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AristidesAristides, Part II.
Aristides, Part II.
After this, Mardonius made trial of the Grecian courage, by sending his
whole number of horse, in which he thought himself much the stronger, against
them, while they were all pitched at the foot of Mount Cithaeron, in strong
and rocky places, except the Megarians. They, being three thousand in number,
were encamped on the plain, where they were damaged by the horse charging and
making inroads upon them on all hands. They sent, therefore, in haste to
Pausanias, demanding relief, as not being able alone to sustain the great
numbers of the barbarians. Pausanias, hearing this, and perceiving the tents
of the Megarians already hid by the multitude of darts and arrows, and
themselves driven together into a narrow space, was at a loss himself how to
aid them with his battalion of heavy - armed Lacedaemonians. He proposed it,
therefore, as a point of emulation in valor and love of distinction, to the
commanders and captains who were around him, if any would voluntarily take
upon them the defence and succor of the Megarians. The rest being backward,
Aristides undertook the enterprise for the Athenians, and sent Olympiodorus,
the most valiant of his inferior officers, with three hundred chosen men and
some archers under his command. These being soon in readiness, and running
upon the enemy, as soon as Masistius, who commanded the barbarian`s horse, a
man of wonderful courage and of extraordinary bulk and comeliness of person,
perceived it, turning his steed he made towards them. And they sustaining the
shock and joining battle with him, there was a sharp conflict, as though by
this encounter they were to try the success of the whole war. But after
Masistius` horse received a wound, and flung him, and he falling could hardly
raise himself through the weight of his armor, the Athenians, pressing upon
him with blows, could not easily get at his person, armed as he was, his
breast, his head, and his limbs all over, with gold and brass and iron; but
one of them at last, running him in at the visor of his helmet, slew him; and
the rest of the Persians, leaving the body, fled. The greatness of the Greek
success was known, not by the multitude of the slain, (for an inconsiderable
number were killed), but by the sorrow the barbarians expressed. For they
shaved themselves, their horses, and mules for the death of Masistius, and
filled the plain with howling and lamentation; having lost a person, who, next
to Mardonius himself, was by many degrees the chief among them, both for valor
and authority.
After this skirmish of the horse, they kept from fighting a long time;
for the soothsayers, by the sacrifices, foretold the victory both to Greeks
and Persians, if they stood upon the defensive part only, but if they became
aggressors, the contrary. At length Mardonius, when he had but a few days`
provision, and the Greek forces increased continually by some or other that
came in to them, impatient of delay, determined to lie still no longer, but,
passing Asopus by daybreak, to fall unexpectedly upon the Greeks; and
signified the same over night to the captains of his host. But about midnight,
a certain horseman stole into the Greek camp, and coming to the watch, desired
them to call Aristides, the Athenian, to him. He coming speedily; "I am," said
the stranger, "Alexander, king of the Macedonians, and am arrived here through
the greatest danger in the world for the good - will I bear you, lest a sudden
onset should dismay you, so as to behave in the fight worse than usual. For
tomorrow Mardonius will give you battle, urged, not by any hope of success or
courage, but by want of victuals since, indeed, the prophets prohibit him the
battle, the sacrifices and oracles being unfavorable; and the army is in
despondency and consternation; but necessity forces him to try his fortune, or
sit still and endure the last extremity of want." Alexander, thus saying,
entreated Aristides to take notice and remember him, but not to tell any
other. But he told him, it was not convenient to conceal the matter from
Pausanias (because he was general); as for any other, he would keep it secret
from them till the battle was fought; but if the Greeks obtained the victory,
that then no one should be ignorant of Alexander`s goodwill and kindness
towards them. After this, the king of the Macedonians rode back again, and
Aristides went to Pausania`s tent and told him; and they sent for the rest of
the captains and gave orders that the army should be in battle array.
Here, according to Herodotus, Pausanias spoke to Aristides, desiring him
to transfer the Athenians to the right wing of the army opposite to the
Persians, (as they would do better service against them, having been
experienced in their way of combat, and emboldened with former victories), and
to give him the left, where the Medizing Greeks were to make their assault.
