THE SUITORS OF AGARISTE. 89

mance of this sort the lady would have had a voice
in the decision and a place in the narrative. There
would have been episodes of love, jealousy, and
malice, and the one whom the lady blessed with her
love would in some way—in the eternal fitness of
things—have become victor in the contest and car-
ried off the prize. But they did things differently in
Greece. The preference of the maiden had little to
do with the matter; the suitor exerted himself to
please the father, not the daughter; maiden hands
were given rather in barter and sale than in trust
and affection; in truth, almost the only lovers we
meet with in Grecian history are Hemon and An-
tigone, of whom we have spoken in the tale of the
“Seven against Thebes.”

And thus it was in the present instance. It was
the father the suitors courted, not the daughter.
They proved their love over the banquet-table, not
at the trysting-place. It was by speed of foot and
skill in council, not by whispered words of devotion,
that they contended for the maidenly prize. Or, if
lovers’ meetings took place and lovers’ vows were
passed, they were matters of the strictest secrecy,
and not for Greek historians to put on paper or
Greek ears to hear.

But the year of probation came in due time to its
end, and among all the suitors the two from Athens
most won the favor of Cleisthenes. And of the two
he preferred Hippoclides. It was not alone for his
handsome face and person and manly bearing that
this favored youth was chosen, but also because he
was descended from a noble family of Corinth which

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