Megacles gladly accepted the honor thus offered him, the marriage was solemnized with all possible state, and the suitors dispersed,--twelve of them happy with their silver talents, one of them happier with his charming bride. We have but further to say that Cleisthenes of Athens--a great leader and law-giver, whose laws gave origin to the democratic government of that city--was the son of Megacles and Agariste, and that his grandson was the famous Pericles, the foremost name in Athenian history. _THE TYRANTS OF CORINTH._ We have already told what the word "tyrant" meant in Greece,--a despot who set aside the law and ruled at his own pleasure, but who might be mild and gentle in his rule. Such were the tyrants of Sicyon, spoken of in our last tale. The tyrants of Corinth, the state adjoining Sicyon, were of a harsher character. Herodotus, the gossiping old historian tells some stories about these severe despots which seem worth telling again. The government of Corinth, like most of the governments of Greece, was in early days an oligarchy,--that is, it was ruled by a number of powerful aristocrats instead of by a single king. In Corinth these belonged to a single family, named the Bacchiadae (or legendary descendants of the god Bacchus), who constantly intermarried, and kept all power to themselves. But one of this family, Amphion by name, had a daughter, named Labda, whom none of the Bacchiadae would marry, as she had the misfortune to be lame. So she married outside the family, her husband being named Aetion, and a man of noble descent. Having no children, Aetion applied to the Delphian oracle, and was told that a son would soon be borne to him, and that this son "would, like a rock, fall on the kingly race and right the city of Corinth." The Bacchiadae heard of this oracle, and likewise knew of an earlier one that had the same significance. Forewarned is forearmed. They remained quiet, waiting until Aetion's child should be born, and proposing then to take steps for their own safety. When, therefore, they heard that Labda had borne a son, they sent ten of their followers to Petra (the _rock_), where Aetion dwelt, with instructions to kill the child. These assassins entered Aetion's house, and, with murder in their hearts, asked Labda, with assumed friendliness, if they might see her child. She, looking upon them as friends of her husband, whom kindly feeling had brought thither, gladly complied, and, bringing the infant, laid it in the arms of one of the ruffianly band.