Part 1 of Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Leni. Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Themistocles, Part 1. In the case of Themistocles, his family was too obscure to further his reputation. His father was Neocles, no very conspicuous man at Athens, a freerian by Dean of the tribe Leontes. And on his mother's side, he was an alien, as her epitaph testifies. Abertonon was I, and a woman of Thrace. Yet I brought forth that great light of the Greeks, I know, it was Themistocles. Phanias, however, writes that the mother of Themistocles was not a Tratian, but a Carian woman, and that her name was not Abertonon, but Iotirpi. And Ianthus actually adds the name of her city in Caria, Holy Carnassus. It was for the reason given, and because the aliens were wont to frequent Kinosarges, this is a place outside the gates, a gymnasium of Heracles. For he too was not a legitimate god, but had something alien about him, from the fact that his mother was immortal. That Themistocles sought to induce certain well-born youths to go out to Kinosarges and exercise with him. And by his success in this bit of cunning, he is thought to have removed the distinction between aliens and legitimates. However, it is clear that he was connected with the family of the Lycomide, for he caused the chapel shrine at Phlea, which belonged to the Lycomide, and had been burned by the barbarians to be restored at his own costs, and adorned with frescoes, as Simonides has stated. However lowly his birth, it is agreed on all hands that while yet a boy he was impetuous, by nature sagacious, and by election enterprising and prone to public life. In times of relaxation and leisure, when absolved from his lessons, he would not play nor indulge his ease as the rest of the boys did, but would be found composing and rehearsing to himself mock speeches. These speeches would be an accusation or defense of some boy or other. Wherefore, his teacher was one to say to him, My boy, thou wilt be nothing insignificant but something great of a surety, either for good or evil. Moreover, when he was set to study those branches which aimed at the formation of character or ministered to any gratification or grace of a liberal sort, he would learn reluctantly and sluggishly. And to all that was sad for the cultivation of sagacity or practical efficiency, he clearly showed an indifference far beyond his years, as though he put his confidence in his natural gifts alone. Thus it came about that in after life, at entertainment of a so-called liberal and polite nature, when he was taunted by men of reputed culture, he was forced to defend himself rather rudely, feeling that tuning the lyre and handling the harp were no accomplishments of his, but rather taken in hand a city that was small and inglorious, and making it glorious and great. And yet, Stasimbratus says that the mysticlyse was a pupil of Annexagoras and a disciple of Melissa's, the physicist. But he's careless in his chronology. It was Pericles, a much younger man than the mysticlyse, whom Melissa's opposed at the Siege of Samus, and with whom Annexagoras was intimate. Rather than, might one side with those who say that the mysticlyse was a disciple of Nesophilus, the Freerian, a man who was neither a rhetorician nor one of the so-called physical philosophers, but a cultivator of what was then called Sophia, or wisdom. Although it was really nothing more than cleverness in politics and practical sagacity. Nesophilus received this Sophia and handed it down, as though it were the doctrine of a sect, an unbroken tradition from Solomon. His successors blended it with forensic arts and shifted its application from public affairs to language, and were dubbed Sophists. It was this man then, to whom the mysticlyse resorted at the very beginning of his public life. But in the first essays of his youth, he was uneven and unstable, since he gave his natural impulses free course, which, without due address and training, rushed to violent extremes in the objects of their pursuit, and often degenerate. As he himself in later life confessed, when he said that even the wildest colds made very good horses if only they got the proper braking and training. What some story-makers add to this, however, to the fact that his father disinherited him and his mother took her own life for very grief at her son's ill-fame, this, I think, is false. And in just the opposite vein, there are some who say that his father fondly tried to divert him from public life, pointing out to him old triremes on the seashore, all wracked and neglected, and intimating that the people treated their leaders in like fashion when these were past service. Speedily, however, as it seems, and while he was still in all the ardor of youth, public affairs led their grasp upon themistically, and his impulse to win reputation got strong mastery over him. Wherefore, from the very beginning, in his desire to be first, he boldly encountered the enmity of men who had power and were already first in the city, especially that of Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, who was always his opponent. And yet, it is thought that his enmity with this man had an altogether puerile beginning. They were both lovers of the beautiful Stesiles, a native of Sias, as Aristides and the philosopher has recorded, and thenceforward they continued to be rivals in public life also. However, the dissimilarity in their lives and characters is likely to have increased their variance. Aristides was gentle by nature and a conservative in character. He engaged in public life, not to win favor or reputation, but to secure the best results consistent with safety and righteousness. And so he was compelled, since Themistocles steered the people up to many novel enterprises and introduced great innovations to oppose him often and to take a firm stand against his increasing influence. It is sad indeed that Themistocles was so carried away by his desire for reputation and such an ambitious lover of great deeds that, though he was still a young man when the battle with the barbarians at Marathon was fought and a general ship of milteities was in everybody's mouth, he was seen thereafter to be wrapped in his own thoughts for the most part and was sleepless of nights and refused invitations to his customary drinking parties and said to those who put wandering questions to him concerning his change of life that a trophy of milteities would not suffer him to sleep. Now, the rest of his countrymen thought that the defeat of the barbarians at Marathon was the end of the war, but Themistocles thought it to be only the beginning of greater contests and for these he anointed himself, as it were, to be the champion of all helles and put his city into training because while it was yet the far off, he expected the evil that was to come. And so, in the first place, whereas the Athenians were wont to divide up among themselves the revenue coming from the silver mines at Lorraine, he and he alone, there to come before the people with a motion that this division be given up and that with these monies, triremes be constricted for the war against Aegina. This was the fiercest war than troubling helles and the islanders controlled the sea owing to the number of their ships. Wherefore, all the more easily did Themistocles carry his point. Not by trying to terrify the citizens with dreadful pictures of the areas where the Persians. These were too far away and inspired no very serious fear of their coming but by making opportune use of the bitter jealousy which they cherished toward Aegina in order to secure the armament had desired. The result was that with those monies they built a hundred triremes with which they actually fought at Salamis against Xerces. And after this, by leering the city on gradually and turning its progress toward the sea urging that with their infantry they were no match even for their nearest neighbors but that with the power they could get from their ships they could not only repel the barbarians but also take the lead in helles he made them, instead of steadfast hoplites to quote Plato's words see tossed mariners and brought down upon himself this accusation Themistocles robbed his fellow citizens of spear and shield and degraded the people of Athens to the rowing pad and the oar and this he accomplished in triumph over the public opposition of Miltiades as Stasimbratus relates Now, whether by accomplishing this he did injury to the integrity and purity of public life or not let the philosopher rather investigate but that the salvation which the Hellenes achieved at that time came from the sea and that it was those very triremes which restored against the fallen city of Athens Xerces himself bore witness not to speak of other proofs for though his infantry remained intact he took to flight after the defeat of his ships because he thought he was not a match for the Hellenes and he left Mardonius behind as it seems to me rather to obstruct their pursuit than to subdue them some say that Themistocles was an eager money maker because of his liberality for since he was fond of entertaining and lavished money splendidly on his guests he required a generous budget others on the contrary denounced his great stinginess and parsimony claiming that he used to sell the very food sent in to him as a gift that is the horse breeder was asked by him for a coat and would not give it Themistocles threatened speedily to make his house a wooden horse thereby darkly intimating that he would stir up accusations against him in his own family and lawsuits between the men and those of his own household in his ambition he surpassed all men for instance while he was still young and obscure he prevailed upon epicles of Hermione the artist who was eagerly sought after by the Athenians to practice at his house because he was ambitious that many should seek out his dwelling and come often to see him again, ongoing to Olympia he tried to rival Simon in his banquets and boobs and other brilliant appointments so that he displeased the Halleens for Simon was young and of a great house and they thought they must allow him in such extravagances but Themistocles had not yet become famous and was thought to be seeking to elevate himself unduly without adequate means and so was charged with ostentation and still again as Corrigus or a theatrical manager he won a victory with tragedies although even at that early time this contest was conducted with great eagerness and ambition and set up a tablet commemorating his victory with the following inscription Themistocles the Freerian was Corrigus Frenicus was Poet Edimantis was Arcan however he wasn't good terms with the common folk partly because he could call offhand the name of every citizen and partly because he rendered the service of a safe and impartial arbitrator in cases of private obligation and settlement out of court and so he once said to Simonides of Sias who had made an improper request from him when he was magistrate you would not be a good poet if you should sing contrary to the measure nor I a clever magistrate if I should show favor contrary to the law and once again he banteringly said to Simonides that it was nonsense for him to abuse the Corinthians who dwelt in a great and fair city while he had portrait figures made of himself who was of such an ugly countenance and so he grew in power and pleads the