Close by this place
stands the temple of Ares, which Solon built; for he conquered the
Megarians in the battle, and sent away the survivors with a flag of
truce.
X. However, as the Megarians still continued the war, to the great
misery of both sides, they agreed to make the Lacedaemonians arbitrators
and judges between them. Most writers say that Solon brought the great
authority of Homer's 'Iliad' to his aid, by interpolating in the
catologue of ships the two verses--
"Ajax from Salamis twelve vessels good
Brought, and he placed them where the Athenians stood,"
which he had read as evidence before the court.
The Athenians, however, say that all this is nonsense, but that Solon
proved to the arbitrators that Philaeus and Eurysakes, the sons of Ajax,
when they were enrolled as Athenian citizens, made over the island to
Athens, and dwelt, one at Brauron, in Attica, and the other at Melite;
moreover, there is an Athenian tribe which claims descent from Philaeus,
to which Peisistratus belonged. Wishing, however, yet more thoroughly to
prove his case against the Megarians, he based an argument on the tombs
in the island, in which the corpses were buried, not in the Megarian,
but in the Athenian manner. For the Megarians bury their dead looking
towards the east, and the Athenians towards the west. But Hereas of
Megara denies this, and says that the Megarians also bury their dead
looking towards the west, and moreover, that each Athenian had a coffin
to himself, while the Megarians place two or three bodies in one coffin.
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