m the
lady blessed with her love would in some way--in the eternal fitness of
things--have become victor in the contest and carried 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 Haemon and Antigone, 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
Cleisthenes esteemed. Yet "there is many a slip between the cup and the
lip," an adage whose truth Hippoclides was to learn.

When the day came on which the choice of the father was to be made, and
the wedding take place, Cleisthenes held a great festival in honor of
the occasion. First, to gain the favor of the gods, he offered a hundred
oxen in sacrifice. Then, not only the suitors, but all the people of the
city were invited to a grand banquet and festival, at the end of which
the choice of Cleisthenes was to be declared. What torments of love and
fear Agariste suffered during this slow-moving feast the historian does
not say. Yet it may be that she was the power behind the throne, and
that the proposed choice of the handsome Hippoclides was due as much to
her secret influence as to her father's judgment.

However this be, the feast went on to its end, and was followed by a
contest between the suitors in music and oratory, with all the people to
decide. As the drinking which followed went on, Hippoclides, who had
surpassed all the others as yet, shouted to