common folk and finally headed a successful faction and got Aristides removed by ostracism at last when the mead was descending upon Hellas and the Athenians were deliberating who should be their general all the rest they say voluntarily renounced their claims to the general ship so panic-stricken were they at the danger with Episcides the son of Elphimides a popular leader who was powerful in speech but effeminate in spirit and open to bribes set out to get the office and was likely to prevail in the election so themistically fearing last matters should go to utter ruin in case the leadership fell to such a man bribed and bought off the ambition of Episcides praise is given to his treatment of the linguist in the company of those who were sent by the king to demand earth and water as tokens of submission this interpreter he caused to be arrested and had him put to death by special decree because he dared to prostitute the speech of Hellas to barbarian stipulations also to his treatment of Arthinius of Zeleia on motion of the mystic lease this man was entered on the list of the disfranchised with his children and family because he brought the gold of the meads and offered it to the Hellins but the greatest of all his achievements was his putting a stop to Hellenic wars and reconciling Hellenic cities with one another persuading them to postpone their mutual hatreds because of the foreign war to which end they say Heilius the Arcadian most seconded his efforts unassuming the command he straightway went to work to embark the citizens on their triremes and tried to persuade them to leave their city behind them and go as far as possible away from Hellas to meet the barbarians by sea but many opposed this plan and so he led forth a large army to the Vale of Tempe along with the Lacedemonians in order to make a stand there in defense of Thessaly which was not yet at that time supposed to be amidizing but soon the army came back from this position without accomplishing anything the Thessalians went over to the side of the king and everything was amidizing as far as Bioscia so that at last the Athenians were more kindly disposed to the naval policy of the Mysticleys and he was sent with a fleet to Artemisium to watch the narrows it was at this place that the Hellins urged Uribeides and the Lacedemonians to take the lead but the Athenians since in the number of their ships they surpassed all the rest put together they came to follow others a peril which the Mysticleys at once comprehended he surrendered his own command to Uribeides and tried to mollify the Athenians with the promise that if they would show themselves brave men in the war he would induce the Hellins to yield the willing obedience to them thereafter therefore his thought to have been the man most instrumental in achieving the salvation of Hellis and for most in leading the Athenians up to the high repute of surpassing their foes in Vailor and their allies in Magnanimity now Uribeides on the arrival of the barbarian armament at Aphete was terrified at the number of ships that faced him and learning that 200 ships more were sailing around above Siafis to cut off his retreat desire to proceed by the shortest route down into Hellis to get into touch with Peloponnesus and encompass his fleet with his infantry forces there because he thought the power of the king altogether invincible by sea therefore the obedience, fearing less the Hellins abandoned them to their fate held secret conference with the Mysticleys and sent Pelogen to him with large sums of money this money he took as Herodotus relates and gave to Uribeides meeting with most opposition among his fellow citizens from Architalys who was captain on the seared state galley and who because he had no money to pay the wages of his sailors was eager to sail off home the Mysticleys incited his crew all the more against him so that they made a rush upon him and snatched away his dinner then while Architalys was feeling dejected and indignant over this the Mysticleys sent him a dinner of bread and meat in a box at the bottom of which he had put a talent of silver and bade him dying without delay and on the morrow satisfied his crew otherwise he said he would denounce him publicly as the receiver of money from the enemy at any rate such is the story of Fanny as the lesbian the battles which were fought at that time with the ships of the barbarians in the Narrows were not decisive of the main issue, it is true but they were of the greatest service to the Hellins in giving them experience since they were thus taught by actual achievements in the face of danger that neither multitudes of ships nor brilliantly decorated figure heads nor boastful shouts or barbarous battle hands have any terror for men who know how to come to close quarters and there to fight there but that they must despise all such things rush upon the very persons of their foes with them and fight it out to the bitter end of this pinder seems to have been well aware when he said of the battle of Artemisian where Athenian's valiant sons set in radiance eternal liberties cornerstone for verily the foundation of victory is courage Artemisian is a part of Elbia above Hestia a sea beach stretching away to the north just about opposite to it lies Olysan in the territory once subject to Philoctetes it has a small temple of Artemis surnamed Proceion which is surrounded by trees and enclosed by upright slabs of white marble this stone, when you rub it with your hand gives off the color and the odor of saffron on one of these slabs the following elegy was inscribed nations of all sorts of men from Asia's boundaries coming the sons of the Athenians once here on this arm of the sea wound in a battle of ships and the host of the Meads was destroyed these are the tokens thereof built for the made Artemis and the place is pointed out on the shore with sea sand all about it which supplies from its depths a dark ashen powder apparently the product of fire and here they are thought to have burned their wrecks and dead bodies however when they learned by messengers from Thermopylae to Artemisium that Leonidas was slain and that Xerces was master of the past they withdrew further down into Hellas the Athenians bringing up the extreme rear because of their valour and greatly elated by their achievements as themistically sailed along the coasts wherever he saw places at which the enemy was necessarily put in for shelter and supplies he inscribed conspicuous writings on stones some of which he found to his hand there by chance and some he himself caused to be set near the invite and anchorages and watering places in these writings he solemnly enjoined upon the Ionians if it were possible to come over to the side of the Athenians who were their ancestors and who were risking all on behalf of their freedom but if they could not do this to damage the barbarian cause and battle and bring confusion among them by this means he hoped either to fetch the Ionians over to his side or to confound them by bringing the barbarians into suspicion of them although Xerces had made a raid up through Doris into Phosas and was burning the cities of the Phosians the Hellenes gave them no succour the Athenians, it is true begged them to go up into Boetia against the enemy and make a stand there in defense of Attica as they themselves had gone up by sea to Artemisium in defense of others but no one listened to their appeals all clung fast to the Peloponnesus and were eager to collect all the forces inside the Isthmus and were building a rampart across the Isthmus from sea to sea then the Athenians were seized alive with rage at this betrayal and with sullen disjection at their utter isolation of fighting alone with an army of so many myriads they could not seriously think and asked for the only thing left them to do in their emergency, namely to give up their city and stick to their ships most of them were distressed at the thought saying that they neither wanted victory nor understood what safety could mean if they abandoned to the enemy the shrines of their gods and the sepulchres of their fathers then indeed it was that the Mycicles the sparing of bringing the multitude over to his views by any human reasonings set up machinery as it were to introduce the gods to them as a theatrical manager would for a tragedy and brought to bear upon them signs from heaven and oracles as a sign from heaven he took the behavior of the serpent which is held to have disappeared about that time from the sacred enclosure in the acropolis when the priests found that the daily offerings made to it were left whole and untouched they proclaimed to the multitude them basically splitting the story into their mouths that the goddess had abandoned her city and was showing them their way to the sea moreover with the well-known oracle he tried again to win the people over to his views saying that its wooden wall meant nothing else than their fleet and that the god and this oracle called Salamis divine not dreadful nor cruel for the very reason that the island would sometime give its name to a great piece of good fortune for the Hellenes at last his opinion prevailed and so he introduced the bill providing that the city being trusted for safekeeping to Athena the patroness of Athens but that all the men of military age embark on the triremes after finding for little children wives and servants such safety as each best could upon the passage of this bill most of the Athenians bestowed their children and wives in Troisen where the Troisenians very eagerly welcomed them they actually voted to support them at the public cost allowing two obols daily to each family and to permit the boys to pluck off the vintage fruit everywhere and besides to hire teachers for them the bill was introduced by a man whose name was Nicagoras since the Athenians had no public monies in hand it was the senate of Areopagus according to Aristotle which provided each of the men who embarked with eight drachmas and so was most instrumental in manning the triremes but Claydemus represents this too as the result of an artifice of Themistocles he says that when the Athenians were going down to the Pyreas and abandoning their city the Gorgons head was lost from the image of the goddess and then Themistocles pretending to search for it and ransacking everything thereby discovered an abundance of money hidden away in the baggage which had only to be confiscated and the crews of the ships were well provided with rations and wages when the entire city was thus putting out to sea the site provoked pity in some and in others astonishment at the heartyhood of the step for they were sending off their families in one direction while they themselves unmoved by the lamentations and tears and embraces of their loved ones were crossing over to the island where the enemy was to be fought besides, many who were left behind on account of their great age invited pity also and much effect in fondness was shown by the tame, domestic animals which ran along with yearning cries of distress by the side of their masters as they embarked a story is told of one of these the dog of Zanthippus the father of Pericles how he could not endure to be abandoned by his master and so, sprang into sea swam across the straight by the side of his master's trireme and staggered out on Salamis only to feign and die straight away they say that the spot