Erato   

their husbands from among all the citizens of Athens, and giving
each in marriage to the man of her own choice.
Now the Alcmaeonidae fell not a whit short of this person in their
hatred of tyrants, so that I am astonished at the charge made
against them, and cannot bring myself to believe that they held up a
shield; for they were men who had remained in exile during the whole
time that the tyranny lasted, and they even contrived the trick by
which the Pisistratidae were deprived of their throne. Indeed I look
upon them as the persons who in good truth gave Athens her freedom far
more than Harmodius and Aristogeiton. For these last did but
exasperate the other Pisistratidae by slaying Hipparchus, and were far
from doing anything towards putting down the tyranny: whereas the
Alcmaeonidae were manifestly the actual deliverers of Athens, if at
least it be true that the Pythoness was prevailed upon by them to
bid the Lacedaemonians set Athens free, as I have already related.
But perhaps they were offended with the people of Athens; and
therefore betrayed their country. Nay, but on the contrary there
were none of the Athenians who were held in such general esteem, or
who were so laden with honours. So that it is not even reasonable to
suppose that a shield was held up by them on this account. A shield
was shown, no doubt; that cannot be gainsaid; but who it was that
showed it I cannot any further determine.
Now the Alcmaeonidae were, even in days of yore, a family of
note at Athens; but from the time of Alcmaeon, and again of
Megacles, they rose to special eminence. The former of these two
personages, to wit, Alcmaeon, the son of Megacles, when Croesus the
Lydian sent men from Sardis to consult the Delphic oracle, gave aid
gladly to his messengers, assisted them to accomplish their task.
Croesus, informed of Alcmaeon's kindnesses by the Lydians who from
time to time conveyed his messages to the god, sent for him to Sardis,
and when he arrived, made him a present of as much gold as he should
be able to carry at one time about his person. Finding that this was
the gift assigned him, Alcmaeon took his measures, and prepared
himself to receive it in the following way. He clothed himself in a
loose tunic, which he made to bag greatly at the waist, and placing
upon his feet the widest buskins that he could anywhere find, followed
his guides into the treasure-house. Here he fell to upon a heap of
gold-dust, and in the first place packed as much as he could inside
his buskins, between them and his legs; after which he filled the
breast of his tunic quite full of gold, and then sprinkling some among
his hair, and taking some likewise in his mouth, he came forth from
the treasure-house, scarcely able to drag his legs along, like
anything rather than a man, with his mouth crammed full, and his
bulk increased every way. On seeing him, Croesus burst into a laugh,
and not only let him have all that he had taken, but gave him presents
besides of fully equal worth. Thus this house became one of great
wealth; and Alcmaeon was able to keep horses for the chariot-race, and
won the prize at Olympia.
Afterwards, in the generation which followed, Clisthenes, king
of Sicyon, raised the family to still greater eminence among the
Greeks than even that to which it had attained before. For this
Clisthenes, who was the son of Aristonymus, the grandson of Myron, and
the great-grandson of Andreas, had a daughter, called Agarista, whom
he wished to marry to the best husband that he could find in the whole
of Greece. At the Olympic Games, therefore, having gained the prize in
the chariot race, he caused public proclamation to be made to the
following effect:- "Whoever among the Greeks deems himself worthy to
become the son-in-law of Clisthenes, let him come, sixty days hence,
or, if he will, sooner, to Sicyon; for within a year's time,
counting from the end of the sixty days, Clisthenes will decide on the
man to whom he shall contract his daughter." So all the Greeks who
were proud of their own merit or of their country flocked to Sicyon as
suitors; and Clisthenes had a foot-course and a wrestling-ground
made ready, to try their powers.