genius,
nor his popular influence sufficed to give to his faction a decided
eminence over those of his rivals. The wealthy nobles of the lowlands
were led by Lycurgus--the moderate party of the coastmen by Megacles,
the head of the Alcmaeonidae. And it was in the midst, of the strife
and agitation produced by these great sections of the people that
Solon returned to Athens.

III. The venerable legislator was received with all the grateful
respect he deserved; but age had dimmed the brilliancy of his powers.
His voice could no longer penetrate the mighty crowds of the
market-place. New idols had sprung up--new passions were loosed--new
interests formed, and amid the roar and stir of the eternal movement,
it was in vain for the high-hearted old man to recall those rushing on
the future to the boundaries of the past. If unsuccessful in public,
he was not discouraged from applying in private to the leaders of the
several parties. Of all those rival nobles, none deferred to his
advice with so marked a respect as the smooth and plausible
Pisistratus. Perhaps, indeed, that remarkable man contemplated the
same objects as Solon himself,--although the one desired to effect by
the authority of the chief, the order and the energy which the other
would have trusted to the development of the people. But, masking his
more interested designs, Pisistratus outbid all competition in his
seeming zeal for the public welfare. The softness of his manners--his
profuse liberality--his generosity even to his foes--the splendid
qualities which induced Cicero to compare him to Julius Cesar [226],
charmed the imagination of the multitude, and concealed the
selfishness of his views. He was not a hypocrite, indeed, as to his
virtues--a dissembler only in his ambition. Even Solon, in
endeavouring to inspire him with a true patriotism, acknowledged his
talents and his excellences. "But for ambition," said he, "Athens
possesses no citizen worthier than Pisistratus." The time became ripe
for the aspiring projects of the chief of the democracy.

IV. The customary crowd was swarming in the market-place, when
suddenly in the midst of the assembly appeared the chariot of
Pisistratus. The mules were bleeding--Pisistratus himself was
wounded. In this condition the demagogue harangued the people. He
declared that he had just escaped from the enemies of himself and the
popular party, who (under the auspices of the Alcmaeonidae) had
attacked h