The rest of the Athenian captains regarded this as an arrogant and interfering
act on the part of Pausanias; because, while permitting the rest of the army
to keep their stations, he removed them only from place to place, like so many
Helots, opposing them to the greatest strength of the enemy. But Aristides
said, they were altogether in the wrong. If so short a time ago they contested
the left wing with the Tegeatans, and gloried in being preferred before them,
now, when the Lacedaemonians give them place in the right, and yield them in a
manner the leading of the army, how is it they are discontented with the honor
that is done them, and do not look upon it as an advantage to have to fight,
not against their countrymen and kindred, but barbarians, and such as were by
nature their enemies? After this, the Athenians very readily changed places
with the Lacedaemonians, and there went words amongst them as they were
encouraging each other, that the enemy approached with no better arms or
stouter hearts than those who fought the battle of Marathon; but had the same
bows and arrows, and the same embroidered coats and gold, and the same
delicate bodies and effeminate minds within; "while we have the same weapons
and bodies, and our courage augmented by our victories; and fight not like
others in defence of our country only, but for the trophies of Salamis and
Marathon; that they may not be looked upon as due to Miltiades or fortune, but
to the people of Athens." Thus, therefore, were they making haste to change
the order of their battle. But the Thebans, understanding it by some
deserters, forthwith acquainted Mardonius; and he, either for fear of the
Athenians, or a desire to engage the Lacedaemonians, marched over his Persians
to the other wing, and commanded the Greeks of his party to be posted opposite
to the Athenians. But this change was observed on the other side, and
Pausanias, wheeling about again, ranged himself on the right, and Mardonius,
also at first, took the left wing over against the Lacedaemonians. So the day
passed without action.
After this, the Greeks determined in council to remove their camp some
distance, to possess themselves of a place convenient for watering; because
the springs near them were polluted and destroyed by the barbarian cavalry.
But night being come, and the captains setting out towards the place designed
for their encamping, the soldiers were not very ready to follow, and keep in a
body, but, as soon as they had quitted their first entrenchments, made towards
the city of Plataea; and there was much tumult and disorder as they dispersed
to various quarters and proceeded to pitch their tents. The Lacedaemonians,
against their will, had the fortune to be left by the rest. For Amompharetus,
a brave and daring man, who had long been burning with desire of the fight,
and resented their many lingerings and delays, calling the removal of the camp
a mere running away and flight, protested he would not desert his post, but
would there remain with his company, and sustain the charge of Mardonius. And
when Pausanias came to him and told him he did these things by the common vote
and termination of the Greeks, Amompharetus taking up a great stone and
flinging it at Pausanias` feet, and "by this token," said he, "do I give my
suffrage for the battle, nor have I any concern with the cowardly
consultations and decrees of other men." Pausanias, not knowing what to do in
the present juncture, sent to the Athenians, who were drawing off, to stay to
accompany him; and so he himself set off with the rest of the army for
Plataea, hoping thus to make Amompharetus move.
Meantime, day came upon them; and Mardonius (for he was not ignorant of
their deserting their camp) having his army in array, fell upon the
Lacedaemonians with great shouting and noise of barbarous people, as if they
were not about to join battle, but crush the Greeks in their flight. Which
within a very little came to pass. For Pausanias, perceiving what was done,
made a halt, and commanded every one to put themselves in order for the
battle; but either through his anger with Amompharetus, or the disturbance he
was in by reason of the sudden approach of the enemy, he forgot to give the
signal to the Greeks in general. Whence it was, that they did not come in
immediately, or in a body, to their assistance, but by small companies and
straggling, when the fight was already begun. Pausanias, offering sacrifice,
could not procure favorable omens, and so commanded the Lacedaemonians,
setting down their shields at their feet to abide quietly and attend his
directions, making no resistance to any of their enemies. And, he sacrificing
again a second time, the horse charged, and some of the Lacedaemonians were
wounded. At this time, also, Callicrates, who, we are told, was the most
comely man in the army, being shot with an arrow and upon the point of
expiring, said, that he lamented not his death (for he came from home to lay
down his life in the defence of Greece) but that he died without action. The
case was indeed hard, and the forbearance of the men wonderful; for they let
the enemy charge without repelling them; and, expecting their proper
opportunity from the gods and their general, suffered themselves to be wounded
and slain in their ranks. And some say, that while Pausanias was at sacrifice
and prayers, some space out of the battle - array, certain Lydians, falling
suddenly upon him, plundered and scattered the sacrifice; and that Pausanias
and his company, having no arms, beat them with staves and whips; and that in
imitation of this attack, the whipping the boys about the altar, and after it
the Lydian procession, are to this day practised in Sparta.
