associates, hard pressed by hunger, abandoned the defence of the
walls, and took refuge at the altar of Athena (Minerva). They
were induced by the archon Megacles, one of the illustrious
family of the Alcmaeonidae, to quit the altar on the promise that
their lives should be spared; but directly they had left the
temple they were put to death, and some of them were murdered
even at the altar of the Eumenides or Furies.

The conspiracy thus failed; but its suppression was attended with
a long train of melancholy consequences. The whole family of the
Alcmaeonidae was believed to have become tainted by the daring
act of sacrilege committed by Megacles; and the friends and
partisans of the murdered conspirators were not slow in demanding
vengeance upon the accursed race. Thus a new element of discord
was introduced into the state, In the midst of these dissensions
there was one man who enjoyed a distinguished reputation at
Athens, and to whom his fellow citizens looked up as the only
person in the state who could deliver them from their political
and social dissensions, and secure them from such misfortunes for
the future. This man was Solon, the son of Execestides, and a
descendant of Codrus. He had travelled through many parts of
Greece and Asia, and had formed acquaintance with many of the
most eminent men of his time. On his return to his native
country he distinguished himself by recovering the island of
Salamis, which had revolted to Megara (B.C. 600). Three years
afterwards he persuaded the Alcmaeonidae to submit their case to
the judgment of three hundred Eupatridae, by whom they were
adjudged guilty of sacrilege, and were expelled from Attica. The
banishment of the guilty race did not, however, deliver the
Athenians from their religious fears. A pestilential disease