He entered into a league with his former opponents against the usurper, and so great was the danger, that Pisistratus (despite his habitual courage) betook himself hastily to flight:--a strange instance of the caprice of human events, that a man could with a greater impunity subdue the freedom of his country, than affront the vanity of his wife! [232] VIII.

Pisistratus, his sons and partisans, retired to Eretria in Euboea: there they deliberated as to their future proceedings--should they submit to their exile, or attempt to retrieve, their power?
The councils of his son Hippias prevailed with Pisistratus; it was resolved once more to attempt the sovereignty of Athens.

The neighbouring tribes assisted the exiles with forage and shelter.

Many cities accorded the celebrated noble large sums of money, and the Thebans outdid the rest in pernicious liberality.

A troop of Argive adventurers came from the Peloponnesus to tender to the baffled usurper the assistance of their swords, and Lygdamis, an individual of Naxos, himself ambitious of the government of his native state, increased his resources both by money and military force.