which is pointed out to this day as dog's mound is his tomb these were surely great achievements of the mysticlies but there was a greater still to come when he saw that the citizens yearned for heirs to this and feared lest out of wrath he might join himself to the barbarian and so subvert the cause of Hellas he had been ostracized before the war in consequence of political defeat at the hands of the mysticlies he introduced a bill providing that those who had been removed for a time be permitted to return home and devote their best powers to the service of Hellas along with the other citizens when Irribiades who had the command of the fleet on account of the superior claims of Sparta but who was faint-hearted in time of danger wished to hoist sail and make for the Isthmus where the infantry also of the Peloponnesians had been assembled it was the mysticlies who spoke against it and it was then, they say that these memorable saints of his were uttered when Irribiades said to him the mysticlies at the games those who start to soon get a cannon yes, said the mysticlies but those who lag behind get no crown and when Irribiades lifted up his staff as though to smite him the mysticlies said smite, but hear me then, Irribiades was struck with admiration at his calmness and made him speak and the mysticlies tried to bring him back to his own position but on a certain one saying that a man without a city had no business to advise men who still had cities of their own to abandon and betray them the mysticlies addressed his speech to him, saying it is true, thou wretch, that we have left behind us our houses and our city walls not deeming it mead for the sake of such lifeless things to be in subjection but we still have a city the greatest in Hellas our 200 triremes which now are ready to aid you if you choose to be saved by them when if you go and betray us for the second time straightway many a Hellen will learn that the Athenians have won for themselves a city that is free and a territory that is far better than the one they cast aside when the mysticlies said this Irribiades began to reflect and was seized with fear lest the Athenians go away and abandon him and again when the Irritrian tried to argue somewhat against him indeed, said he what argument can you make about war who, like the cuttlefish have a long pouch in the place where your heart ought to be end of the mysticlies part 1 part 2 of volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ligny volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives in Romans translated by Bernadotte Perrin the mysticlies part 2 some tell the story that while the mysticlies was thus speaking from off the deck of his ship an owl was seen to fly through the fleet from the right and alight in his rigging wherefore his hearers espoused his opinion most eagerly and prepared to do battle with their ships but soon the enemy's armament beset the coast of Attica down to the haven of Folarum so as to hide from view the neighboring shores then the king in person with his infantry came down to the sea so that he could be seen with all his hosts and presently in view of this junction of hostile forces the words of the mysticlies ebbed out of the minds of the Hellenes and the Peloponnesians again turned their eyes wistfully towards the Isthmus and were vexed if anyone spake of any other course may they actually decided to withdraw from their position in the night in orders for the voyage were issued to the pilots such was the crisis when the mysticlies the stressed to think that the Hellenes should abandon the advantages to be had from the narrowness of the straits where they lay united and break up into detachments by the cities planned and concocted the famous affair of Cicenas this Cicenas was of Persian stock a prisoner of war but devoted to the mysticlies and the pedagogue of his children this man was sent to Cerses secretly with orders to say the mysticlies the Athenian general elects the king's cause and is the first one to announce to him that they are trying to slip away and urgently bids him not to suffer them to escape but while they are in confusion and separated from their infantry to set upon them and destroy their naval power Cerses received this as the message of one who wished him well and was delighted and at once issued positive orders to the captains of his ships to man the main body of the fleet at their leisure but with 200 ships to put out to sea at once and encompassed the straight roundabout on every side including the islands in their line of blockade that not one of the enemy might escape while this was going on Aristides the son of Lysimachus who was the first to perceive it came to the tent of the mysticlies who was no friend of his they through whom he had even been ostracized as I have said and when the mysticlies came forth from the tent told him how the enemy surrounded them the mysticlies knowing the tried nobility of the men and filled with admiration for his coming at that time told him all about the Sassinas matter and besought him to join in this desperate attempt to keep the Hellenes where they were admitting that he had the greater credit with them in order that they might make their sea fight in the narrows Aristides accordingly after bestowing praise upon the mysticlies for his strategy went round to the other generals and trierarchs inciting them on to battle and while they were so incredulous in spite of all a tenian trireme appeared a deserter from the enemy in command of Penaecius and told how the enemies surrounded them so that with the courage born of necessity the Hellenes set out to confront the danger at break of day Aristides was seated on a high place and overlooking the disposition of his armament this place was, according to Fanodimas above the Heracleum where only a narrow passage separates the island from Attica but according to Aristodorus it was in the border land of Megara above the so-called Horns here a gilded throne had been set for him at his command and many secretaries stationed near at hand whose task it was to make due record of all that was done in the battle but the Mycicles was sacrificing alongside the admiral's trireme there three prisoners of war were brought to him a visage most beautiful to behold conspicuously adorned with raiment and with gold they were said to be the sons of Sendos, the king's sister and Artaicitus when Elfrentides the seer caught sight of them since at one and that same moment a great and glaring flame shot up from the sacrificial victims and his knees gave forth its good omen on the right he clasped Themistocles by the hand and bait him consecrate the youths and sacrifice them all to Dionysus carnivorous with prayers of supplication for on this wise would the Hellions have a saving victory Themistocles was terrified feeling that the word of the seer was monstrous and shocking but the multitude who as his want to be the case and great struggles and severe crisis looked for safety rather from unreasonable than from reasonable measures invoked the god with one voice dragged the prisoners to the altar and compelled the fulfillment of the sacrifice as the seer commanded at any rate this is what Fania as the lesbian says and he was a philosopher and well acquainted with historical literature as regards the number of the barbarian ships askyl as the poet in his tragedy of the Persians as though from personal and positive knowledge says this but Thurses and I surely know had a thousand ships in number under him those of surpassing speed were twice five score beside and seven so stands the count the attic ships were 180 in number and each had 18 men to fight upon the decks often four were archers and the rest men at arms Femiscles is thought to have divine the best time for fighting with no less success than the best place in as much as he took care not to send his trirings bow on against the barbarian vessels until the hour of the day had come which always brought the breeze fresh from the sea and a swell rolling through the street this breeze brought no harm to the Hellenic ships since they lay low in the water and were rather small but for the barbarian ships with their towering sterns and lofty decks and sluggish movements in getting underway it was fatal since it smote them and slew them round broadside to the Hellenic who sat upon them sharply keeping their eyes on Femiscles because they thought he saw best what was to be done and because confronting him was the admiral of Thurses Arioninus who being on a great ship kept shooting arrows and javelins as though from a city wall brave men that he was by far the strongest and most just of the king's brothers it was upon him that Amianius the Decylion and Socles the Pianion bore down they being together on one ship and as the two ships struck each other bow on crashed together and hung fast by their bronze beaks he tried to bore their triring but they faced him smote him with their spears and hurled him into the sea his body as it drift about with other wreckage was recognized by Artemisia who had it carried to Thurses at this stage of the struggle they say that a great light flamed out from elusis and an echoing cry fueled the Thriesian plane down to the sea as of multitudes of men together conducting the mystic Ilocas in procession then out of the shouting throng a cloud seemed to lift itself slowly from the earth pass out seawords and settle down upon the trirings others fancied they saw apparitions and shapes of armed men coming from Aegina with their hands stretched out to protect the Hellenic trirings these they conjectured were the aeside who had been prayerfully invoked before the battle to come to their aid now the first man to capture an enemy's ship was Lycomides an Athenian captain who cut off its figure head and dedicated it to Apollo the Laurel Bearer at Flea then the rest put on an equality in numbers with their foes because the barbarians had to attack them by detachments in the narrow strait and so when foul of one another routed them though they resisted till the evening drew on the ships bore away, as Simonida says that fair and notorious victory than which no more brilliant exploit was ever performed upon the sea either by Hellenes or barbarians through the manly veiler and common ardor of all who fought their ships but through the clever judgment of the mystic lease after the sea fight Xerces, still furious at his failure undertook tocanny molds out into the sea on which he could lead his infantry across to Salamis against the Hellenes damning up the intervening strait but the mystic lease merely by way of sounding Aristides proposed, as though he were in earnest to sail with the fleet to the Hellespont and break the span of both there in order, said he that we may capture Asia in Europe Aristides, however was displeased with the scheme and said now indeed, the barbarian with whom we have fought consults his ease and pleasure but should we shut up in Helles and bring under fearful compulsion a man who is lord of such vast forces he will no longer sit under a golden parasol to view the spectacle of the battle as his ease but he will dare all things and supper intending everything in person because of his peril will rectify his previous remissness and take better counsel for the highest issues thus at stake we must not then, said he tear down the bridge that is already there the mystic lease