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Notes
from the First Historian
Here
they (Mocthos) landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest
at Argos. . . . exposed their merchandise and traded with the natives
for five or six days; at the end of which time. . .there came down to
the beach a number of women. . . . The women were standing by
the stern of the ship intent upon their purchases, when the Pestilent
Ones, with a general shout, rushed upon them.-- Book I, Clio
For
five years they annoyed their neighbors by plundering and pillaging on
all sides, until at length the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians leagued
against them, and sent each a fleet of sixty ships to attack the
town. The [Troublemakers] on their part, manned all their vessels,
sixty in number and met their enemy on the Sardinian sea. In the
engagement which followed (they) were victorious, . . .-- Book I, Clio
.
. . there was was civil contention in Attica between the party of the
Sea-coast headed by Megthos and that of the Plain
. . . .Gathering together a band of partisans, and giving himself out
for the protector of the Highlanders, . . .he wounded himself
and his mules and , the then drove his chariot into the market-place,
professing to have just escaped an attack of his enemies. . . .The
Athenians, deceived by his story appointed a band of citizens to serve
as a guard . . .and to accompany him wherever he went.
[He
would go on to use this troop to seize the citadel and install his
friend Pisistratus as tyrant. He soon lost his position which
reopened the unrest in the area and Megthos resolved to restore him to
power once again. . .--ed.]
And
there the device on which they hit was the silliest that I find on
record. . .[They
found a woman whom they]
clothed in complete armour, and, instructing her as to the carriage
which she was to maintain. . .they placed her in a chariot and drove
her to the city. Heralds had been sent forward to precede her,
and to make proclamation: "Citizens of Athens, receive
again Pisistratus with friendly minds. Minerva, who all men honors
him the most, herself conducts him back to her own
citadel.". . . .They of the city. . . fully persuaded that the
woman was the veritable goddess, prostrated themselves before her, and
received Pisistratus back.
--Book I, Clio
Herodotus'
Continues
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