Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/75

 THE TRAGIC DIALOGUE. — THESPIS. 57 orders in an aristocracy of conquest^ to shake off their civil dis- abilities, and to put themselves upon an equality with their more favoured fellow-citizens. Solon had in part effected this by taking from the Eupatrids some of their exclusive privileges, and esta- blishing a democracy in the place of the aristocracy. xVt this time, Athens was divided into three parties: the UeBtalot, or the landed aristocracy of the interior; the UdpaXoL, the people dwelling on the coast on both sides of Cape Sunium; and the AcaKpcot or 'Tirep- oLKpioc, the highlanders who inhabited the north-eastern district of Attica^. The first party were for an oligarchy, the last for a democracy, and the second for a mixtiu'e of the two forms of government ^ The head of the democratical faction was Pisistratus, the son of Hippocrates, of the family of the Codrids, and related to Solon : he was born at Philaid^, near Brauron, and therefore was by birth a Diacrian. Having obtained by an artifice the sovran power at Athens, he was expelled by a coalition of the other two factions. After a short time, however, Megacles, the leader of the Paralians, being harassed [TrepieXavvo/jievo^^) by the aristocratic faction, recalled Pisistratus and gave him his daughter in maiTiage. The manner of his return is of the gi'eatest importance in reference to our present object. " There was a woman," says Herodotus, " of the P^anian deme, whose name was Phya : she was nearly four cubits in stature, and was in other respects comely to look upon. Having equipped this woman in a complete suit of armour, they placed her in a chariot, and having taught her beforehand how to act her part in the most dignified manner possible {koI irpoSi- ^avT6<; a'^T]/jLa olov tl e/xeWe evirpeirecrraTov cpalveaOac e)(ovaa^), they drove to the city." He add?, that they sent heralds before her, who, when they got to Athens, told the people to receive with good-will Pisistratus, whom Athena herself honoured above all 1 See Arnold's ThucycUdps, Vol. I. p. 620. We tliink the fact that one of the classes in Attica was called the "Hopletes," points to a conquest of Attica in remote times by the lonians. ^ Herod. I. 59: aTacna^ovTuv rdv irapdu:u /cat twv €K tou irediov ' Adrjvaioov. . .tQv virepaKplwv irpoaTcis. •^ Plutarch, Sol. xill. p. S5 : riv yap rb fxh twv ALO.Kpiojv yevos drjfjLOKpariKUTepov, 6iyapx'-K^TO.T0v 6e to tCjv Ylediewv, rplTOL 5e ol Yidpakoi. /xeaou rivd koL ixefXLyp.evov alpovfj.€voL TToXiTeias Tpoirov. Comp. Arnold's note on Thucyd. II. 59. 4 Herod. I. 60. 5 See the passages quoted by Ruhnken on Timceus, sub v. (TXT^/iartfo/Licj'os (pp. 245 — 6), to which add Plat. Besp. p. 577 a: e/cTrXTjTrerat vtto ttjs tCov rvpavpiKOJv Trpoard- aeus rjv -rrphs rovs t^o) (TXVf^<'-'^''^ovTai...€v oh fxaXiara yv/xvbs Slv ocpdeir] rrjs rpa- ycKTJs (TKevTJs.