rather we must build another alongside it if that be possible and cast the fellow out of Europe in a hurry well then, said the mystic lease if that is what is thought for the best it is high time for us all to be studying and inventing a way to get him out of Helles by the speediest route as soon as this policy had been adopted he sent a certain royal eunuch whom he discovered among the prisoners of war by name Amasis with orders to tell the king that the heavens had decided since their fleet now controlled the sea to sail up into the Hellespont where the strait was spanned and destroy the bridge but that the mystic lease out of regard for the king urged him to hasten into home waters and fetch his forces across he himself, he said would cause the allies all sorts of delays and postponements in their pursuit no sooner did the barbarian hear this than he was seized with exceeding fear and speedily began his retreat this thoughtful prudence on the part of the mystic lease and Aristides was afterwards justified by the campaign with Mardonius since although they fought at Plataea with the nearest fraction of the armies of Xerces they yet stake their all upon the issue among the cities now Herodotus says that Aegina bore away the prize of Valer but among individuals all virtually awarded the first place to the mystic lease though their envy made them unwilling to do this directly for when the generals withdrew to the Isthmus and solemnly voted on this question taking their ballots from the very altar of the god there each one declared for himself as first in Valer but for the mystic lease as second after himself then the Lacedaemonians brought him down to Sparta and while they gave Erubiades the prize for Valer to him they gave one for Wisdom a crown of Olive in each case and they presented him with the best chariot there was in the city and sent 300 men to pick youth along with him to serve as his escort to the boundary and it is said that when the next Olympic festival was celebrated and the mystic lease entered the stadium the audience neglected the contestants all day long to gaze on him and pointed him out with admiring applause to visiting strangers so that he too was delighted and confessed to his friends that he was now reaping in full measure the harvest of his toils and indeed he was by nature very fond of honor if we may judge from his memorable sayings and doings when for example the city had chosen him to be admiral he would not perform any public or private business at its proper time but would postpone the immediate duty to the day on which he was to set sail in order that then because he did many things all at once and had meetings with all sorts of men he might be thought to be some great personage and very powerful serving once the dead bodies of the barbarians which had been cast up along the sea he saw that they were decked with golden bracelets and collars and yet passed on by them himself while to a friend who followed he pointed them out and said help thyself thou art not the mystic lease again to one who had once been a beauty antithesis and who had at that time treated him disdainfully but afterwards courted him because of the reputation he had got young man said he it's late, it's true but both of us have come to our senses also he used to say of the Athenians that they did not really honor and admire him for himself but treated him for all the world like a plane tree running under his branches for shelter when it stormed but when they had fair weather all about them plucking and docking him and when he was told by the syrifian that it was not due to himself that he had got reputation but to his city true said he but neither should I, had I been a syrifian have achieved reputation no words thou has thou been an Athenian again when one of his fellow generals who thought he had done some vast service to the city grew bold with the mystic lease and began to compare his own services with him with the festival day said he the day after once began a contention saying thou art full of occupations and worrisome but when I come I'll enjoy at their leisure what has been richly provided before him to which the festival day replied true but had I not come first thou hadst not come at all so now said he had I not come at that day of Salamis where would thou and thy colleagues be now of his son who lorded it over his mother and threw her over himself he said jestingly that the boy was the most powerful of all the Hellenes for the Hellenes were commanded by the Athenians the Athenians by himself himself by the boy's mother and the mother by her boy again with the desire to be somewhat peculiar in all that he did in an estate for sale he bade proclamation to be made that it had an excellent neighbor into the bargain of two suitors for his daughter's hand he chose the likely man in preference to the rich man saying that he wanted a man without money rather than money without a man such were his striking sayings after the great achievements now described his straight way undertook to rebuild and fortify the city as Theopampus relates by bribing the Spartan F-Wars not to oppose the project but, as the majority say by hoodwinking them he came with this object to Sparta ostensibly on an embassy and when the Spartans brought up the charge that the Athenians were fortifying their city and Polyarchus was sent expressly from Ijena with the same accusation he denied that it was so and bade them send men to Athens to see for themselves not only because this delay would secure time for the building of the wall but also because he wished the Athenians to hold these envoys as hostages for his own person and this was what actually happened when the Lacedaemonians found out the truth they did him no harm but concealed their displeasure and sent him away after this he equipped the Piraeus because he had noticed the favorable shape of its harbors and wished to attach the whole city to the sea thus in a certain manner counteracting the policies of the ancient Athenian kings for they, as it is said in their efforts to draw the citizens away from the sea and accustom them to live not by navigation but by agriculture disseminated the story about Athena how, when Poseidon was contending with her for possession of the country she displayed the sacred olive tree of the Acropolis to the judges and so won the day but Themistocles did not as Aristophanus the comic poet says nab the Piraeus on to the city nay, he fastened the city to the Piraeus and the land to the sea and so it was that he increased the privileges of the common people as against the nobles and filled them with boldness since the controlling power came now into the hands of skippers and boatswains and pilots therefore it was to that the Bhima in Fix which had stood so as to look off towards the sea was afterwards turned by the 30 tyrants so as to look inland because they thought that maritime empire was the mother of democracy and that oligarchy was less distasteful to tillers of the soil but Themistocles cherished yet greater designs even for securing the naval supremacy when the fleet of the Hellenes after the departure of Xerces had put in at Pagasi and was mountering there he made a herring before the Athenians in which he said that he had a certain scheme in mind which would be useful and salutary for them but which could not be broached in public so the Athenians bait him imparted to Aristides alone and if he should approve of it to put it into execution Themistocles accordingly told Aristides that he proposed to burn the fleet of the Hellenes where it lay but Aristides addressed the people and said of the scheme which Themistocles proposed to carry out that none could be either more advantages or more iniquitous the Athenians therefore ordered Themistocles to give it up at the Infectionic or Holy Alliance conventions the Lassidimonians introduced motions that all cities be excluded from the alliance which had not taken part in fighting against the Mead so Themistocles fearing last if they should succeed including the Thessalians and the Argyves and the Thebans too from the convention they would control the votes completely and carry through their own wishes spoke in behalf of the protesting cities and changed the sentiments of the delegates by showing that only 31 cities had taken part in the war and that most of these were altogether small it would be intolerable then if the rest of Hellenes should be excluded and the convention be at the mercy of the two largest cities it was for this reason particularly that he became obnoxious to the Lassidimonians and they therefore tried to advance Simon in public favor making him the political rival of Themistocles he made himself hateful to the allies also by sailing round to the islands and trying to extract money from them when for instance he demanded money of the Andrians Herodotus says he made a speech to them and the Lord replied as follows he said he came escorting two gods persuasion and compulsion and they replied that they already had two great gods Penuri and Parlesness who hindered them from giving him money Timerian the lyric poet of Rhodes assailed Themistocles very bitterly in a song to the effect that for bribes he had secured the restoration of other exiles but had abandoned him though a host and a friend and all for money the song runs thus come if thou prizes Pozzanias or if Zanthippus or if Leotichidas then I shall praise Aristides the one best man of all who came from sacred Athens since Leto lole Themistocles the liar, cheat and traitor who, though Timerian was his host by Navish monies was induced not to bring him back into his native Lalises but took three talons of silver and went cruising off to perdition restoring some exiles unjustly chasing some away and slaying some gorged with monies yet at the isthmus he played ridiculous host with the stale meat set before his guests who weighed their off and prayed heaven no happy return of the day for Themistocles much more wanton and extravagant was the railery which Timerian indulged in against Themistocles after the latter's own exile and condemnation then he composed the song beginning Omius grant that this song be feigned throughout all hellas as it is mead and just it is sad that Timerian was sent into exile on the charge of medizing and that Themistocles concurred in the vote of condemnation accordingly when Themistocles also was accused of medizing that Themistocles disliens upon him not Timerian alone then made compacts with the meads but there are other wretches too not I alone and brushless there are other foxes too and at last when even his fellow citizens were led by their jealousy of his greatness to welcome such slanders against him he was forced to allude to his own achievements when he addressed the assembly till he became tiresome thereby and he once said to the malcontents why are you vexed that the same man should often benefit you he offended the multitude also by building the temple of Artemis whom his surname Aristobol or best counselor intimating thus that it was he who had given the best counsel to the city and to the hellings this temple he established near his house in Melita where now the public officers cast out the bodies of those who have been left and carry forth the garments and the nooses of those who have dispatched themselves by hanging a portrait statue of the mystically stood in