The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0093/00935.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 38KB | 578 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00935}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Plutarch's Lives
Part II}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Plutarch}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{themistocles
king
upon
himself
greeks
athenians
sea
time
athens
city}
$Date{c75}
$Log{}
Title:       Plutarch's Lives
Book:        Themistocles
Author:      Plutarch
Date:        c75
Translation: Dryden, Arthur Hugh Clough

Part II

     It is reported, that, in the middle of the fight, a great flame rose into
the air above the city of Eleusis, and that sounds and voices were heard
through all the Thriasian plain, as far as the sea, sounding like a number of
men accompanying and escorting the mystic Iacchus, and that a mist seemed to
form and rise from the place from whence sounds came, and, passing forward,
fell upon the galleys. Others believed that they saw apparitions, in the shape
of armed men, reaching out their hands from the island of Aegina before the
Grecian galleys; and supposed they were the Aeacidae, whom they had invoked to
their aid before the battle. The first man that took a ship was Lycomedes the
Athenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, and dedicated it to
Apollo, the Laurel-crowned. And as the Persians fought in a narrow arm of the
sea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one
another, the Greeks thus equalled them in strength, and fought with them till
the evening, forced them back, and obtained, as says Simonides, that noble and
famous victory, than which neither amongst the Greeks nor barbarians was ever
known more glorious exploit on the seas; by the joint valor, indeed, and zeal
of all who fought, but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles.

     After this sea-fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, attempted, by
casting great heaps of earth and stones into the sea, to stop up the channel
and to make a dam, upon which he might lead his land-forces over into the
island of Salamis.

     Themistocles, being desirous to try the opinion of Aristides, told him
that he proposed to set sail for the Hellespont, to break the bridge of ships,
so as to shut up, he said, Asia a prisoner within Europe; but Aristides,
disliking the design, said, "We have hitherto fought with an enemy who has
regarded little else but his pleasure and luxury; but if we shut him up within
Greece, and drive him to necessity, he that is master of such great forces
will no longer sit quietly with an umbrella of gold over his head, looking
upon the fight for his pleasure; but in such a strait will attempt all things;
he will be resolute, and appear himself in person upon all occasions, he will
soon correct his errors, and supply what he has formerly omitted through
remissness, and will be better advised in all things. Therefore, it is noways
our interest, Themistocles," he said, "to take away the bridge that is already
made, but rather to build another, if it were possible, that he might make his
retreat with the more expedition." To which Themistocles answered, "If this be
requisite, we must immediately use all diligence, art, and industry, to rid
ourselves of him as soon as may be;" and to this purpose he found out among
the captives one of the king of Persia's eunuchs, named Arnaces, whom he sent
to the king, to inform him that the Greeks, being now victorious by sea, had
decreed to sail to the Hellespont, where the boats were fastened together, and
destroy the bridge; but that Themistocles, being concerned for the king,
revealed this to him, that he might hasten towards the Asiatic seas, and pass
over into his own dominions; and in the mean time would cause delays, and
hinder the confederates from pursuing him. Xerxes no sooner heard this, but,
being very much terrified, he proceeded to retreat out of Greece with all
speed. The prudence of Themistocles and Aristides in this was afterwards more
fully understood at the battle of Plataea, where Mardonius, with a very small
fraction of the forces of Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all.

     Herodotus writes, that, of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was held to
have performed the best service in the war; while all single men yielded to
Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when they returned to the
entrance of Peloponnesus, where the several commanders delivered their
suffrages at the altar, to determine who was most worthy, every one gave the
first vote for himself and the second for Themistocles. The Lacedaemonians
carried him with them to Sparta, where, giving the rewards of valor to
Eurybiades, and of wisdom and conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with
olive, presented him with the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred
young men to accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the next
Olympic games, when Themistocles entered the course, the spectators took no
farther notice of those who were contesting the prizes, but spent the whole
day in looking upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring him, and
applauding him by clapping their hands, and other expressions of joy, so that
he himself, much gratified, confessed to his friends that he then reaped the
fruit of all his labors for the Greeks.

     He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honor, as is evident from the
anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he would not
quite conclude any single matter of business, either public or private, but
deferred all till the day they were to set sail, that, by despatching a great
quantity of business all at once, and having to meet a great variety of
people, he might make an appearance of greatness and power. Viewing the dead
bodies cast up by the sea, he perceived bracelets and necklaces of gold about
them, yet passed on, only showing them to a friend that followed him, saying,
"Take you these things, for you are not Themistocles." He said to Antiphates,
a handsome young man, who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory courted
him, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson." He said that the
Athenians did not honor him or admire him, but made, as it were, a sort of
planetree of him; sheltered themselves under him in bad weather, and, as soon
as it was fine, plucked his leaves and cut his branches. When the Seriphian
told him that he had not obtained this honor by himself, but by the greatness
of his city, he replied, "You speak truth; I should never have been famous if
I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens." When another of the
generals, who thought he had performed considerable service for the Athenians,
boastingly compared his actions with those of Themistocles, he told him that
once upon a time the Day after the Festival found fault with the Festival: "On
you there is nothing but hurry and trouble and preparation, but, when I come,
everybody sits down quietly and enjoys himself;" which the Festival admitted
was true, but "if I had not come first, you would not have come at all." "Even
so," he said, "if Themistocles had not come before, where had you been now?
Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and, by his mother's means, his
father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one
in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the
Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother." Loving to be
singular in all things, when he had land to sell, he ordered the crier to give
notice that there were good neighbors near it. Of two who made love to his
daughter, he preferred the man of worth to the one who was rich, saying he
desired a man without riches, rather than riches without a man. Such was the
character of his sayings.

     After these things, he began to rebuild and fortify the city of Athens,
bribing, as Theopompus reports, the Lacedaemonian ephors not to be against it,
but, as most relate it, overreaching and deceiving them. For, under pretext of
an embassy, he went to Sparta, where, upon the Lacedaemonians charging him
with rebuilding the walls, and Poliarchus coming on purpose from Aegina to
denounce it, he denied the f