 Part 9 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 Graham Redman. Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Aristides Part 2. But in the third year thereafter, when Xerxes was marching through Thessaly and Biosha against Attica, they repealed their law of ostracism, and voted that those who had been sent away under it might return. The chief reason for this was their fear of Aristides, lest he attach himself to the enemy's cause, and corrupt and pervert many of his fellow citizens to the side of the barbarian. But they much misjudged the man. Even before this decree of theirs, he was ever inciting and urging the Hellenes to win their freedom, and after it was passed, when the mysticlies was general with soul powers, he assisted him in every undertaking and council, although he thereby, for the sake of the general safety, made his chiefest foe the most famous of men. Thus when Eurebiades wished to abandon Salamis, but the barbarian triremes putting out by night had encompassed the strait where he lay round about, and had beset the islands therein, and no Hellene knew of this encompassment, Aristides came over to them from Aegina, venturously sailing through the enemy's ships. He went at once by night to the tent of the mysticlies, and called him forth alone. O the mysticlies, said he, if we are wise, we shall at last lay aside our vain and purile contention, and begin a salutary and honourable rivalry with one another in emulous struggles to save Helas. Thou, as commanding general, I, as assistant counsellor. Since at the very outset I learned that thou art the only one who has adopted the best policy, urging as thou dost to fight a decisive sea-fight here in the narrows as soon as may be. And though thine allies oppose thee, thy foes would seem to assist thee, for the sea round about and behind us is already filled with hostile ships, so that even our unwilling ones must now of necessity be brave men and fight. Indeed no way of escape is left. To this the mysticlies replied, I should not have wished O Aristides to find thee superior to me here, but I shall try to emulate thy fair beginning, and to surpass thee in my actions. At the same time he told Aristides of the trick that he had contrived against the barbarian, and entreated him to show Eurebiades convincingly inasmuch as he had the greater credit with that commander, that there was no safety except in a sea-fight. So it happened in the council of generals that Cleocritus the Corinthian declared to the mysticlies that Aristides also was opposed to his plan, since he, though present, held his peace. Aristides at once replied that he would not have held his peace had not the mysticlies counseled for the best, but as it was he kept quiet, not out of any good will to the man, but because he approved of his plan. While the captains of the Hellenes were acting on this plan, Aristides noticed that Sitaliah, a small island lying in the straits in front of Salamis, was full of the enemy. He therefore embarked in small boats the most ardent and the most warlike of the citizens, made a landing on Sitaliah, joined battle with the barbarians and slew them all, and saved the few conspicuous men who were taken alive. Among these were three sons of the king's sister, Sandalsi, whom his straight way sent to the mysticlies, and it is said that in obedience to some oracle or other, and at the bidding of Euphrantides the Seer, they were sacrificed to Dionysus Carnivorous. Then Aristides lined the islets all round with his hoplites and lay in wait for any who should be cast up there, that no friend might perish and no foe escape. For the greatest crowding of the ships and the most strenuous part of the battle seems to have been in this region, and for this reason a trophy was erected on Sitaliah. After the battle, the mysticlies, by way of sounding Aristides, said that the deed they had now performed was a noble one, but a greater still remained, and that was to capture Asia in Europe by sailing up to the helispont as fast as they could and cutting in twain the bridges there. But Aristides cried out with a loud voice and bared him abandon the proposal and seek rather with all diligence how they might most speedily expel the mead from Hellas, lest, being shut in and unable to make his escape, from sheer necessity he throw this vast force of his upon the defensive. So the mysticlies sent once more the eunuch Arneses, a prisoner of war, bidding him tell the king that the Hellenes had actually set out on the voyage to attack the bridges, but that he, the mysticlies, had succeeded in turning them back, wishing to save the king. At this Xerxes grew exceeding fearful and hurried straight to the helispont. But Mardonius, with the flower of the army, to the number of three hundred thousand men was left behind. He was a formidable adversary, and because his confidence in his infantry was strong, he wrote threateningly to the Hellenes, saying, You have conquered with your maritime timbers landsmen who know not how to ply the oar, but now broad is the land of Thessaly and fare the plain of Beotia for brave horsemen and men at arms to contend in. But to the Athenians he sent separate letters and proposals from the king, who promised to rebuild their city, give them much money, and make them lords of the Hellenes if only they would cease fighting against him. When the Lacedaemonians learned this, they took fright, and sent an embassy to Athens, begging the Athenians to dispatch their wives and children to Sparta, and to accept from her a support for their aged and infirm. For great was the distress among the people, since it had so recently lost both land and city. However, after listening to the embassy on motion of Aristides, they answered with an admirable answer, declaring that they could be tolerant with their foes for supposing that everything was to be bought for wealth and money, since their foes could conceive of nothing higher than these things. But they were indignant at the Lacedaemonians for having an eye only to the penury and indigence that now reigned at Athens, and for being so unmindful of the valour and ambition of the Athenians as to exhort them to contend for Helas merely to win their rations. When Aristides had made this motion and had introduced the waiting embassies into the assembly, he bade the Lacedaemonians tell their people that there was not bulk of gold above or below ground, so large that the Athenians would take it in payment for the freedom of the Helians, and to the messengers of Mardonius he said, pointing to the sun, As long as Yonder sun journeys his appointed journey, so long will the Athenians wage war against the Persians in behalf of the land which has been ravaged by them, and of the temples which they have defiled and consumed with fire. Still further he made a motion that the priests should solemnly curse all who came to Aparli with the Medes or forsook the alliance of the Helians. When Mardonius for the second time invaded Attica again the people crossed over to Salamis. Then Aristides, who had been sent as envoy to Lacedaemon, invade against their sluggishness and indifference in that they had once more abandoned Athens to the barbarian and demanded that they go to the aid of what was still left of Helas. On hearing this the Ephes, as long as it was day, publicly desported themselves in easygoing festival fashion, for it was their festival of the higher Cynthia. But in the night they selected five thousand Spartans, each of whom had seven helots to attend upon him, and sent them forth without the knowledge of the Athenians. So when Aristides came before them with renewed invectives they laughed, and said he was but a sleepy babbler, for that their army was already in Arcadia on its march against the Strangers. They called the Persians Strangers. But Aristides declared they were jesting out of all season for as much as they were deceiving their friends instead of their enemies. This is the way Edomineus tells the story. But in the decree which Aristides caused to be passed, he himself is not named as envoy, but Simon, Xanthippus and Myronides. Having been elected general with sole powers in view of the expected battle, he came to Plataea at the head of eight thousand Athenian hoplites. There Porcenias also, the commander-in-chief of the whole Hellenic army, joined him with his Spartans, and the forces of the rest of the Helens kept streaming up. Now generally speaking there was no limit to the encampment of the barbarians as it lay stretched out along the river Ossopus so vast was it. But round their baggage trains and chief headquarters they built a quadrangular wall whereof each side was ten stadia in length. To Porcenias and all the Helens under him, Tissamines, the Illion, made prophecy and foretold victory for them if they acted on the defensive and did not advance to the attack. But Aristides sent to Delphi and received from the god response that the Athenians would be superior to their foes if they made vows to Zeus, Scythiaeronian Hera, Pan and the Sragitic Nymphs, paid sacrifices to the heroes Andocrates, Leucon, Pysandrus, Democrates, Hypceon, Actaeon and Polyidus, and if they sustained the peril of battle on their own soil in the plain of Eleusinian Demeter and Cora. When this oracle was reported to Aristides it perplexed him greatly. The heroes to whom he was to sacrifice were, it was true, ancient dignitaries of the Platians, and the cave of the Sragitic Nymphs was on one of the peaks of Scythiaeron facing the summer sunsets. And in it there was also an oracle in former days, as they say, and many of the natives were possessed of the oracular power, and these were called Nympholepii or Nymphpossessed. But the plain of Eleusinian Demeter and the promise of victory to the Athenians if they fought the battle in their own territory called them back as it were to Attica and changed the seat of war. At this time the general of the Platians, Aaron Nestus, had a dream in which he thought he was accosted by Zeus the Saviour and asked what the Hellenes had decided to do, and replied, On the morrow, my lord, we are going to lead our army back to Eleusis and fight out our issue with the barbarians there in accordance with the Pythian oracle. Then the gods said they were entirely in error, for the Pythian oracles' places were there in the neighborhood of Platia, and if they sought them they would surely find them. All this was made so vivid to Aaron Nestus that as soon as he awoke he summoned the oldest and most experienced of his fellow-citizens. By conference and investigations with these he discovered that near his E.E. at the foot of Mount Scythian there was a very ancient temple bearing the names of Eleusinian Demeter and Korah. Straight away then he took Aristides and led him to the spot. They found that it was naturally very well suited to the array of infantry against a force that was superior in cavalry, since the spurs of Scythian made the edges of the plain adjoining the temple unfit for horsemen. There too was the shrine of the hero Andocrates, hard by, enveloped in a grove of dense and shady trees. And besides that the oracle might leave no rift in the hope of victory, the Platians voted on motion of Aaron Nestus to remove the boundaries of Platia on the side toward Attica, and to give this territory to the Athenians that so they might contend in defensive halas on their own soil in accordance with the oracle. This munificence of the Platians became so celebrated that