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Having thus related the dream which Hipparchus saw, and traced the
descent of the Gephyraeans, the family whereto his murderers
belonged, I must proceed with the matter whereof I was intending
before to speak; to wit, the way in which the Athenians got quit of
their tyrants. Upon the death of Hipparchus, Hippias, who was
king, grew harsh towards the Athenians; and the Alcaeonidae, an
Athenian family which had been banished by the Pisistratidae, joined
the other exiles, and endeavoured to procure their own return, and to
free Athens, by force. They seized and fortified Leipsydrium above
Paeonia, and tried to gain their object by arms; but great disasters
befell them, and their purpose remained unaccomplished. They
therefore resolved to shrink from no contrivance that might bring them
success; and accordingly they contracted with the Amphictyons to build
the temple which now stands at Delphi, but which in those days did not
exist. Having done this, they proceeded, being men of great wealth
and members of an ancient and distinguished family, to build the temple
much more magnificently than the plan obliged them. Besides other
improvements, instead of the coarse stone whereof by the contract the
temple was to have been constructed, they made the facings of Parian marble.
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