________________________________________________
Title: The Suitors Of Agariste
Author: Charles Morris [
More Titles by Morris]
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 became 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[1] 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."
FOOTNOTE 1:
[1] Equal to about one thousand dollars.
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.
[The end]
Charles Morris's short story: Suitors Of Agariste
________________________________________________
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
