their will ought to be ashamed of being so. Aristides owned that all his kinsman had said was true. And there was no person in the assembly, who was not thoroughly convinced in his own mind, that it was much better to be poor like Aristides, than rich like Callias. Hence Plato reckoning up such as were most famous among the Athenians, set a value upon none but Aristides. For the rest [0], says he, as Themistocles, Cimon, and Pericles, they adorned the city indeed with porticos, and sumptuous buildings; filled it with gold and silver, and such other superfluities and curiosities; but he left behind him the model of a perfect government, by proposing no other end in all his actions than the making his citizens more virtuous.

[p] Cimon had also very great qualities, which contributed very much to the establishing and confirming the power of the Athenians. Besides the sums of money, in which every one of the allies were taxed, they were besides to furnish a certain number of men and ships. Several of them, who after the retreat of Xerxes were desirous only of repose, and sought nothing more than to cultivate their lands in peace, chose rather to send money than men, and left to the Athenians the care of filling up the vacancies of soldiers and seamen they were obliged to supply. At first this occasioned great uneasiness, and they seemed resolved to put them upon the literal execution of the treaty. Cimon took a quite opposite method. He suffered them to enjoy peace in quiet, as perceiving that the allies, though formerly brave soldiers, would soon be fit for nothing but husbandry and merchandise, whilst the Athenians, who had constantly their oars or their arms in their hands, would daily grow better soldiers, and become more powerful. This was a necessary consequence; those very people at their own proper expence and charges gave themselves masters, and from being com

[ο] Θεμισοκλέα μὲν γὰρ, καὶ Κίμως να, καὶ Περικλέα, στῶν καὶ χρημάτων, καὶ φλυαρίας, πολλῆς ἐμπμῆσαι τὴν

πόλιν. ̓Αρισίδην δὲ πολιτεύσασθαι πρὸς ἀρετήν. Plut. in Vit. Arist. [p] Plut. in Vit. Cimon.

panions

panions and allies, became in a manner subject and tributary to the Athenians.

[q] No general among the Greeks ever humbled the pride and power of the great king of Persia, like Cimon. When the Barbarians were driven out of Greece, he left them no breathing time, but pursued them briskly with a fleet of above two hundred sail, got possession of their strongest places, and drew off all their allies, that the king of Persia had not a soldier left in all Asia from the country of Ionia to Painphylia. And still pursuing his point, he had the boldness to fall upon the enemies fleet, though far more numerous than his own, at the mouth of the river Eurymedon. He entirely defeated it, and took above two hundred vessels, without reckoning those that were sunk. The Persians had quitted their vessels, to join their army by land, which lay hard by, and were coasting the shore. Cimon, taking Cimon, taking advantage of the ardour of his soldiers, who were encouraged by the late success, landed them immediately, and led them directly against the Barbarians, who firmly stood their ground, and supported the first shock with a great deal of courage. But at last being forced to give way, they took to their heels. They made a great slaughter, took an infinite number of prisoners, and an immense booty. Cimon having thus gained two victories in one day, which equalled, if not exceeded in glory, the two great battles of Salamis and Platæa, to complete all, went to meet a supply of fourscore Phoenician vessels, which were coming to join the fleet of the Persians, and knew nothing of what had passed. They were all taken or sunk, and most of the soldiers killed or drowned. This exploit so humbled the pride of the king of Persia, that he consented to that treaty of peace so much talked of in ancient history, by which he promised, that his army by land should never come nearer the Grecian sea than 450 stadia, which make near twenty leagues, and that his gallies or other ves

sels of war should not go beyond the Chalidonian or Cyanean islands.

