A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PEISANDER. PEISANDER. 167
PEISANDER (HIeoavs3pos), historical. 1. An countrymen as the only means of obtaining the
Athenian, of the demus of Acharnae. From a help of Persia, without which they could not hope
fragment of the Babylonians of Aristophanes (ap. to make head against the Lacedaemonians; and at
Sc/ol. ad Arist. Av. 1556) it would seem that he the same time he craftily suggested that it would
was satirised in that play as having been bribed to be at their own option to recur to their old form
join in bringing about the Peloponnesian war of government after the temporary revolution had
(comp. Arist. Lysistr. 490; Schol. ad Arist. Pac. served its purpose. The people, pressed by the
389). Rapacity, however, was far from being the emergency, gave a reluctant consent, and entrusted
only point in his character which exposed him to Peisander and ten others with discretionary power
the attacks of the comic poets. In the fragment of to treat with Tissaphernes and Alcibiades. At his
the'Aorpd'rsvroE or'AsVpoivYai of Eupolis, which instigation also they took away the command of
thus speaks of him, - the fleet from Phry-nichus and Scironides, who
hliaavspos esi rlaKTrcoAv o-rpaoeJVeTro, were opposed to the new movement, and the former
KdTra'Oa Tr& o'-rparias IcKwdt ro's ci, ip,- of whom he accused of having betrayed Amorges
his expedition to the Pactolus has indeed been and caused the capture of lasus (comp. Thuc. viii.
explained as an allusion to his peculating propen- 28). Before he left Athens, Peisander organised
sities; but others, by an ingenious conjecture, aconspiracy among the several political clubs
would substitute orciprxwhov for fIen'rcA-ods, a~nd (eaepla) for the overthrow of the democracy, and
would understand the passage as an attack on him then proceeded on his mission. The negotiation,
for cowardice in the unsuccessful campaign of the however, with Tissaphernes failed, and he returned
Athenians against the revolted Chalcidians, in B.. with his colleagues to Samos. Here he strengthened
429 (Thuc. ii. 79; comp. Meineke, Fraym. Con. his faction in the army, and formed an oligarchical
Grace. vol. i. p. 177, ii. pp. 435, 436). It further party among the Samians themselves. He then
appears, from a notice of him in the Syreposi/nz sailed again to Athens, to complete his work there,
of Xenophon (ii. 14), that in B. C. 422 he shrunk establishing oligarchy in all the cities at which he
touched in his course. Five of his fellow envoys
pusillanimously from serving in the expedition to touched in his course. Five of his fellow envoys
Macedonia under Cleon (Thuc. v. 2). If for this accompanied him, while the remaiIlder tvere emhe was brought to trial on an d-rrpardaPs ype7, of ployed in the same way in other quarters. On his
arrival at Athens with a body of heavy-armed
which, however, we have no evidence, it is possible, arrival at Athens with a body of the states which vare
as M~eineke suggests (Es-nyse. Goes. (I7-ec. vol. i. troops, drawn from some of the states which he
p. 178; comp. vol. ii. pp. 501, 502), that the cir- hal revolutionised, he found that the clubs hlad
cumstance may be alluded to in the following line almost effected his object already, principall by
of the mla y/icc als of Eupolis,n- means of assassination and the general terror thus
ofe Vicasof pois, -s produced. When matters were fully ripe for the
"AICovs POP rEkicaOpos' CIO's diro' t. Afinal step, Peisander made the proposal in the
To about this period, too, Meineke would refer the assembly for the establishment of the Four Hunplay of the comic poet, Plato, which bears Peisan- dred. IIn all the measures of this new governder's name, and of which he formed the main sub- ment, of which he was a member, he took anl active
ject. Aristophanes ridicules him also for the attempt part; and when Theramenes, Aristocrates, and
to cloak his cowardice under a gasconading de- others withdrew from it, he sided with the more
meanour; and he gave further occasion for satire violent aristocrats, and was one of those who, on
to Aristophanes, Eupolis. Hermippus, and Plato, the counter-revolution, took refuge with Agis at
by his gluttony and his unwieldy bulk, the latter Deceleia. His property was confiscated, and it
of which procured for him the nicknames of ovo- does not appear that he ever returned to Athens'lvs3os and usos KavO6Alus (donkey-driver and (Thuc. viii. 49, 53, 54, 56, 63-77, 89-98
donkey), names the more appropriate, as the don- Diod. xiii. 34; Plut. Ale. 26; Aristot. Rl/et. iii.
keys of Acharnae, his native demus, were noted 18. ~ 6, Polit. v. 4, 6, ed. Bekk.; Schol. ad Aesch.
for their size (Arist. Pax, 389, Av. 1556; Meineke, de Vals. Leg. p. 34; Lys. 7repl 7rlrcov, p. 108, c.
Fragnm. Corn. Graec. 11. cc., vol. ii. pp. 384, 385, E-rat. p. 126; Isocr. Areop. p. 151, c, d).
648, 685; Ath. x. p. 415, e; Ael. V. H. i. 27, 2. An Athenian, nick-named " squinter " (orrpeH. A. iv. 1; Suid. s. vv. AerhArepos TroO irapa- @Ao's). He was attacked by Plato, the comic poet,
Kr7r'rovTos, EY T' Iloe1ol'adpov, nleireCpspov ieL'rsT- in his play called " Peisander," which, however,
pos,'Aptcdhas yutoVyevoi; Hesych. s. v.'AxapvlKol chiefly dealt with his more famous name-sake
ovse). With this disreputable character he pos- [No. I], with whom he seems to have been consessed the arts of a demagogue (see Xen. 1. c.), for temporary. In the " Maricas " of Eulpolis the two
we find him in B. c. 415 appointed one of the are thus distinguished,commissioners (3'wnrwal) for investigating the mys- o arpsdAos; ov'K dAA' o /'yas, ov'oKvior.
tery of the mutilation of the Hermae, on which
occasion he joined with Charicles in representing (Meineke, vol. i. pp. 178, 179, ii. pp. 501, 502
the outrage as connected with a conspiracy against Schol. ad As-ist. Av. 1556, ad Lysistr. 490).
the people, and thus inflaming the popular fury 3. A Spartan, brother-in-law of Agesilaus II.,
(Thuc. vi. 27-29, 53, 60, &c.; Andoc. de Myst. who made him admiral of the fleet in B.c. 395,
pp. 5, 6). In B. C. 414 he was archon eponymus permission having been sent him from the govern(Diod. xiii. 7); and towards the end of 412 lie ment at home to appoint whomsoever he pleased to
comes before us as the chief ostensible agent in the office. This is an instance of the characteristic
effecting the revolution of the Four Hundred, having nepotism of Agesilaus; for Peisander, though
been sent about that time to Athens from the army brave and eager for distinction, was deficient in the
at Samos to bring about the recall of Alcibiades experience requisite for the command in question.
and the overthrow, of the democracy, or rather, In the following year, B. c. 394, he was defeated
according to his own professions, a modification of and slain in a sea-fight off Cnidus, against Conon
it. On his arrival, he urged these measures on his and Pharnabazus (Xen. Hell. iii. 4. ~ 29, iv. 3,
AI 4