The Suitors Of Agariste

Sicyon, the smallest country of the Peloponnesus, lay on the Gulf of

Corinth, adjoining the isthmus which connects the peninsula with the

rest of Greece. In this small country--as in many larger ones--the

nobles held rule, the people were subjects. The rich and proud rulers

dwelt on the hill slopes, the poor and humble people lived on the

sea-shore and along the river Asopus. But in course of time many of the

people be ame well off, through success in fisheries and commerce, to

which their country was well adapted. Weary of the oppression of the

nobles, they finally rose in rebellion and overthrew the government.

Orthagoras, once a cook, but now leader of the rebels, became master of

the state, and he and his descendants ruled it for a hundred years. The

last of this dynasty was Cleisthenes, a just and moderate ruler,

concerning whom we have a story to tell.



These lords of the state were called tyrants; but this word did not mean

in Greece what it means to us. The tyrants of Greece were popular

leaders who had overthrown the old governments and laws, and ruled

largely through force and under laws of their own making. But they were

not necessarily tyrannical. The tyrants of Athens were mild and just in

their dealings with the people, and so proved to be those of Sicyon.






Cleisthenes, who became the most eminent of the tyrants of Sicyon, had a

beautiful daughter, named Agariste, whom he thought worthy of the

noblest of husbands, and decided that she should be married to the

worthiest youth who could be found in all the land of Greece. To select

such a husband he took unusual steps.



When the fair Agariste had reached marriageable age, her father attended

the Olympic games, at which there were used to gather men of wealth and

eminence from all the Grecian states. Here he won the prize in the

chariot race, and then bade the heralds to make the following

proclamation:



"Whoever among the Greeks deems himself worthy to be the son-in-law of

Cleisthenes, let him come, within sixty days, to Sicyon. Within a year

from that time Cleisthenes will decide, from among those who present

themselves, on the one whom he deems fitting to possess the hand of his

daughter."



This proclamation, as was natural, roused warm hopes in many youthful

breasts, and within the sixty days there had gathered at Sicyon thirteen

noble claimants for the charming prize. From the city of Sybaris in

Italy came Smindyrides, and from Siris came Damasus. Amphimnestus and

Males made their way to Sicyon from the cities of the Ionian Gulf. The

Peloponnesus sent Leocedes from Argos, Amiantus from Arcadia, Laphanes

from Paeus, and Onomastus from Elis. From Euboea came Lysanias; from

Thessaly, Diactorides; from Molossia, Alcon; and from Attica, Megacles

and Hippoclides. Of the last two, Megacles was the son of the renowned

Alkmaeon, while Hippoclides was accounted the handsomest and wealthiest

of the Athenians.



At the end of the sixty days, when all the suitors had arrived,

Cleisthenes asked each of them whence he came and to what family he

belonged. Then, during the succeeding year, he put them to every test

that could prove their powers. He had had a foot-course and a

wrestling-ground made ready to test their comparative strength and

agility, and took every available means to discover their courage,

vigor, and skill.



But this was not all that the sensible monarch demanded in his desired

son-in-law. He wished to ascertain their mental and moral as well as

their physical powers, and for this purpose kept them under close

observation for a year, carefully noting their manliness, their temper

and disposition, their accomplishments and powers of intellect. Now he

conversed with each separately; now he brought them together and

considered their comparative powers. At the gymnasium, in the council

chamber, in all the situations of thought and activity, he tested their

abilities. But he particularly considered their behavior at the

banquet-table. From first to last they were sumptuously entertained, and

their demeanor over the trencher-board and the wine-cup was closely

observed.



In this story, as told us by garrulous old Herodotus, nothing is said of

Agariste herself. In a modern romance of this sort the lady would have

had a voice in the decision and a place in the narrative. There would

have been episodes of love, jealousy, and malice, and the one whom the

lady blessed with her love would in some way--in the eternal fitness of

things--have become victor in the contest and carried off the prize. But

they did things differently in Greece. The preference of the maiden had

little to do with the matter; the suitor exerted himself to please the

father, not the daughter; maiden hands were given rather in barter and

sale than in trust and affection; in truth, almost the only lovers we

meet with in Grecian history are Haemon and Antigone, of whom we have

spoken in the tale of the "Seven against Thebes."



