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THE TYRANTS OF GREECE.
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Athens from B.C. 560 to B.C. 510, which was about the date of the expulsion of the kings from Borne. They traced their origin to Codrus and Melanthus, semi-mythical kings of Attica, and remotely to the Homeric Nestor of Pylos, after whose son Pisistratus the great ruler of Athens was named.
A festival song in honour of the famous tyrannicides was long the "Marseillaise" of republican Athens:—
The Sword and the Myrtle.
I'll wreath with myrtle-bough my sword,
Like those who struck down Athens' lord,
Our laws engrafting equal right on—
Harrnodius and Aristogeiton.
Like those who struck down Athens' lord,
Our laws engrafting equal right on—
Harrnodius and Aristogeiton.
Harmodius dear, thou art not dead,
But in the happy isles, they say,
Where fleet Achilles lives for aye,
And good Tydeides Diomed.
But in the happy isles, they say,
Where fleet Achilles lives for aye,
And good Tydeides Diomed.
I'll wreath my sword with myrtle-bough,
Like those who laid Hipparchus low,
When on Athene's holiday
The tyrant wight they dared to slay.
Like those who laid Hipparchus low,
When on Athene's holiday
The tyrant wight they dared to slay.
Because they slew him, and because
They gave to Athens equal laws,
Eternal fame shall shed a light on
Harmodius and Aristogeiton.
They gave to Athens equal laws,
Eternal fame shall shed a light on
Harmodius and Aristogeiton.
