Page:History of Greece Vol III.djvu/50

 34 HISTORY OF GREECI-.. in a Grecian city regarded the hero from whom their name was borrowed. That these new denominations, given by Kleisthenes, involved an intentional degradation of the Dorian tribes as well as an assumption of superiority for his own, is affirmed by Herodotus, and seems well-deserving of credit. But the violence of which Kleisthenes was capable in his anti Argeian antipathy, is manifested still more plainly in his pro- ceedings with respect to the hero Adrastus and to the legendary sentiment of the people. Something has already been said, in my former volume, 1 about this remarkable incident, which must, however, be here again briefly noticed. The hero Adrastus, whose chapel Herodotus himself saw in the Sikyonian agora, was com- mon both to Argos and to Sikyon, and was the object of special reverence at both : he figures in the legend as king of Argos, and as the grandson and heir of Polybus, king of Sikyon. He was the unhappy leader of the two sieges of Thebes, so famous in the ancient epic, and the Sikyonians listened with delight both to the exploits of the Argeians against Thebes, as cele- brated in the recitations of the epical rhapsodes, and to the mourn- ful tale of Adrastus and his family mia^jrtunes, as sung in the tragic chorus. Kleisthenes not only forbade the rhapsodes to come to Sikyon, but farther resolved to expel Adrastus himself from the country, such is the literal Greek expression,'- 2 the hero himself being believed to be actually present and domiciled among the people. He first applied to the Delphian oracle for permission to carry this banishment into direct effect, but the Pythian priestess returned an answer of indignant refusal, " Adrastus is king of the Sikyonians, but thou art a ruffian." Thus baffled, he put in practice a stratagem calculated to induce Adrastus to depart of his own accord. 3 He seni to Thebes to beg that he might be allowed to introduce into Sikyon the hero Melanippus, and the permission was granted. Now Melanippus was celebrated in the legend as the puissant champion of Thebes against Adrastus and the Argeian besiegers, and as having slain 1 See above, vol. ii, p. 129, part i, ch. 21. ix rrjf xupriS- 8 Herod, v, 67. 'Efywvrtfe [ii]^avr)V ry aiirbf 6 "priyrof
 * Herod, v, 67. TOVTOV kne-^v^riae d K^ELd&Kvrjf, iovra 'Apyeiov, eKfialeit