Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/35

 DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH THE DESPOTS AROSE. ig strength so effectively as to put down the oligarchy by force, and constitute himself despot. A third form of despot, some pre- sumptuous wealthy man, like Kylon at Athens, without even the pretence of popularity, was occasionally emboldened by the suc- cess of similar adventures in other places to hire a troop of re- tainers and seize the acropolis ; and there were examples, though rare, of a fourth variety, the lineal descendant of the ancient kings, who, instead of suffering himself to be restricted or placed under control by the oligarchy, found means to subjugate them, and to extort by force an ascendency as great as that which his forefathers had enjoyed by consent. To these must be added, in several Grecian states, the .ZEsymnete, or Dictator, a citizen formally invested with supreme and unresponsible power, placed in command of the military force, and armed with a standing body-guard, but only for a time named, and in order to deal with some urgent peril or ruinous internal dissension. 1 The person thus exalted, always enjoying a large measure of confidence, and generally a man of ability, was sometimes so successful, or made himself so essential to the community, that the term of his office was prolonged, and he became practically despot for life ; or, even if the community were not disposed to concede to him this per- manent ascendency, he was often strong enough to keep it against their will. Such were the different modes in which the numerous Greek despots of the seventh and sixth centuries B. c. acquired their power. Though we know thus much in general terms from the brief statements of Aristotle, yet, unhappily, we have no contem- porary picture of any one of these communities, so as to give us the means of appreciating the change in detail. Of those per- sons who, possessing inherited kingly dignity, stretched their paternal power so far as to become despots, Aristotle gives us ^heidon of Argos as an example, whose reign has been already i'C~ ated in the preceding volume : of those who made themselves 1 Aristot. iii, 9, 5; iii, 10, 1-10; iv, 8, 2. AiffVfivijrai avroKpuropec wvapxoi ev roZf upxaioif "EMijai alperri rvpavvif: compare Theophra.-tus.
 * 'ragrnent. Kepi Baaileiaf, and Dionys. Hal. A. R. v, 73-74 ; Strabo, xiii. p.

oI7; and Aristot. Fragment. Rerum Publicarum, cd. Neumann, p. 122,