the temple of Aristobol down to my time from which he appears to have been a man not only of heroic spirit but also of heroic presence well then they visited him with ostracism curtailing his dignity and preeminence as they were wont to do the people whom they thought to have oppressive power and to be incommensurate with true democratic equality for ostracism was not a penalty but a way of pacifying and alleviating that jealousy which delights the eminent breathing out its malice into this disfranchisement end of the mystically part 2 part 3 of volume 2 of flutarch's fellow lives this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Linny volume 2 of flutarch's fellow lives of the noble greeks and romans translated by Bernadotte Perrin the mystically part 3 after he had been thus banished from the city and while he was so journeying at Argos circumstances connected with the death of Pozanias gave his enemies at Athens ground for proceeding against him the one who actually brought in the indignant against him for treason was Leo Boteis the son of Aukmian of the deem agro but the Spartans supported him in the accusation Pozanias while engaged in his grand scheme of treachery at first kept it concealed from the mysticallys but when he saw him thus banished from his state and in great bitterness of spirit he made bold to invite him into partnership in his own undertakings showing him a letter he had received from the king and inciting him against the Hellenes as a base and thankless people the mysticallys rejected the solicitation of Pozanias and utterly refused the preferred partnership and yet he disclosed the propositions to no one nor did he even give information of the treacherous king because he expected either that Pozanias would give it up of his own accord or that in some other way he would be found out since he was so irrationally grasping after such strange and desperate objects and so it was that when Pozanias had been put to death certain letters and documents regarding these matters were discovered which cast suspicion on the mysticallys the Lassidemonians and his angriest fellow citizens denounced him though he was not present to plead his cause but defended himself in writing making particular use of earlier accusations brought against him since he was once slendersly accused by his enemies before his fellow citizens so he wrote as one who ever sought to rule but had no natural bend nor even the desire to be ruled he could never have sold himself to barbarians much less to foemen the people however were over persuaded by his accusers and sent men with orders to arrest him and bring him up in custody to stand trial before Congress of Hellenes but he heard of this in advance and crossed over to Corsera where he had been recognized as a public benefactor of the city for he had served as arbiter in a dispute between them and the Corinthians and settled the quarrel by deciding that the Corinthians should pay an indemnity of 20 talents and administer Leukas as a common colony of both cities then he fled to a pirates and being pursued by the Athenians and Lassidemonians he threw himself upon grievous and desperate chances of escape by taking refuge with Edmitus who was king of the Molossians and who since he had one asked some favor of the Athenians and had been insultingly refused it by Themistocles then at the height of his political influence was angry with him ever after and made it plain that he would take vengeance on him if he caught him but in the desperate fortune of that time Themistocles was more afraid of kindred and recent jealousy than of an anger that was of long standing and royal and promptly cast himself upon the king's mercy and himself the supplyant of Edmitus in a way quite peculiar and extraordinary that is to say he took the young son of the king in his arms and threw himself down at the earth a form of supplication which the Molossians regarded as most sacred and as almost the only one that might not be refused some, it is true say that it was Thea the wife of the king who suggested this form of supplication to Themistocles and that she seated her son on the earth with him and certain others that Edmitus himself in order that he might give a religious sanction to the necessity that was upon him of not surrendering the men arranged beforehand and solemnly rehearsed with him the supplication scene Fyther, his wife and children were privately removed from Athens and sent to him by Epicrates of the deem Acarnae who, for this deed, was afterwards convicted by Simon and put to death as Tessimbratus relates then, somehow or other Tessimbratus forgets this or makes Themistocles forget it and says he sailed to Sicily and demanded from Hiro, the tyrant the hand of his daughter in marriage promising as an incentive that he would make the Helens subject to his sway but that Hiro reposed him and so he set sail for Asia but it is not likely that this was so for Theofrestus, in his work on royalty, tells how when Hiro sent horses to compete at Olympia and set up a sort of booth there with very costly decorations Themistocles made a speech among the assembled Helens urging them to tear down the booth of the tyrant and prevent his horses from competing and Thucydides says that he made his way across the country to the sea and set sail from Pidna no one of the passengers knowing who he was until when the vessel had been carried by a storm to Nexus to which the Athenians at that time were laying siege he was terrified and disclosed himself to the master and the captain of the ship and partly by entreaties partly by threats actually declaring that he would denounce and vilify them to the Athenians as having taken him on board at the start in no ignorance but under bribes this way compelled them to sail by and make the coast of Asia of his property much was secretly abstracted for him by his friends and sent across the sea to Asia but the sum total of that which was brought to light and confiscated amounted to 100 talents according to Theopompus Theophrastus says 80 and yet Themistocles did not possess the worth of 3 talents before he entered political life after landing as Sitna and learning that many people on the coast were watching to seize him and especially Ergoteles and Pythodorus for the chaise was a lucrative one to such as refund of getting gained from any and every source since 200 talents had been publicly set upon his head by the king he fled to Agae a little aeolic citadel here no one knew him except his host Nicol Gannis the wealthiest man in Aeolia and well acquainted with the magnets of the interior with him he remained in hiding for a few days during this time after the dinner which followed a certain sacrifice obvious the pedagogue of the children of Nicol Gannis becoming rapt and inspired lifted up his voice and uttered the following verse night shall speak and night instruct thee night shall give thee victory and in the night that followed Gannis basically as he lay in bed thought he saw in a dream that a serpent wound itself along over his body and crept up to his neck then became an eagle as soon as it touched his face enveloped him with its wings and lifted him on high and bore him a long distance when there appeared as it were a golden heralds wand on which it set him securely down freed from helpless terror however that may be he was sent on his way by Nicol Gannis who devised the following scheme for his safety most barbarous nations and the Persians in particular are savage and harsh in their jealous watchfulness over their women not only their wedded wives but also their bottomed slaves and concubines are strictly guarded so that they are seen by no outsiders but live at home in complete seclusion and even on their journeys in tents closely hung round about with curtains and set upon four-wheeled wagons such a vehicle was made ready for Themistocles and safely inconstant this he made his journey while his attendants replied in every case to those who met them with inquiries that they were conducting a Hellenic woman, fair but frail to one of the king's courtiers now the citadis and Karen of Lemsakus with late exorcist was dead his son, Artaxerces with whom Themistocles had his interview but Ephorus and Dynan and Clitharchus and Heraclitus and yet more besides have it that it was Xerces to whom he came with the chronological data the citadis seems to be more in accord although these are by no means securely established be that as it may Themistocles thus at the threshold of the dreadful ordeal had audience first with Artabanus Achiliarch or Grand Vizier and said that he was a Hellen and that he desired to have an audience with the king on matters which were of the highest importance and for which the monarch entertained the most lively concern whereupon the Achiliarch replied O stranger men's customs defer different people honor different practices but all honor the exaltation and maintenance of their own peculiar ways now you Hellens are said to admire liberty and equality above all things but in our eyes, among many fair customs this is the fairest of all to honor the king and to pay obedience to him as the image of that god who is the preserver of all things if then thou approvest our practice and will pay obedience it is in thy power to behold and address the king but if thou art otherwise minded it will be needful for thee to employ messengers to him in thy stead for it is not a custom of this country that the king give ear to a man who has not paid him obedience when Themistocles heard this he said to him Nay, but I am calm, Artabanus to augment the king's fame and power and I will not only myself observe your customs since such is the pleasure of the god who exalts the Persians but I will induce more men than do so now to pay obedience to the king therefore let this matter by no means stand in the way of the words that we wish to speak to him in what Helen said Artabanus, shall I say thou art who has thus come verily thou dost not seem to be a man of ordinary understanding and Themistocles said this Artabanus, no one may learn before the king so indeed Fania says in Eratosthenes in his book On Wealth adds the statement that it was through a woman of Eritrea whom the Kiliarc had to wife that Themistocles obtained the interview and conference with him that may or may not be so but when he was led into the presence of the king and had made him obedience and was standing in silence the king ordered the interpreter to ask him who he was and on the interpreters asking he said I who thus come to thee, O king am Themistocles, the Athenian an exile pursued by the Hellenes and to me the Persians are indebted for many ills and for more blessings since I hindered the pursuit of the Hellenes at a time when Hellenes was brought into safety and the salvation of my own home gave me an opportunity for showing some favor also to you now therefore I may look for any sequel to my present calamities and I come prepared to receive the favor of one who benevolently offers reconciliation or to deprecate the anger of one who cherishes the remembrance of injuries I now take my foes to witness for the good I wrought the Persians and now use my misfortunes for the display of thy virtue rather than for the satisfaction of thine anger for it is a suppliant of thine whom thou wilt save but that any of the Hellenes whom thou wilt destroy after these words