ian Woman'--

"Our Jove with lofty skull appears;
The Odeum on his head he bears,
Because he fears the oyster-shell no more."

Perikles at that period used his influence to pass a decree for
establishing a musical competition at the Panathenaic festival; and,
being himself chosen judge, he laid down rules as to how the candidates
were to sing, and play the flute or the harp. At that period, and ever
afterwards, all musical contests took place in the Odeum.

The Propylaea, before the Acropolis, were finished in five years, by
Mnesikles the architect; and a miraculous incident during the work
seemed to show that the goddess did not disapprove, but rather
encouraged and assisted the building. The most energetic and active of
the workmen fell from a great height, and lay in a dangerous condition,
given over by his doctors. Perikles grieved much for him; but the
goddess appeared to him in a dream, and suggested a course of treatment
by which Perikles quickly healed the workman. In consequence of this, he
set up the brazen statue of Athene the Healer, near the old altar in the
Acropolis. The golden statue of the goddess was made by Pheidias, and
his name appears upon the basement in the inscription. Almost everything
was in his hands, and he gave his orders to all the workmen--as we have
said before--because of his friendship with Perikles. This led to their
both being envied and belied; for it was said that Perikles, with the
connivance of Pheidias, carried on intrigues with Athenian ladies, who
came ostensibly to see the works. This accusation was taken up by the
comic poets, who charged him with great profligacy, hinting that he had
an improper passion for the wife of Menippus, his friend, and a
lieutenant-general in the army. Even the bird-fancying of Pyrilampes,
because he was a friend of Perikles, was misrepresented, and he was said
to give peacocks to the ladies who granted their favours to Perikles.
But, indeed, how can we wonder at satirists bringing foul accusations
against their betters, and offering them up as victims to the spite of
the populace, when we find Stesimbrotus, of Thasos, actually inventing
that unnatural and abominable falsehood of Perikles's intrigue with his
own daughter-in-law. So hard is it to discover the truth, because the
history of past ages is rendered difficult by the lapse of time; while
in contemporary history the truth is always obscured, either by private
spite and hatred