his boots with difficulty, and resembling any thing rather than a man; for his mouth was stuffed, and he was all over swollen. Croesus, when he saw him, burst into laughter; and he gave him all that, and besides, presented him with other things not of less value than it. Thus this family became extremely rich; and this Alcmæon, having by these means bred horses, won the prize in the Olympic games. 126. In the second generation after, Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, raised the family, so that it became far more celebrated among the Greeks than it had been before. For Clisthenes, son of Aristonymus, son of Myron, son of Andreas, had a daughter whose name was Agarista: her he resolved to give in marriage to the man whom he should find the most accomplished. of all the Greeks. When therefore the Olympian games were being celebrated, Clisthenes, being victorious in them in the chariot race, made a proclamation; "that whoever of the Greeks deemed himself worthy to become the son-in-law of Clisthenes, should come to Sicyon on the sixtieth day, or even before; since Clisthenes had determined on the marriage in a year, reckoning from the sixtieth day." Thereupon such of the Greeks as were puffed up with themselves and their country, came as suitors; and Clisthenes, having made a racecourse and palæstra for them, kept it for this very purpose. 127. From Italy, accordingly, came Smindyrides, son of Hippocrates, a Sybarite, who more than any other man reached the highest pitch of luxury; (and Sybaris was at that time in a most flourishing condition;) and Damasus of Siris, son of Amyris called the Wise: these came from Italy. From the Ionian gulf, Amphimnestus, son of Epistrophus, an Epidamnian; he came from the Ionian gulf. An Ætolian came, Males, brother of that Titormus who surpassed the Greeks in strength, and fled from the society of men to the extremity of the Ætolian territory. And from Peloponnesus, Leocedes, son of Pheidon tyrant of the Argives, a descendant of that Pheidon who introduced measures among the Peloponnesians, and was the most insolent of all the Greeks, who having removed the Elean umpires, himself regulated the games at Olympia; his son accordingly came. And Amiantus, son of Lycurgus, an Arcadian from Trapezus; and an Azenian from the city of Pæos, Laphanes, son of Euphorion, who, as the story is told in Arcadia, received the Dioscuri in his house, and after that entertained all men; and an Elean, Onomastus, son of Agæus: these accordingly came from the Peloponnesus itself. From Athens there came Megacles, son of Alemæon, the same who had visited Croesus, and another, Hippoclides, son of Tisander, who surpassed the Athenians in wealth and beauty. From Eretria, which was flourishing at that time, came Lysanias; he was the only one from Euboea. And from Thessaly there came, of the Scopades, Diactorides a Cranonian; and from the Molossi, Alcon. 128. So many were the suitors. When they had arrived on the appointed day, Clisthenes made inquiries of their country, and the family of each; then detaining them for a year, he made trial of their manly qualities, their dispositions, learning, and morals; holding familiar intercourse with each separately, and with all together, and leading out to the gymnasia such of them as were younger; but most of all he made trial of them at the banquet: for as long as he detained them, he did this throughout, and at the same time entertained them magnificently. And somehow of all the suitors those that had come from Athens pleased him most, and of these Hippoclides, son of Tisander, was preferred both on account of his manly qualities, and because he was distantly related to the Cypselidæ in Corinth. 129. When the day appointed for the consummation of the marriage arrived, and for the declaration of Clisthenes himself, whom he would choose of them all, Clisthenes, having sacrificed a hundred oxen, entertained both the suitors themselves and all the Sicyonians; and when they had concluded the feast, the suitors had a contest about music, and any subject proposed for conversation. As the drinking went on, Hippoclides, who much attracted the attention of the rest, ordered the flute-player to play a dance; and when the flute-player obeyed, he began to dance: and he danced, probably, so as to please himself; but Clisthenes, seeing it, beheld the whole matter with suspicion. Afterwards, Hippoclides, having rested awhile, ordered some one to bring in a table; and when the table came in, he first danced Laconian figures on it, and then Attic ones; and in the third place, having leant his head on the table he gesticulated with his legs. But Clisthenes, when he danced the first and second time, revolted from the thought of having Hippoclides for his son-in-law, on account of his dancing and want of decorum, yet restrained himself, not wishing to burst out against him; but when he saw him gesticulating with his legs, he was no longer able to restrain himself, and said: "Son of Tisander, you have danced away your marriage." But Hippoclides answered: "No matter to Hippoclides." Hence this answer became a proverb. 130. Clisthenes, having commanded silence, thus addressed the assembled company: Gentlemen, suitors of my daughter, I commend you all, and, if it were possible, would gratify you all, not selecting one of you above the others, nor rejecting the rest. But as it is not possible, since I have to determine about a single damsel, to indulge the wishes of all; to such of you as are rejected from the marriage I present a talent of silver to each, on account of your condescending to take a wife from my family, and of your absence from home; but to Megacles, son of Alcmaon, I betroth my daughter Agarista, according to the laws of the Athenians." When Megacles said that he accepted the betrothal, the marriage was celebrated by Clisthenes. This happened respecting the decision between the suitors, and thus the Alcmæonidæ became celebrated throughout Greece. From this marriage sprung Clisthenes, who established the tribes and a democracy among the Athenians, taking his name from his maternal grandfather the Sicyonian; he was born to Megacles, as was also Hippocrates: and from Hippocrates, another Megacles, and another Agarista, who took her name from Agarista, daughter of Clisthenes; she having married Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, and being with child, saw a vision in her sleep, and fancied that she brought forth a lion; and after a few days she bore Pericles to Xanthippus. 