previous next


ἐπὶ ... βαλόμενοι, ‘on their own responsibility, at their own risk’ (iii. 71. 5, 155. 4; v. 106. 4; viii. 109. 1). Probably the envoys knew that Cleisthenes was ready to make submission, but were afterwards disavowed when their action raised a storm at Athens. H.'s Athenian (? Alcmaeonid) informants seem guilty here of at least suppressio veri. Cleisthenes henceforth disappears from history, presumably because he fell into disgrace. He may even perhaps have been banished, though the late tradition (Aelian, V. H. xiii. 24) that he was the first man ostracized deserves no credit (cf. Ath. Pol. ch. 22). The leanings of the Alcmaeonidae to the East may be partly explained by the origin of their wealth (vi. 125), and certainly throw light on their attitude in 490 B. C. (cf. Appendix XVIII, § 6).

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: