goras did not belong to the oligarchy. The latter consisted of a portion of the Dorian conquerors; and Orthagoras, who belonged to the old inhabitants of the country, obtained the power by the overthrow of the Dorian oligarchy. He and his successors were doubtless supported by the old population, and this was one reason of the long continuance of their power. The last of the dynasty was Clisthenes, who was celebrated for his wealth and magnificence, and who gained the victory in the chariot race in the Pythian and Olympic games. He aided the Amphictyons in the sacred war against Cirrha (B. C. 595), and he was also engaged in hostilities against Argos. But the chief point in his history which claims our attention was his systematic endeavour to depress and dishonour the Dorian tribes. It has been already remarked that the Dorians in all their settlements were divided into the three tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyli, and Dymanes. These ancient and venerable names he changed into new ones, derived from the sow, the ass, and the pig,† while he declared the superiority of his own tribe by giving it the designation of Archelai, or lords of the people. Clisthenes appears to have continued despot till his death, which may be placed about B. C. 560. The dynasty perished with him. He left no son; but his daughter Agarista, whom so many suitors wooed, was married to the Athenian Megacles, of the great family of the Alcmaonidæ, and became the mother of Clisthenes, the founder of the Athenian democracy after the expulsion of the Pisistratida.

§ 6. The despots of Corinth were still more celebrated. Their dynasty lasted 74 years. It was founded by Cypselus, who overthrew the oligarchy called the Bacchiadæ in B.C. 655. His mother belonged to the Bacchiada; but as none of the race would marry her on account of her lameness, she espoused a man who did not belong to the ruling class. The Bacchiadæ having learnt that an oracle had declared that the issue of this marriage would prove their ruin, endeavoured to murder the child; but his mother preserved him in a chest, from which he derived his name.‡ When he had grown up to manhood he came forward as the champion of the people against the nobles, and with their aid expelled the Bacchiada, and established himself as despot. He held his power for thirty years (B.C. 655-625), and transmitted it on his death to his son Periander. His government is said to have been mild and popular.

The sway of Periander, on the other hand, is universally repre

*Above, c. 2. § 7.

† Hyāta ("Târai), Oneātæ ('Oveâтai), Chœreatæ (Xoipeâtai).

Cypselus from cypselé (îʊþéλŋ), a chest.

sented as oppressive and cruel. Many of the tales related of him may be regarded as the calumnies of his enemies; but there is good reason for believing that he ruled with a rod of iron. The way in which he treated the nobles is illustrated by a well-known tale, which has been transferred to the early history of Rome. Soon after his accession Periander is said to have sent to Thrasybulus, despot of Miletus, to ask him for advice as to the best mode of maintaining his power. Without giving an answer in writing, Thrasybulus led the messenger through a corn-field, cutting off, as he went, the tallest ears of corn. He then dismissed the messenger, telling him to inform his master how he had found him employed. The action was rightly interpreted by Periander, who proceeded to rid himself of the powerful nobles of the state. The anecdote, whether true or not, is an indication of the common opinion entertained of the government of Periander. We are further told that he protected his person by a body-guard of mercenaries, and kept all rebellion in check by his rigorous measures. It is admitted on all hands that he possessed great ability and military skill; and, however oppressive his government may have been to the citizens of Corinth, he raised the city to a state of great prosperity and power, and made it respected alike by friends and foes. Under his sway Corinth was the wealthiest and the most powerful of all the commercial communities of Greece; and at no other period in its history does it appear in so flourishing a condition. In his reign many important colonies were founded by Corinth on the coast of Acarnania and the surrounding islands and coasts, and his sovereignty extended over Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, and Anactorium, all of which were independent states in the next generation. Corinth possessed harbours on either side of the isthmus, and the customs and port-dues were so considerable that Periander required no other source of revenue.

Periander was also a warm patron of literature and art. He welcomed the poet Arion and the philosopher Anacharsis to his court, and was numbered by some among the Seven Sages of Greece.

The private life of Periander was marked by great misfortunes, which embittered his latter days. He is said to have killed his wife Melissa in a fit of anger; whereupon his son Lycophron left Corinth and withdrew to Corcyra. The youth continued so incensed against his father that he refused to return to Corinth, when Periander in his old age begged him to come back and assume the government. Finding him inexorable, Periander, who was anxious to insure the continuance of his dynasty, then

offered to go to Corcyra, if Lycophron would take his place at Corinth. To this his son assented; but the Corcyræans, fearing the stern rule of the old man, put Lycophron to death.

