les told the Athenian assembly that he had in his mind a
proposition most valuable to the state, which nevertheless could not
be openly discussed, the people bade Aristeides alone listen to what
it was and give his opinion upon it. Then Themistokles told
Aristeides, that he meditated burning the entire fleet of the Greeks,
as they lay drawn up on the beach, as by this means Athens would
become the greatest state in Greece, and mistress of all the others.
Aristeides, on hearing this, came forward to the assembly and said
that the proposal of Themistokles, although most advantageous, was yet
most wicked and unjust. When the people heard this, they forbade
Themistokles to prosecute his design. So highly did the Athenians
prize justice, and so well and faithfully did Aristeides serve them.

XXIII. Being sent as general, with Kimon as his colleague, to the war
with Persia, he perceived that Pausanias and the other Spartan
generals were harsh and insolent to their allies; and he himself, by
treating them with kindness and consideration, aided by the gentle and
kindly temper shown by Kimon in the campaign, gradually obtained
supreme authority over them, not having won it by arms or fleets, but
by courtesy and wise policy. The Athenians, already beloved by the
Greeks, on account of the justice of Aristeides and the kindliness of
Kimon, were much more endeared to them by the insolent brutality of
Pausanias, who always spoke roughly and angrily to the chiefs of the
various contingents of allies, and used to punish the common men by
stripes, or by forcing them to stand all day with a heavy iron anchor
on their shoulders. No one was permitted to obtain straw or forage for
their horses, or to draw water from a well before the Spartans had
helped themselves, and servants were placed with whips to drive away
any who attempted to do so. Aristeides once endeavoured to complain of
this to Pausanias, but he knitting his brows, rudely told him that he
was not at leisure, and took no notice of his words. At this the
generals and admirals of the Greek states, especially those from
Chios, Samos, and Lesbos, besought Aristeides to make himself
commander-in-chief, and rally round him all the allied cities, who had
long desired to get rid of the Spartan supremacy and to take the side
of Athens. He answered that he admitted the justice and even the
necessity of their proposals, but that they must prove themselves to
be in earnest by some act whic