ns of Athens the shield and the
spear, and reduced them to the oar and the rower's bench. This, we are
told by Stesimbrotus, he effected after quelling the opposition of
Miltiades, who spoke on the other side. Whether his proceedings at this
time were strictly constitutional or no I shall leave to others to
determine; but that the only safety of Greece lay in its fleet, and that
those triremes were the salvation of the Athenians after their city was
taken, can be proved by the testimony, among others, of Xerxes himself;
for although his land force was unbroken, he fled after his naval
defeat, as though no longer able to contend with the Greeks, and he left
Mardonius behind more to prevent pursuit, in my opinion, than with any
hopes of conquest.

V. Some writers tell us that he was a keen man of business, and explain
that his grand style of living made this necessary; for he made costly
sacrifices, and entertained foreigners in a splendid manner, all of
which required a large expenditure; but some accuse him of meanness and
avarice, and even say that he sold presents which were sent for his
table. When Philides the horse-dealer refused to sell him a colt, he
threatened that he would soon make a wooden horse of the man's house;
meaning that he would stir up lawsuits and claims against him from some
of his relations.

In ambition he surpassed every one. When yet a young and unknown man he
prevailed upon Epikles of Hermione, the admired performer on the harp,
to practise his art in his house, hoping thereby to bring many people to
it to listen. And he displeased the Greeks when he went to the Olympian
games by vying with Kimon in the luxury of his table, his tents, and his
other furniture. It was thought very proper for Kimon, a young man of
noble birth, to do so; but for a man who had not yet made himself a
reputation, and had not means to support the expense, such extravagance
seemed mere vulgar ostentation. In the dramatic contest, which even then
excited great interest and rivalry, the play whose expenses he paid for
won the prize. He put up a tablet in memory of his success bearing the
words: Themistokles of Phrearri was choragus, Phrynichus wrote the play,
Adeimantus was archon. Yet he was popular, for he knew every one of the
citizens by name, and gave impartial judgment in all cases referred to
him as arbitrator. Once, when Simonides of Keos asked him to strain a
point in his favour, Themistokles, who was a general