Alexander many years afterwards, when he was now King of Asia, built the walls of Platia and had proclamation made by Herald at the Olympic Games that the King bestowed this grace upon the Platians in return for their bravery and magnanimity in freely bestowing their territory upon the Hellenes in the Median War, and so showing themselves most zealous of all. Now with the Athenians the men of Tegea came to strife regarding their position in the line. They claimed that, as had always been the case, since the Lacedaemonians held the right wing, they themselves should hold the left, and in support of their claim they sounded loudly the praises of their ancestors. The Athenians were incensed, and Aristides came forward and made this speech. To argue with the men of Tegea about noble birth and bravery there is surely no time now, but we declare to you, O Spartans, and to the rest of the Hellenes, that Valor is not taken away from a man, nor is it given him by his position in the line. Whatsoever post ye shall assign to us we will endeavour to maintain and adorn it, and so bring no disgrace upon the contests we have made before. We are come not to quarrel with our allies, but to do battle with our foes, not to heap praises on our fathers, but to show ourselves brave men in the service of Hellas. It is this contest which will show how much any city or captain or private soldier is worth to Hellas. On hearing this the consulers and leaders declared for the Athenians and assigned to them the other wing. While Hellas was thus in suspense, and Athens especially in danger, certain men of that city who were of prominent families and large wealth, but had been impoverished by the war, saw that with their riches all their influence in the city and their reputation had departed, while other men now had the honours and offices. They therefore met together secretly at a certain house in Plotier, and conspired to overthrow the democracy, or, if their plans did not succeed, to injure the general cause and betray it to the barbarians. Such was the agitation in the camp, and many had already been corrupted when Aristides got wind of the matter, and fearful of the crisis that favoured the plot, determined not to leave the matter in neglect, nor yet to bring it wholly to the light, since it could not be known how many would be implicated by a test which was based on justice rather than expediency. Accordingly he arrested some eight or so of the many conspirators. Two of these, against whom the charge was first formally brought, and who were really the most guilty ones, Eskinese of Lamptree and Egesias of Acani, fled the camp. The rest he released, affording thus an opportunity for encouragement and repentance to those who still thought they had escaped detection, and suggested to them that the war was a great tribunal for their acquittal from the charges made against them, provided they took sincere and righteous counsel in behalf of their country. After this, Mardonius made trial of the Helens with that arm of his service in which he thought himself most superior. He dispatched all his cavalry against them as they lay encamped at the foot of Scythyrin in positions that were rugged and rocky, all except the Megarians. These, to the number of three thousand, were encamped the rather in open plain. For this reason they suffered severely at the hands of the cavalry which poured in tides against them, and found access to them on every side. Accordingly they sent a messenger in haste to Pozenius, bidding him come to their aid, since they were unable of themselves to withstand the host of the barbarians. Pozenius, on hearing this, and seeing at once that the camp of the Megarians was as good as hidden from view by the multitude of the enemies' javelins and arrows, and that its defenders were huddled together in narrow quarters, on his own part had no way of rendering them aid against horsemen, since his phalanx of Spartans was full armoured and slow of movement. But to the rest of the generals and captains of the Helens who were about him, he proposed, in order to stir up their valour and ambition, that some of them should volunteer to make contention for the sucker of the Megarians. The rest all hesitated, but Aristides in behalf of the Athenians undertook the task and dispatched his most zealous captain Olympiadorus with the three hundred picked men of his command, and archers mingled with them. These quickly arrayed themselves and advanced to the attack on the run. Magistius, the commander of the barbarian cavalry, a man of wonderful prowess and of surpassing stature and beauty of person, saw them coming, and at once fuelled his horse to face them and charged down upon them. Then there was a mighty struggle between those who withstood and those who made the charge, since both regarded this as a test of the whole issue between them. Presently the horse of Magistius was hit with an arrow and through his rider, who lay where he fell unable to raise himself so heavy was his armour, and yet he was no easy prey to the Athenians though they pressed upon him and smote him, for not only his chest and head, but also his limbs were encased in gold and bronze and iron. But at last with the spike of a javelin through the eye-hole of his helmet he was smitten to the death, and the rest of the Persians abandoned his body and fled. The magnitude of their success was known to the Helens not from the multitude of those they slew, for few had fallen, but from the grief of the barbarians, for they shore their own hair in tribute to Magistius and that of their horses and mules, and filled the plain with their wailing cries. They felt that they had lost a man who, after Mardonius himself, was by far the first in valour and authority. End of Eris Didis Part 2 Recording by Graham Redman Part 10 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 Graham Redman Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Translated by Bernadotte Perrin Eris Didis Part 3 After this cavalry battle both sides refrained from further fighting for a long time since only as they acted on the defensive would victory be theirs, so the soothsayers interpreted the sacrifices alike for Persians and Helians, but if they attacked, defeat. At last Mardonius, since he had supplies remaining for only a few days and since the Helians were ever increasing in number as fresh bodies joined them, impatiently determined to wait no longer, but to cross the Ossopus at daybreak and attack the Athenians unexpectedly. During the evening he gave the watchword to his commanders. But about midnight a solitary horseman quietly approached the camp of the Helians and falling in with the outposts ordered that Eris Didis the Athenian come to him. He was speedily obeyed and then said, I am Alexander the Macedonian and I am calm at the greatest peril to myself out of my good will to ward you, that no suddenness of attack may frighten you into inferior fighting. Mardonius will surely give battle on the morrow, not because he has substantial hope or even courage, but because he is destitute of provisions. His soothsayers indeed are trying to keep him from battle by unpropitious sacrifices and oracular utterances, while his army is full of dejection and consternation, but he must needs boldly try his fortune or sit still and endure extremist destitution. When he had told him this, Alexander begged Eris Didis to keep the knowledge to himself and bear it well in mind, but to tell it to none other. Eris Didis replied that it was not honourable to conceal this knowledge from Porcenias since it was on him that the supreme command devolved, but that it should not be told the other leaders before the battle, though in case Helas were victorious, no man should remain ignorant of Alexander's zeal and valor. After this conversation the king of the Macedonians rode off back again and Eris Didis went to the tent of Porcenias and told him all that had been said. Then they summoned the other leaders and gave them orders to keep the army in array since there was to be a battle. At this juncture, as Herodotus relates, Porcenias sent word to Eris Didis demanding that the Athenians change their position and array themselves on the right wing over against the Persians where they would contend better, he said, since they were versed already in the Persian style of fighting and emboldened by a previous victory over them. The left wing where the meadising Helens were going to attack should be entrusted to himself and his Spartans. The rest of the Athenian generals thought it inconsiderate and annoying in Porcenias to leave the rest of his line in the position assigned while he moved them and them only back and forth like helots and put them forward where the fighting was to be hottest. But Eris Didis declared that they were utterly wrong. They had contended emulously with the Tijians but a little while back for the occupation of the left wing and plumed themselves on being preferred before those rivals. But now, when the Lacedaemonians of their own accord vacated the right wing for them and after a fashion profered them the leadership among the Helens, they neither welcomed the reputation thus to be won nor counted it gained that their contention would thus be not with men of the same tribes and kindreds but rather with barbarians and natural enemies. Upon this the Athenians very willingly exchanged posts with the Spartans and the word passed from lip to lip far through their ranks that their enemies would attack them with no better arms and with no braver spirits than at Marathon. Nay, with the same kind of archery as then and with the same variegated vesture and gold adornments to cover soft bodies and unmanly spirits. While we have not only like arms and bodies with our brethren of that day but that greater courage which is born of our victories and our contest is not alone for land and city as theirs was but also for the trophies which they set up at Marathon and Salamis in order that the world may think that not even those were due to Miltiades only or to Fortune but to the Athenians. The Spartans and Athenians then were busily engaged in exchanging posts but the Thebans heard of it from deserters and told Mardonius. He at once, whether through fear of the Athenians or out of ambition to engage with the Lacedaemonians counter-changed his Persians to the right wing and ordered the Helians with him to set themselves against the Athenians. When this change in his enemies' order of battle was manifest Porcenius returned and occupied the right wing again where upon Mardonius also resumed his own left wing just as he stood at the beginning facing the Lacedaemonians and thus the day came to an end without action. The Helians on deliberation decided to change their camp to a position farther on and to secure a spot where there was plenty of good water since the neighbouring springs were defiled and ruined by the barbarian superior force of captivity. Night came on and the generals set out to lead their forces to the appointed encampment. The soldiers, however, showed no great eagerness to follow in close order but when they had once abandoned their first defences most of them hurried on toward the city of Plataea where their tumult reigned as they scattered about and encamped in no order whatsoever. But it chanced that the Lacedaemonians were left alone behind the others and that too against their will. For a mompharitas, a man of a fierce and venturesome spirit who had long been mad for battle