Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/378

 372 THE REVOLUTIONS. BOOK IV 2. History of this devolution at Athene. The Enpatrids, after the overthrow of" royalty, gov- erned Athens during four centuries. Upon tliis long dominion history is silent; we know only one fact — that it was odious to the lower orders, and that the people tried to change the government. In the year 598, the discontent, which appeared general, and certain signs which showed a revolution to be at hand, aroused the ambition of .a Eupatrid, Cylon, who undertook to overthrow the government of his caste, and. to establish himself as a popular tyrant. The energy of the archons frustrated the en- terprise, but the agitation continued after him. In vain the Eupatrids employed all the resources of their religion. In vain did they announce that the gods were irritated, and that spectres had appeared. In vain did they purify the city from the crimes of the peojDle, and raise two altars to Violence and Insolence to ap- pease these two divinities, whose malign influence had agitated all minds.' All this was to no purpose. The feeling of hatred was not appeased. They brought from Crete the pious Epimenides, a mysterious person- age, who was said to be the son of a goddess, and he performed a series of expiatory ceremonies ; they hoped, by thus striking the imaginations of the people, to revive religion, and consequently to fortify the aristoc- racy. But the people were not moved ; the religion of the Eupatrids no longer had any influence upon their minds; they persisted in demanding reform. For sixteen years longer the fierce opposition of the ' Diogenes Laertius, I. 110. Cicero, Be Leg., II. 11. Athe- naeus, p. G02.