Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and RomansPlutarch
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
Plutarch
Greece -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
Herodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was held to
have performed the best service in the war; while all single men yielded
to Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when they
returned to the entrance of Peloponnesus, where the several commanders
delivered their suffrages at the altar, to determine who was most
worthy, every one gave the first vote for himself and the second for
Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians carried him with them to Sparta,
where, giving the rewards of valor to Eurybiades, and of wisdom and
conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with olive, presented him with
the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred young men to
accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the next Olympic
games, when Themistocles entered the course, the spectators took no
farther notice of those who were contesting the prizes, but spent the
whole day in looking upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring
him, and applauding him by clapping their hands, and other expressions
of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, confessed to his friends
that he then reaped the fruit of all his labors for the Greeks.
He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is evident from
the anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he
would not quite conclude any single matter of business, either public or
private, but deferred all till the day they were to set sail, that, by
dispatching a great quantity of business all at once, and having to meet
a great variety of people, he might make an appearance of greatness and
power. Viewing the dead bodies cast up by the sea, he perceived
bracelets and necklaces of gold about them, yet passed on, only showing
them to a friend that followed him, saying, "Take you these things, for
you are not Themistocles." He said to Antiphates, a handsome young man,
who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory courted him, "Time, young
man, has taught us both a lesson." He said that the Athenians did not
honor him or admire him, but made, as it were, a sort of plane-tree of
him; sheltered themselves under him in bad weather, and, as soon as it
was fine, plucked his leaves and cut his branches. When the Seriphian
told him that he had not obtained this honor by himself, but by the
greatness of his city, he replied, "You speak truth; I should never have
been famous if I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens."
When another of the generals, who thought he had performed considerable
service for the Athenians, boastingly compared his actions with those of
Themistocles, he told him that once upon a time the Day after the
Festival found fault with the Festival: "On you there is nothing but
hurry and trouble and preparation, but, when I come, everybody sits down
quietly and enjoys himself;" which the Festival admitted was true, but
"if I had not come first, you would not have come at all." "Even so,"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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