Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/215

 ALILEUS AND HTTAKUS. 199 rfettlement at Sigeium, they resisted the establishment by force. At the head of the Mitylenean troops, Pittakus engaged in single combat with the Athenian commander Phrynon, and had the good fortune to kill him. The general struggle was, however, carried on with no very decisive result. On one memorable occasion the Mityleneans fled, and Alkreus the poet, sen-ing as an hoplite in their ranks, commemorated in one of his odes both his flight and the humiliating loss of his shield, which the victorious Athenians suspended as a trophy in the temple of Athene at Sigeium. His predecessor Archilochus, and his imitator Horace, have both been frank enough to confess a similar misfortune, which Tyrtoeus perhaps would not have endured to survive. 1 It was at length agreed by Mitylene and Athens to refer the dispute to Periander of Corinth. While the MJtyleneans laid claim to the whole line of coast, the Athenians alleged that inasmuch as a contingent from Athens had served in the host of Agamemnon against Troy, their descendants had as good a right as any other Greeks to share in the conquered ground. It appears that Periander felt unwilling to decide this delicate question of legendary lav,-. He directed that each party should retain what they possessed, and his verdict 3 was still remembered and appealed to even in the time of Aris- totle, by the inhabitants of Tenedos against those of Sigeium. Though Pittakus and Alkrcus were both found in the same line of hoplites against the Athenians at Sigeium, yet in the domestic politics of their native city, their bearing was that of bitter ene- mies. Alkoeus and Antimenidas his brother were worsted in this party-feud, and banished : but even as exiles they were strong been directed by Peisistratus, whose government did not commence until 560 15. c. (Herod, v, 94, 95). My suspicion is, that there were two Athenian expeditions to these regions one in the time of Alkacus and Pittakus ; a second, much afterwards, un- dertaken by order of Peisistratus, whose illegitimate son Hegesistratus be- came, in consequence, despot of Sigeium. Herodotus appears to me to have merged the two into one. 1 See the difficult fragment of Alkasus (Fr. 24, ed. Schncidewin), preserved in Strabo, xiii, p. 600; Herodot. v, 94, 95; Archilochus, Eleg. Fr. i, 5, ed. Schneidcwin; Horat. Carm.ii, 7, 9 ; perhaps also Anakrcon, but not certain- ly (see Fr. 81, ed. Schnc'idewin), is to be regarded as having thrown away his shield. 9 Aristot. Rhctmii'. i, 16, 2. where lva-yxf marks the date.