Themistocles spoke of divine portents in his favor enlarging upon the vision which he saw at the house of Nicoganes how when he was bitten by it to proceed to the namesake of the god he had concluded that he was thereby sent to him since both were actually great kings and were so addressed on hearing this the persian made no direct reply to him although struck with admiration at the boldness of his spirit but in converse with his friends it is said that he congratulated himself over what he called the greatest good fortune and prayed Arimanius ever to give his enemies such minds as to drive their best men away from them and then sacrifice to the gods and straight away but took himself to his cups and in the night in the midst of his slumbers for very joy called out thrice I have Themistocles the Athenian at daybreak he called his friends together and bathed Themistocles to be introduced who expected no favorable outcome because he saw that the guards at the gates when they learned the name of him were bitterly disposed and spoke insultingly to him and besides Roksens the Heliarch when Themistocles came along opposite him the king being seated and the rest hushed in silence said in an angry undertone those subtle serpent of hellest the king's good genius had brought thee hither however when he had come into the king's presence and had once more paid him obedience the king welcomed him and spake him kindly and said he already owed him 200 talents for since he had delivered himself up it was only just that he himself should receive the reward proclaimed for his captor and he promised him much more besides and bade him take heart and gave him leave to say whatever he wished concerning the affairs of hellest with all frankness of speech but Themistocles made answer that the speech of man was like a few of his hapestries since like them this too had to be extended in order to display its patterns but when it was rolled up it concealed and distorted them wherefore he had need of time the king at once showed his pleasure at his comparison by bidden him take time and so Themistocles asked for a year and in that time he learned the Persian language sufficiently to have interviews with the king by himself without interpreters thought these conferences concerned Hellenic matters merely but since about that time many innovations were introduced by the king at court and among his favorites the magnets became jealous of Themistocles on the ground that he had made bold to use his freedom of speech with the king to their harm for the honors he enjoyed were far beyond those paid to other foreigners nay he actually took part in the king's hunts and in his household diversions so far that he even had access to the queen mother and became intimate with her and at the king's bidding heard exposition also of the magent lore and when Demoratus the Spartan being bidden to ask a gift asked that he might ride and stay through Sardis wearing his tiara upright after the manner of the Persian kings Mithrapostus the king's cousin said touching the tiara of Demoratus this tiara of thine have no brains to cover thou wilt not be zeused merely because thou graspest the thunderbolt the king also repulsed Demoratus in anger at his request and was minded to be inasurable towards him and yet Themistocles bagged and obtained a reconciliation with him and it is sad that later kings also in whose reigns Persia and Helus came into closer relations as often as they asked for Helin to advise them promised him in writing everyone that he should be more influential at court than Themistocles and Themistocles himself they say now become great and courted by many said to his children when a splendid table was once set for him my children we should now have been undone had we not been undone before three cities as most writers say were given him for bread wine and meat namely Magnesia, Lemsakus and two others are added by Nienthus of Cisacus and by Phanias namely Percoti and Palaecepsis these for his bedding and raiment now as he was going down to the sea on his commission to deal with Hellenic affairs a persian, Epixias by name setrap of Upper Phrygia plotted against his life having for a long time kept certain Pesidians in readiness to slay him to reach the village called Lyon's Head and take up his night's quarters there but while Themistocles was asleep at mid-day before it is said that the mother of the gods appeared to him in a dream and said O Themistocles shun ahead of Lyon's that thou mightest not encounter Lyon and for this service to thee I demand of thee Nesitolema to be my handmaid much disturbed of course Themistocles with a prayer sent to the goddess for soup the highway made a circuit by another route and passing by that place at last as night came on took up his quarters now since one of the beasts of burden which carried the equipage of his tent had fallen into the river the servants of Themistocles hung up the curtains which had got wet and were drying them out the Pesidians at his juncture swore in hand made their approach and since they could not sit distinctly by the light of the moon what it was that was being dried they thought it was the tent of Themistocles and that they would find him a repose inside but when they drew near and lifted up the hanging they were fallen upon by the guards and apprehended thus Themistocles escaped the peril and because he was amazed at the epiphany of the goddess he built a temple in Magnesia in honor of Dindimini and made his daughter Nesitolema her priestess when he had come to Sardis and was viewing at his leisure the temples built there and the multitude of their dedicatory offerings and saw in the temple of the mother the so called water carrier a maid in bronze two cubits high when he was water commissioner at Athens had caused to be made and dedicated from the finds he exacted of those whom he convicted of stealing and tapping the public water whether it was because he felt some chagrin at the capture of the offering or because he wished to show the Athenians what honor and power he had in the king's service he addressed a proposition to the Lydian setrap and asked him to restore the maid to Athens but the barbarian was incensed and threatened to write a letter to the king about it where at Themistocles was afraid and so had recourse to the women's chambers and by winning the favor of the setraps concubines with money succeeded in assuaging his anger thereafter he behaved more circumspectly fearing now even the jealousy of the barbarians for he did not wonder about over Asia as Theopampus says but had a house in Magnesia and gathered in large gifts and was honored like the noblest persians and so lived on for a long time without concern because the king paid no heat at all to Hellenic affairs owing to his occupation with the state of the interior but when Egypt revolted with Athenian aid and Hellenic tridreams sailed up as far as Cyprus and Cilicia and Simon's mastery of the sea forced the king to resist the efforts of the Hellens and to hinder their hostile growth and when at last forces began to be moved and generals were dispatched hither and thither and messages came down to Themistocles saying that the king commended him to make good his promises and to bring himself to the Hellenic problem then, neither embittered by anything like anger against his former fellow citizens nor lifted up by the great honor and power he was to have in the war but possibly thinking his task not even approachable both because Hellas had other great generals at the time and especially because Simon was so marvelously successful in his campaigns yet, most of all out of regard for the reputation of his own achievements of those early days haven't decided that his best course was to put a fitting end to his life he made a sacrifice to the gods then, called his friends together gave them a farewell clasp of his hand and, as the current story goes drank Bull's blood or, as some say, took a quick poison and so died in Magnesia in the 65th year of his life most of which had been spent in political leadership they say that the king on learning the cause and the manner of his death admired the man yet more and continued to treat his friends and kindred with kindness Themistocles left three sons by Archipie the daughter of Lysander of the deem Allopica namely Archaptoleus, Polyoctus and Cleophantus the last of whom, Plato the philosopher mentions as a capital horseman but good for nothing else one of his two oldest sons Neoclass died in boyhood from the bite of a horse and Diodes was adopted by his grandfather Lysander he had several daughters of whom Neziptolema born of his second wife became the wife of Archaptoleus her half-brother Italia of Panthoides the Heian and Sibiris of Nicomedes the Athenian Nicomachie was given in marriage by her brothers to Frasiclis the nephew of Themistocles who sailed to Magnesia after his uncle's death and who also took charge of Asia the youngest of all the children the Magnesians have a splendid tomb of Themistocles in their marketplace and with regard to his remains Andesidus is worthy of no attention when he says, in his address to his associates that the Athenians stole away those remains and scattered them abroad for he is trying by his lies to incite the oligarchs against the people and Philarcus, too when, as if in a tragedy he all but erects a theatrical machine for this story and brings into the action a certain Euclis and Demopolis, sons of Themistocles which is merely to stir up Tumulcius' emotion his tale even an ordinary person must know it's fabricated Diodorus the topographer in his work on tombs says by conjecture rather than from actual knowledge that near the large harbor of the Piraeus a sort of elbow juts out from the promontory opposite Alzheimer's and that as you round this and come inside where the water of the sea is still there is a basement of goodly size and that the altar-like structure upon this is the tomb of Themistocles and he thinks that the comic poet Plato is a witness in favor of his view when he says thy tomb is mounted in a fair and sightly place the merchant man shall ever hail it dry, it shall behold those outward and those inward bound and all the emulous rivalry of race and ships for the lineal descendants of Themistocles there were also certain dignities maintained in Magnesia down to my time and the revenues of these were enjoyed by Themistocles of Athens who was my intimate and friend in the school of Amanias the philosopher End of Themistocles Part 4 of Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the noble Greeks and Romans translated by Bernadotte Perrine Camelus Part 1 Turning now to furious Camelus among the many notable things that are told of him this seems the most singular and strange namely that although in other offices of command he won many and great successes and although he was 5 times chosen dictator 4 times celebrated a triumph and was styled a second founder of Rome not even once was he consul the reason for this lay in the political conditions of his time the common people being at variance with the senate strove against the appointment of consuls and elected military tribunes to the command instead these although they always acted with consular authority and power were less obnoxious in their way because of their number for the fact that 6 men instead of 2 stood at the head of affairs was some