And thus it was in the present instance. It was the father the suitors

courted, not the daughter. They proved their love over the

banquet-table, not at the trysting-place. It was by speed of foot and

skill in council, not by whispered words of devotion, that they

contended for the maidenly prize. Or, if lovers' meetings took place and

lovers' vows were passed, they were matters of the strictest secrecy,

and not for Greek historians to put on paper or Greek ears to hear.



But the year of probation came in due time to its end, and among all the

suitors the two from Athens most won the favor of Cleisthenes. And of

the two he preferred Hippoclides. It was not alone for his handsome face

and person and manly bearing that this favored youth was chosen, but

also because he was descended from a noble family of Corinth which

Cleisthenes esteemed. Yet "there is many a slip between the cup and the

lip," an adage whose truth Hippoclides was to learn.



When the day came on which the choice of the father was to be made, and

the wedding take place, Cleisthenes held a great festival in honor of

the occasion. First, to gain the favor of the gods, he offered a hundred

oxen in sacrifice. Then, not only the suitors, but all the people of the

city were invited to a grand banquet and festival, at the end of which

the choice of Cleisthenes was to be declared. What torments of love and

fear Agariste suffered during this slow-moving feast the historian does

not say. Yet it may be that she was the power behind the throne, and

that the proposed choice of the handsome Hippoclides was due as much to

her secret influence as to her father's judgment.



However this be, the feast went on to its end, and was followed by a

contest between the suitors in music and oratory, with all the people to

decide. As the drinking which followed went on, Hippoclides, who had

surpassed all the others as yet, shouted to the flute-player, bidding

him to play a dancing air, as he proposed to show his powers in the

dance.



The wine was in his weak head, and what he considered marvellously fine

dancing did not appear so to Cleisthenes, who was closely watching his

proposed son-in-law. Hippoclides, however, in a mood to show all his

accomplishments, now bade an attendant to bring in a table. This being

brought, he leaped upon it, and danced some Laconian steps, which he

followed by certain Attic ones. Finally, to show his utmost powers of

performance, he stood on his head on the table, and began to dance with

his legs in empty air.



This was too much for Cleisthenes. He had changed his opinion of

Hippoclides during his light and undignified exhibition, but restrained

himself from speaking to avoid any outbreak or ill feeling. But on

seeing him tossing his legs in this shameless manner in the air, the

indignant monarch cried out,--



"Son of Tisander, you have danced your wife away."



"What does Hippoclides care?" was the reply of the tipsy youth.



And for centuries afterwards "What does Hippoclides care?" was a common

saying in Greece, to indicate reckless folly and lightness of mind.



Cleisthenes now commanded silence, and spoke as follows to the assembly:



"Suitors of my daughter, well pleased am I with you all, and right

willingly, if it were possible, would I content you all, and not, by

making choice of one, appear to put a slight upon the rest. But as it is

out of my power, seeing that I have only one daughter, to grant to all

their wishes, I will present to each of you whom I must needs dismiss a

talent of silver[2] for the honor that you have done in seeking to ally

yourselves with my house, and for your long absence from your homes. But

my daughter Agariste I betroth to Megacles, the son of Alkmaeon, to be

his wife, according to the usage and wont of Athens."



Megacles gladly accepted the honor thus offered him, the marriage was

solemnized with all possible state, and the suitors dispersed,--twelve

of them happy with their silver talents, one of them happier with his

charming bride.



We have but further to say that Cleisthenes of Athens--a great leader

and law-giver, whose laws gave origin to the democratic government of

that city--was the son of Megacles and Agariste, and that his grandson

was the famous Pericles, the foremost name in Athenian history.