Cimon returned to Athens full of glory, and applied part of the spoils in fortifying the port, and adorning the city. [r] During his absence Pericles had acquired considerable authority among the people. He was not naturally of a popular disposition, but became so thro' policy, to remove the suspicions which might be conceived of his aspiring to tyranny, as also to counterbalance the credit and authority of Cimon, who was supported by the faction of the rich and powerful. Pericles had an excellent education, and had been formed by the most able philosophers of his age, [s] Anaxagoras, who was the first that ascribed human events and the government of the world, not to a blind chance or a fatal necessity, but to a supreme intelligence or mind, which governed and directed all things with the greatest wisdom, had thoroughly instructed him in natural philosophy, or physics. This study had given him an extraordinary force and elevation of mind; and instead of the mean and timorous superstition engendered by ignorance, inspired him, says Plutarch, with a solid piety towards the Gods, acconipanied with a firm resolution, and sure hope of the blessings to be expected from them. This science was also useful to him in his expeditions. For when the fleet of the Athenians were preparing to set sail against Peloponnesus, an eclipse of the sun happening, Pericles taking notice that the pilot of his own galley was terrified at the sudden darkness, threw his cloak over his eyes, and told him the same cause hindered him from seeing the sun. He was also well versed in eloquence, which he looked upon as necessary to one that would govern and manage the people. [t] The poets said of him, that he fulminated, thundered, and set all Greece in a ferment, he excelled so much in the art of speaking. He was no less prudent and reserved, than strong and [r] Plut. in Vit. Pericl.

[S] For this reason Anaxagoras was called Nous, intelligence or mind.

[t] Ab Aristophane Poetâ fulgurare, tonare, permiscere Græciam dictus est. Orat. n. 29.

ohement

vehement in his discourse; and it is observed, that he never spoke in public without praying to the gods, nor to let an expression fall from him, which was not proper to his subject. Eupolis said of him, that the goddess of persuasion sat upon his lips; and as [u] Thucydides, his adversary and rival, was one day asked, who wrestled best, he or Pericles? When I have got him down, says he, upon the ground, he maintains the contrary with so much force, that he persuades the standers-by to disbelieve their own eyes, and think that he did not fall.

[r] Such was the adversary, with whom Cimon was often obliged to contend, when he returned from his glorious campaigns. But as Pericles, from his obliging manner and the force of his eloquence, had made himself master of the affections of the people, he easily got the better of Cimon, and occasioned his being banished by ostracism. However, within five years he was recalled upon the ill state of the affairs of Athens in regard to the Lacedæmonians; and Pericles sacrificing his jealousy to the good of the public, was not ashamed to write and carry the decree himself, by which his adversary was recalled. As soon as he returned, he restored peace, and reconciled the two powers. And to remove from the Athenians, who were puffed up with the good success of so many victories, all farther inclination or opportunity to fall upon their neighbours and allies, he judged it necessary to lead them against the common enemy, that by this honourable method he might at the same time exercise and enrich his fellow-citizens. He therefore fitted out a fleet of two hundred sail. Sixty of these he sent against Egypt, and carried the rest against the isle of Cyprus. He beat the enemies fleet, and whilst he was laying a scheme for the entire destruction of the Persian empire, he received a wound at the siege of a city in Cyprus, of which he died. He prudently advised the Athenians to retreat in good order and

[u] This was not the historian. [x] Plut. in Vit. Cimon.

conceal

conceal his death. This direction was observed, and they safely returned home under the conduct and protection of Cimon, though dead above thirty days before. From that time the Greeks never did any thing considerable against the Barbarians; they fell into divisions amongst themselves, gave the common enemy time to retrieve their affairs, and ruined themselves with their own forces.

Cimon was generally lamented, and the consequence shewed how great a loss Greece sustained in his person. He was rich and opulent; but [y] says Plutarch, quoting the express words of Gorgias, he was possessed of a great estate only to use it, and used it only to make himself beloved and honoured. [2] History relates such things of his liberality, as seem incredible to us, they are so different from the practice of our own times. His gardens and orchards were always open to the citizens, to take what fruit they liked best. He had every day a table frugally served, but with provision for abundance of people, and all the poor in the city had admittance to it. He had constantly several servants behind him, with orders to slip privately some pieces of money into the hands of the poor they should meet, and to give clothes to such as wanted them. He frequently took care to bury such as had not left enough to defray the expences of a funeral. And all this was not done to gain the affections and votes of the populace; for we have already observed that he declared in favour of the opposite faction, the rich and the noble. It is by no means surprising that a man of his character should be so much honoured during his life, and lamented after his death.

From that time, and especially after Thucydides the father-in-law of Cimon was banished by ostracism, there being no body left to balance the authority of Pericles, he had an absolute power at Athens, dis

[1]Φησὶ τόν Κίμωνα τὰ χρήματα κλᾶσθαι μὲν ὡς χρῶτο, χρῆθαι δὲ ὡς τιμῶτο

[*] Corn. Nep. & Plut. in Vit. Cimon.