The histories of Herodotus;

358 HERODOTUS—BOOK VI, ERATO [i 19-123
sumes three different forms : the asphalt and the salt immediately
become solid, but the oil they collect, and the Persians
call it rhadinace ; it is black and emits a strong odour. Here
King Darius settled the Eretrians; who, even to my time,
occupied this territory, retaining their ancient language. Such
things took place with regard to the Eretrians. Two thousand
of the Lacedaemonians came to Athens after the full moon,
making such haste to be in time that they arrived in Attica
on the third day after leaving Sparta. But having come too
late for the battle, they, nevertheless, desired to see the Medes
and having proceeded to Marathon, they saw the slain ; and
afterward, having commended the Athenians and their achievement,
they returned home.
It is a marvel to me, and I can not credit the report, that
the Alcmaeonidae ever held up a shield to the Persians by
agreement, wishing that the Athenians should be subject to
the barbarians and to Hippias ; for they were evidently haters
of tyrants more than, or equally with, Callias, son of Phoenippus,
and father of Hipponicus. For Callias was the only one
of all the Athenians who, when Pisistratus was driven from
Athens, dared to purchase his goods when put up to sale by
the public crier, and he devised everything else that was most
hostile to him. This Callias deserves to have frequent mention
made of him by every one: first of all, on account of
what has been already mentioned, as being a man ardent in
asserting the freedom of his country ; and in the next place,
on account of what he did at Olympia, having been victorious
in the horse-race, and second in the chariot race, and having
before won the prize in the Pythian games, he was distinguished
among all the Greeks for the greatest munificence:
moreover, with regard to his daughters, who were three in
number, he behaved in the following manner: When they
were of fit age for marriage he gave them a most magnificent
present, and gratified their wishes ; for he gave each to that
man of all the Athenians whom she wished to select for her
own husband. And the Alcmseonidae were haters of tyrants,
equally with, or not at all less than him. It is therefore a
marvel to me, and I can not admit the charge, that they held
up a shield, who at all times shunned the tyrants, and by
whose contrivance the Pisistratidse abandoned the tyranny.
Thus, in my judgment, these were the persons who liberated
Athens much more than Harmodius and Aristogiton, for they,
by slaying Hipparchus, exasperated the survivors of the Pisistratidse,
but did not any the more put an end to the tyranny
of the rest; whereas the Alcmseonidae manifestly liberated
;