Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
altar of Peace upon this occasion, and decreed particular honors to
Callias, who was employed as ambassador to procure the treaty.
The people of Athens raised so much money from the spoils of this
war, which were publicly sold, that, besides other expenses, and
raising the south wall of the citadel, they laid the foundation of
the long walls, not, indeed, finished till at a later time, which
were called the Legs. And the place where they built them being soft
and marshy ground, they were forced to sink great weights of stone
and rubble to secure the foundation, and did all this out of the
money Cimon supplied them with. It was he, likewise, who first
embellished the upper city with those fine and ornamental places of
exercise and resort, which they afterward so much frequented and
delighted in. He set the market-place with plane trees; and the
Academy, which was before a bare, dry, and dirty spot, he converted
into a well-watered grove, with shady alleys to walk in, and open
courses for races.
When the Persians who had made themselves masters of the Chersonese,
so far from quitting it, called in the people of the interior of
Thrace to help them against Cimon, whom they despised for the
smallness of his forces, he set upon them with only four galleys, and
took thirteen of theirs; and having driven out the Persians, and
subdued the Thracians, he made the whole Chersonese the property of
Athens. Next, he attacked the people of Thasos, who had revolted
from the Athenians; and, having defeated them in a fight at sea,
where he took thirty-three of their vessels, he took their town by
siege, and acquired for the Athenians all the mines of gold on the
opposite coast, and the territory dependent on Thasos. This opened
him a fair passage into Macedon, so that he might, it was thought,
have acquired a good portion of that country; and because he
neglected the opportunity, he was suspected of corruption, and of
having been bribed off by king Alexander. So, by the combination of
his adversaries, he was accused of being false to his country. In
his defense he told the judges, that he had always shown himself in
his public life the friend, not, like other men, of rich Ionians and
Thessalians, to be courted, and to receive presents, but of the
Lacedaemonians; for as he admired, so he wished to imitate the
plainness of their habits, their temperance, and simplicity of
living, which he preferred to any sort of riches; but that he always
had been, and still was proud to enrich his country with the spoils
of her enemies. Stesimbrotus, making mention of this trial, states
that Elpinice, in behalf of her brother, addressed herself to
Pericles, the most vehement of his accusers, to whom Pericles
answered, with a smile, "You are old, Elpinice, to meddle with
affairs of this nature." However, he proved the mildest of his
prosecutors, and rose up but once all the while, almost as a matter
of form, to plead against him. Cimon was acquitted.
In his public life after this, he continued, whilst at home, to
control and restrain the common people, who would have trampled upon
the nobility, and drawn all the power and sovereignty to themselves.
But when he afterwards was sent out to war, the multitude broke
loose, as it were, and overthrew all the ancient laws and customs
they had hitherto observed, and, chiefly at the instigation of
Ephialtes, withdrew the cognizance of almost all causes from the
Areopagus; so that all jurisdiction now being transferred to them,
the government was reduced to a perfect democracy, and this by the
help of Pericles, who was already powerful, and had pronounced in
favor of the common people. Cimon, when he returned, seeing the
authority of this great council so upset, was exceedingly troubled,
and endeavored to remedy these disorders by bringing the courts of
law to their former state, and restoring the old aristocracy of the
time of Clisthenes. This the others declaimed against with all the
vehemence possible, and began to revive those stories concerning him
and his sister, and cried out against him as the partisan of the
Lacedaemonians. To these calumnies the famous verses of Eupolis, the
poet upon Cimon refer: --
He was as good as others that one sees,
But he was fond of drinking and of ease;
And would at nights to Sparta often roam,
Leaving his sister desolate at home.
But if, though slothful and a drunkard, he could capture so many
towns, and gain so many victories, certainly if he had been sober and
minded his business, there had been no Grecian commander, either
before or after him, that could have surpassed him for exploits of
war.
He was, indeed, a favorer of the Lacedaemonians even from his youth,
and he gave the names of Lacedaemonius and Eleus to two sons, twins,
whom he had, as Stesimbrotus says, by a woman of Clitorium, whence
Pericles often upbraided them with their mother's blood. But
Diodorus, the geographer, asserts that both these, and another son of
Cimon's, whose name was Thessalus, were born of Isodice, the daughter
of Euryptolemus, the son of Megacles.
However, this is certain, that Cimon was countenanced by the
Lacedaemonians in opposition to Themistocles, whom they disliked; and
while he was yet very young, they endeavored to raise and increase
his credit in Athens. This the Athenians perceived at first with
pleasure, and the favor the Lacedaemonians showed him was in various
ways advantageous to them and their affairs; as at that time they
were just rising to power, and were occupied in winning the allies to
their side. So they seemed not at all offended with the honor and
kindness showed to Cimon, who then had the chief management of all
the affairs of Greece, and was acceptable to the Lacedaemonians, and
courteous to the allies. But afterwards the Athenians, grown more
powerful, when they saw Cimon so entirely devoted to the
Lacedaemonians, began to be angry, for he would always in his
speeches prefer them to the Athenians, and upon every occasion, when
he would reprimand them for a fault, or incite them to emulation, he
would exclaim, "The Lacedaemonians would not do thus." This raised
the discontent, and got him in some degree the hatred of the
citizens; but that which ministered chiefly to the accusation against
him fell out upon the following occasion.