comfort to those who were bitterly set against the rule of the few now it was at this period that Camelus came to the height of his achievements and fame and he would not consent to become consul over a reluctant people although during his career the city tolerated consular elections many times but in the many other and varied offices which he held he so conducted himself that even when the authority rightly belonged to him alone it was exercised in common with others while the glory that followed such exercise was his alone even when he shared the command in the first case it was his moderation that kept his rule from exciting envy in the second it was his ability that gave him the first place with none to dispute it at a time when the house of the fury was not yet very conspicuous he, by his own efforts was the first of his clan to achieve fame this he did in the great battle with the Iquans and Voskians serving under Postumius Tubertus the dictator dashing out on his horse in front of the army he did not abate his speed when he got a wound in the thigh but dragging the missile along with him in its wound he engaged the bravest of the enemy and put them to flight for this exploit among other owners bestowed upon him he was appointed censor in those days an office of great dignity there is on record a noble achievement of his censorship that of bringing the unmarried men partly by persuasion and partly by threatening them with fines to join in wedlock with the women who were living in widowhood and these were many because of the wars likewise a necessary achievement that of making the orphans who before this had contributed nothing to the support of the state subject to taxation the continuous campaigns demanding great old lays of money really required this especially burdensome was the siege of Veyi some call the people Veyentani the city was the barrier and bulwark of Tuscany in quantity of arms and multitude of soldiery no wit inferior to Rome indeed blooming herself on her wealth and on the refinement luxury and some tauntsness in which her citizens lived she had waged many noble contests for glory and power in her wars with the Romans at this time however she had been crushed in great battles and had given up her former ambitious pretensions but her people built their walls high and strong filled the city of armor, missiles, grain and every possible provision and confidantly endured their siege which though long was no less laborious and difficult for the besiegers these had been accustomed to short campaigns abroad as the summer season opened and to winters at home but then for the first time they had been compelled by their tribunes to build forts and fortify their camp and spend both summer and winter in the enemy's country the seventh year of the war being now nearly at an end for this their rulers were held to blame and finally deprived of their rule because they were sought to conduct the siege without energy others were chosen to carry on the war and one of these was Camelus now a tribune for the second time but for the present he had nothing to do with the siege since it fell to his lot to wage war with the Fallerians and the Capinates who, while the Romans had their hands full had often harried their territory and during all the Tuscan war had given them annoyance and trouble these were overwhelmed by Camelus in battle and shut up in their fastnesses with great loss of life and now when the war was at its climax the calamity of the Alban lake added its terrors it seemed a most incredible prodigy without familiar cause or natural explanation for the season was out and the summer just ended to all observation being neither rainy nor waxed by salt winds of the lakes, rivers and streams of all sizes with which Italy abounds some had failed utterly others barely managed to hold out and all the rivers ran low between high banks this was always the case in summer but the Alban lake which had its source and outlet within itself and was girt about with fertile mountains for no reason except it be that heaven built it was observed to increase and swell until it reached the skirts of the mountains and gradually touched their highest ridges all this rise was without surge or below at first it was a prodigy for neighboring shepherds and herdsmen but when the volume and weight of water broke away the barrier which, like an Isthmus had kept the lake from the country lying below it and a huge torrent poured down through the fields and vineyards and made its way to the sea then not only were the Romans themselves dismayed but all the inhabitants of Italy thought it a sign of no small evil to come there was much talk about it in the army that was besieging the Romans of Veyi so that even the besieged themselves heard of the calamity as was to be expected in a long siege requiring many meetings for conference with the enemy it fell out that a certain Roman became intimate and confidential with one of the citizens of Veyi a man versed in ancient oracles and repute advisors and the rest from his being a diviner the Romans saw that this man on hearing the story of the lake was overjoyed and made mock of the siege he therefore told him this was not the only wonder which the passing days had brought but that other and stranger signs than this had been given to the Romans of which he was minded to tell him in order that if possible he might better his own private case in the midst of the public distresses the man gave eager hearing to all this and consented to unconference supposing that he was going to hear some deep secrets but the Roman led him along little by little conversing as he went until there was some way beyond the city gate when he seized him bodily being a sturdier man than he and with the help of comrades who came running up from the camp mastered him completely and handed him over to the generals thus constrained and perceiving that faith decreased were not to be evaded the man revealed secret oracles regarding his native city to the effect that it could not be captured until the Alban lake after leaving its bed and making new channels for itself should be driven back by the enemy deflected from its course and prevented from mingling with the sea the senate on hearing this was at great loss what to do and thought it well to send an embassy to Delphi to consult the guard the envoys were men of great repute and influence Kosus Lycinius Valerius Potitus and Fabius Ambustus who made their voyage and came back with the responses of the guard one of these told them that certain ancestral rites connected with the so called Latin festivals had been unduly neglected another bade them by all means to keep the water of the Alban lake away from the sea and force it back into its ancient bed or if they could not effect this by means of canals and trenches to divert it into the plane and dissipate it on the receipt of these responses the priest performed the neglected sacrifices and the people solid out in these fields and diverted the course of the water in the tenth year of the war the senate abolished the other magistracies and appointed Camilo's dictator after choosing Cornelius Scipio as his master of horse in the first place he made solemn woes to the guards that in case the war had a glorious ending he would celebrate the great games in their honor and dedicate a temple to the goddess whom the Romans called Mater Matuta from the sacred rites used in the warship of this goddess she might be held to be almost identical with Loicosia the women bring a serving maid into the sanctuary and beat her with rods then drive her forth again they embrace their nephews and nieces in preference to their own children and their conduct at the sacrifice resembles that of the nurses of Dionysius or that of Eno under the afflictations put upon her by her husband's concubine after his woes Camilo's invaded the country of the Falescans and conquered them in a great battle together with the caponets who came up to their aid then he turned to the siege of Veyi and seeing the direct assault upon the city was a grievous and difficult matter he went to digging mines since the region around the city favored such works and allowed their being carried to agreed depths without the enemies knowing about it so then when his hopes were well on their way to fulfillment he himself assorted the city from the outside and thus called the enemy away to mend their walls while others secretly made their way along the mines and reached unnoticed the interior of the citadel where the temple of Juno stood the largest temple in the city and the one most held in honor there it is said at this very juncture the commander of the Tuscans chanced to be sacrificing and his seer when he beheld the entrails of the victim cried out with a loud voice and said that the god awarded victory to him who should fulfill that sacrifice the Romans in the mines below hearing this utterance quickly towed away the pavement of the temple and issued force with battle cries and the arms where at the enemy were terrified and fled away the sacrificial entrails were then seized and carried to Camilus but possibly this will seem like fable at any rate the city was taken by storm and the Romans were pillaging and plundering its boundless wealth when Camilus seeing from the citadel what was going on at first burst into tears as he stood on being congratulated by the bystanders lifted up his hands to the gods and prayed saying oh greatest Jupiter and the gods who see and judge men's good and evil deeds you surely know that it is not unjustly but of necessity and in self-defense that the Romans have visited its equity upon this city of hostile and lawless men but if it was to this our present success some retribution is due to came upon us spare, abesitu the city and the army of the Romans and let it fall upon my own head though with a little harm as may be with these words as the Romans custom is after prayer and adoration he veiled himself about to the right but stumbled and fell as he turned the bystanders were confounded but he picked himself up again from his fall and said my prayer is granted I, a slight fall, is my atonement for the greatest good fortune after he had utterly sucked the city he determined to transfer the image of Juno to Rome in accordance with his words the workmen were assembled for the purpose and Camelus was sacrificing and praying the goddess to accept of their zeal and to be a kindly codweller with the gods of Rome when the image they say spoke in low tones and said she was ready and willing but Levi says that Camelus did indeed lay his hand upon the goddess and pray and besiege her but that it was certain of the bystanders who gave answer that she was ready and willing and eager to go along with him those who insist upon and defend the marvel have a most powerful advocate for contention in the fortune of the city which from its small and despised beginning could never have come to such a pinnacle of glory and power had God not dealt with her and made many great manifestations of himself from time to time moreover they adduce other occurrences of a kindred sort such as statues often dripping with sweat images uttering audible groans turning away their faces and closing their eyes as not a few historians in the past have written and we ourselves might make mention of many astonishing things which we have heard from men of our