herodotus

Isagoras, as he was being worsted in his turn, contrived a plan inopposition to him, that is to say, he called in Cleomenes theLacedemonian to help him, who had been a guest-friend to himself sincethe siege of the sons of Peisistratos; moreover Cleomenes was accusedof being intimate with the wife of Isagoras. First then Cleomenes senta herald to Athens demanding the expulsion of Cleisthenes and with himmany others of the Athenians, calling them the men who were under thecurse:[62] this message he sent by instruction of Isagoras, for theAlcmaionidai and their party were accused of the murder to whichreference was thus made, while he and his friends had no part in it.71. Now the men of the Athenians who were "under the curse" got thisname as follows:--there was one Kylon among the Athenians, a man whohad gained the victory at the Olympic games: this man behaved witharrogance, wishing to make himself despot; and having formed forhimself an association of men of his own age, he endeavoured to seizethe Acropolis: but not being able to get possession of it, he sat downas a suppliant before the image of the goddess.[63] These men weretaken from their place as suppliants by the presidents of thenaucraries, who then administered affairs at Athens, on the conditionthat they should be liable to any penalty short of death; and theAlcmaionidai are accused of having put them to death. This hadoccurred before the time of Peisistratos. 72. Now when Cleomenes sentdemanding the expulsion of Cleisthenes and of those under the curse,Cleisthenes himself retired secretly; but after that neverthelessCleomenes appeared in Athens with no very large force, and havingarrived he proceeded to expel as accursed seven hundred Athenianfamilies, of which Isagoras had suggested to him the names. Havingdone this he next endeavoured to dissolve the Senate, and he put theoffices of the State into the hands of three hundred, who were thepartisans of Isagoras. The Senate however making opposition, and notbeing willing to submit, Cleomenes with Isagoras and his partisansseized the Acropolis. Then the rest of the Athenians joined togetherby common consent and besieged them for two days; and on the third dayso many of them as were Lacedemonians departed out of the countryunder a truce. Thus was accomplished for Cleomenes the ominous sayingwhich was uttered to him: for when he had ascended the Acropolis withthe design of taking possession of it, he was going to the sanctuaryof the goddess, as to address her in prayer; but the priestess stoodup from her seat before he had passed through the door, and said,"Lacedemonian stranger, go back and enter not into the temple, for itis not lawful for Dorians to pass in hither." He said: "Woman, I amnot a Dorian, but an Achaian." So then, paying no attention to theominous speech, he made his attempt and then was expelled again withthe Lacedemonians; but the rest of the men the Athenians laid in bondsto be put to death, and among them Timesitheos the Delphian, withregard to whom I might mention very great deeds of strength and