In the fourth year of the reign of Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus,
king of Sparta, there happened in the country of Lacedaemon, the
greatest earthquake that was known in the memory of man; the earth
opened into chasms, and the mountain Taygetus was so shaken, that
some of the rocky points of it fell down, and except five houses, all
the town of Sparta was shattered to pieces. They say, that a little
before any motion was perceived, as the young men and the boys just
grown up were exercising themselves together in the middle of the
portico, a hare, of a sudden, started out just by them, which the
young men, though all naked and daubed with oil, ran after for sport.
No sooner were they gone from the place, than the gymnasium fell down
upon the boys who had stayed behind, and killed them all. Their tomb
is to this day called Sismatias. Archidamus, by the present danger
made apprehensive of what might follow, and seeing the citizens
intent upon removing the most valuable of their goods out of their
houses, commanded an alarm to be sounded, as if an enemy were coming
upon them, in order that they should collect about him in a body,
with arms. It was this alone that saved Sparta at that time, for the
Helots were got together from the country about, with design to
surprise the Spartans, and overpower those whom the earthquake had
spared. But finding them armed and well prepared, they retired into
the towns and openly made war with them, gaining over a number of the
Laconians of the country districts; while at the same time the
Messenians, also, made an attack upon the Spartans, who therefore
dispatched Periclidas to Athens to solicit succors, of whom
Aristophanes says in mockery that he came and
In a red jacket, at the altars seated,
With a white face, for men and arms entreated.
This Ephialtes opposed, protesting that they ought not to raise up or
assist a city that was a rival to Athens; but that being down, it
were best to keep her so, and let the pride and arrogance of Sparta
be trodden under. But Cimon, as Critias says, preferring the safety
of Lacedaemon to the aggrandizement of his own country, so persuaded
the people, that he soon marched out with a large army to their
relief. Ion records, also, the most successful expression which he
used to move the Athenians. "They ought not to suffer Greece to be
lamed, nor their own city to be deprived of her yoke-fellow."
In his return from aiding the Lacedaemonians, he passed with his army
through the territory of Corinth; where upon Lachartus reproached him
for bringing his army into the country, without first asking leave of
the people. For he that knocks at another man's door ought not to
enter the house till the master gives him leave. "But you,
Corinthians, O Lachartus," said Cimon, "did not knock at the gates of
the Cleonaeans and Megarians, but broke them down, and entered by
force, thinking that all places should be open to the stronger." And
having thus rallied the Corinthian, he passed on with his army. Some
time after this, the Lacedaemonians sent a second time to desire
succors of the Athenians against the Messenians and Helots, who had
seized upon Ithome. But when they came, fearing their boldness and
gallantry, of all that came to their assistance, they sent them only
back, alleging they were designing innovations. The Athenians
returned home, enraged at this usage, and vented their anger upon all
those who were favorers of the Lacedaemonians; and seizing some
slight occasion, they banished Cimon for ten years, which is the time
prescribed to those that are banished by the ostracism. In the mean
time, the Lacedaemonians, on their return after freeing Delphi from
the Phocians, encamped their army at Tanagra, whither the Athenians
presently marched with design to fight them.
Cimon, also, came thither armed, and ranged himself among those of
his own tribe, which was the Oeneis, desirous of fighting with the
rest against the Spartans; but the council of five hundred being
informed of this, and frighted at it, his adversaries crying out he
would disorder the army, and bring the Lacedaemonians to Athens,
commanded the officers not to receive him. Wherefore Cimon left the
army, conjuring Euthippus, the Anaphlystian, and the rest of his
companions, who were most suspected as favoring the Lacedaemonians,
to behave themselves bravely against their enemies, and by their
actions make their innocence evident to their countrymen. These, being
in all a hundred, took the arms of Cimon and followed his advice; and
making a body by themselves, fought so desperately with the enemy,
that they were all cut off, leaving the Athenians deep regret for
the loss of such brave men, and repentance for having so unjustly
suspected them. Accordingly, they did not long retain their severity
toward Cimon, partly upon remembrance of his former services, and
partly, perhaps, induced by the juncture of the times. For being
defeated at Tanagra in a great battle, and fearing the Peloponnesians
would come upon them at the opening of the spring, they recalled
Cimon by a decree, of which Pericles himself was author. So
reasonable were men's resentments in those times, and so moderate
their anger, that it always gave way to the public good. Even
ambition, the least governable of all human passions, could then
yield to the necessities of the State.
Cimon, as soon as he returned, put an end to the war, and reconciled