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This man was Solon, the son of Execestides, and a descendant of Codrus. He had travelled through many parts of Greece and Asia, and had formed acquaintance with many of the most eminent men of his time. Three years afterwards he persuaded the Alcmaeonidae to submit their case to the judgment of three hundred Eupatridae, by whom they were adjudged guilty of sacrilege, and were expelled from Attica.
But when he again pretends to excuse the Alcmaeonidae of those crimes which he first of all men objected against them, and speaks thus: "I cannot credit the report that the Alcmaeonidae by agreement would ever have lifted up a shield to the Persians, and have brought the Athenians under the power of the barbarians and Hippias"; it reminds me of a certain proverbial saving, Stay and be caught, crab, and I'll let you go.
The Alcmaeonidae, who had lived in exile ever since the third and final restoration of Pisistratus to Athens, now began to form schemes to expel the tyrant.
He descends from Codrus, the last king, who gave his life to save his people. Plato is of royal birth." "And Alcibiades is of the race of heroes, the Alcmaeonidae, like his uncle Pericles; a noble company." "But Phidias is of the race of the gods; that is more." "I am probably descended from the Titans," broke in Protagoras. "I say 'probably, for one knows nothing at all, and hardly that.
The rarity of horses, and the expense of their training, confined, without any law to that effect, the chariot-race to the highborn and the wealthy. It was consistent with the vain Alcibiades to decline the gymnastic contests in which his physical endowments might have ensured him success, because his competitors were not the equals to the long-descended heir of the Alcmaeonidae.
For a time, extending perhaps to five or six years, Pisistratus retained his power; but at length, Lycurgus, uniting with the exiled Alcmaeonidae, succeeded in expelling him from the city. But the union that had led to his expulsion ceased with that event.
The Death of Hipparchus. Cruelties of Hippias. The young Miltiades sent to the Chersonesus. The Spartans Combine with the Alcmaeonidae against Hippias. The fall of the Tyranny. The Innovations of Clisthenes. His Expulsion and Restoration. Embassy to the Satrap of Sardis. Retrospective View of the Lydian, Medean, and Persian Monarchies. Result of the Athenian Embassy to Sardis.
The nobles naturally aspired to the predominance at their head was the Eupatrid Isagoras; the strife of party always tends to produce popular results, even from elements apparently the most hostile. Clisthenes, the head of the Alcmaeonidae, was by birth even yet more illustrious than Isagoras; for, among the nobles, the Alcmaeonid family stood pre-eminent.
VI. Meanwhile at Athens the tranquillity of the state was still disturbed by the mortal feud between the party of Cylon and the adherents of the Alcmaeonidae time only served to exasperate the desire of vengeance in the one, and increase the indisposition to justice in the other.
The wealthy nobles of the lowlands were led by Lycurgus the moderate party of the coastmen by Megacles, the head of the Alcmaeonidae. And it was in the midst, of the strife and agitation produced by these great sections of the people that Solon returned to Athens. III. The venerable legislator was received with all the grateful respect he deserved; but age had dimmed the brilliancy of his powers.
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