Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/108

 9i5 HISTORY OF GREECE. Megarians to quit the island, Solon took possession ol it for the Athenians, erecting a temple to Enyalius, the god of war, on Cape Skiradium, near the city of Salamis. 1 The citizens of Megara, however, made various efforts for the recovery of so valuable a possession, so that a war ensued long as well as disastrous to both parties. At last, it was agreed be- tween them to refer the dispute to the arbitration of Sparta, and five Spartans were appointed to decide it, Kritolaidas, Amoru- pharetus, Hypsechidas, Anaxilas, and Kleomenes. The verdict in favor of Athens was founded on evidence which it is some- what curious to trace. Both parties attempted to show that the dead bodies buried in the island conformed to their own peculiar mode of interment, and both parties are said to have cited verses from the catalogue of the Iliad, a each accusing the other of error or interpolation. But the Athenians had the advantage on two points ; first, there were oracles from Delphi, wherein Salamis was mentioned with the epithet Ionian ; next, Philccus and Eury- sakes, sons of the Telamonian Ajax, the great hero of the island, had accepted the citizenship of Athens, made over Salamis to the Athenians, and transferred their own residences to Brauron and Melite in Attica, where the deme or gens Philaidte still wor- shipped Philaeus as its eponymous ancestor. Such a title was held sufficient, and Salamis was adjudged by the five Spartans to Attica, 3 with which it ever afterwards remained incorporated 1 Plutarch, Solon, 8, 9, 10. DaTmachus of Plataca, however, denied to Solon any personal share in the Salaminian war (Plutarch, comp. Solon and Public, c. 4). Polysenus (i, 20) ascribes a different stratagem to Solon : compare JElian, V. II. vii, 19. It is hardly necessary to say that the account which the Megarians gave of the way in which they lost the island was totally differ- ent: they imputed it to the treachery of some exiles (Pausan. i, 40,4): compare Justin, ii, 7. 2 Aristot. Rhct. i, 16, 3. 3 Plutarch, Solon, 10 : compare Aristot. Ehet. i, 16. Alkibiadcs traced up his yrvof to Eurysakes (Plutarch, Alkibiad. c. 1) ; Miltindes traced up his to Philoms (Ilcrodot. vi, 35). According to the statement of Hereas the Mcgarian, both his countrymen and the Athenians had the same way of interment: both interred the dead' with their faces towards the west. This statement, therefore, affords no proof of any peculiarity of Athenian custom in burial. The Enrysakeium, or precinct sacred to the hero Eurysake 3, stood in the