Periander reigned forty years (B.C. 625-585). He was succeeded by a relative, Psammetichus, son of Gorgias, who only reigned between three and four years, and is said to have been put down by the Lacedæmonians.

§ 7. During the reign of Periander at Corinth, Theagenes made himself despot in the neighbouring city of Megara, probably about B.C. 630. He overthrew the oligarchy by espousing the popular cause; but he did not maintain his power till his death, and was driven from the government about B.C. 600. A struggle now ensued between the oligarchy and the democracy, which was conducted with more than usual violence. The popular party obtained the upper hand, and abused their victory. The poor entered the houses of the rich, and forced them to provide costly banquets. They confiscated the property of the nobles, and drove most of them into exile. They not only cancelled their debts, but also forced the aristocratic creditors to refund all the interest which had been paid. But the expatriated nobles returned in arms and restored the oligarchy. They were, however, again expelled, and it was not till after long struggles and convulsions that an oligarchical government was permanently established at Megara.

These Megarian revolutions are interesting as a specimen of the struggles between the oligarchical and democratical parties, which seem to have taken place in many other Grecian states about the same time. Some account of them is given by the contemporary poet Theognis, who himself belonged to the oligarchical party at Megara. He was born and spent his life in the midst of these convulsions, and most of his poetry was composed at the time when the oligarchical party was oppressed and in exile. In his poems the nobles are the good, and the commons the bad, terms which at that period were regularly used in this political signification, and not in their later ethical meaning.* We find in his poems some interesting descriptions of the social changes which the popular revolution had effected. It had rescued the country population from a condition of abject poverty and serfdom, and had given them a share in the government.

* It should be recollected that the terms οἱ ἀγαθοί, ἐσθλοί, βελτιστοί, &c. are frequently used by the Greek writers to signify the nobles, and oi xanoi, deo, &c., to signify the commons. The Latin writers employ in like manner boni, optimates, and mali.

"Our commonwealth preserves its former fame :
Our common people are no more the same.
They that in skins and hides were rudely dress'd,
Nor dreamt of law, nor sought to be redress'd
By rules of right, but in the days of old
Liv'd on the land, like cattle in the fold,

Are now the Brave and Good; and we, the rest,

Are now the Mean and Bad,* though once the best."

An aristocracy of wealth had also begun to spring up in place of an aristocracy of birth, and intermarriages had taken place between the two parties in the state.

"But in the daily matches that we make
The price is everything; for money's sake
Men marry-Women are in marriage given;
The Bad or Coward,* that in wealth has thriven,
May match his offspring with the proudest race:
Thus everything is mixed, noble and base."

Theognis lost his property in the revolution, and had been driven into exile; and the following lines show the ferocious spirit which sometimes animated the Greeks in their party struggles.

"Yet my full wish, to drink their very blood,

Some power divine, that watches for my good,
May yet accomplish. Soon may he fulfil

My righteous hope—my just and hearty will.”†

These Sicyonian, Corinthian, and Megarian despots were some of the most celebrated; and their history will serve as samples of what took place in most of the Grecian states in the seventh and sixth centuries before the Christian era.

* All these terms are used in their political signification.

The preceding extracts from Theognis are taken from the translation of the poet published by Mr. Frere at Malta in 1842.

R

Coin of Corinth.

Croesus on the Funeral Pile. (See p. 100.)-From an ancient Vase.

CHAPTER X.

§ 1. Early division of Attica into twelve independent states, said to have been united by Theseus. § 2. Abolition of royalty. Life archons. Decennial archons. Annual archons. § 3. Twofold division of the Athenians. (1.) Eupatrida, Geomori, Demiurgi. (2.) Four tribes: Geleontes, Hopletes, Ægicores, Argades. § 4. Division of the four tribes into Trittyes and Naucrariæ, and into Phratriæ and Gentes. § 5. The government exclusively in the hands of the Eupatridæ. The nine archons and their functions. The senate of Areopagus. § 6. The legislation of Draco. 7. The conspiracy of Cylon. His failure, and massacre of his partisans by Megacles, the Alcmæonid. Expulsion of the Alcmæonidæ. § 8. Visit of Epimenides to Athens. His purification of the city. § 9. Life of Solon. § 10. State of Attica at the time of Solon's legislation. § 11. Solon elected archon, B.C. 594, with legislative powers. Seisachtheia or disburdening ordinance. § 13. His constitutional changes. Division of the people into four classes, according to their property.

§ 12. His