§13XIII. τὴν μὲν οὖν ἀποδημίαν ἐποιήσατο διὰ ταύτας τὰς αἰτίας.
XIII. He therefore made his journey abroad for these reasons.
Σόλωνος δ᾿ ἀποδημήσαντος, ἔτι τῆς πόλεως τεταραγμένης, ἐπὶ μὲν ἔτη τέτταρα διῆγον ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ· τῷ δὲ πέμπτῳ μετὰ τὴν Σόλωνος ἀρχὴν οὐ κατέστησαν ἄρχοντα διὰ τὴν στ[άσ]ιν, καὶ πάλιν ἔτει πέμπτῳ διὰ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰτίαν ἀναρχίαν ἐποίησαν.
After Solon had departed, while the city was still disturbed, for four years they lived in peace; but in the fifth year after Solon's archonship, they did not appoint an archon because of the factional strife, and again in the fifth year for the same reason they created an anarchy.
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν χρόνων Δαμασίας αἱρεθεὶς ἄρχων ἔτη δύο καὶ δύο μῆνας ἦρξεν, ἕως ἐξηλάθη βίᾳ τῆς ἀρχῆς.
After this, after the same interval of time, Damasias was elected archon and ruled for two years and two months, until he was driven by force from his office.
εἶτ᾿ ἔδοξ[εν] αὐτοῖς διὰ τὸ στασιάζειν ἄρχοντας ἐλέσθαι δέκα, πέντε μὲν εὐπατριδῶ, τρεῖς δὲ ἀ[γ]ροίκων, δύο δὲ δημιουργῶν, καἱ οὗτοι τὸν μετὰ Δαμασίαν ἦρξαν ἐνιαυτόν.
Then, because of the factional strife, they decided to elect ten archons, five from the Eupatridae, three from the farmers, and two from the craftsmen; and these ruled for the year after Damasias.
ᾧ καὶ δῆλον ὅτι μεγίστην εἶχεν δύναμιν ό ἄρχων· φαίνονται γὰρ αἰεὶ στασιάζοντες περὶ τῆς τῆς ἀρχῆς.
From this it is also clear that the archon held the greatest power; for they appear to be always engaged in factional strife concerning the archonship.
ὅλως δὲ διετέλουν νοσοῦντες τὰ πρὸς ἑαυτούς, οἳ μὲν ἀρχὴν καὶ πρόφασιν ἔχοντες τὴν τῶν χρεῶν ἀποκοπήν (συνεβεβήκει γὰρ αὐτοῖς πένησιν), οἳ δὲ τῇ πολιτείᾳ δυσχεραίνοντες διὰ τὸ μεγάλην γεγονέναι μεταβολήν, ἔνιοι δὲ διὰ [τὴν] πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλονικίαν.
On the whole, they continued to be in a diseased state in their mutual relations, some having as their starting-point and pretext the cancellation of debts (for it had happened that they became poor), others being displeased with the constitution because a great change had occurred, and some because of their rivalry with one another.
ἦσαν δ᾿ αἱ στάσεις τρεῖς· μία μὲν τῶν παραλίων, ὧν προειστήκει Μεγακλῆς ὁ Ἀλκμέωνος, οἵπερ ἐδόκουν μάλιστα διώκειν τὴν μέσην πότεόαμ· ἄλλη δὲ τῶν πεδιακῶν, οἳ τὴν ὀλιγαρχίαν ἐζήτουν, ἡγεῖτο δ᾿ αὐτῶν Λυκοῦργος· τρίτη δ᾿ ἡ τῶν διακρίων, ἐφ᾿ ᾗ τεταγμένος ἦν Πεισίστρατος, δημοτι[κ]ώτατος εἶναι δοκῶν.
There were three factions: one of the Coast-dwellers, whom Megacles the son of Alcmeon led, who seemed most of all to pursue the middle constitution; another of the Plain-dwellers, who sought oligarchy, and Lycurgus was their leader; and the third of the Hill-dwellers, over whom Peisistratus was placed, who was thought to be most democratic.
προσεκεκόσμηντο δὲ τούτοις οἵ τε ἀφ[ῃ]ρημένοι τὰ χρέα διὰ τὴν ἀπορ[ί]αν καὶ οἱ τῷ γένει μὴ καθαροὶ διὰ τὸv φόβον· σημεῖον δ᾿, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν [τῶν] τυράννων κατάλυσιν ἐποίησαν διαψηφισμόν, ὡς πολλῶν κοινωνούντων τῆς πολιτείας οὐ προσῆκον.
To these were additionally joined those who had been deprived of their debts because of poverty, and those who were not pure in descent because of fear; and the sign of this is that, after the overthrow of the tyrants, they made a scrutiny of the citizens' register, on the grounds that many were participating in the citizenship when it was not proper.
εἶχον δὲ ἕκαστοι τὰς ἐπωνυμίας ἀπὸ τῶν τόπων έν οἷς ἐγεώργουν.
And each faction had their names from the places in which they farmed.