own time things not lightly to be despised but in such matters eager credulity and excessive incredulity are alike dangerous because of the weakness of our human nature which sets no limits and has no mastery over itself but is carried away now into vain superstition and now into contemptuous neglect of the gods caution is best and to go to no extremes whether it was due to the magnitude of his exploit in taking a city which could view with Rome and endure a siege of ten years or to the congratulation showed upon him Camillus was lifted up to vanity cherished so far from becoming to a civil magistrate subject to the law and celebrated a triumph with great pomp he actually had four white horses harnessed to a chariot on which he mounted a draw through Rome a thing which no commander had ever done before or afterwards did for they sought such a car sacred and devoted to the king and father of the gods in this way he incurred the enmity of the citizens who were not accustomed to wanton extravagance they had also a second grievance against him in that he opposed himself to a law dividing the city the tribunes introduced a measure dividing the people and the senate into two parts one to remain and dwell there and the one on which the lot fell to remove into the city they had captured on the ground that they would thus be more commodiously bestowed large and fair cities could better protect their territory as well as their prosperity in general accordingly the people which was now become numerous and poor welcomed the measure with delight and was forever thronging to multiously about the roster with demands that they'd be put to vote but the senate and the most influential of the other citizens considered that the measure proposed by the tribunes meant not division but destruction for Rome and in their aversion to it went to Camillus for aid and succor he, dreading the struggle always contrived to keep the people busy with other matters and so staved off the passage of the bill for this reason then they were vexed with him but the strongest and most apparent reason was the multitude hated him was based on the matter of the tense of the spoil of vei and herein they had a plausible though not a very just ground of complaint he had vowed as it seems on setting out against vei that if he should take the city he would consecrate the tense of its booty to the Delphi and God but after the city had been taken and sacked he allowed his soldiers full enjoyment as their plunder either because he shrank from annoying them or because in the multitude of his activities he as good as forgot his vow at a later time when he had laid down his command he referred the matter to the senate and the seers announced tokens in their sacrifices that the gods were angry and must be propitiated with due offerings the senate voted not that the booty should be redistributed for that would have been a difficult matter but that those who had got it should in person and under oath bring the tense thereof to the public treasury this subjected the soldiers to many vexations and constraints they were poor men who had toiled hard and yet were now forced to contribute a large share of what they had gained yes and spent already best set by their tumultuous complaints and at loss for a better excuse Camillus had recourse to the absurdest of all explanations and admitted that he had forgotten his vow the soldiers were filled with indignation at the thought that it was the goods of the enemy of which he had once vowed at this but the goods of his fellow citizens from which he was now paying the tithes however all of them brought in the necessary portion and it was decided to make a bowl of massive gold and send it to Delphi now there was a scarcity of gold in the city and the magistrates knew not once it could be had so the women of their own accord deteriorated to give the gold ornaments which they wore upon their persons for the offering and these amounted to a talent's weight the women were fittingly rewarded by the senate which voted that thereafter when women died a suitable ology should be spoken over them as our men for it was not customary before that time when a woman died that a public anconium should be pronounced then they choose three of the noblest citizens as envoys men with its full complement of their best sailors a ship of war decked out in festile array and sent them on their way calm at sea has its perils as well as storm it would seem at least so it proved in this case envoys and crew came within an ace of destruction and found escape from their peril when they least expected it of the Aolean Isles as the wind died down some riparian galleys put out against them taking them for pirates the enemy had sufficient regard to their prayers and supplications not to run their vessel down but they took it in town brought it to land and proclaimed their goods in persons for sale judging them piratical at last and with much ado through the brave intercession of a single man Timas Scythios, their general the riparians were persuaded to let the captives go this men then launched boats of his own convoyed the suppliants on their way and assisted them in the dedication of their offering for this he received suitable owners at Rome once more the tribunes of the people urged the passage of the law for the division of the city but the war with the phalliscans came on opportunity and gave the leading men occasion to hold such elective assemblies as they wished and to appoint Camelus military tribune with five others the emergency was thought to demand a leader with the dignity and reputation which experience alone could give after the people had ratified the election Camelus at the head of his army invaded the territory of the phalliscans and laid siege to Valeri a strong city and well equipped with all the munitions of war it was not that he thought its capture would demand slight effort or short time but he wished to turn the thoughts of the citizens to other matters and keep them busy therein that they might not be able to stay at home and become the prey of seditious leaders this was a fitting and sovereign remedy which the Romans used like good physicians thereby expelling from the body politic its troublesome distractors the phallarians relying on the great strength of their city at all points made so light of the siege that with the exception of the defenders of the walls the rest went up and down the city in their garb of beasts the boys went to school as usual and were brought by their teacher along the walls outside to walk about and get their exercise for the phallarians like the Greeks employed one teacher in common wishing their boys from the very start to herd with one another and grow up together this teacher then wishing to betray phallery by means of its boys let them out every day beyond the city walls at first only a little way and then brought them back inside when they had taken their exercise presently he led them little by little farther and farther out accustomed them to feel confident that there was no danger at all and finally pushed in among the Roman outpost with his whole company handed them over to the enemy and demanded to be led to Camelus so led and in that presence he said he was a boys school teacher but choose rather to win the general's favor than to fulfill the duties of his office and so had come bringing to him the city in the persons of its boys it seemed to Camelus on hearing him that the men had done a monstrous deed and turning to the bystanders he said war is indeed a grievous thing and is waged with much injustice and violence but even war has certain laws which good and brave men will respect and we must not so hotly pursue victory as not to flee the favors of base and empires doers the great general will wage war relying on his own native valor not on the baseness of other men then he ordered his attendants to tear the men's clothing from him tie his arms behind his back and put rods and scourges in the hands of the boys that they might chase this traitor and drive him back into the city the Fallerans had just become aware of the teacher's treachery and the whole city as was natural was filled with lamentation over calamities so great men and women alike rushed distractedly to the walls and gates when low there came the boys bringing their teacher back stripped bound and mutilated while they called Camelus their savior their father and their god on this wise not only the parents of the boys but the rest of the citizens as well when they beheld the spectacle were seized with admiration and longing for the righteousness of Camelus in haste they held an assembly and sent envoys to him entrusting him with their lives and fortunes these envoys Camelus sent to Rome standing in the senate they declared that the Romans by esteeming righteousness above victory had taught them to love defeat above freedom not so much because they thought themselves inferior in strength as because they confessed themselves vanguished in virtue on the senate's remanding to Camelus the decision and disposition of the matter he took us some of money from the Fallerans established friendship with all the Falliscans and withdrew but the soldiers thought to have had the sacking of Fallery and when they came back to Rome empty handed they denounced that Camelus to the rest of the citizens as the hater of the common people and as begrudging to the poor the enjoyment of their rightful booty and when the tribunes once more put forward the law for the division of the city and summoned the people to vote upon it then Camelus showing no hatred nor any boldness of utterance was manifestly the chief one forcing the multitude away from its desires therefore they did indeed reject the law much against their will but they were wroth with Camelus so that even when he met with domestic affliction and lost one of his two sons by sickness their wroth was in no wise softened by pity and yet he set no bounds to his sorrow being by nature a gentle and kindly man but even after the indictment against him had been published he suffered his grief to keep him at home in close seclusion with the woman of his household well then his accuser was Lucius Apuleius and the charge was theft of two-scan goods it was said for sooth that certain bronze doors belonging to the booty had been seen at his house but the people were exasperated and would plainly lay hold of any pretext whatever for condemning him so then he assembled his friends and comrades in arms who were many in number and begged them not to suffer him to be convicted on base charges and to be bathed a laughing stock by his foes when his friends had laid their heads together and discussed the case they answered that as they regarded his trial they thought they could be of no help to him but if he were punished with a fine they would help him pay it this he could not endure and in his wrath determined to depart the city and go into exile accordingly after he had kissed his wife and son goodbye he went from his house in silence as far as the gate of the city there he stopped turned himself about and stretching his hands out towards the capital prayed the gods that if with no justice but through the wantonness of the people he was now being driven from his country the Romans might speedily repent and show to all men that they needed and longed for Camillus End of Camillus part 1