“ About 611, with the assistance of the brothers of the poet Alcaeus, he overthrew Melanchrus, tyrant of Lesbos. In a war (606) between the Mytilenaeans and Athenians for the possession of Sigeum on the Hellespont he slew the Athenian commander Phrynon in single combat. In 589 his fellow citizens entrusted Pittacus with despotic power (with the title of Aesymnetes) for the purpose of protecting them against the exiled nobles, at the head of whom were Alcaeus and his brother Antimenides. ”