131. 132. After the defeat of the Persians at Marathon, Miltiades, who was before highly esteemed among the Athenians, then still more increased his reputation. Having therefore asked of the Athenians seventy ships, and troops and money, without telling them what country he purposed to invade, but saying that he would make them rich if they would follow him, for that he would take them to such a country, from whence they would easily bring abundance of gold; speaking thus he asked for the ships; and the Athenians, elated by these hopes, granted them. 133. Miltiades, accordingly, having taken with him the troops, sailed against Paros, alleging as a pretext, that the Parians had first begun hostilities This by sending a trireme with the Persian to Marathon. was his pretended reason; but, in fact, he had a grudge against the Parians on account of Lysagoras, son of Tisias, who was a Parian by birth, and had calumniated him to Hydarnes the Persian. Miltiades, having arrived with his forces at the place to which he was sailing, besieged the Parians, who were driven within their walls; and sending a herald to them, he demanded a hundred talents, saying, that if they did not give him that sum, he would not draw off his army until he had destroyed them. The Parians never entertained the thought, whether they should give Miltiades any money; but devised means by which they might defend the city; and in addition to other plans, they also in the several parts where the wall was most exposed to attack, there raised it, during the night, to double its former height. 134. Up to this point of the story all the Greeks agree; but after this the Parians themselves say that it happened as follows. That when Miltiades was in a state of perplexity, a captive woman, who was by birth a Parian, and her name was Timo, conferred with him; she was an inferior priestess of the infernal goddesses. When she came into the presence of Miltiades, she advised him, if he deemed it of great consequence to take Paros, to act as she should suggest. She then made some suggestion; and he, coming to the mound that is before the city, leaped over the fence of Ceres Thesmophora, as he was unable to open the door; and having leaped over, he went to the temple, for the purpose of doing something within, either to move some of the things that may not be moved, or to do something or other. And he was just at the door, when suddenly a thrill of horror came over him, and he went back by the same way; and in leaping over the fence his thigh was dislocated; others say that he hurt his knee. 135. Miltiades accordingly, being in a bad plight, sailed back home, neither bringing money to the Athenians, nor having reduced Paros, but having besieged it for six and twenty days, and ravaged the island. The Parians, being informed that Timo, the priestess of the goddesses, had directed Miltiades, and desiring to punish her for so doing, sent deputies to the oracle at Delphi, as soon as they were relieved from the siege: they sent to inquire whether they should put to death the priestess of the goddesses, for having made known to the enemy the means of capturing her country, and for having discovered to Miltiades sacred things, which ought not to be revealed to the male sex. But the Pythian did not allow them, saying, "that Timo was not to blame for this, but that it was fated Miltiades should come to a miserable end, and she had appeared to him as a guide to misfortunes." The Pythian gave this answer to the Parians. 136. When Miltiades returned from Paros, the Athenians were loud in their complaints against him, both all others, and especially Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, who, bringing a capital charge against Miltiades before the people, prosecuted him on a charge of deceiving the Athenians. Miltiades, though present in person, made no defence; for he was unable, as his thigh had begun to mortify. But while he lay on a couch, his friends made a defence for him, dwelling much on the battle that had been fought at Marathon, and on the capture of Lemnos; since, having taken Lemnos, and inflicted vengeance on the Pelasgians, he had given it up to the Athenians. The people so far favouring him as to acquit him of the capital offence, and having fined him fifty talents for the injury he had done, Miltiades soon after ended his life by the putrefaction and mortification of his thigh. His son Cimon paid the fifty talents. 137. Miltiades, son of Cimon, had possessed himself of Lemnos in the following manner. The Pelasgians, when they had been driven out of Attica by the Athenians, whether justly or unjustly,-(for this I am unable to determine, except so far as is related,) Hecatæus, however, son of Hegesander, says in his history, that it was "unjustly, for that, when the Athenians saw the lands under Hymettus, which they had given to the Pelasgians in payment for the wall they had formerly built about the Acropolis; when the Athenians saw this well cultivated, which was before barren and of no value, jealousy and a desire of the land took possession of them, and so the Athenians drove them out, without alleging any other pretence whatever." But as the Athenians say, they justly expelled them; for that the Pelasgians, while settled under Mount Hymettus, made incursions from thence, and committed the following injuries. For that their daughters and sons used constantly to go for water to the Nine Springs, because at that time neither they nor the other Greeks had domestic servants: and whenever the young wo 66 |