Pausanias, therefore, being troubled at these things, while the priest
went on offering one sacrifice after another, turns himself towards the temple
with tears in his eyes, and, lifting up his hands to heaven, besought Juno of
Cithaeron, and the other tutelar gods of the Plataeans, if it were not in the
fates for the Greeks to obtain the victory, that they might not perish,
without performing some remarkable thing, and by their actions demonstrating
to their enemies, that they waged war with men of courage, and soldiers. While
Pausanias was thus in the act of supplication, the sacrifices appeared
propitious, and the soothsayers foretold victory. The word being given, the
Lacedaemonian battalion of foot seemed, on the sudden, like some one fierce
animal, setting up his bristles, and betaking himself to the combat; and the
barbarians perceived that they encountered with men who would fight it to the
death. Therefore, holding their wicker - shields before them, they shot their
arrows amongst the Lacedaemonians. But they, keeping together in the order of
a phalanx, and falling upon the enemies, forced their shields out of their
hands, and, striking with their pikes at the breasts and faces of the
Persians, overthrew many of them; who, however, fell not either unrevenged or
without courage. For taking hold of the spears with their bare hands, they
broke many of them, and betook themselves not without effect to the sword; and
making use of their falchions and scimitars, and wresting the Lacedaemonians`
shields from them, and grappling with them, it was a long time that they made
resistance.
Meanwhile, for some time, the Athenians stood still, waiting for the
Lacedaemonians to come up. But when they heard much noise as of men engaged in
fight, and a messenger, they say, came from Pausanias, to advertise them of
what was going on, they soon hasted to their assistance. And as they passed
through the plain to the place where the noise was, the Greeks, who took part
with the enemy, came upon them. Aristides, as soon as he saw them, going a
considerable space before the rest, cried out to them, conjuring them by the
guardian gods of Greece to forbear the fight, and be no impediment or stop to
those, who were going to succor the defenders of Greece. But when he perceived
they gave no attention to him, and had prepared themselves for the battle,
then turning from the present relief of the Lacedaemonians, he engaged them,
being five thousand in number. But the greatest part soon gave way and
retreated, as the barbarians also were put to flight. The sharpest conflict is
said to have been against the Thebans, the chiefest and most powerful persons
among them at that time siding zealously with the Medes, and leading the
multitude not according to their own inclinations, but as being subjects of an
oligarchy.
The battle being thus divided, the Lacedaemonians first beat off the
Persians; and a Spartan, named Arimnestus, slew Mardonius by a blow on the
head with a stone, as the oracle in the temple of Amphiaraus had foretold to
him. For Mardonius sent a Lydian thither, and another person, a Carian, to the
cave of Trophonius. This latter, the priest of the oracle answered in his own
language. But the Lydian sleeping in the temple of Amphiaraus, it seemed to
him that a minister of the divinity stood before him and commanded him to be
gone; and on his refusing to do it, flung a great stone at his head, so that
he thought himself slain with the blow. Such is the story. - They drove the
fliers within their walls of wood; and, a little time after, the Athenians put
the Thebans to flight, killing three hundred of the chiefest and of greatest
note among them in the actual fight itself. For when they began to fly, news
came that the army of the barbarians was besieged within their palisade: and
so giving the Greeks opportunity to save themselves, they marched to assist at
the fortifications; and coming in to the Lacedaemonians, who were altogether
unhandy and unexperienced in storming, they took the camp with great slaughter
of the enemy. For of three hundred thousand, forty thousand only are said to
have escaped with Artabazus; while on the Greeks` side there perished in all
thirteen hundred and sixty: of which fifty - two were Athenians, all of the
tribe Aeantis, that fought, says Clidemus, with the greatest courage of any;
and for this reason the men of this tribe used to offer sacrifice for the
victory, as enjoined by the oracle, to the nymphs Sphragitides at the expense
of the public: ninety - one were Lacedaemonians, and sixteen Tegeatans. It is
strange, therefore, upon what grounds Herodotus can say, that they only, and
none other, encountered the enemy; for the number of the slain and their
monuments testify that the victory was obtained by all in general; and if the
rest had been standing still, while the inhabitants of three cities only had
been engaged in the fight, they would not have set on the altar the
inscription: -
"The Greeks, when by their courage and their might,
They had repelled the Persian in the fight,
The common altar of freed Greece to be,
Reared this to Jupiter who guards the free."
