his victory at Pharsalia, wrote to his dear friend Atticus, "We do not yet know whether the destiny of Rome will have us groan under a Phalaris, or live under a Pisistratus.† This tyrant, if indeed we are to call him so, always showed himself very popular and moderate, and had such a command of his temper, as to bear reproaches and insults with patience, when he had it in his power to revenge them with a word. His gardens and orchards were open to all the citizens; in which he was afterwards imitated by Cimon. It is said he was the first who opened a public library in Athens,§ which after his time was much augmented, and at last carried into Persia by Xerxes, when he took that city. But Seleucus Nicanor, a long time afterwards, restored it to Athens. Cicero thinks also, it was Pisistratus who first made the Athenians acquainted with terent. Pisistratus dicendo tantum valuisse dicitur, ut ei Athenienses regium imperium oratione capti permitVal. Max. 1. viii. c. 9. Quis doctior iisdem temporibus, aut cujus eloquentia literis instructior fuisse traditur, quam Pisistrati:Cic. de Orat. 1. iii. n. 137. t Incertum est Phalarimne, an Pisistratum, sit imitaturus.-Ad Attic. 1. vii. Ep. xix. Val. Max. 1. v. 2. 1. Athen. 1. xii. P. 532. Aul. Gel. 1. vi. c. 17.. the poems of Homer; who arranged the books in the order we now find them, whereas before they were confused, and not digested; and who first caused them to be publicly read at their feasts, called Panathenea.* Plato ascribes this honour to his son Hipparchus.† Pisistratus died in tranquillity, and transmitted to his sons the sovereign power, which he had usurped thirty years before; seventeen of which he had reigned in peace.‡ His sons were Hippias and Hipparchus.§ Thucydides adds a third, whom he calls Thessalus. They seemed to have inherited from their father an affection for learning and learned men. Plato, who attributes to Hipparchus what we have said concerning the poems of Homer, adds that he invited to Athens the famous poet Anacreon, who was of Teos, a city of Ionia; and that he sent a vessel of fifty oars or purpose for him. He likewise entertained at his house Simonides, another famous poet of the isle of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, in the Egean sea, to whom he gave a large pension, and made very rich presents. The design of these princes in inviting men of letters to Athens was, says Plato, to soften and cultivate the minds of the citizens, and to infuse into them a relish and love of virtue, by giving them a taste for learning and the sciences. Their care extended even to the instructing of the peasants and country people, by erecting, not only in the streets of the city, but in all the roads and highways, statues of stones, called Mercuries, with grave sentences carved upon them; in which manner those silent monitors gave instructive lessons to all passengers. Plato seems to suppose, that Hipparchus had the authority, or that the two brothers reigned together. But Thucydides shows, that Hippias, as the eldest of the sons, succeeded his father in the government.¶ Be this as it may, their reign in the whole, after the death of Pisistratus, was only of eighteen years duration, and ended in the following manner. Harmodius and Aristogiton, both citizens of Athens, had contracted a very strict friendship. Hipparchus, angry with the former for a personal affront he pretended to have received from him, sought to revenge himself by a public affront to his sister, in obliging her shamefully to retire from a solemn procession, in which she was to carry one of the sacred baskets, alleging that she was not in a fit condition to assist at such a ceremony. Her brother, and still more his friend, being stung to the quick by so gross and outrageous an affront, formed, from that moment, a resolution to attack the tyrants. And to do it the more effectually, they waited for the opportunity of a festival, which they judged would be very favourable for their purpose: this was the feast of the Panathenea, in which the ceremony required that all the tradesmen and artificers should be under arms. For the greater security, they only admitted a very small number of the citizens into their secret; conceiving that, upon the first motion, all the rest would join them. The day being come, they went betimes into the market-place, armed with daggers. Hippias came out of the palace, and went to the Ceramicum, which was a place without the city, where the company of guards then were, to give the necessary orders for the ceremony. The two friends followed him thither, and coming near him, they saw one of the conspirators talking very familiarly with him, which made them apprehend they were betrayed. They could have executed their design that moment upon Hippias; but were willing to begin their vengeance upon the author of the affront they had received. They therefore returned into the city, where meeting with Hipparchus, they killed him; but being immediately apprehended, themselves were slain, and Hippias found means to dispel the storm.** After this affair he regarded no measures, and reigned like a true tyrant, putting to death a vast number of citizens. To guard himself for the future against a like enterprise, and to secure a safe retreat in case of any accident, Lib. iii. de Orat. n. 137. A. M. 3478. Ant. J. C. 526. In Hipparch. p. 228. Arist. lib. de Rep. c. 12. ||In Hip. p. 228, 229. **Thucyd. 1. vi. p. 446-450. he endeavoured to strengthen himself by a foreign support, and, to that end, gave his daughter in marriage to the son of the tyrant of Lampsacus. In the mean time, the Alcmæonidæ, who, from the beginning of the revolution, had been banished from Athens by Pisistratus, and who saw their hopes frustrated by the bad success of the last conspiracy, did not however lose courage, but turned their views another way. As they were very rich and powerful, they got themselves appointed by the Amphictyons, who were the heads of the grand or general council of Greece, superintendents for rebuilding the temple of Delphos, for the sum of three hundred talen.3, or nine hundred thousand livres. As they were naturally very generous, and besides had their reasons for being so on this occasion, they added to this sum a great deal of their own money, and made the whole front of the temple of Parian marble, at their private expense; whereas, by the contract made with the Amphictyons, it was only to have been made of common stone. The liberality of the Alcmæonidæ was not altogether a free bounty; neither was their magnificence towards the god of Delphos a pure effect of religion. Policy was the chief motive. They hoped, by this means, to acquire great credit and influence in the temple, which happened according to their expectation. The money which they had plentifully poured into the hands of the priestess, rendered them absolute masters of the oracle, and of the pretended god who presided over it, and who, for the future, becoming their echo, faithfully repeated the words they dictated to him, and gratefully lent them the assistance of his voice and authority. As often, therefore, as any Spartan came to consult the priestess, whether upon his own affairs, or upon those of the state, no promise was ever made him of the god's assistance, but upon condition that the Lacedæmonians should deliver Athens from the yoke of tyranny. This order was so often repeated to them by the oracle, that they resolved at last to make war against the Pisistratidæ, though they were under the strongest engagements of friendship and hospitality with them; herein preferring the will of God, says Herodotus, to all human considerations.