Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/179

Rh PETSANDER. PEISANDER (neiVaj/Spos), historical. 1. An Athenian, of the demus of Achainae. From a fragment of the Babylonians of Aristophanes {ap. Scliol. ad Arist. Av. 1556) it would seem that he was satirised in that play as having been bribed to join in bringing about the Peloponnesian war (comp. Arist. Lysistr. 490 ; Schol. ad Arid. Pac. 389). Rapacity, however, was far from being the only point in his character which exposed him to the attacks of the comic poets. In tlie fragment of the 'AarpdrevToi or 'AvSpoyvvai of Eupolis, which thus speaks of him, — H^iaavSfjos et? Ila/cTwAov ia-rpareveTO, KaVTuida ttjj CTparias KaKiaros ^u dui^p, — his expedition to the Pactolus has indeed been explained as an allusion to his peculating propen- sities ; but others, by an ingenious conjecture, would substitute '2,-ndpTwXov for TlaKTwKdv, and would understand the passage as an attack on him for cowardice in the unsuccessful campaign of the Athenians against the revolted Chalcidians, in b. c. 429 (Thuc. ii. 79 ; comp. Meineke, Fragm. Com. Graec vol. i. p. 177, ii. pp. 435, 436). It further appears, from a notice of him in the Symposium of Xenophon (ii, 14), that in B.C. 422 he shrunk pusillanimously from serving in the expedition to Macedonia under Cleon (Thuc. v. 2). If for this he was brought to trial on an dcnpariias '}'pcc(pri, of which, however, we have no evidence, it is possible, as Meineke suggests {Fraym. Com. Graec. vol. i. p. 178 ; comp. vol. ii. pp. 501, 502), that the cir- cumstance may be alluded to in the following line of the Maricas of Eupolis, — "AKove vvv TleiaavZpos us diroWvTai. To about this period, too, Meineke would refer the play of the comic poet, Plato, which bears Peisan- der's name, and of which he formed the main sub- ject. Aristophanes ridicules him also for the attempt to cloak his cowardice under a gasconading de- meanour ; and he gave further occasion for satire to Aristophanes, Eupolis, Hermippus, and Plato, by his gluttony and his unwieldy bulk, the latter of which procured for him the nicknames of duo- kIv^los and ovos KavQrKios (donkey-driver and donkey), names the more appropriate, as the don- keys of Acharnae, his native demus, were noted for their size (Arist. Pax., 389, ^«. 1556 ; Meineke, Fragm. Com. Graec. II. cc, vol. ii. pp. 384, 385, 648, 685 ; Ath. x. p. 415, e ; Ael. V. H. i. 27, H. A. iv. 1 ; Suid. s. vv. AetAtJrepos rev irapa- KVTTTovTos., E'i Tt nfiadvBpou, HeLadudpov 5eiAoT€- pos, ^ApitdSas fjLLfxovix^voi ; Hesych. s. v. 'Axapfi/coi ovoi). With this disreputable character he pos- sessed the arts of a demagogue (see Xen. /. c), fur we find him in b. c. 415 appointed one of the commissioners {^■m-qToi) for investigating the mys- tery of the mutilation of the Hermae, on which occasion he joined with Charicles in representing the outrage as connected with a conspiracy against the people, and thus inflaming the popular fury (Thuc. vi. 27—29, 53, 60, &c.; Andoc. de Myst. pp. 5, 6). In b. c. 414 he was archon eponymus (Diod. xiii. 7) ; and towards the end of 412 he comes before us as the chief ostensible agent in effecting the revolution of the Four Hundred, having been sent about that time to Athens from the army at Samos to bring about the recall of Alcibiades and the overthrow of the democracy, or rather, according to his own professions, a modification of it On his arrival, he urged these measures on hia PEISANDER. 167 countrymen as the only means of obtaining the help of Persia, without which they could not hope to make head against the Lacedaemonians ; and at the same time he craftily suggested that it would be at their own option to recur to their old form of government after the temporary revolution had served its purpose. The people, pressed by the emergency, gave a reluctant consent, and entrusted Peisander and ten others with discretionary power to treat with Tissaphernes and Alcibiades, At his instigation also they took away the command of the fleet from Phrynichus and Scironides, who were opposed to the new movement, and the former of whom he accused of having betrayed Amorges and caused the capture of lasus (comp. Thuc. viii. 28). Before he left Athens, Peisander organised a conspiracy among the several political clubs (eTaipiai) for the overthrow of the democracy, and then proceeded on his mission. The negotiation, however, with Tisgaphernes failed, and he returned with his colleagues to Samos. Here he strengthened his faction in the armj% and formed an oligarchical party among the Samians themselves. He then sailed again to Athens, to complete his work there, establishing oligarchy in all the cities at which he touched in his course. Five of his fellow envoys accompanied him, while the remainder were em- ployed in the same way in other quarters. On his arrival at Athens with a body of heavj'-armed troops, drawn from some of the states which he had revolutionised, he found that the clubs had almost eftected his object already, principally by means of assassination and the general terror thus produced. When matters were fully ripe for the final step, Peisander made the proposal in the assembly for the establishment of the Four Hun- dred. In all the measures of this new govern- ment, of which he was a member, he took an active part ; and when Theramenes, Aristocrates, and others withdrew from it, he sided with the more violent aristocrats, and was one of those who, on the counter-revolution, took refuge with Agis at Deceleia. His property was conhscated, and it does not appear that he ever returned to Athens (Thuc. viii. 49, 53, 54, 56, 63—77, 89—98 ; Diod. xiii. 34 ; Pint. Ale. 26 ; Aristot. lihet. iii. 18. § 6, Polit. v. 4, 6, ed. Bekk. ; Schol. ad Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 34 ; Lys. Trepl (ttjkov, p. 108, c. Erat. p. 126 ; Isocr. Areop. p, 151, c, dj. 2. An Athenian, nick-named "• squinter " (a-rpe- €s). He was attacked by Plato, the comic poet, in his play called " Peisander," which, however, chiefly dealt with his more famous narae-iake [No. IJ, with whom he seems to have been con- temporary. In the " Maricas " of Eupolis the two are thus distinguished, — , 6 CTT/jegAos ; ovK' dAA' o i^4yas, ovvokIvSios. (Meineke, vol. i. pp. 178, 179, ii. pp. 501, 502; Schol. ad Arist Av., ad Lysistr. 490). 3. A Spartan, brother-in-law of Agesilaus II., who made him admiral of the fleet in b.c. 395, permission having been sent him from the govern- ment at home to appoint whomsoever he pleased to the office. This is an instance of the characteristic nepotism of Agesilaus ; for Peisander, though brave and eager for aistinction, was deficient in the experience requisite for the command in question. In the following year, b. c 394, he was defeated and sl.iin in a sea-fight off Cnidus, against Conon and Pharuabazus (Xeu. HdL iii. 4. § 29, iv. 3, M 4