They fought this battle on the fourth day of the month Boedromion, according
to the Athenians, but according to the Boeotians, on the twenty - seventh of
Panemus; - on which day there is still a convention of the Greeks at Plataea,
and the Plataeans still offer sacrifice for the victory to Jupiter of freedom.
As for the difference of days, it is not to be wondered at, since even at the
present time, when there is a far more accurate knowledge of astronomy, some
begin the month at one time, and some at another.
After this, the Athenians not yielding the honor of the day to the
Lacedaemonians, nor consenting they should erect a trophy, things were not far
from being ruined by dissension amongst the armed Greeks; had not Aristides,
by much soothing and counselling the commanders, especially Leocrates and
Myronides, pacified and persuaded them to leave the thing to the decision of
the Greeks. And on their proceeding to discuss the matter, Theogiton, the
Megarian, declared the honor of the victory was to be given some other city,
if they would prevent a civil war; after him Cleocritus of Corinth rising up,
made people think he would ask the palm for the Corinthians, (for next to
Sparta and Athens, Corinth was in greatest estimation); but he delivered his
opinion, to the general admiration, in favor of the Plataeans; and counselled
to take away all contention by giving them the reward and glory of the
victory, whose being honored could be distasteful to neither party. This being
said, first Aristides gave consent in the name of the Athenians, and
Pausanias, then, for the Lacedaemonians. So, being reconciled, they set apart
eighty talents for the Plataeans, with which they built the temple and
dedicated the image to Minerva, and adorned the temple with pictures, which
even to this day retain their lustre. But the Lacedaemonians and Athenians,
each erected a trophy apart by themselves. On their consulting the oracle
about offering sacrifice, Apollo answered, that they should dedicate an altar
to Jupiter of freedom, but should not sacrifice till they had extinguished the
fires throughout the country, as having been defiled by the barbarians, and
had kindled unpolluted fire at the common altar at Delphi. The magistrates of
Greece, therefore, went forthwith and compelled such as had fire to put it
out; and Euchidas, a Plataean, promising to fetch fire, with all possible
speed, from the altar of the god, went to Delphi, and having sprinkled and
purified his body, crowned himself with laurel; and taking the fire from the
altar ran back to Plataea, and got back there before sunset, performing in one
day a journey of a thousand furlongs; and saluting his fellow - citizens and
delivering them the fire, he immediately fell down, and in a short time after
expired. But the Plataeans, taking him up, interred him in the temple of Diana
Euclia, setting this inscription over him: "Euchidas ran to Delphi and back
again in one day." Most people believe that Euclia is Diana, and call her by
that name. But some say she was the daughter of Hercules, by Myrto, the
daughter of Menoetius, and sister of Patroclus, and, dying a virgin, was
worshipped by the Boeotians and Locrians. Her altar and image are set up in
all their market - places, and those of both sexes that are about marrying,
sacrificed to her before the nuptials.
