[46] Ἐπαγαγόμενος δὲ ὁ Κλεισθένης τὸν Μελάνιππον, τέμενος οἱ
ἀπέδεξε ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πρυτανηΐῳ, καί μιν ἐνθαῦτα ἵδρυσε ἐν τῷ
ἰσχυροτάτῳ. (Herod. _ib._)
The religious manifestations of Sikyôn being thus transferred from
Adrastus to his mortal foe, and from the cause of the Argeians in the
siege of Thebes to that of the Thebans, Adrastus was presumed to have
voluntarily retired from the place, and the purpose which Kleisthenês
contemplated, of breaking the community of feeling between Sikyôn and
Argos, was in part accomplished.
A ruler who could do such violence to the religious and legendary
sentiment of his community may well be supposed capable of inflicting
that deliberate insult upon the Dorian tribes which is implied in
their new appellations. As we are uninformed, however, of the state
of things which preceded, we know not how far it might have been a
retaliation for previous insult in the opposite direction. It is
plain that the Dorians of Sikyôn maintained themselves and their
ancient tribes quite apart from the remaining community, though what
the other constituent portions of the population were, or in what
relation they stood to these Dorians, we are not enabled to make out.
We hear, indeed, of a dependent rural population in the territory of
Sikyôn, as well as in that of Argos and Epidaurus, analogous to the
Helots in Laconia. In Sikyôn, this class was termed the Korynêphori
(club men), or the Katônakophori, from the thick woollen mantle
which they wore, with a sheepskin sewn on to the skirt: in Argos,
they were called Gymnêsii, from their not possessing the military
panoply or the use of regular arms: in Epidaurus, Konipodes, or the
dusty-footed.[47] We may conclude that a similar class existed in
Corinth, in Megara, and in each of the Dorian towns of the Argolic
Aktê. But besides the Dorian tribes and these rustics, there must
probably have existed non-Dorian proprietors and town residents,
and upon them we may suppose that the power of the Orthagoridæ and
of Kleisthenês was founded, perhaps more friendly and indulgent to
the rustic serfs than that of the Dorians had been previously. The
moderation, which Aristotle ascribes to the Orthagoridæ generally,
is belied by the proceedings of Kleisthenês: but we may probably
believe that his predecessors, content with maintaining the real
predominance of the non-Dorian over the Dorian population, meddled
very little with the separate position and civil habits of the
latter,—while Kleisthenês, provoked or alarmed by some attempt on
their part to strengthen alliance with the Argeians, resorted both
to repressive measures and to that offensive nomenclature which has
been above cited. The preservation of the power of Kleisthenês was
due to his military energy (according to Aristotle) even more than
to his moderation and popular conduct; it was aided, probably, by
his magnificent displays at the public games, for he was victor in
the chariot-race at the Pythian games 582 B.
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