XII. Athens had long been suffering from the anger of the gods, which it had incurred by the treatment of Kylon's party. These conspirators took sanctuary in Athene's temple, but were induced by Megakles the archon to quit it and stand their trial. They fastened a thread to the shrine of the goddess, and kept hold of it so as still to be under her protection. But as they were coming down from the Acropolis, just beside the temple of the Furies, the string broke, and Megakles and the other archons, thinking that the goddess rejected their appeal, seized them. Some of them were stoned to death outside the temple, and some who had fled for sanctuary to the altars were slain there. Only those who fell as suppliants at the feet of the archons' wives were spared. After this the archons were called accursed, and were viewed with horror; moreover, the survivors of Kylon's party regained strength, and continued their intrigues against Megakles and the archons. At the time of which we are speaking these dissensions had reached their height, and the city was divided into two factions, when Solon, who was already a man of great reputation, came forward with some of the noblest Athenians, and by his entreaties and arguments prevailed upon those magistrates who were called accursed, to stand trial and be judged by a jury of three hundred citizens selected from the best families. Myron of Phlya prosecuted, and the archons were found guilty, and forced to leave the country. The bodies of such of them as had died were dug up, and cast out beyond the borders of Attica.