Book 1
When the divine answers had been brought back and Croesus learned of them, he was very pleased with the oracles. So, altogether expecting that he would destroy the kingdom of Cyrus, he sent once again to Delphi [22.5,38.483] (inhabited place), Phocis, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Pytho and endowed the Delphians, whose number he had learned, with two gold statersThe stater was the common gold coin of the Greek world. The value of Croesus' stater was probably about twenty-three shillings of our money. apiece.
The Delphians, in return, gave Croesus and all Lydians the right of first consulting the oracle, exemption from all charges, the chief seats at festivals, and perpetual right of Delphian citizenship to whoever should wish it.
After his gifts to the Delphians, Croesus made a third inquiry of the oracle, for he wanted to use it to the full, having received true answers from it; and the question which he asked was whether his sovereignty would be of long duration. To this the Pythian priestess answered as follows:
“When the Medes have a mule as king, Just then, tender-footed Lydian, by the stone-strewn Hermus Flee and do not stay, and do not be ashamed to be a coward.”
When he heard these verses, Croesus was pleased with them above all, for he thought that a mule would never be king of the Medes instead of a man, and therefore that he and his posterity would never lose his empire. Then he sought very carefully to discover who the mightiest of the Greeks were, whom he should make his friends.
He found by inquiry that the chief peoples were the Lacedaemonians among those of Doric, and the Athenians among those of Ionic stock. These races, Ionian and Dorian, were the foremost in ancient time, the first a Pelasgian and the second a Hellenic people. The Pelasgian race has never yet left its home; the Hellenic has wandered often and far.
For in the days of king Deucalion Deucalion and Pyrrha were the survivors of the Deluge as known to Greek legend. it inhabited the land of Phthia [22.75,36.2667] (Perseus) Phthia , then the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus (mountain), Nomos Larisis, Thessaly, Greece, Europe Olympus , in the time of Dorus son of Hellen; driven from this Histiaean country by the Cadmeans, it settled about Pindus in the territory called Macedonian; from there again it migrated to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into the Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese , where it took the name of Dorian.The localities mentioned in the story of the migration into the Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese are all in northern Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Greece .
What language the Pelasgians spoke I cannot say definitely. But if one may judge by those that still remain of the Pelasgians who live above the Tyrrheni If these are the Etruscans, then Creston may = Cortona [11.9833,43.2667] (Perseus) Cortona : but the whole matter is doubtful. in the city of Creston —who were once neighbors of the people now called Dorians, and at that time inhabited the country which now is called Thessalian—
and of the Pelasgians who inhabited Placia and Scylace on the Canakkale Bogazi (strait), Canakkale, Marmara, Turkey, Asia Hellespont , who came to live among the Athenians, and by other towns too which were once Pelasgian and afterwards took a different name: if, as I said, one may judge by these, the Pelasgians spoke a language which was not Greek.
If, then, all the Pelasgian stock spoke so, then the Attic nation, being of Pelasgian blood, must have changed its language too at the time when it became part of the Hellenes. For the people of Creston and Placia have a language of their own in common, which is not the language of their neighbors; and it is plain that they still preserve the manner of speech which they brought with them in their migration into the places where they live.
But the Hellenic stock, it seems clear to me, has always had the same language since its beginning; yet being, when separated from the Pelasgians, few in number, they have grown from a small beginning to comprise a multitude of nations, chiefly because the Pelasgians and many other foreign peoples united themselves with them. Before that, I think, the Pelasgic stock nowhere increased much in number while it was of foreign speech.
Now of these two peoples, Croesus learned that the Attic was held in subjection and divided into factions by Pisistratus, son of Hippocrates, who at that time was sovereign over the Athenians. This Hippocrates was still a private man when a great marvel happened to him when he was at Olympia [21.6333,37.65] (Perseus) Olympia to see the games: when he had offered the sacrifice, the vessels, standing there full of meat and water, boiled without fire until they boiled over.
Chilon the Lacedaemonian, who happened to be there and who saw this marvel, advised Hippocrates not to take to his house a wife who could bear children, but if he had one already, then to send her away, and if he had a son, to disown him.
Hippocrates refused to follow the advice of Chilon; and afterward there was born to him this Pisistratus, who, when there was a feud between the Athenians of the coast under Megacles son of Alcmeon and the Athenians of the plain under Lycurgus son of Aristolaides, raised up a third faction, as he coveted the sovereign power. He collected partisans and pretended to champion the uplanders, and the following was his plan.
Wounding himself and his mules, he drove his wagon into the marketplace, with a story that he had escaped from his enemies, who would have killed him (so he said) as he was driving into the country. So he implored the people to give him a guard: and indeed he had won a reputation in his command of the army against the Megarians, when he had taken Nisaea and performed other great exploits.
Taken in, the Athenian people gave him a guard of chosen citizens, whom Pisistratus made clubmen instead of spearmen: for the retinue that followed him carried wooden clubs.
These rose with Pisistratus and took the Acropolis; and Pisistratus ruled the Athenians, disturbing in no way the order of offices nor changing the laws, but governing the city according to its established constitution and arranging all things fairly and well.
But after a short time the partisans of Megacles and of Lycurgus made common cause and drove him out. In this way Pisistratus first got Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus) Athens and, as he had a sovereignty that was not yet firmly rooted, lost it. Presently his enemies who together had driven him out began to feud once more.
Then Megacles, harassed by factional strife, sent a message to Pisistratus offering him his daughter to marry and the sovereign power besides.
