over the dependent peoples, and second, that it is not likely that he ever incurred the hatred of the people of Argos: for, if he had been hated by his own subjects, his power outside Argos must have promptly come to an end. After his time the power of the king at Argos ceased to be despotic, the neighbouring tribes recovered their independence, and the monarchy sank into obscurity, though it continued to exist so late as 480 B.C. when Greece was invaded by the Persians under Xerxes[54]. [50] Pausanias II. 16. 5. [51] Pausanias (VI. 22. 2) in speaking of this expedition assigns it to the eighth Olympiad or the year 748 B.C. I have not ventured to regard his date as trustworthy, because Professor Mahaffy (_Problems in Greek History_, Chapter III.) has shown reasons for doubting whether the order of the early Olympiads was correctly given in the lists which were current among the Greeks. His date however cannot well be earlier than 750 B.C., since it was after the Olympic festivals had become important: and it cannot be later than 600 B.C., because in that case clearer traditions about him would have been preserved. [52] Ephorus, who wrote about 350 B.C., records this. His words are quoted by Grote, octavo edition vol. II. p. 90, cabinet edition vol. II. p. 316, from Strabo. [53] Aristotle, _Politics_, V. 10. 6, in Bekker's edition (Oxford, 1837). Welldon, p. 381. Pausanias VI. 22. 2. [54] The king of Argos in 480 B.C. is noticed by Herodotus (VII. 149). In Attica we can carry back our view not only to the age of the heroic monarchy but to the age which preceded it. The country, though it is, as we have seen, of small extent, and though it is not traversed by any continuous ranges of mountains, was originally peopled by a number of independent communities, each contained within a single village or small township: and it is probable that these little communities retained their independence till after the time of Homer; for Athens, which rose to greatness by subjugating them, is rarely mentioned in the Homeric poems, and never, I believe, in any passage which belongs to the poems as they were originally composed. In course of time however a powerful king arose at Athens, who succeeded in bringing the whole country under a single monarchy of the heroic type: and Thucydides tells us that in his own days the union of Attica under Athens was regularly celebrated at a public festival[55]. [55] Thucydides II. 15. The original independence of the small communities is most fully vouched for by the festival, called τὰ συνοίκια, or the union of dwellings: and it furnishes a reason for the policy adopted by Cleisthenes of establishing popular local governments in the demes, or villages and townships, of Attica: see Chapter V.