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‘This he did in imitation of his grandfather.’ Cf. ix. 34. 1, and i. 176 ad fin. The resemblance between the two policies, on which H. again insists (ch. 69. 1), is less clear than the contrast. The historian's distorted view shows how inadequate was his appreciation of Cleisthenes' political reforms. Introd. § 32. For their real significance cf. ch. 69. 1 n. Cleisthenes of Sicyon reigned thirtyone years, circ. 600-570 B. C.; cf. vi. 126 f. and Appendix XVI, § 2.

Ἀργείοισι. In legend Sicyon was a vassal-kingdom of the Pelopid monarchs of Argos: perhaps Dorian Argos attempted to reassert this old suzerainty, and was successfully resisted by Cleisthenes.

Ὁμήρεια ἔπεα. Even in the Iliad and Odyssey the constant use of ‘Argives’ for Greeks, and the position of Agamemnon as overlord of Sicyon, would be an offence to Cleisthenes, but it seems more probable that H. here, in spite of his doubt as to the authorship of the Epigoni (iv. 32, and cf. ii. 117), refers to the Thebais which began Ἄργος ἄειδε, θέα, πολυδίψιον, and to the Epigoni in which Adrastus must have played a great part.

τὰ πολλὰ πάντα, ‘almost throughout’; cf. i. 203. 1, ii. 35. 2.

Ἀδρήστου. A., originally perhaps a local god, was in the Epics son of Talaus the Argive; expelled from Argos, he took refuge with Polybus of Sicyon, married his daughter, and inherited his kingdom. He took a leading part in the expeditions against Thebes, and seems to have returned to Argos (Paus. ii. 6. 6, &c.). There was a cult of the hero at Megara (Paus. i. 43. 1) as well as at Sicyon.

ἐκβαλεῖν. To recover or to expel the corpse is to recover or expel the hero. Cf. the stories of the bones of Orestes (i. 68 n.) and of Theseus (Plut. Theseus 36).

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