‡ The first attempt of this kind miscarried; and the troops they sent against the tyrants were repulsed with loss. Notwithstanding, a short time after, they made a second, which seemed to promise no better an issue than the first; because most of the Lacedæmonians, seeing the siege they had laid before Athens likely to continue a great while, retired, and left only a small number of troops to carry it on. But the tyrant's children, who had been clandestinely conveyed out of the city, in order to be put in a safe place, being taken by the enemy, the father, to redeem them, was obliged to come to an accommodation with the Athenians, by which it was stipulated, that he should depart out of Attica in five days time. Accordingly, he actually retired within the time limited, and settled at Sigæum, a town in Phrygia, seated at the mouth of the river Scamander.§ Pliny observes, that the tyrants were driven out of Athens the same year the kings were expelled from Rome. Extraordinary honours were paid to the memory of Harmodius and Aristogiton. Their names were infinitely respected at Athens in all succeeding ages, and almost held in equal reverence with those of the gods. Statues were forthwith erected to them in the market-place,which was an honour that had never been rendered to any man before. The very sight of these statues, exposed to the view of all the citizens, kept up their hatred and detestation of tyranny, and daily renewed their sentiments of gratitude to those generous defenders of their liberty, who had not scrupled to purchase it with their lives, and to seal it with their blood. Alexander the Great, who knew how dear the memory of these men was to the Athenians, and how far they carried their zeal in this respect, thought he did them a sensible pleasure in sending them the statues of those two great men, which he found in Herod. 1. v. e. 62-96. A. M 3496. † About $177,777. * Τὰ γὰρ τῇ Θεῖ πρεσβύτερα έποιαντο ἢ τὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν. Plin. l. xxxiv. c. 4. sia after the defeat of Darius, and which Xerxes before had carried thither n Athens.* This city, at the time of her deliverance from tyranny, did confine her gratitude solely to the authors of her liberty; but extended it en to a woman, who had signalized her courage on that occasion. This man was a courtezan, named Leona, who, by the charms of her beauty, I skill in playing on the harp, had particularly captivated Harmodius and istogiton. After their death, the tyrant, who knew they had concealed nong from this woman, caused her to be put to the torture, in order to make declare the names of the other conspirators. But she bore all the cruelty their torments with an invincible constancy, and expired in the midst of them; riously showing to the world, that her sex is more courageous, and more pable of keeping a secret, than some men imagine. The Athenians would t suffer the memory of so heroic an action to be lost: and to prevent the stre of it from being sullied by the consideration of her character as a courzan, they endeavoured to conceal that circumstance, by representing her in e statue, which they erected to her honour, under the figure of a lioness withat a tongue.t Plutarch, in the life of Aristides, relates a thing which does great honour the Athenians, and which shows to what a length they carried their gratitude o their deliverer, and their respect for his memory. They had learned that he grand-daughter of Aristogiton lived at Lemnos, in very mean and poor cirumstances, nobody being willing to marry her, upon account of her extreme ndigence and poverty. The people of Athens sent for her, and marrying her o one of the richest and most considerable men of their city, gave her an esate in land in the town of Potamos for her portion. Athens seemed, in recovering her liberty, to have also recovered her courage. During the reigns of her tyrants she had acted with indolence and indifference, knowing that what she did was not for herself, but for them. But after her deliverance from their yoke, the vigour and activity she exerted was of quite a different kind, because then her labours were her own. Athens, however, did not immediately enjoy a perfect tranquillity. Two of her citizens, Clisthenes, one of the Alcmæonidæ, and Isagoras, who were men of the greatest influence and power in the city, by contending with each other for superiority, created two considerable factions. The former, who had gained the people on his side, made an alteration in the form of their establishment, and instead of four tribes, whereof they consisted before, divided that body into ten tribes, to which he gave the names of the ten sons of lon, whom the Greek historians make the father and first founder of the nation. Isagoras, finding himself inferior to his rival, had recourse to the Lacedæmonians. Cleomenes, one of the two kings of Sparta obliged Clisthenes to depart from Athens, with seven hundred families of his adherents. But they soon returned, and were restored to all their estates and fortunes. The Lacedæmonians, stung with spite and jealousy against Athens, because she took upon her to act independent of their authority; and repenting also, that they had delivered her from her tyrants upon the credit of an oracle, of which they had since discovered the imposture, began to think of reinstating Hippias, one of the sons of Pisistratus; and to that end sent for him from Sigæum, to which place he had retired. They then communicated their design to the deputies of their allies, whose assistance and concurrence they proposed to use, in order to render their enterprise more successful. The deputy of Corinth spoke first on this occasion, and expressed great astonishment, that the Lacedæmonians, who were themselves avowed enemies of tyranny, and professed the greatest abhorrence for all arbitrary government, should desire to establish it elsewhere; describing at the same time, in a lively manner, all the cruel and horrid effects of tyrannical government, which his own country, Corinth, had but very lately felt by woful experience. Plin. lxxxiv. c. 8: ↑ Plin.l. vii. c. 23. et l. xxxiv c. 8. Page 335 |