and distressed by the many postponements and delays, now at last lost all control of himself, denounced the change of position as a runaway flight and declared that he would not abandon his post but stay there with his company and await the onset of Mardonius. And when Porcenias came up and told him that their action had been formally voted by the Helians in council a mompharitas picked up a great stone and threw it down at the feet of Porcenias saying that was his personal ballot for battle and he cared not of wit for the cowardly councils and votes of the rest. Porcenias perplexed at the case sent to the Athenians who were already moving off begging them to wait and make the march in company with him and then began to lead the rest of his troops toward Plataea with the idea that he would thus force a mompharitas from his position. At this point Day overtook them and Mardonius, who did not fail to notice that the Helians had abandoned their encampment with his force in full array bore down upon the Lacedaemonians with great shouting and clamour on the part of the Barbarians who felt that there would be no real battle but that the Helians had only to be snatched off as they fled and this lacked little of coming to pass. For Porcenias on seeing the situation though he did check his march and order every man to take post for battle forgot either in his rage at a mompharitas or his confusion at the speed of the enemy to give the signal for battle to the Confederate Helians. For this reason they did not come to his aid at once nor in a body but in small detachments and strangling after the battle was already joined. When Porcenias got no favourable omens from his sacrifices he ordered his Lacedaemonians to sit quiet with their shields planted in front of them and to await his orders making no attempt to repulse their enemies while he himself went to sacrificing again. By this time the horsemen were charging upon them presently their missiles actually reached them and many a Spartan was smitten and then it was that Calicrates said to be the fairest of the Helians to look upon and the tallest man in their whole army was shot and dying said he did not grieve at death since he had left his home to die for Helas but at dying without striking a single blow. Their experience was indeed a terrible one but the restraint of the men was wonderful. They did not try to repel the enemy who were attacking them but awaited from their god and their general the favourable instant while they endured wounds and death at their posts. Some say that as Porcenias was sacrificing and praying a little to one side of his line of battle some Lydians suddenly fell upon him and rudely hurled away the sacrificial offerings and that Porcenias and his attendants being without weapons smoked the intruders with the sacrificial staves and goads. Wherefore to this day in imitation of this onslaught the ceremonies of beating the young warriors round the altar at Sparta and of the procession of the Lydians which follows this are duly celebrated as rights. Then in distress at this state of affairs while the seer slew victim after victim Porcenias turned his face all tears towards the heriam and with hands uplifted prayed Scytheronian hera and the other gods of the Plotian land that if it was not the lot of the Helens to be victorious they might at least do great deeds before they fell and show to a certainty that their enemies had marched out against men who were brave and who knew how to fight. While Porcenias was thus calling on the gods right in the midst of his prayers the sacrifices showed themselves propitious and the seer announced victory. Word was at once passed all along the line to set themselves in motion against the enemy and the phalanx suddenly had the look of a fierce beast bristling up to defend itself. The barbarians then got assurance that their contest was to be with men who would fight to the death. Therefore they made a rampart of their wicker targets and shot their arrows into the ranks of the Lacedaemonians. These however kept their shields closely locked together as they advanced, fell upon their foemen, tore away their wicker targets and then smiting the Persians in face and breast with their long spears they slew many who nevertheless did great deeds of courage before they fell. For they grasped the long spears with their naked hands, fractured them for the most part and then took to short range fighting with a will plying their daggers and simiters, tearing away their enemy's shields and locking them in close embrace and so they held out a long time. The Athenians meanwhile were quietly awaiting the Lacedaemonians but when the shouts of those engaged in battle fell loud upon their ears and there came as they say a messenger from Palsanias telling them what was happening they set out with speed to aid him. However as they were advancing through the plain to his aid the Medizing Helens bore down upon them. Then Aristides to begin with when he saw them went far forward and shouted to them invoking the gods of Helas that they refrain from battle and oppose not nor hinder those who were bearing aid to men standing in the van of danger for the sake of Helas. But as soon as he saw that they paid no heed to him and were arrayed for battle then he turned aside from rendering aid where he had proposed and engaged with these though they were about fifty thousand in number. But the greater part of them at once gave way and withdrew especially as the barbarians had also retired and the battle is said to have been fought chiefly with the Thebans whose foremost and most influential men were at that time very eagerly Medizing and carried with them the multitude not of choice but at the bidding of the few. The contest thus begun in two places the Lacedaemonians were first to repulse the Persians. Mardonius was slain by a man of Sparta named Arimnestus who crushed his head with a stone even as was foretold him by the oracle in the shrine of Amphiarius. Thither he had sent a Lydian man and a Caryon besides to the oracle of Trafonius. This latter the prophet actually addressed in the Caryon tongue but the Lydian on lying down in the precinct of Amphiarius dreamed that an attendant of the god stood by his side and bade him be gone and on his refusal hurled a great stone upon his head in so much that he died from the blow. So ran the man's dream. These things are so reported. Furthermore the Lacedaemonians shut the flying Persians up in their wooden stockade. Shortly after this it was that the Athenians routed the Thebans after slaying three hundred their most eminent leaders in the actual battle. After the rout was effected and more might have been slain there came a messenger to the Athenians telling them that the barbarian force was shut up and besieged in their stockade. So they suffered the Helians in front of them to make good their escape while they themselves marched to the stockade. They brought welcome aid to the Lacedaemonians who were altogether inexperienced and helpless in storming walled places and captured the camp with great slaughter of the enemy. Out of three hundred thousand only forty thousand it is said made their escape with Artabazus. Of those who contended in behalf of Helas there fell in all one thousand three hundred and sixty. Of these fifty two were Athenians all of the Aeantid tribe according to Clydemus which made the bravest contest for which reason the Aeantids used to sacrifice regularly to the Sragitic nymphs the sacrifice ordained by the Pythian Oracle for the victory receiving the expenses therefore from the public funds. Ninety one were Lacedaemonians and sixteen were men of Tegea. Astonishing therefore is the statement of Herodotus where he says that these one hundred and fifty nine represented the only Helians who engaged the enemy and that not one of the rest did so. Surely the total number of those who fell as well as the monuments erected over them testifies that the success was a common one. Besides had the men of three cities only made the contest while the rest sat idly by the altar would not have been inscribed as it was. Here did the Helians flushed with the victory granted by Aearies over the routed Persians together for Helas delivered build them an altar of Zeus Zeus as deliverer known. This battle was fought on the fourth of the month Boidromion as the Athenians reckon time but according to the Biosian calendar on the 27th of the month Panimus the day when down to the present time the Hellenic Council assembles in Plotia and the Plotians sacrifice to Zeus the deliverer for the victory. We must not wonder at the apparent discrepancy between these dates since even now that astronomy is a more exact science different peoples have different beginnings for their months. After this the Athenians would not grant the Spartans the highest mead of valor nor allow them to erect a general trophy and the cause of the Helians had certainly gone at once to destruction from their armed contention had not arised idys by abundant exhortation and admonition checked his fellow generals officially Leocrates and Myronides and persuaded them to submit the case to the Helians for decision. Thereupon in the council of the Helians Theogitan the Magarian said that the mead of valor must be given to some third city unless they desired the confusion of a civil war. At this point Cleocritas the Corinthian rose to speak everyone thought he would demand the mead of valor for the Corinthians since Corinth was held in greatest estimation after Sparta and Athens. But to the astonishment and delight of all he made a proposition in behalf of the Plataeans and counseled to take away contention by giving them the mead of valor since at their honour neither claimant could take offence. To this proposal Aristaides was first to agree on behalf of the Athenians then Porcenias on behalf of the Lacedaemonians. Thus reconciled they chose out 80 talents of the booty for the Plataeans with which they rebuilt the sanctuary of Athena and set up the shrine and adorned the temple with frescoes which continue in perfect condition to the present day. Then the Lacedaemonians set up a trophy on their own account and the Athenians also for themselves. When they consulted the oracle regarding the sacrifice to be made the Pythian god made answer that they were to erect an altar of Zeus the Deliverer but were not to sacrifice upon it until they had extinguished the fire throughout the land which he said had been polluted by the Barbarians and kindled it fresh and pure from the public hearth at Delphi. Accordingly the commanders of the Hellenes went about straight way and compelled all who were using fire to extinguish it while Euchydas who promised to bring the sacred fire with all conceivable speed went from Plataea to Delphi. There he purified his person by sprinkling himself with holy water and crowned himself with laurel. Then he took from the altar the sacred fire and started to run back to Plataea. He reached the place before the sun had set accomplishing thus a thousand furlongs in one and the same day. He greeted his countrymen, handed them the sacred fire and straight way fell down and after a little expired. In admiration of him the Plataeans gave him burial in the sanctuary of Artemis Euclia and inscribed upon his tomb this tetrameter verse. Euchydas to Pytho running came back here the self-same day. Now Euclia is regarded by most as Artemis and is so addressed. But some say she was a daughter of Heracles