A general assembly of all the Greeks being called, Aristides proposed a
decree, that the deputies and religious representatives of the Greek states
should assemble annually at Plataea, and every fifth year celebrate the
Eleutheria, or games of freedom. And that there should be a levy upon all
Greece, for the war against the barbarians, of ten thousand spearmen, one
thousand horse, and a hundred sail of ships; but the Plataeans to be exempt,
and sacred to the service of the gods, offering sacrifice for the welfare of
Greece. These things being ratified, the Plataeans undertook the performance
of annual sacrifice to such as were slain and buried in that place; which they
still perform in the following manner. On the sixteenth day of Maemacterion
(which with the Boeotians is Alalcomenus) they make their procession, which,
beginning by break of day, is led by a trumpeter sounding for onset; then
follow certain chariots loaded with myrrh and garlands; and then a black bull;
then come the young men of free birth carrying libations of wine and milk in
large two - handed vessels, and jars of oil and precious ointments, none of
servile condition being permitted to have any hand in this ministration,
because the men died in defence of freedom; after all comes the chief
magistrate of Plataea, (for whom it is unlawful at other times either to touch
iron, or wear any other colored garment but white), at that time apparelled in
a purple robe; and, taking a water - pot out of the city record - office, he
proceeds, bearing a sword in his hand, through the middle of the town to the
sepulchres. Then drawing water out of a spring, he washes and anoints the
monuments, and sacrificing the bull upon a pile of wood, and making
supplication to Jupiter and Mercury of the earth, invites those valiant men
who perished in the defence of Greece, to the banquet and the libations of
blood. After this, mixing a bowl of wine, and pouring out for himself, he
says, "I drink to those who lost their lives for the liberty of Greece." These
solemnities the Plataeans observe to this day.
Aristides perceived that the Athenians, after their return into the city,
were eager for a democracy; and deeming the people to deserve consideration on
account of their valiant behavior, as also that it was a matter of difficulty,
they being well armed, powerful, and full of spirit with their victories, to
oppose them by force, he brought forward a decree, that every one might share
in the government, and the archons be chosen out of the whole body of the
Athenians. And on Themistocles telling the people in assembly that he had some
advice for them, which could not be given in public, but was most important
for the advantage and security of the city, they appointed Aristides alone to
hear and consider it with him. And on his acquainting Aristides that his
intent was to set fire to the arsenal of the Greeks, for by that means should
the Athenians become supreme masters of all Greece, Aristides, returning to
the assembly, told them, that nothing was more advantageous than what
Themistocles designed, and nothing more unjust. The Athenians, hearing this,
gave Themistocles order to desist; such was the love of justice felt by the
people, and such the credit and confidence they reposed in Aristides.
Being sent in joint commission with Cimon to the war, he took notice that
Pausanias and the other Spartan captains made themselves offensive by
imperiousness and harshness to the confederates; and by being himself gentle
and considerate with them and by the courtesy and disinterested temper which
Cimon after his example, manifested in the expeditions, he stole away the
chief command from the Lacedaemonians, neither by weapons, ships, or horses,
but by equity and wise policy. For the Athenians being endeared to the Greeks
by the justice of Aristides and by Cimon`s moderation, the tyranny and
selfishness of Pausanias rendered them yet more desirable. He on all occasions
treated the commanders of the confederates haughtily and roughly; and the
common soldiers he punished with stripes, or standing under the iron anchor
for a whole day together; neither was it permitted for any to provide straw
for themselves to lie on, or forage for their horses, or to come near the
springs to water before the Spartans were furnished, but servants with whips
drove away such as approached. And when Aristides once was about to complain
and expostulate with Pausanias, he told him, with an angry look, that he was
not a leisure, and gave no attention to him. The consequences was that the sea
captains and generals of the Greeks, in particular, the Chians, Samians, and
Lesbians, came to Aristides and requested him to be their general, and to
receive the confederates into his command, who had long desired to relinquish
he Spartans and come over to the Athenians. But he answered, that he saw both
equity and necessity in what they said, but their fidelity required the test
of some action, the commission of which would make it impossible for the
multitude to change their minds again. Upon which Uliades, the Samian, and
Antagoras of Chios, conspiring together, ran in near Byzantium on Pausanias`
galley, getting her between them as she was sailing before the rest. But when
Pausanias, beholding them, rose up and furiously threatened soon to make them
know that they had been endangering not his galley, but their own countries,
they bid him go his way, and thank Fortune that fought for him at Plataea; for
hitherto, in reverence to that, the Greeks had forborne from inflicting on him
the punishment he deserved. In fine, they all went off and joined the
Athenians. And here the magnanimity of the Lacedaemonians was wonderful. For
when they perceived that their generals were becoming corrupted by the
greatness of their authority, they voluntarily laid down the chief command,
and left off sending any more of them to the wars, choosing rather to have
citizens of moderation and consistent in the observance of their customs, than
to possess the dominion of all Greece.
