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Afterwards, in the generation which followed,
Kleisthenes, king of Sikyon, raised the family to still greater eminence
among the Greeks than even that to which it had attained before. For
this Kleisthenes, who was the son of Aristonymus, the grandson of Myron,
and the great-grandson of Andreas, had a daughter, called Agarista, whom
he wished to marry to the best husband that he could find in the whole
of Greece. At the Olympic Games, therefore, having gained the prize in
the chariot race, he caused public proclamation to be made to the
following effect:- "Whoever among the Greeks deems himself worthy
to become the son-in-law of Kleisthenes, let him come, sixty days hence,
or, if he will, sooner, to sikyon; for within a year's time, counting
from the end of the sixty days, Kleisthenes will decide on the man to
whom he shall contract his daughter." So all the Greeks who were
proud of their own merit or of their country flocked to sikyon as
suitors; and Kleisthenes had a foot-course and a wrestling-ground made
ready, to try their powers.
From Italy there came Smindyrides, the son of Hippocrates, a native of
Sybaris- which city about that time was at the very height of its
prosperity. He was a man who in luxuriousness of living exceeded all
other persons. Likewise there came Damasus, the son of Amyris, surnamed
the Wise, a native of Siris. These two were the only suitors from Italy.
From the Ionian Gulf appeared Amphimnestus, the son of Epistrophus, an
Epidamnian; from Aetolia, Males, the brother of that Titormus who
excelled all the Greeks in strength, and who wishing to avoid his
fellow-men, withdrew himself into the remotest parts of the Aetolian
territory. From the Peloponnese came several- Leocedes, son of that
Pheidon, king of the Argives, who established weights and measures
throughout the Peloponnese, and was the most insolent of all the
Grecians- the same who drove out the Elean directors of the Games, and
himself presided over the contests at Olympia- Leocedes, I say,
appeared, this Pheidon's son; and likewise Amiantus, son of Lycurgus, an
Arcadian of the city of Trapezus; Laphanes, an Azenian of Paeus, whose
father, Euphorion, as the story goes in Arcadia, entertained the
Dioskuri at his residence, and thenceforth kept open house for all
comers; and lastly, Onomastus, the son of Agaeus, a native of Elis.
These four came from the Peloponnese. From Athens there arrived
Megacles, the son of that Alkmaeon who visited Croesus, and Tisander's
son, Hippoclides, the wealthiest and handsomest of the Athenians. There
was likewise one Euboean, Lysanias, who came from Eretria, then a
flourishing city. From Thessaly came Diactorides, a Cranonian, of the
race of the Scopadae; and Alcon arrived from the Molossians. This was
the list of the suitors.
Now when they were all come, and the day appointed had arrived,
Kleisthenes first of all inquired of each concerning his country and his
family; after which he kept them with him a year, and made trial of
their manly bearing, their temper, their accomplishments, and their
disposition, sometimes drawing them apart for converse, sometimes
bringing them all together. Such as were still youths he took with him
from time to time to the gymnasia; but the greatest trial of all was at
the banquettable. During the whole period of their stay he lived with
them as I have said; and, further, from first to last he entertained
them sumptuously. Somehow or other the suitors who came from Athens
pleased him the best of all; and of these Hippoclides, Tisander's son,
was specially in favour, partly on account of his manly bearing, and
partly also because his ancestors were of kin to the Corinthian
Cypselids.
When at length the day arrived which had been fixed for the espousals,
and Kleisthenes had to speak out and declare his choice, he first of all
made a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, and held a banquet, whereat he
entertained all the suitors and the whole people of sikyon. After the
feast was ended, the suitors vied with each other in music and in
speaking on a given subject. Presently, as the drinking advanced,
Hippoclides, who quite dumbfoundered the rest, called aloud to the
flute-player, and bade him strike up a dance; which the man did, and
Hippoclides danced to it. And he fancied that he was dancing excellently
well; but Kleisthenes, who was observing him, began to misdoubt the
whole business. Then Hippoclides, after a pause, told an attendant to
bring in a table; and when it was brought, he mounted upon it and danced
first of all some Laconian figures, then some Attic ones; after which he
stood on his head upon the table, and began to toss his legs about.
Kleisthenes, not withstanding that he now loathed Hippoclides for a
son-in-law, by reason of his dancing and his shamelessness, still, as he
wished to avoid an outbreak, had restrained himself during the first and
likewise during the second dance; when, however, he saw him tossing his
legs in the air, he could no longer contain himself, but cried out,
"Son of Tisander, thou hast danced thy wife away!" "What
does Hippoclides care?" was the other's answer. And hence the
proverb arose.
Then Kleisthenes commanded silence, and spake thus before the assembled
company:-
"Suitors of my daughter, well pleased am I with you all; and right
willingly, if it were possible, would I content you all, and not by
making choice of one appear to put a slight upon the rest. But as it is
out of my power, seeing that I have but one daughter, to grant to all
their wishes, I will present to each of you whom I must needs dismiss a
talent of silver, for the honour that you have done me in seeking to
ally yourselves with my house, and for your long absence from your
homes. But my daughter, Agarista, I betroth to Megacles, the son of
Alkmaeon, to be his wife, according to the usage and wont of
Athens."
Then Megacles expressed his readiness; and Kleisthenes had the marriage
solemnised.
Thus ended the affair of the suitors; and thus the Alkmaeonidae came to
be famous throughout the whole of Greece. The issue of this marriage was
the Kleisthenes named after his grandfather the sikyonian- who made the
tribes at Athens, and set up the popular government. Megacles had
likewise another son, called Hippocrates, whose children were a Megacles
and an Agarista, the latter named after Agarista the daughter of
Kleisthenes. She married Xanthippus, the son of Ariphron; and when she
was with child by him had a dream, wherein she fancied that she was
delivered of a lion; after which, within a few days, she bore Xanthippus
a son, to wit, Pericles. |