and of that Myrto who was daughter of Minitius and sister of Protroclus and that dying in virginity she received divine honors among the Biosians and Locrians. For she has an altar and an image built in every marketplace and receives preliminary sacrifices from would-be brides and bridegrooms. End of Eris Thaides Part 3 Recording by Graham Redman. Part 11 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 Perrin. Aristides Part 4 After this there was a general assembly of the Hellenes at which Aristides proposed a decree to the effect that deputies and delegates from all Hellas convene at Plateia every year and that every fourth year festival games of deliverance be celebrated. The Illythera. Also that a Confederate Hellenic force be levied consisting of ten thousand shield, one thousand horse, and one hundred ships to prosecute the war against the barbarians. Also that the Plateians be set apart as invaluable and consequent. That they might sacrifice to Zeus the deliverer in behalf of Hellas. These propositions were ratified and the Plateians undertook to make funeral offerings annually for the Hellenes who had fallen in battle and lay buried there. And this they do yet unto this day, after the following manner. On the sixteenth of the month, Memacterion, which is the Boshan Allel Comenius, they celebrate a procession. This is led forth at the break of day by a trumpeter sounding the signal for battle. Wagons follow filled with myrtle wreaths. Then comes a black bull, then free-born youths carrying libations of wine and milk and jars and pitchers of oil and myrrh. No slave may put a hand to any part of that ministration because the men thus honored died for freedom. And following all, the chief magistrate of Plateia, who may not at other times touch iron or put on any other raiment than white, at this time is robed in a purple tunic, carries on high a water jar from the city's archive chamber and proceeds sword in hand through the midst of the city to the graves. There he takes water from the sacred spring, washes off with his own hands the gravestones, and anoints them with myrrh. Then he slaughters the bull at the funeral pyre, and with prayers to Zeus and Hermes terrestrial summons the brave men who died for Hellas to come to the banquet and its copious drafts of blood. Next he mixes a mix of wine, drinks, and then pours a libation from it, saying these words. I drink to the men who died for the freedom of the Hellenes. These rites, I say, are observed by the Hellenes down to this very day. After the Athenians had returned to their own city, Aristides saw that they desired to receive the more popular form of government. He thought the people worthy of consideration because of its sturdy valor, and he saw also that it was no longer easy to be forced out of its desires, since it was powerful in arms and greatly elated by its victories. So he introduced a decree that the administration of the city be the privilege of all classes and the plans be chosen from all the Athenians. Themastocles once declared to the people that he had devised a certain measure which could not be revealed to them, though it would be helpful and salutary for the city, and they ordered that Aristides alone should hear what it was and pass judgment on it. So Themastocles told Aristides that his purpose was to burn the naval station of the Confederate Hellenes, for that in this way the Athenians would be greatest and lords of all. Then Aristides came before the people and said of the deed which Themastocles purposed to do that none other could be more advantageous and none more unjust. On hearing this the Athenians ordained that Themastocles cease from his purpose. So fond of justice was the people and so loyal and true to the people was Aristides. When he was sent out as general along with Simon to prosecute the war and saw that Pausanias and the other Spartan commanders were offensive and severe to the allies, he made his own intercourse with them gentle and humane and induced Simon to be on easy terms with them and to take an actual part in their campaigns so that before the Lachodemonians were aware not by means of hoplites or ships or horsemen, but by tact and diplomacy he had stripped them of the leadership. For, well disposed as the Hellenes were toward the Athenians on account of the justice of Aristides and the reasonableness of Simon they were made to long for their supremacy or by the rapacity of Pausanias and his severity. The commanders of the allies ever met with angry harshness at the hands of Pausanias and the common men he punished with stripes or by compelling them to stand all day long with an iron anchor on their shoulders. No one could get bedding or fodder or go down to a spring for water before the Spartans. Nay, their servants, armed with goads would drive away such as approached. On these grounds, Aristides once had it in mind and admonished them, but Pausanias scowled, said he was busy and would not listen. Subsequently the captains and generals of the Hellenes and especially the Cheyens, Sammians and Lesbians came to Aristides and tried to persuade him to assume the leadership and bring over to his support the allies who had long wanted to be rid of the Spartans and to range themselves anew on the side of the Athenians. He replied that he saw the urgency and the justice of what they proposed but that to establish Athenian confidence in them some overt act was needed, the doing of which would make it impossible for the multitude to change their allegiance back again. So Uliades the Sammian and Antigorus the Cheyens conspired together and ran down the trirem of Pausanias off Byzantium, closing in on both sides of it as it was putting out before the line. When Pausanias saw what they had done he sprang up and wrathfully threatened to show the world in a little while but these men had run down not so much his ship as their own native cities but they bad him be gone and be grateful to the fortune which fought in his favorite plateia. It was because the Helians still stood in awe of this they said that they did not punish him as he deserved and finally they went off and joined the Athenians. Then indeed was the lofty wisdom of the Spartans made manifest in a wonderful way. When they saw that their commanders were corrupted by the great powers and to them they voluntarily abandoned the leadership and ceased sending out generals for the war choosing rather to have their citizens discreet and true to their ancestral customs than to have the sway over all Hellas. The Helians used to pay a sort of contribution for the war even while the Lachodemonians had the leadership but now they wished to be assessed equibly city by city. So they asked the Athenians for Aristides and commissioned him stories and revenues and then to fix the assessments according to each member's worth and ability to pay. And yet though he became master of such power and though after a fashion Hellas put all her property in his sole hands poor as he was when he went forth on this mission he came back from it poor as still and he made his assessments of money not only with purity and justice but also to the grateful satisfaction and convenience of all concerned. Indeed as men of old hymned the praises of the Age of Cronus the Golden Age so did the allies of the Athenians praise the tariff of Aristides calling it a kind of blessed happening for Hellas especially as after a short time it was doubled and then again troubled. For the tax which Aristides laid amounted to four hundred and sixty talents only but Pericles must have added almost a third to this since Thucydides says that when the war began the Athenians had a revenue of six hundred talents from their allies and after the death of Pericles the demagogues enlarged it little by little and at last brought the sum total up to thirteen hundred talents not so much because the war by reason of its length and vicissitudes became extravagantly expensive as because they themselves led the people off into distribution of the public monies for spectacular entertainments and for the erection of images and sanctuaries. So then Aristides had a great and admirable name for his adjustment of the revenues. But Themastocles is said to have ridiculed him claiming that the praise he got therefore was not fit for a man but rather for a mere money wallet. He came off second best however in this retort upon the plain speech of Aristides who had remarked when Themastocles once declared to him the opinion that the greatest excellence in a general was the anticipation of the plans of his enemies that is indeed needful Themastocles but the honorable thing and that which makes the real general is his mastery over his fingers. Aristides did indeed bind the Hellenes by an oath and took oath himself for the Athenians to mark his implications casting iron ingots into the sea. But afterwards when circumstances pursued compelled a more strenuous sway he bade the Athenians lay the perjury to his own charge and turn events to their own advantage. But in general, as Theophrastus tells us while the man was strictly just in his private relations to his fellow citizens in public matters he often acted in accordance with the policy which his country had adopted feeling that this required much actual injustice. For instance he says that when the question of removing the monies of the Confederacy from Delos to Athens contrary to the compacts was being debated and even the Sammions proposed it Aristides declared that it was unjust but advantageous. And yet although he at last established his city in its sway over so many men he himself abode by his poverty and continued to be no less content with the reputation he got from being a poor man than with that based on his trophies of victory. This is clear from the following story. Callius the torch-bearer was a kinsman of his. This man was prosecuted by his enemies on a capital charge and after they had brought only moderate accusations against him within the scope of their indictment they went outside of it and appealed to the judges as follows. You know how Aristides, son of Lysimakis, they said. How he is admired in Hellas. What do you suppose his domestic circumstances are when you see him entering the public assembly in such a scanty cloak as that? Is it not likely that a man who shivers in public goes hungry at home and is straightened for the other necessaries of life? Callius, however, who is the richest man of Athens, and his cousin at that, allows him to suffer want with his wife and children, though he is often had service of the man and many times reaped advantage from his influence with you. But Callius, seeing that his judges were very turbulent at this charge and bitterly disposed toward him summoned Aristides and demanded his testimony before the judges, that though often proffered aid from him and impotuned to accept it, he had refused it with the answer that it more became him to be proud of his poverty than Callius of his wealth. For many were to be seen who use wealth well or ill, but it was not easy to find a man who endured poverty with a noble spirit, and those only should be ashamed of poverty who could not be otherwise than poor. When Aristides had born this witness for Callius there was no one of his hearers who did not go home preferring to be poor with Aristides rather than to be rich with Callius. This at any rate is the story told by Eshenine's Thisocratic and Plato maintains that of all those who had great names and