same moment, by another and a
better? Come, I will hear no contradiction. Now for my request.

"You know that people sometimes call me an Athenian, sometimes a
Halikarnassian. Now, as the Ionian, AEolian and Dorian mercenaries have
never been on good terms with the Karians, my almost triple descent
(if I may call it so) has proved very useful to me as commander of both
these divisions. Well qualified as Aristomachus may be for the command,
yet in this one point Amasis will miss me; for I found it an easy matter
to settle the differences among the troops and keep them at peace, while
he, as a Spartan, will find it very difficult to keep right with the
Karian soldiers.

"This double nationality of mine arises from the fact that my father
married a Halikarnassian wife out of a noble Dorian family, and, at the
time of my birth, was staying with her in Halikarnassus, having come
thither in order to take possession of her parental inheritance. So,
though I was taken back to Athens before I was three months old, I
must still be called a Karian, as a man's native land is decided by his
birthplace.

"In Athens, as a young nobleman, belonging to that most aristocratic
and ancient family, the Philaidae, I was reared and educated in all the
pride of an Attic noble. Pisistratus, brave and clever, and though of
equal, yet by no means of higher birth, than ourselves, for there exists
no family more aristocratic than my father's, gained possession of the
supreme authority. Twice, the nobles, by uniting all their strength,
succeeded in overthrowing him, and when, the third time, assisted by
Lygdamis of Naxos, the Argives and Eretrians, he attempted to return, we
opposed him again. We had encamped by the temple of Minerva at Pallene,
and were engaged in sacrificing to the goddess, early, before our first
meal, when we were suddenly surprised by the clever tyrant, who gained
an easy, bloodless victory over our unarmed troops. As half of the
entire army opposed to the tyrant was under my command, I determined
rather to die than yield, fought with my whole strength, implored the
soldiers to remain steadfast, resisted without yielding a point, but
fell at last with a spear in my shoulder.

"The Pisistratidae became lords of Athens. I fled to Halikarnassus, my
second home, accompanied by my wife and children. There, my name being
known through some daring military exploits, and, through my having
once conquered in the Pythian games, I was