55. Aristagoras then being driven out of Sparta proceeded to Athens; which had been set free from the rule of despots in the way which I shall tell.—When Hipparchos the son of Peisistratos and brother of the despot Hippias, after seeing a vision of a dream which signified it to him plainly,782 had been slain by Aristogeiton and Harmodios, who were originally by descent Gephyraians, the Athenians continued for four years after this to be despotically governed no less than formerly—nay, even more. 56. Now the vision of a dream which Hipparchos had was this:—in the night before the Panathenaia it seemed to Hipparchos that a man came and stood by him, tall and of fair form, and riddling spoke to him these verses:
“With enduring soul as a lion endure unendurable evil:
No one of men who doth wrong shall escape from the judgment appointed.”
These verses, as soon as it was day, he publicly communicated to the interpreters of dreams; but afterwards he put away thought of the vision783 and began to take part in that procession during which he lost his life.
57. Now the Gephyraians, of whom were those who murdered Hipparchos, according to their own account were originally descended from Eretria; but as I find by carrying inquiries back, they were Phoenicians of those who came with Cadmos to the land which is now called Boeotia, and they dwelt in the district of Tanagra, which they had had allotted to them in that land. Then after the Cadmeians had first been driven out by the Argives, these Gephyraians next were driven out by the Boeotians and turned then towards Athens: and the Athenians received them on certain fixed conditions to be citizens of their State, laying down rules that they should be excluded from a number of things not worth mentioning here. 58. Now these Phoenicians who came with Cadmos, of whom were the Gephyraians, brought in among the Hellenes many arts when they settled in this land of Boeotia, and especially letters, which did not exist, as it appears to me, among the Hellenes before this time; and at first they brought in those which are used by the Phoenician race generally, but afterwards, as time went on, they changed with their speech the form of the letters also. During this time the Ionians were the race of Hellenes who dwelt near them in most of the places where they were; and these, having received letters by instruction of the Phoenicians, changed their form slightly and so made use of them, and in doing so they declared them to be called “phoenicians,” as was just, seeing that the Phoenicians had introduced them into Hellas. Also the Ionians from ancient time call paper “skins,” because formerly, paper being scarce, they used skins of goat and sheep; nay, even in my own time many of the Barbarians write on such skins. 59. I myself too once saw Cadmeian characters in the temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes of the Boeotians, engraved on certain784 tripods, and in most respects resembling the Ionic letters: one of these tripods has the inscription,
“Me Amphitryon offered from land Teleboian returning:”785
this inscription would be of an age contemporary with Laius the son of Labdacos, the son of Polydoros, the son of Cadmos. 60. Another tripod says thus in hexameter rhythm:
“Me did Scaios offer to thee, far-darting Apollo,
Victor in contest of boxing, a gift most fair in thine honour:”
now Scaios would be the son of Hippocoon (at least if it were really he who offered it, and not another with the same name as the son of Hippocoon), being of an age contemporary with Oedipus the son of Laius: 61. and the third tripod, also in hexameter rhythm, says:
“Me Laodamas offered to thee, fair-aiming Apollo,
He, of his wealth,786 being king, as a gift most fair in thine honor:”
now it was in the reign of this very Laodamas the son of Eteocles that the Cadmeians were driven out by the Argives and turned to go to the Enchelians; and the Gephyraians being then left behind were afterwards forced by the Boeotians to retire to Athens. Moreover they have temples established in Athens, in which the other Athenians have no part, and besides others which are different from the rest, there is especially a temple of Demeter Achaia and a celebration of her mysteries.
62. I have told now of the vision of a dream seen by Hipparchos, and also whence the Gephrynians were descended, of which race were the murderers of Hipparchos; and in addition to this I must resume and continue the story which I was about to tell at first, how the Athenians were freed from despots. When Hippias was despot and was dealing harshly with the Athenians because of the death of Hipparchos, the Alcmaionidai, who were of Athenian race and were fugitives from the sons of Peisistratos,787 as they did not succeed in their attempt made together with the other Athenian exiles to return by force, but met with great disaster when they attempted to return and
