to the place of games; but chiefly he made trial of all at the banqueting table. Thus he behaved himself with them for the space of a whole year entertaining them right splendidly the whole year. And of all the suitors none pleased him so well as the two that came from Athens, and of these two he inclined the rather to Hippoclides, not only for his high carriage, but also because he was of kin to the house of Cypselus that had had the lordship of Corinth.
When the day came for the espousals, and for Cleisthenes to declare his mind whom he chose out of the suitors for his daughter’s husband, he sacrificed a hundred oxen and made a great feast to the suitors and to all the people of Sicyon. And after the feast the suitors contended with each other in music and in speaking on some subject that was proposed to them. And as the drinking went on, Hippoclides, all the others wondering much at him, bade the flute-player play music to him; and when the flute-player did so, he danced. And in this dancing he pleased himself marvelously, but Cleisthenes looked askance on the whole business. Again, after resting awhile, Hippoclides bade them bring a table; and when the table was brought, he mounted upon it, and danced, first certain Spartan figures, and then certain Athenian; and at the last, with his head upon the table, he began to toss his legs about in the air. During the first dancing, and during the second, Cleisthenes held his peace, not wishing to break out upon the man, though indeed he loathed to think of having Hippoclides for a son-in-law, so much did he hate the man’s passion for dancing and his shamelessness. But when he saw him tossing his legs in the air he could restrain himself no longer, but cried aloud: “Son of Tisander, thou hast danced away thy wife!” And the young man said: “Hippoclides does not care!” which words have become a proverb among the Greeks. After this Cleisthenes commanded silence, and spake thus in the midst of the suitors: “My friends that are come to be suitors of my daughter, I am well pleased with all of you, and gladly would I content you all, if it were possible, and not choose out one from among you and reject the rest. But this, seeing that I have to dispose of a