reputations at Athens this man alone was worthy of regard. Themastocles, he says, and Simon and Pericles filled the city with porches and monies and no end of nonsense, but Aristides squared his politics with virtue. There are also strong proofs of his reasonableness to be seen in his treatment of Themastocles. This man he had found to be his foe during almost all his public service, and it was through this man that he was ostracized. But when Themastocles was in the same plight and was under accusation before the city, Aristides remembered no evil. Nay, though Alchmion and Simon and many others denounced and persecuted the man, Aristides alone did and said no meanness, nor did he take any advantage of his enemy's misfortune, just as formerly he did not grudge him his prosperity. As touching the death of Aristides, some say he died in Pontus, on expedition in the public service, others at Athens of old age, honored and admired by his countrymen. But Cateris the Macedonian tells something like this about the death of the man. After the exile of Themastocles, he says, the people waxed wanton, as it were, and produced a great crop of sycophants, who hounded down the noblest influential of men, and subjected them to the malice of the multitude, now exalted with his prosperity and power. Among these he says that Aristides also was convicted of bribery, on prosecution of Diophantus of the Deimei Amphitrop, for having taken money from the Ionians when he was regulating the tributes, and further, that being unable to pay the judgment, which was fifty minnows, he sailed away and died somewhere in Ionia. Cateris furnishes no documentary proof of this, no judgment of the court, no decree of indictment, although he is want to record such things with all due fullness, and to adduce his authorities. All the rest, as I may venture to say, all who rehearse the shortcomings of the people in dealing with their leaders, compile and descant upon the exile of Themastocles, the imprisonment of Miltiades, the fine of Pericles, the death of Pachas in the courtroom. He slew himself on the rostrum when he saw that he was convicted, and many such a case, and they put into the list the ostracism of Aristides, but of such a condemnation as this for bribery they make no mention whatsoever. Moreover, his tomb is pointed out at Valerum, and they say that the city constructed it for him since he did not leave even enough to pay for his funeral. And they tell how his daughters were married from the Pertainium at the public cost, and that he bestowing the dowry for the marriage and voting outright three thousand drachmas to each daughter, while to Lysimacas, his son, the people gave one hundred minas in silver, as many acres of vineyard land, and besides this a pension of four drachmas per diem, all in a bill which was brought in by Alcibiades. And further, Lysimacas left a daughter, Pala Crete, according to Calisthenes, and the people voted for her a public maintenance in the style of the Olympic victors. Again Demetrius, the Valerian, Heronimus the Rhodian, Aristoxonus the musician, and Aristotle, provided in the book On Nobility of Birth, is to be ranked among the genuine works of Aristotle, relate that Myrto, the granddaughter of Aristides, lived in wedlock with Socrates the Sage. He had another woman to wife, but took this one up because her poverty kept her a widow, and she lacked the necessaries of life. To these, however, Paneatius, in his work on Socrates, has made sufficient reply. And the Valerian says, in his Socrates, that he remembers a grandson of Aristides, Lysimacas, a very poor man, who made his own living by means of a sort of dream-interpreting tablet, his seat being near the so-called Lechaim. To this man's mother and to her sister, Demetrius persuaded the people to give, by formal decree, a pension of three elbows per diem, though afterwards, in his capacity of sole legislator, he himself, as he says, assigned a drachma instead of three elbows to each of the women. It is not to be wondered at that the people took such thought for families in the city, since on learning that the granddaughter of Aristigaitan was living humbly in Lemnos, unmarried because of her poverty, they brought her back to Athens, consorted her with a well-born man, and gave her the estate for such humanity and benevolence, of which the city still gives illustrious examples, even in my own day, she has justly admired and lauded. End of section 11. The family of Marcus Cato, it is said, was of Tuscalan origin, though he lived, previous to his career as soldier and statesman, on an inherited estate in the country of the Sabines. His ancestors commonly passed for men, of no note whatever, but Cato himself extols his father, Marcus, as a brave man and good soldier. He also says that his grandfathers and grandfathers, and grandfathers, he also says that his grandfather Cato often won prizes for soldierly valor, and received from the state treasury, because of his bravery, the price of five horses which had been killed under him in battle. The Romans used to call men who had no family distinction, but were coming into public notice through their own achievements, new men, and such they called Cato. But he himself used to say that as far as office and distinction went, he indeed knew, but having regard to ancestral deeds of valor, he was the oldest of the old. His third name was not Cato at first, but Priscus. Afterwards he got the surname of Cato for his great abilities. The Romans call him a man who was wise and prudent, Catus. As for his outward appearance, he had reddish hair and keen gray eyes, as the author of a well-known epigram Ill Nature that gives us to understand. Red-haired, snapper and biter, his gray eyes flashing defiance, porcus, come to the shades, back will be thrust by their queen. His bodily habit, since he was addicted from the very first to labor with his own hands, a temperate mode of life and military duties, was very serviceable and disposed alike to vigor and health. His discourse, a second body as it were, served for the use of a man who would live neither obscurely nor idly an instrument with which to perform not only necessary, but also high in noble services. This he developed and perfected in the villages and towns about Rome where he served as an advocate for all who needed him and got the reputation of being first a zealous pleader and then a capable orator. Thenceforth the weight and dignity of his character were those who had dealings with him. They saw that he was bound to be a man of great affairs and have a leading place in the state for he not only gave his services in legal contests without fee of any sort, as it would seem, but did not appear to cherish even the repute won in such contests as his chief ambition. Nay, he was far more desirous of high repute in battles and campaigns against the enemy and while he was yet a mere stripling at his breast covered with honorable wounds. He says himself that he made his first campaign when he was 17 years old at the time when Hannibal was consuming Italy with the flames of his successes. In battle he showed himself effective of hand, sure instead fast of foot and of a fierce countenance. With threatening speech and harsh cries he would advance upon the foe for he rightly thought and tried to show others such action terrifies the enemy more than the sword. On the march he carried his own armor on foot while a single attendant followed in charge of his camp utensils. With this man it is said he was never wroth and never scolded him when he served up a meal. Nay, he actually took hold himself and assisted in most of such preparations provided he was free from his military duties. Water was what he drank on his campaigns except that once in a while in a raging thirst he would call for vinegar or when his strength was failing would add a little wine. Near his fields was the cottage which had once belonged to Manius Curius a hero of three triumphs. To this he would often go in the sight of the small farm and the mean dwelling let him to think of their former owner who though he had become the greatest and subdued the most warlike nations and driven Pyrrhus out of Italy nevertheless tilled this little patch of ground with his own hands and occupied this cottage after three triumphs. Here it was that the ambassadors of the Samnites once found him seated at his hearth cooking turnips and offered him much gold but he dismissed them saying that a man whom such a meal satisfied had no need of gold and for his part he thought a more honorable thing than the possession of gold was the conquest of its possessors. Cato would go away with his mind full of these things and on viewing again his own house and lands and servants and mode of life would increase the laborers of his hands and lop off his extravagancies. When Fabius Maximus took the city of Tarentum it chanced that Cato who was then a mere stripling served under him being lodged with a certain nearchis of the sect of the Pythagoreans he was eager to know of his doctrines. When he heard this man holding forth his follows in language which Plato also uses condemning pleasure as the greatest incentive to evil and the body as the chief detriment to the soul from which she can release and purify herself only by such reasonings as most do wean and divorce her from bodily sensations. He fell still more in love with simplicity and restraint. Further than this it is said he did not learn Greek till late in life and was quite well on in years when he took to reading Greek books. Then he profited in oratory somewhat from Thucydides but more from Demosthenes. However his writings are moderately embellished with Greek sentiments and stories and many literal translations from the Greek have found a place among his maxims and excerpts. There was at Rome a certain man of the highest birth and greatest influence who had the power to discern excellence in the bud and the grace to cultivate it and bring it into general esteem. This man was Valerius Flocus. He had a farm next to that of Cato and learning from Cato's servants of their master's laborious and frugal way of living. He was amazed to hear them tell how Cato early in the morning went on foot to the marketplace and pleaded the cases of all who wished his aid. Then came back to his farm where clad in a working blouse if it was winter and stripped to the waist if it was summer he wrought with his servants then sat down with them to eat of the same bread and drink of the same wine. They told Valerius many other instances of Cato's fairness and moderation quoting also sundry pithy sayings of his at last Valerius gave command that Cato be invited to dine with him. After this discovering by converse with him that his nature was gentle and polite and needed like a growing tree only cultivation and room to expand Valerius urged and at last persuaded him to engage in public life at Rome. Accordingly taking up his abode in the city his own efforts as an advocate at once won him a friend's and the favor of Valerius brought him great honor and influence so that he was made military tribune first and then quiestor. After this being now launched on an eminent and brilliant career he shared the highest honors with Valerius becoming consul with him and afterwards censor. Of the elder statesmen he attached himself most closely to Fabius Maximus who was of the highest reputation and had the greatest influence but this was more by way of setting before himself the character