§14XIV. δημοτικώτατος δ᾿ εἶναι δοκῶν ό Πεισιστρατος καὶ σφόδρ᾿ εὐδοκιμηκὼς ἐν τῷ πρὸς Μεγαρέας πολέμῳ, κατατραυματίσας ἑαυτὸν συνέπεισε τὸν δῆμον, ὡς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιστασιωτῶν ταῦτα πεπονθώς, φυλακὴν ἑαυτῷ δοῦναι τοῦ σώματος, Ἀριστίωνος γράψαντος τὴν γνώμην.
XIV. Peisistratus, who was thought to be most democratic and had won great reputation in the war against the Megarians, having wounded himself, persuaded the people, on the ground that he had suffered these things from his political opponents, to give him a bodyguard, after Aristion had proposed the motion.
λαβὼν δὲ τοὺς κορθνηφόρους καλουμένους, ἐπαναστὰς μετὰ τούτων τῷ δήμῳ κατέσχε τὴν α'κρόπολιν ἔτει δευτέρῳ καὶ τριακοστῷ μετὰ τὴν τῶν νόμων θέσιν ἐπὶ Κωμέου ἄρχοντος.
And having obtained those called the "club-bearers," he rose up with them against the people and seized the acropolis in the thirty-second year after the enactment of the laws, in the archonship of Comeas.
λέγεται δὲ Σόλωνα, Πεισιστράτου τὴν φυλακὴν αἰτοῦντος, ἀντιλέξαι καὶ εἰπεῖν ὅτι τῶν μὲν εἴη σοφώτερος, τῶν δ᾿ ἀνδορεεό[τε]ρος· ὅσοι μὲν γὰρ ἀγνοοῦσι Πεισίστρατον ἐπιτιθύμενον, τυραν[νίδι], σοφώτερος εἷναι τούτων, ὅσι δ᾿ δἰδότες κατασιωπωσινότερος.
It is said that Solon, when Peisistratus was asking for the guard, spoke against it and said that he was wiser than some and braver than others; for he was wiser than those who did not know that Peisistratus was aiming at tyranny, and braver than those who, though they knew it, kept silent.
ἐπεὶ δὲ λέγων [οὐκ ἔ]πειθεν, ἐξαράμενος τὰ ὅπλα πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν αὐτὸς μὲν ἔφη βεβοηθηκέναι τῇ πατρίδι καθ᾿ ὅσον ἧν δυνατός (ἤδη γὰρ σφόδρα πρεσβύτης ἧν), ἀξιοῦν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ταὐτὸ τοῦτο ποιεῖν.
But when he failed to persuade them by his speech, he carried his weapons out in front of his doors and said that he had helped his country as far as he was able (for he was already a very old man), and demanded that the others also do this same thing.
Σόλων μὲν [οὗν ο]ὐδὲν ἤνυσεν τότε παρακαλῶν· Πεισίστρατος δὲ λαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν διῴκει τὰ κοινὰ πολιτικῶς μᾶλλον ἢ τυραννικῶς.
Solon, indeed, accomplished nothing then by his appeal; but Peisistratus, having taken the government, administered public affairs in a constitutional rather than a tyrannical manner.
οὔπω δὲ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐρριζωμένης ὁμοφρονήσαντες οἱ πεὶ τὸν Μεγακλέα καὶ τὸν Λυκοῦργον ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἕκτῳ ἔτει μετὰ τὴν πρώτην κατάστασιν ἐφ᾿ Ἡγησίου ἄρχοντος.
But since his rule was not yet rooted, those around Megacles and Lycurgus, having come to an agreement, drove him out in the sixth year after his first establishment, in the archonship of Hegesias.
ἔτει δὲ δωδεκάτῳ μετὰ ταῦτα περιελαυνόμενος ὁ Μεγακλῆς τῇ στάσει, πάλιν ἐπικηρυκευσάμενος πρὸς τὸν Πεισίστρατον ἐφ᾿ ᾦ τε τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ λήψεται, κατήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἀρχαίως καὶ λίαν ἁπλῶς.
But in the twelfth year after these events, Megacles, being harassed by the factional strife, again made proposals to Peisistratus on condition that he should marry his daughter, and brought him back in an ancient and very simple fashion.
προδιασπείρας γὰρ λόγον ὡς τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καταγούσης Πεισίστρατον, καὶ γυναῖκα μεγάλην καὶ καλὴν ἐξευρών, ὡς μὲν Ἡρόδοτός φησιν, ἐκ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Παιανιέων, ὡς δ᾿ ἔνιοι λέγουσιν ἐκ τοῦ Κολλυτοῦ στεφανόπωλιν Θρᾷτταν, ᾖ ἄνομα Φύη, τὴν θεὸν ἀπομιμησάμενος τῷ κόσμῳ συνεισήγαγεν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὁ μὲν Πεισίστρατος ἐφ᾿ ἅρματος εἰσήλαυνε παραιβατούσης τῆς γυναικός, οἱ δ᾿ ἐν τῷ ἄστει προσχυνοῦντες ἐδέχοντο θαυμάζοντες.
For having previously spread a rumor that Athena was bringing back Peisistratus, and having found a tall and beautiful woman—as Herodotus says, from the deme of Paiania, but as some say, a Thracian flower-seller from Collytus whose name was Phye— having dressed her up in imitation of the goddess, he brought her in with him; and Peisistratus rode in on a chariot with the woman standing beside him, and the people in the city received them with adoration and wonder.