Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/132

 114 HISTORY OF GREECE. afterwards taken, and perished in the tortures applied to him disclose his accomplices. 1 The news flew quickly to Hippias in the Kerameikus, who heard it earlier than the armed citizens near him, awaiting his order for the commencement of the procession. With extraor- dinary self-command, he took advantage of this precious instant of foreknowledge, and advanced towards them, commanding them to drop their arms for a short time, and assemble on an ad- joining ground. They unsuspectingly obeyed, and he immedi- ately directed his guards to take possession of the vacant arms. He was now undisputed master, and enabled to seize the persons of all those citizens whom he mistrusted, especially all those who had daggers about them, w r hich it was not the practice to carry in the Panathenaic procession. Such is the memorable narrative of Harmodius and Aristo- geiton, peculiarly valuable inasmuch as it all comes from Thu- cydides. 2 To possess great power, to be above legal restraint, to inspire extraordinary fear, is a privilege so much coveted by the giants among mankind, that we may well take notice of those cases in which it brings misfortune even upon themselves. The fear inspired by Hipparchus, of designs which he did not really entertain, but was likely to entertain, and competent to execute without hindrance, was here the grand cause of his destruction. The conspiracy here detailed happened in 514 B.C., during the thirteenth year of the reign of Hippias, which lasted four years longer, until 510 B.C. And these last four years, in the belief of the Athenian public, counted for his whole reign ; nay, many of them made the still greater historical mistake of eliding these last four years altogether, and of supposing that the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogeiton had deposed the Peisistratid gov- 1 Thucyd. vi, 58, ov fiadiug 6teTE-&7] : compare Polyssn. i, 22 ; Diodorus, Fragm. lib. x, p. 62, vol. iv, ed. Wess. ; Justin, ii, 9. See, also, a good note of Dr. Thirlwall on the passage, Hist, of Gr. vol. ii, ch. xi, p. 77, 2d ed. I itgree with him, that we may fairly construe the indistinct phrase of Tha- eydides by the more precise statements of later authors, who mention the torture. Thucyd. i, 20, vi, 54-59; Herodot. v, 55, 56, vi, 123 ; Aristot. Tolit. Y t 8,9.