and life of the man as the fairest examples he could follow. In the same spirit he did not hesitate to oppose the great Scipio a youthful rival of Fabius and thought to be envious of him. When he was sent out with Scipio as quiester for the war in Africa he saw that the man indulged in his wanted extravagance and lavished money without stint in his soldiery. He therefore made bold to tell him that the matter of expense was not the greatest evil to be complained of but the fact that he was corrupting the native simplicity of his soldiers who resorted to wanton pleasures when their pay exceeded their actual needs. Scipio replied that he had no use for a parsimonious quiester when the winds were bearing him under full sale to the war. He owed the city an account of his achievements and his money. Cato therefore left Sicily and joined Fabius in denouncing before the senate Scipio's waste of enormous monies and his boyish addiction to polystras and theaters as though he were not commander of an army but master of a festival. As a result of these attacks tribunes were sent to bring Scipio back to Rome if the charges against him turned out to be true. Well then Scipio convinced the tribunes that the victory in war depended on the preparations made for it showed that he could be agreeable in his intercourse with his friends when he had the leisure for it but was never led by his sociability to neglect matters of large and serious import and sailed off for his war in Africa. The influence which Cato's oratory won for him waxed great and men called him a Roman Demosthenes but his manner of life was even more talked about and noised abroad. For his oratorical ability only set before young men a goal which many already were striving eagerly to attain but a man who wrought with his own hands as his fathers did and was contented with a cold breakfast a frugal dinner simple raiment and a humble dwelling one who thought more of not wanting the superfluities of life than of possessing them the Commonwealth had now grown too large to keep its primitive integrity this way over many realms and peoples had brought a large admixture of customs and the adoption of examples set in modes of life of every sort it was natural therefore that men should admire Cato when they saw that whereas other men were broken down by toils and innervated by pleasures he was victor over both and this too not only while he was still young and ambitious but even in his hoary age after consulship and triumph then like some victorious athlete he persisted in the regiment of his training and kept his mind unaltered to the last he tells us that he never wore clothing worth more than a hundred drachmas that he drank even when he was praetor or consul the same wine as his slaves that as for fish or meats he would buy 30 azsworth for his dinner from the public stalls and even this for the city's sake that he might not live on bread alone but strengthen his body for military service that he once fell heir to an embroidered Babylonian robe but sold it at once that not a single one of his cottages had plastered walls that he had never paid more than 1500 drachmas for a slave since he did not want them to be delicately beautiful but sturdy workers such as grooms and herdsmen and these he thought it his duty to sell when they got oldish instead of feeding them when they were useless and that in general he thought nothing cheap that one could do without but that what one did not need even if it cost but a penny was dear also that he bought lands where crops were raised and cattle herded not those where lawns were sprinkled and paths swept these things were ascribed by some to the man's parsimony but others condoned them in the belief that he lived in this contracted way only to correct and moderate the extravagance of others however for my part I regard his treatment of his slaves like beasts of burden using them to the uttermost and then when they were old driving them off and selling them as the mark of a very mean nature which recognizes no tie between man and man but that of necessity and yet we know that kindness has a wider scope than justice law and justice we naturally apply to men alone but when it comes to beneficence and charity these often flow in streams from the gentle heart like water from a copious stream even down to dumb beasts a kindly man will take good care of his horses even when they are worn out with age and of his dogs too not only in their puppyhood but when their old age needs nursing while the Athenians were building the Parthenon they turned loose for free and unrestricted pasturage such mules as were seen to be the most persistently laborious one of these they say came back to the works of its own accord and trotted along by the side of its fellows under the yoke which were dragging the wagons up to the acropolis and even led the way for them as though exhorting and exciting them on the Athenians passed a decree that the animal be maintained at the public cost as long as it lived then there were the mayors of Simon with which he won three victories at Olympia their graves are near the tombs of his family dogs also that have been close and constant companions of men often have been buried with honor Xanthippus of olden time gave the dog which swam along by the side of his trirem to Salamis when the people were abandoning their city honorable burial on the promontory which is called to this day Sino-Sesma or Dog's Mount we should not treat living creatures like shoes or pots or pans casting them aside when they are bruised and worn out with service but if for no other reason for the sake of practice and kindness to our fellow men we should accustom ourselves to mildness and gentleness in our dealings with other creatures I certainly would not sell even an oxen that had worked for me just because he was old much less an elderly man removing him from his habitual place in customary life as it were from his native land for a paltry price useless as he is to those who sell him as he will be to those who buy him but Cato exulting as it were in such things said that he left in Spain even the horse which had carried him through his consular campaign to tax the city with the cost of its transportation whether now these things should be set down in greatness of spirit or littleness of mind is an open question but in other manners his self-restraint was beyond measure admirable for instance when he was in command of an army he took for himself and his retinue not more than three attic bushels of wheat a month and for his beast suburton less than a bushel and a half of barley a day he received Sardinia as his province and whereas his predecessors were want to charge the public treasury with their pavilions, couches and apparel while they oppressed the province with the cost of their large retinues of servants and friends and of their lavish and elaborate banquets his simple economy stood out in an incredible contrast he made no demands whatever upon the public treasury and made his circuit of the cities on foot followed by a single public officer who carried his robe and chalice for sacrifices and yet though in such manners he showed himself mild and sparing to those under his authority in other ways he displayed a dignity and severity which fully corresponded for in the administration of justice he was inexorable and in carrying out the edicts of the government was direct and masterful so that the Roman power never inspired its subjects with greater fear or affection much of the same traits are revealed in the man's oratory it was at once graceful and powerful pleasant and compelling facetious and severe sententious and belligerent so Plato says of Socrates that from the outside he impressed his associates as rude, uncouth and wanton but within he was full of earnestness and of matters that moved his hearers to tears and rung their hearts wherefore I know not what they can mean who say that Kato's oratory most resembled that of Lyceus however such questions must be decided by those who are more capable than I am of discerning the traits of a Roman oratory and I shall now record a few of his famous sayings believing that men's characters are revealed much more by their speech than as something by their looks he once wished to dissuade the Roman people from insisting unseasonably upon a distribution of corn and began his speech with these words it is a hard matter my fellow citizens to argue with the belly since it has no ears again in vain against the prevalent extravagance he said it is a hard matter to save a city in which a fish sells for more than an ox again he said that Romans were like sheep for as these are not to be persuaded one by one but all in a body blindly following their leader so ye he said though as individuals ye would not deign to follow the counsels of certain men when ye are got together you suffer yourselves to be led by them discoursing on the power of women he said all other men rule their wives we rule all other men and our wives rule us this however is a translation of the names of the mysticlies he finding himself much under his son's orders through the lad's mother said wife the Athenians rule the Hellions I rule the Athenians thou rulest me and thy son thee therefore let him make sparing use of that authority which makes him child though he is the most powerful of the Hellions the Roman people Cato said fixed the market value of dies but also of behavior four said he as dire as most effect that die which they see pleases you so your young men learn and practice that which wins your praise and he exhorted them in case it was through virtue and temperance that they became great to make no changes for the worse but if it was through intemperance and vice to change for the better these had already made them great enough of those who were eager to hold high office frequently he said that like men who did not know the road they sought to be attended on their way by lictors lest they go astray he censored his fellow citizens for choosing the same men over and over again to high office you will be thought said he not to deem your office is worth much or else not to deem many men worthy of your offices of one of his enemies who had the name of leading a disgraceful and disreputable life he said this man's mother holds the wish that he may survive her to be no pious prayer but a malignant curse pointing to a man who had sold his ancestral fields lying near the sea he pretended to admire him as stronger than the sea this man said he has drunk down with ease with the sea found it hard to push away when king Aumanis made a visit to Rome the senate received him with extravagant honors and the chief men of the city strove who should be the most about him but Cato clearly looked upon him with suspicion and alarm surely someone said to him he is an excellent man and a friend of Rome granted said Cato but the animal known as king is by nature carnivorous he said further that not one of the kings who men so lauded was worthy in comparison with Epaminidus or Pericles or Themistocles or Manios Curios or with Hamelkar surname Barcus his enemies hated him he used to say because he rose every day before it was light and neglecting his own private matters devoted his time to the public interests he also used to say that he preferred to do right and get no thanks rather than to do ill and get no punishment and that he had pardon for everybody's mistakes except his own the Romans once chose three ambassadors