9. The early inhabitants of Corinth were, according to the expression of Thucydides,(326) Æolians; and their traditions and religion show that they were very nearly connected with the Minyans of Iolcus and Orchomenus.(327) Their kings were the Sisyphidæ, whose genealogy closes with Hyantidas and Doridas. We find in the last name the same confusion which has been pointed out (amongst others) in the legend of Thessalus the son of Jason,(328) viz., that the arrival of a different nation was expressed by connecting the new comers genealogically with the heroes of the ruling race. Thus Doridas, _i.e._ the Dorians in a patronymic form, is the descendant of Sisyphus. Here begins the sovereignty of the Dorians; who, however, did not, as Pausanias(329) states, altogether expel the ancient inhabitants, but formed the aristocratic class of the new state. Pindar and Callimachus, indeed, call the whole Corinthian nation _Aletiadæ_(330) but merely by a poetical license; the only lineal descendants of Aletes being the ruling house, the Bacchiadæ, from which for a long time were taken the kings and Prytanes of Corinth and all its colonies. There were, however, at Corinth distinguished families of a different origin. The family of Cypselus, which afterwards obtained possession of the tyranny, was, according to Herodotus, of the blood of the Lapithæ, and descended from Cæneus.(331) They came, according to Pausanias, from Gonusa, near Sicyon, to assist the Dorians against Corinth:(332) Aletes, however, at the advice of an oracle, at first refused to receive them, but presently admitted them into the city, where they afterwards overthrew his own descendants. We shall allow this narrative, which contains a _post eventum_ prophecy of the tyranny of the Cypselidæ, to rest on its own merits, remarking only that the Cænidæ had more reason to assist the ancient Æolians than the Dorians; and shall merely infer from it the existence of distinguished families in Corinth not of Doric descent.
10. As in this chapter we have hitherto rather followed a geographical than a chronological arrangement, we will now pass to the founding of MEGARA.(333) That event is represented by the ancient tradition as connected with the expedition of the Peloponnesians against Athens;(334) which is doubtless a correct statement, since Megara had before that epoch been closely united with Attica, and comprehended in Ionia. This expedition was, according to most authors, undertaken by the whole Peloponnesus; by some, however, the Corinthians are called the real authors of it, and Aletes the leader, Althæmenes of Argos, the son of Ceisus, being nevertheless joined with him. The defeat of the Doric invaders, by the voluntary sacrifice of Codrus, has been a favourite subject both with poets and rhetoricians.(335) It is sufficient for our purpose to oppose to this celebrated legend an obscure tradition that some Athenians, whom Lycophron calls Codri, had a share in the expedition of the Heraclidæ.(336) Whether or not the Ionians and Dorians met at the borders on this occasion, thus much is certain, that Megara in consequence of this invasion became a Doric town, and indeed soon afterwards a Corinthian colony.(337) It also remained for some time in complete dependence on Corinth, as Ægina upon Epidaurus; in proof of which it is mentioned that the Megarians were bound to mourn for every death that occurred in the family of the Bacchiadæ at Corinth.(338) When, however, the internal strength of Megara increased, it ventured to dissolve this connexion, and, in defiance of the Corinth of Zeus, to rout the Corinthians in the field.(339) The border-wars of the Megarians and Corinthians were carried on without intermission.(340) Megara appears not to have raised itself to the situation of a ruling city till after it had obtained its independence; since in earlier times it had been one of the five hamlets (κῶμαι) into which the country was divided, viz. the Heræans, Piræans, Megarians, Cynosyrians, and Tripodiscians.(341) These small communities also waged war with each other, but with a singular lenity, of which some almost marvellous accounts have been preserved; the conquerors carried their prisoners home, treated them as guests and companions, who were hence called δορύξενοι, in opposition to δορυάλωτοι.