"By these means," says Herodotus, "Pisistratus mastered Athens, and
yet his situation was far from secure." [230]

VII. Although the heads of the more moderate party, under Megacles,
had been expelled from Athens, yet the faction, equally powerful and
equally hostile, headed by Lycurgus, and embraced by the bulk of the
nobles, still remained. For a time, extending perhaps to five or six
years, Pisistratus retained his power; but at length, Lycurgus,
uniting with the exiled Alcmaeonidae, succeeded in expelling him from
the city. But the union that had led to his expulsion ceased with
that event. The contests between the lowlanders and the coastmen were
only more inflamed by the defeat of the third party, which had
operated as a balance of power, and the broils of their several
leaders were fed by personal ambition as by hereditary animosities.
Megacles, therefore, unable to maintain equal ground with Lycurgus,
turned his thoughts towards the enemy he had subdued, and sent
proposals to Pisistratus, offering to unite their forces, and to
support him in his pretensions to the tyranny, upon condition that the
exiled chief should marry his daughter Coesyra. Pisistratus readily
acceded to the terms, and it was resolved by a theatrical pageant to
reconcile his return to the people. In one of the boroughs of the
city there was a woman named Phya, of singular beauty and lofty
stature. Clad in complete armour, and drawn in a chariot, this woman
was conducted with splendour and triumph towards the city. By her
side rode Pisistratus--heralds preceded their march, and proclaimed
her approach, crying aloud to the Athenians "to admit Pisistratus, the
favourite of Minerva, for that the goddess herself had come to earth
on his behalf."

The sagacity of the Athenians was already so acute, and the artifice