to Bithynia of whom one was Gauti another had had his head trepanned and the third was deemed a fool Cato made merry over this and said that the Romans were sending out an embassy which had neither feet nor head nor heart his aid was once solicited by Scipio at the insistence of Polybius in behalf of the exiles from Archaia and after a long debate upon the question in the senate where some favored and some opposed their return home Cato rose and said here we sit all day as if we have not else to do debating whether some poor old Greeks should be buried here or in Ikea the senate voted that the men be allowed to return and a few days afterwards Polybius tried to get admission to that body again with the proposal that the exiles gave their former honors in Ikea and asked Cato's opinion on the matter Cato smiled and said that Polybius as if he were another Odysseus wanted to go back into the cave of the Cyclops for a cap and belt which he had left there wise men he said profited more from fools than fools from wise men and the wise shun the mistakes of fools but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise he said he liked to see the faces on a young man's face rather than pallor and that he had no use for a soldier who plied his hands on the march and his feet in battle and whose snore was louder than his war cry railing at the fat knight he said where can such a body be of service to the state when everything between its gullet and its groins is devoted to belly a certain epicure wished to enjoy his society but he excused himself to an old man whose pallet was more sensitive than his heart as for the lover he said his soul dwelt in the body of another as for repentance he said he had indulged in it himself but thrice in his whole life once when he entrusted a secret to his wife once when he paid the ship's fare to a place instead of walking thither and once when he remained intestine the whole day to an old man he was steeped in iniquity he said man old age disgraces enough of its own do not add to them the shame of vice to a tribune of the people who had been accused of using poison and who was trying to force the passage of a useless bill he said young man I know not which is worse to drink your mixtures or to enact your bills and when he was reviled by a man who led a life of shameless debauchery I fight an unequal battle with you you listen to abuse calmly and utter it glibly while for me it is unpleasant to utter it and unusual to hear it such then is the nature of his famous sayings End of Cato Major Part 1 Part 13 of Volume 2 of Plutarch's Parallel Lives this is the 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 the Noble Greeks and Romans translated by Bernadotte Perrin Marcus Cato Major Part 2 having been elected consul with Valerius Flaccus his intimate friend the province which the Romans call Hither Spain was allotted to his charge here while he was subduing the tribes and winning over others by diplomacy a great host of barbarians fell upon him and threatened to drive him disgracefully out of the province he therefore begged the neighbouring Celtiberians to become his allies on their demanding 200 talents pay for such assistance all his officers thought it intolerable that Romans should agree to pay barbarians for assistance but Cato said there was nothing terrible in it should they be victorious there were no royals taken from the enemy not out of their own purse whereas should they be vanquished there would be nobody left to pay or to ask the price in this battle he was completely victorious and the rest of his campaign was a brilliant success Polybius indeed says that in a single day the walls of all the cities this side of the river Bytes and there were very many and full of warlike men were torn down at his command Cato himself says that he took more cities than he spent days in Spain nor is this a mere boast since in fact there were 400 of them his soldiers got large booty in this campaign and he gave each of them a pound of silver besides saying that it was better to have many Romans go home with silver in their pockets than a few with gold but in his own case he says that no part of the booty fell to him except what he ate and drank and I find fault he says with those who seek profit by such a case but I prefer to strive in bravery with the bravest rather than in wealth with the richest or in greed for money with the greediest and he strove to keep not only himself but also his associates free from all taint of gain he had five attendants with him in the field one of these whose name was Pacos bought three boys from his own account among the public prisoners but finding that Cato was aware of the transaction or ever he had come into his presence went out and hanged himself Cato sold the boys and restored the money to the public treasury while Cato still terried in Spain Scipio the Great who was his enemy wished to obstruct the current of his successes and take away from him the administration of affairs in Spain got himself appointed his successor then he set out with all speed possible and brought Cato's command to an end but Cato took five cohorts of men-at-arms and 500 horsemen as escort on his way home and on the march subdued the tribe of the Lakatanians and put to death 600 deserters whom they delivered up to him Scipio was enraged at this proceeding but Cato, treating him with mock humility said that only then would his throne be at her greatest when her men of high birth refused to yield the palm of virtue to men of lower rank and when plebeians like himself contended in virtue with their superiors in birth and reputation however in spite of Scipio's displeasure the senate voted that no change whatever be made in what Cato had ordered and arranged and so the administration of Scipio was marked by inactivity and idleness and detracted from his own rather than from Cato's reputation Cato on the other hand celebrated a triumph most men who strive more for reputation than for virtue when once they have obtained the highest honors of consulship and triumphs straight away adjust their future lives to the enjoyment of a pleasurable ease and give up their public careers but Cato did not thus remit and dismiss his virtue nay, rather like men first taking up the public service and all the thirst for honor and reputation he girt his loins anew and held himself ever ready to serve his friends and fellow citizens either in the forum or in the field and so it was that he assisted Tiberius Sampronius the consul in subduing the regions in Thrace and on the Danube acting as his ambassador and as legionary tribune under Manius Aquilius he marched into Greece against Antiochus the Great who gave the Romans more to fear than any man after Hannibal for he had won back almost all of Seleucus Nicator's former dominions in Asia reduced to subjection many war-like nations of barbarians and was eager to engage the Romans whom he deemed the only worthy foeman left for him so he crossed into Greece with an army making the freeing of the Greeks a specious ground for war this they did not need at all since they had recently been made free and independent of Philip and the Macedonians by grace of the Romans Greece was at once a stormy sea of hopes and fears being corrupted by her demagogues with expectations of royal bounty accordingly Manius sent envoys to the several cities most of those which were unsettled in their allegiance Titus Flaminius restrained without a do and quieted down as I have written in his life Corinth, Patrai and Igeum were brought over to Rome by Cato he also spent much time at Athens and we are told that a certain speech of his is extant which he addressed to the Athenian people in Greek declaring that he admired the virtues of the ancient Athenians and was glad to behold a city so beautiful and grand as theirs but this is not true on the contrary he dealt with the Athenians through an interpreter and spoken to them directly but he always clung to his native ways and mocked at those who were lost in admiration of anything that was Greek for instance he poked fun at Postumius albinus who wrote a history in Greek and asked the indulgence of his readers Cato said that they might have shown him indulgence had he undertaken his task in consequence of a compulsory vote of the amphitheatic assembly moreover he says the Athenians had a pungency of his discourse for what he himself set forth and with brevity the interpreter would repeat to them at great length and with many words and on the whole he thought that the words of the Greeks were born on their lips but those of the Romans in their hearts now Antiochus had blocked up the narrow pass of Thermopylae with his army adding trenches and walls to the natural defenses of the place and sat there thinking that he had locked the war and the Romans did indeed despair utterly of forcing a direct passage but Cato calling to mind the famous compass and circuit of the pass which the Persians had once made took a considerable force and set out under cover of darkness they climbed the heights but their guide who was a prisoner of war lost the way and wandered about in impracticable and precipitous places till he had filled the soldiers with dreadful dejection and fear Cato seeing their peril bade the rest remain quietly where they were while he himself with a certain Lucius Manlius an expert mountain climber made his way along with great toil and hazard in the dense darkness of a moonless night his vision much impeded and obscured by wild olive trees and rocky peaks until at last they came upon a path this they thought led down to the enemy's camp so they put marks and signs on some inspicuous cliffs which towered over Mount Caledronus and then made their way back again to the main body this too they conducted to the marks and signs struck into the path indicated by these and started forward but when they had gone on a little way the path failed them and a ravine yawned to receive them once more dejection and fear were rife they did not know and could not see that they were right upon the enemy they saw it but presently gleams of daylight came here and there a man thought he heard voices and soon they actually saw a Greek outpost entrenched at the foot of the cliffs so then Cato halted his forces there and summoned the men of Firmum to a private conference these soldiers he had always found trusty and zealous in his service when they had run up and stood grouped about him he said I must take one of the enemy's men and learn from him who they are that form this advanced guard what their number is and with what disposition and array their main body awaits us but the task demands the swift and bold leaps of lions fearlessly rushing all unarmed through the timorous beasts on which they pray so spake Cato and the Firmians instantly started just as they were rushed down the mountainside and ran upon the enemy's sentinels falling upon them unexpectedly they threw them all into confusion and scattered them in flight one of them they seized arms and all and delivered him over to Cato from the captive Cato learned that the main force of the enemy was encamped in the pass with the king himself and that the detachment guarding the pass over the mountains was composed of 600 picked eitolians despising their small numbers and their carelessness he led his troops against them at once with bray of trumpet and war cry being himself the first to draw his sword but when the enemy saw his men pouring down upon