When this offer was accepted by Pisistratus, who agreed on these terms with Megacles, they devised a plan to bring Pisistratus back which, to my mind, was so exceptionally foolish that it is strange (since from old times the Hellenic stock has always been distinguished from foreign by its greater cleverness and its freedom from silly foolishness) that these men should devise such a plan to deceive Athenians, said to be the subtlest of the Greeks.
There was in the Paeanian demeLocal division of Attica [23.5,38.83] (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Attica . a woman called Phya, three fingers short of six feet, four inches in height, and otherwise, too, well-formed. This woman they equipped in full armor and put in a chariot, giving her all the paraphernalia to make the most impressive spectacle, and so drove into the city; heralds ran before them, and when they came into town proclaimed as they were instructed:
“Athenians, give a hearty welcome to Pisistratus, whom Athena herself honors above all men and is bringing back to her own acropolis.” So the heralds went about proclaiming this; and immediately the report spread in the demes that Athena was bringing Pisistratus back, and the townsfolk, believing that the woman was the goddess herself, worshipped this human creature and welcomed Pisistratus.
Having got back his sovereignty in the manner which I have described, Pisistratus married Megacles' daughter according to his agreement with Megacles. But as he already had young sons, and as the Alcmeonid family were said to be under a curse, he had no wish that his newly-wedded wife bear him children, and therefore had unusual intercourse with her.
At first the woman hid the fact: presently she told her mother (whether interrogated or not, I do not know) and the mother told her husband. Megacles was very angry to be dishonored by Pisistratus; and in his anger he patched up his quarrel with the other faction. Pisistratus, learning what was going on, went alone away from the country altogether, and came to Eretria [23.8083,38.3917] (Perseus) Eretria where he deliberated with his sons.
The opinion of Hippias prevailing, that they should recover the sovereignty, they set out collecting contributions from all the cities that owed them anything. Many of these gave great amounts, the Thebans more than any,
and in course of time, not to make a long story, everything was ready for their return: for they brought Argive mercenaries from the Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese , and there joined them on his own initiative a man of Nisos Naxos [25.583,32.33] (island), Cyclades, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Naxos called Lygdamis, who was most keen in their cause and brought them money and men.
So after ten years they set out from Eretria [23.8083,38.3917] (Perseus) Eretria and returned home. The first place in Attica [23.5,38.83] (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Attica which they took and held was Marathon: and while encamped there they were joined by their partisans from the city, and by others who flocked to them from the country—demesmen who loved the rule of one more than freedom. These, then, assembled;
but the Athenians in the city, who while Pisistratus was collecting money and afterwards when he had taken Marathon took no notice of it, did now, and when they learned that he was marching from Marathon against Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus) Athens , they set out to attack him.
They came out with all their force to meet the returning exiles. Pisistratus' men encountered the enemy when they had reached the temple of Pallenian Athena in their march from Marathon towards the city, and encamped face to face with them.
There (by the providence of heaven) Pisistratus met Amphilytus the Acarnanian, a diviner, who came to him and prophesied as follows in hexameter verses: “The cast is made, the net spread, The tunny-fish shall flash in the moonlit night.”
So Amphilytus spoke, being inspired; Pisistratus understood him and, saying that he accepted the prophecy, led his army against the enemy. The Athenians of the city had by this time had breakfast, and after breakfast some were dicing and some were sleeping: they were attacked by Pisistratus' men and put to flight.
So they fled, and Pisistratus devised a very subtle plan to keep them scattered and prevent them assembling again: he had his sons mount and ride forward: they overtook the fugitives and spoke to them as they were instructed by Pisistratus, telling them to take heart and each to depart to his home.
The Athenians did, and by this means Pisistratus gained Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus) Athens for the third time, rooting his sovereignty in a strong guard and revenue collected both from Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus) Athens and from the district of the river Strymon, and he took hostage the sons of the Athenians who remained and did not leave the city at once, and placed these in Nisos Naxos [25.583,32.33] (island), Cyclades, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Naxos .
(He had conquered Nisos Naxos [25.583,32.33] (island), Cyclades, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Naxos too and put Lygdamis in charge.) And besides this, he purified the island of Delos [25.2833,37.4] (Perseus) Delos as a result of oracles, and this is how he did it: he removed all the dead that were buried in ground within sight of the temple and conveyed them to another part of Delos [25.2833,37.4] (Perseus) Delos .
So Pisistratus was sovereign of Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus) Athens : and as for the Athenians, some had fallen in the battle, and some, with the Alcmeonids, were exiles from their native land.
So Croesus learned that at that time such problems were oppressing the Athenians, but that the Lacedaemonians had escaped from the great evils and had mastered the Tegeans in war. In the kingship of Leon and Hegesicles at Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta , the Lacedaemonians were successful in all their other wars but met disaster only against the Tegeans.
Before this they had been the worst-governed of nearly all the Hellenes and had had no dealings with strangers, but they changed to good government in this way: Lycurgus, a man of reputation among the Spartans, went to the oracle at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi . As soon as he entered the hall, the priestess said in hexameter:
You have come to my rich temple, Lycurgus, A man dear to Zeus and to all who have Olympian homes. I am in doubt whether to pronounce you man or god, But I think rather you are a god, Lycurgus.
Some say that the Pythia also declared to him the constitution that now exists at Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta , but the Lacedaemonians themselves say that Lycurgus brought it from Crete [25,35.166] (region), Greece, Europe Crete when he was guardian of his nephew Leobetes, the Spartan king.
Once he became guardian, he changed all the laws and took care that no one transgressed the new ones. Lycurgus afterwards established their affairs of war: the sworn divisions, the bands of thirty, the common meals; also the ephors and the council of elders.