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Updated: June 10, 2025
Much of Kimon's political influence was due to the fact that the Lacedæmonians were bitterly hostile to Themistokles, and wished to make him, young as he was, into a powerful leader of the opposite party at Athens.
In spite of all this, Stesimbrotus says that Themistokles was a pupil of Anaxagoras, and attended the lectures of Melissus the physicist; but here he is wrong as to dates. Melissus was the general who was opposed to Perikles, a much younger man than Themistokles, when he was besieging Samos, and Anaxagoras was one of Perikles's friends.
The song runs as follows: "Though ye may sing Pausanias or Xanthippus in your lays, Or Leotychides, 'tis Aristeides whom I praise, The best of men as yet produced by holy Athens' State, Since thus upon Themistokles has fall'n Latona's hate: That liar and that traitor base, who for a bribe unclean, Refused to reinstate a man who his own guest had been.
And when he saw the corpses floating in the sea with gold bracelets and necklaces, he himself passed them by, but pointed them out to a friend who was following, saying, "Do you pick them up and keep them; for you are not Themistokles." A beautiful youth, named Antiphates, regarded him coolly at first, but eventually became submissive to him because of his immense reputation.
Now Themistokles, in order to try the temper of Aristeides, proposed that the fleet should sail to the Hellespont, and break the bridge of boats there, "in order," said he, "that we may conquer Asia in Europe."
In Bithynia, however, he suffered much loss at the hands of the natives, and determined to proceed to the court of Artaxerxes, thinking that the Persian king, if he would make trial of him, would find that he was not inferior to Themistokles in ability, while he sought him in a much more honourable way; for it was not to revenge himself on his fellow-citizens, as Themistokles did, but to assist his own country against its enemy that he meant to solicit the king's aid.
The Athenians accepted these terms, by the advice of Theramenes the son of Hagnon: and on this occasion it is said that when he was asked by Kleomenes, one of the younger orators, how he dared to act and speak against what Themistokles had done, by giving up to the Lacedæmonians those walls which Themistokles had built in spite of them, he answered, "My boy, I am doing nothing contrary to Themistokles; for these same walls he built up to save his countrymen, and we will throw them down to save them.
Some one then said, that a man without a city had no right to tell those who still possessed one to abandon it, but Themistokles turning upon him, answered, "Wretch, we Athenians have indeed abandoned our walls and houses, because we scorn to be slaves for the sake of mere buildings, but we have the greatest city of all Greece, our two hundred ships of war, which now are ready to help you if you choose to be saved by their means; but, if you betray us and leave us, some of the Greeks will soon learn to their cost that the Athenians have obtained a free city and a territory no worse than that which they left behind."
He did just what Aristeides is so much praised for doing to Themistokles; he went to the generals, although they were not his friends, and pointed out to them what ought to be done.
Cicero also blames Pompeius for imitating the generalship of Themistokles rather than that of Perikles, the circumstances being like those of Perikles and not those of Themistokles.
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