Even during the command of the Lacedaemonians, the Greeks paid a certain
contribution towards the maintenance of the war; and being desirous to be
rated city by city in their due proportion, they desired Aristides of the
Athenians, and gave him command, surveying the country and revenue, to assess
every one according to their ability and what they were worth. But he, being
so largely empowered, Greece as it were submitting all her affairs to his sole
management, went out poor, and returned poorer; laying the tax not only
without corruption and injustice, but to the satisfaction and convenience of
all. For as the ancients celebrated the age of Saturn, so did the confederates
of Athens Aristides` taxation, terming it the happy time of Greece; and that
more especially, as the sum was in a short time doubled, and afterwards
trebled. For the assessment which Aristides made, was four hundred and sixty
talents. But to this Pericles added very near one third part more; for
Thucydides says, that in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians
had coming in from their confederates six hundred talents. But after
Pericles` death, the demagogues, increasing by little and little, raised it
to the sum of thirteen hundred talents; not so much through the war`s being so
expensive and chargeable either by its length or ill success, as by their
alluring the people to spend upon largesses and play - houses allowances, and
in erecting statues and temples. Aristides, therefore, having acquired a
wonderful and great reputation by this levy of the tribute, Themistocles is
said to have derided him, as if this had been not the commendation of a man,
but a money - bag; a retaliation, though not in the same kind, for some free
words which Aristides had used. For he, when Themistocles once was saying that
he thought the highest virtue of a general was to understand and foreknow the
measures the enemy would take, replied, "This, indeed, Themistocles, is simply
necessary, but the excellent thing in a general is to keep his hands from
taking money."
Aristides, moreover, made all the people of Greece swear to keep the
league, and himself took the oath in the name of the Athenians, flinging
wedges of redhot iron into the sea, after curses against such as should make
breach of their vow. But afterwards, it would seem, when things were in such a
stateeas constrained them to govern with a stronger hand, he bade the
Athenians to throw the perjury upon him, and manage affairs as convenience
required. And, in general, Theophrastus tells us, that Aristides was, in his
own private affairs, and those of his fellow - citizens, rigorously just, but
that in public matters he acted often in accordance with his country`s policy,
which demanded, sometimes, not a little injustice. It is reported of him that
he said in a debate, upon the motion of the Samians for removing the treasure
from Delos to Athens, contrary to the league, that the thing indeed was not
just, but was expedient.
In fine, having established the dominion of his city over so many people,
he himself remained indigent; and always delighted as much in the glory of
being poor, as in that of his trophies; as is evident from the following
story. Callias, the torchbearer, was related to him: and was prosecuted by his
enemies in a capital cause, in which, after they had slightly argued the
matters on which they indicted him, they proceeded, beside the point, to
address the judges: "You know," said they, "Aristides, the son of Lysimachus,
who is the admiration of all Greece. In what a condition do you think his
family is in at his house, when you see him appear in public in such a
threadbare cloak? Is it not probable that one who, out of doors, goes thus
exposed to the cold, must want food and other necessaries at home? Callias,
the wealthiest of the Athenians, does nothing to relieve either him or his
wife and children in their poverty, though he is his own cousin, and has made
use of him in many cases, and often reaped advantage by his interest with
you." But Callias, perceiving the judges were moved more particularly by this,
and were exasperated against him, called in Aristides, requiring him to
testify that when he frequently offered him divers presents, and entreated him
to accept them, he had refused, answering, that it became him better to be
proud of his poverty than Callias of his wealth: since there are many to be
seen that make a good, or a bad use of riches, but it is difficult,
comparatively, to meet with one who supports poverty in a noble spirit; those
only should be ashamed of it who incurred it against their wills. On Aristides
deposing these facts in favor of Callias, there was none who heard them, that
went not away desirous rather to be poor like Aristides, than rich as Callias.