them from the cliffs they fled to the main army and filled them all with confusion meanwhile Manius also down below threw his whole force forward into the pass and stormed the enemy's fortifications Antiochus being hit in the mouth with a stone which knocked his teeth out wheeled his horse about for very anguish then his army gave way everywhere before the roman onset although flight for them meant impractical roads and helpless wanderings while deep marshes and steep cliffs threatened those who slipped and fell still they poured along through the pass into these crowding one another on in the fear of the enemy's deadly weapons and so destroyed themselves Cato who was ever rather generous it would seem in his own praises but that hesitate to follow up his great achievements with boastings equally great is very pompous in his account of this exploit he says that those who saw him at that time pursuing the enemy queuing them down felt convinced that Cato owed less to Rome than Rome to Cato also that the consul Manius himself flushed with victory through his arms about him still flushed with his own victory and embraced him for a long time he offered joy that neither he himself nor the whole roman people could feedingly requite Cato for his benefactions immediately after the battle he was sent to Rome as the messenger of his own triumphs he had a fair passage to Brundizium crossed the peninsula from there to Tarentum in a single day and traveled thence four days more and on the fifth day after landing reached Rome where he was the first to announce the victory he filled the city full of joy sacrifices and the people with the proud feeling that it was able to master every land and sea these are perhaps the most remarkable features of Cato's military career in political life he seems to have regarded the impeachment and conviction of malefactors as a department worthy of his most zealous efforts for he brought many prosecutions himself assisted others in bringing theirs and even instigated some to begin prosecutions as for instance, Petilius against Scipio that great man however trampled the accusations against him underfoot as the splendor of his house and his own inherent loftiness of spirit prompted him to do and Cato unable to secure his capital conviction dropped the case but he so cooperated with the accusers of Luchius Scipio's brother as to have him condemned to pay a large fine to the state this debt Luchius was unable to meet and was therefore liable to imprisonment indeed it was only at the intercession of the tribunes that he was at last set free we are also told that a certain young man who had got a verdict of civil outlawry against an enemy of his dead father was passing through the forum on the conclusion of the case and met Cato who greeted him and said these are the sacrifices we must bring to the spirits of our parents and children but the condemnations and tears of their enemies however he himself did not go unscathed but wherever in his political career he gave his enemies the slightest handle he was all the while suffering prosecutions and running whisk of condemnation it is said that he was defendant in nearly 50 cases and in the last one when he was 85 years of age it was in the course of this that he uttered this saying it is hard for one who has lived among men of one generation to make his defense before those of his another but even with this case he did not put an end to his forensic contests but four years later at the age of 90 he impeached Servius Galba indeed he may be said like Nestor to have been vigorous and active among three generations for after many political struggles with Scipio the Great he lived to be contemporary with Scipio the Younger who was the elder's grandson by adoption and the son of that Paulus Aemilius who subdued Perseus and the Macedonians ten years after his consulship Cato stood for the censorship this office towered as it were above every other civic honor and was in a way the culmination of a political career the variety of its powers was great that of examining into the lives and manners of the citizens its creators thought that no one should be left to his own devices and desires without inspection and review either in his marrying or the begotting of his children or in the ordering of his daily life or in the entertainment of his friends nay, rather thinking that these things revealed a man's real character more than did his public and political career they set men into office to watch admonish and chastise that no one should turn aside to wantonness and forsake his native in customary mode of life they chose to this office one of the so-called patricians and one of the plebeians these officers were called censors and they had authority to degrade a knight or to expel a senator who led an unbridled and disorderly life they also revised the assessments of property and arranged the citizens and lists to their social and political classes there were other great powers also connected with the office therefore, when Cato stood for it nearly all the best known and most influential men of the senatorial party united to oppose him the men of noble parentage among them were moved by jealousy thinking that nobility of birth would be trampled in the mire if men of ignoble birth forced their way up to the summits of honor and power while those who were conscious of base practices and of a departure from ancestral customs feared the severity of the man which was sure to be harsh and inexorable in the exercise of power therefore after due consultation and preparation they put in opposition to Cato seven candidates for the office who sought the favor of the multitude with promises of mild conduct in office supposing forsooth that it wanted to be ruled with a lax and indulgent hand Cato on the contrary showed no complacence whatever but plainly threatened wrongdoers in his speeches and loudly cried that the city had need of a great purification he abjured the people if they were wise not to choose the most agreeable physician but the one who was most in earnest he himself he said was such a physician and so was valerious flakus of the patricians with him as colleague all alone he thought he could cut and sear to some purpose the hydro-like luxury and effeminacy of the time as for the rest of the candidates he saw that they were all trying to force their way into the office in order to administer it badly since they feared those who administer it well and so truly great was the Roman people and so worthy of great leaders that they did not fear Cato's rigor and haughty independence rather those agreeable candidates who it was believed would do everything to please them and elected flakus to the office along with Cato to Cato they gave ear not as to one soliciting office but as to one already in office and issuing his decrees as censor then Cato made Lucas Valerius Flakus his colleague and friend chief senator to the senate including Lucas Quintius this man had been consul seven years before and a thing which gave him more reputation than the consulship even was brother of Titus Flaminius who conquered King Philip the reason for his expulsion was the following there was a youth who ever since his boyhood had been the favorite of Lucas this youth Lucas kept ever about him he worked with him on his campaigns in greater honor and power than one of his nearest friends and kinsmen had he was once administering the affairs of his consular province and at a certain banquet this youth as was his want reclined at his side and began to pay his flatteries to a man who in his cups was too easily led about I love you so much he said that once when there was a gladiatorial show at home a thing which I had never seen I rushed away from it to join you although my heart was set on seeing a man slaughtered well for that matter said Lucas don't lie there with any grudge against me for I will cure it thereupon he commanded that one of his men who were lying under sentence of death be brought to the banquet and that a lictor with an axe stand by his side then he asked his beloved if he wished to see the man smitten the youth said he did and Lucas ordered the man's head to be cut off this is the version which most writers give of the affair and so Cicero has represented Cato himself as telling the story in his dialogue on old age but Livy says the victim was a Gallic deserter and that Lucas did not have the man slain by a lictor but smote him with his own hand and that this is the version of the story in a speech of Cato's on the expulsion of Lucas from the senate by Cato his brother was greatly indignant and appealed to the people urging that Cato state his reasons for the expulsion Cato did so narrating the incident of the banquet Lucas attempted to make denial but when Cato challenged him to a formal trial of the case with a wager of money upon it he declined then the justice of his punishment was recognized but once when a spectacle was given in the theater he passed along by the senatorial seats and took his place as far away from them as he could then the people took pity upon him and shouted till they had forced him to change his seat thus rectifying as far as possible and alleviating the situation Cato expelled another senator who was thought to have had good prospects for the consulship namely Manilius because he embraced his wife in open day before the eyes of his daughter for his own part he said he would never embrace his wife unless it thundered loudly it was a pleasantry of his to remark that he was a happy man when it thundered Cato was rather bitterly censored for his treatment of Lucas the brother of Scipio whom though he had achieved the honor of a triumph he expelled from the equestrian order he was thought to have done this as an insult to the memory of Scipio Africanus but he was most obnoxious to the majority of his enemies who had lost off extravagance in living this could not be done away with outright since most of the people were already infected and corrupted by it and so he took a roundabout way he had all apparel equipages, jewelry, furniture and plate the value of which in any case exceeded 1500 drachmas assessed at ten times its worth wishing by means of larger assessments to make the owner's taxes also larger then he laid a tax of three on every thousand asses thus assessed in order that such property holders burdened by their charges and seeing that people of equal wealth who led modest and simple lives paid less into the public treasury might desist from their extravagance as a result both classes were incest against him both those who endured the taxes for the sake of their luxury and those no less who put away their luxury because of the taxes they themselves robbed at their wealth if they are prevented from displaying it and that display of it is made in the superfluities not in the necessities of life this we are told is what most astonished Aristan the philosopher namely that those who possessed the superfluities of life should be counted happy rather than those well provided with life's necessary and useful things Scopus the Thessalian when one of his friends asked for something of great service to him with a remark that he asked for nothing that was necessary and useful replied, and yet my wealth and happiness are based on just such useless and superfluous things thus the desire for wealth is no natural adjunct to the soul but is imposed upon it by the false opinions of the outside world end of Kato major part 2