25
My father on the male side belonged to the Eupatrids,The Eupatrids (sons of noble sires) were the nobles, or patricians, in Athens of the early time. whose noble birth is apparent from the very name. On the female side he was of the Alcmeonidae,Descendants of Alcmeon, one of the greatest families in early Athens, expelled from the city in 595 B.C. who left behind a glorious memorial of their wealth; for AlcmeonSon of Megacles. was the first Athenian to win at Olympia with a team of horses, and the goodwill which they had toward the people they displayed in the time of the tyrants. For they were kinsmen of PisistratusPisistratus was a tyrant of Athens in the sixth century B.C. and before he came to power were closest to him of all the citizens, but they refused to share his tyranny; on the contrary, they preferred exile rather than to see their fellow-citizens enslaved.
26
And during the forty yearsRoughly speaking the period of the rule of Pisistratus and his sons, 560-510 B.C. of civic discord the Alcmeonidae were hated so much more bitterly than all other Athenians by the tyrants that whenever the tyrants had the upper hand they not only razed their dwellings, but even dug up their tombsCf. Hdt. 5.71.; and so completely were the Alcmeonidae trusted by their fellow-exiles that they continued during all that time to be leaders of the people. At last, Alcibiades and CleisthenesCleisthenes was the reformer of the Athenian constitution and founder of the democracy.—the former my great-grandfather on my father’s side, the latter my father’s maternal great-grandfather—assuming the leadership of those in exile, restored the people to their country, and drove out the tyrants.