Thus Aeschines, the scholar of Socrates, writes. But Plato declares, that of
all the great and renowned men in the city of Athens, he was the only one
worthy of consideration; for Themistocles, Cimon, and Pericles filled the city
with porticoes, treasure, and many other vain things, but Aristides guided his
public life by the rule of justice. He showed his moderation very plainly in
his conduct towards Themistocles himself. For though Themistocles had been his
adversary in all his undertakings, and was the cause of his banishment, yet
when he afforded a similar opportunity of revenge, being accused to the city,
Aristides bore him no malice; but while Alcmaeon, Cimon, and many others, were
prosecuting and impeaching him, Aristides alone, neither did, nor said any ill
against him, and no more triumphed over his enemy in his adversity, than he
had envied him his prosperity.
Some say Aristides died in Pontus, during a voyage upon the affairs of
the public. Others that he died of old age at Athens, being in great honor and
veneration amongst his fellow - citizens. But Craterus, the Macedonian relates
his death as follows. After the banishment of Themistocles, he says, the
people growing insolent, there sprung up a number of false and frivolous
accusers, impeaching the best and most influential men and exposing them to
the envy of the multitude, whom their good fortune and power had filled with
self - conceit. Amongst these, Aristides was condemned of bribery, upon the
accusation of Diophantus of Amphitrope, for taking money from the Ionians when
he was collector of the tribute; and being unable to pay the fine, which was
fifty minae, sailed to Ionia, and died there. But of this Craterus brings no
written proof, neither the sentence of his condemnation, nor the decree of the
people; though in general it is tolerably usual with him to set down such
things and to cite his authors. Almost all others who have spoken of the
Misdeeds of the people towards their generals, collect them all together, and
tell us of the banishment of Themistocles, Miltiades` bonds, Pericles` fine,
and the death of Paches in the judgment hall, who, upon receiving sentence,
killed himself on the hustings, with many things of the like nature. They add
the banishment of Aristides; but of this his condemnation, they make no
mention.
Moreover, his monument is to be seen at Phalerum, which they say was
built him by the city, he not having left enough even to defray funeral
charges. And it is stated, that his two daughters were publicly married out of
the prytaneum, or state - house, by the city, which decreed each of them three
thousand drachmas for her portion; and that upon his son Lysimachus, the
people bestowed a hundred minas of money, and as many acres of planted land,
and ordered him besides, upon the motion of Alcibiades, four drachmas a day.
Furthermore, Lysimachus leaving a daughter, named Polycrite, as Callisthenes
says, the people voted her, also, the same allowance for food with those that
obtained the victory in the Olympic Games. But Demetrius the Phalerian,
Hieronymus the Rhodian, Aristoxenus the musician, and Aristotle, (if the
Treatise of Nobility is to be reckoned among the genuine pieces of Aristotle),
say that Myrto, Aristides` granddaughter, lived with Socrates the
philosopher, who indeed had another wife, but took her into his house, being a
widow, by reason of her indigence, and want of the necessaries of life. But
Panaetius sufficiently confutes this in his books concerning Socrates.
Demetrius the Phalerian, in his Socrates, says he knew one Lysimachus, son to
the daughter of Aristides, extremely poor, who used to sit near what is called
the Iaccheum, and sustained himself by a table for interpreting dreams and
that, upon his proposal and representations, a decree was passed by the
people, to give the mother and aunt of this man half a drachma a day. The same
Demetrius, when he was legislating himself, decreed each of these women a
drachma per diem. And it is not to be wondered at, that the people of Athens
should take such care of people living in the city, since hearing the
granddaughter of Aristogiton was in a low condition in the isle of Lemnos, and
so poor nobody would marry her, they brought her back to Athens, and, marrying
her to a man of good birth, gave a farm at Potamus as her marriage - portion;
and of similar humanity and bounty the city of Athens, even in our age, has
given numerous proofs, and is justly admired and respected in consequence.
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