ms 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 who