Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/129

HARMODIUS AND ARISTOGEITOX. m ofHce* of state, and in the full reality of power. They were, moreover, modest and popular in their personal demeanor, and charitable to the poor ; yet one striking example occurs of un- scrupulous enmity, in their murder of Kiinon, by night, through the agency of hired assassins. 1 There is good reason, however, for believing that the government both of Peisistratus and of his sons was in practice generally mild until after the death of Hip- parchus by the hands of Ilarmodius and Aristogeiton, after which event the surviving Hippias became alarmed, cruel, and oppressive during his last four years. And the harshness of this concluding period left upon the Athenian mind' 2 that profound and imperishable hatred, against the dynasty generally, which Thucydides attests, though he labors to show that it was not deserved by Peisistratus, nor at first by Hippias. Peisistratus left three legitimate sons, Hippias, Hipparchus, and Thessalus : the general belief at Athens among the couicm- poraries of Thucydides was, that Hipparchus was the eldest of the three and had succeeded him ; but the historian emphatically pronounces this to be a mistake, and certifies, upon his own re- sponsibility, that Hippias was both eldest son and successor. Such an assurance from him, fortified by certain reasons in them- selves not very conclusive, is sufficient ground for our belief, the more so as Herodotus countenances the same version. But we are surprised at such a degree of historical carelessness in thj Athenian public, and seemingly even in Plato, 3 about a matter both interesting and comparatively recent. In order to abate this surprise, and to explain how the name of Hipparchus came to supplant that of Hippias in the popular talk, Thucydides re- counts the memorable story of Ilarmodius and Aristogeiton. Of those two Athenian citizens, 4 both belonging to the ancient 1 Herodot. vi, 38-103 ; Theopomp. ap. Athcnas. xii, p. 533. 3 Thacyd. vi, 53 ; Pseudo-Plato, Hipparch. p. 230 ; Pausan. i, 23, 1. 3 ThncycL i. 20, about the general belief of the Athenian public in his time 'Atfjyvaiuv yovv rb trlJ/dof OIOVTCII if 'Ap//o<5/v Kal 'Apiaro-yei-rovo; liHrapxov rvpavvov uv~a uTTo&avslv, Kill OVK laaaiv art. 'I/rTrtaf irpcafi uraro( fav f/px e T & v HetffurrpuTOv 7TfftJ<j>, etc. The Pseudo-Plato in the dialogue called Hipparchus adopts this belief and the real Plato in his Symposion (c. 9, p. 182) seems to countenance it 4 Herodot. v. 55-58. Harmodius is affirmed by Plutarch to have been of the deme Aphid no? (Plutarch, Symposincon, i. 10. p. f>28)