he might get honor by them. And Critias, one of the thirty tyrants, makes it, in his elegies, his wish to have
The Scopads' wealth, and Cimon's nobleness,
And king Agesilaus's success.
Lichas, we know, became famous in Greece, only because on the days of the sports, when the young boys run naked, he used to entertain the strangers that came to see these diversions. But Cimon's generosity outdid all the old Athenian hospitality and good-nature. For though it is the city's just boast that their forefathers taught the rest of Greece to sow corn, and how to use springs of water,[1] and to kindle fire, yet Cimon, by keeping[2] open house for his fellow-citizens, and giving travellers liberty to eat the fruits which the several seasons produced in his land, seemed to restore to the world that community of goods, which mythology says existed in the reign of Saturn. Those who object to him that he did this to be popular, and gain the applause of the vulgar, are confuted by the constant tenor of the rest of his actions, which all tended to uphold the interests of the nobility and the Spartan policy, of which he gave instances, when together with Aristides, he opposed Themistocles, who was advancing the authority of the people beyond its just limits, and resisted Ephialtes, who to please the multitude, was for abolishing the jurisdiction of the court of Areopagus. And when all of his time,
- ↑ "Ont aussi monstré l'usage des fonteines, and comment il faloit allumer et entreteneur le feu," is Amyot's version. The word immediately preceding "springs of water," has apparently been lost in the present Greek text, and it is hard to say what it was. The mere use of springs seems too obvious a thing to have intended.
- ↑ Literally, "making his house a sort of private prytaneum for his fellow-citizens." The prytaneum, or state-house, being frequently used for entertaining distinguished citizens, as well as strangers. Compare in the Life of Lucullus, the passage where his house is called a prytaneum for Greek visitors at Rome.
