h would make it impossible for the great
body of them to draw back. Upon this, Ouliades of Samos, and Antagoras
of Chios conspired together, and off Byzantium, they ran on board of
the ship of Pausanias, which was sailing before the rest. He on seeing
this, rose up in a rage and threatened that in a short time he would
let them know that they had not endangered his ship, but their own
native cities. They in answer bade him go his way and be thankful for
the victory at Plataea won under his command, for that it was which
alone restrained the Greeks from dealing with him as he deserved.
Finally they left him, and sailed away to join the Athenian ships. On
this occasion the magnanimous conduct of the Lacedaemonians deserves
high praise. When they perceived that the heads of their generals were
being turned by the greatness of their power, they of their own accord
withdrew from the supreme power, and no longer sent any generals to
the wars, choosing rather to have moderate citizens who would abide by
their laws at home, than to bear rule over the whole of Greece.

Even while the Lacedaemonians remained in command, the Greeks paid a
certain contribution to pay the expenses of the war; and as they
wished each city to be assessed to pay a reasonable sum, they asked
the Athenians to appoint Aristeides to visit each city, learn the
extent of its territory and revenues, and fix upon the amount which
each was capable of contributing according to its means. Although he
was in possession of such a power as this--the whole of Greece having
as it were given itself up to be dealt with at his discretion--yet he
laid down his office a poorer man than when he accepted it, but having
completed his assessment to the satisfaction of all. As the ancients
used to tell of the blessedness of the golden age, even so did the
states of Greece honour the assessment made by Aristeides, calling the
time when it was made, fortunate and blessed for Greece, especially
when no long time afterwards it was doubled, and subsequently trebled.
The money which Aristeides proposed to raise amounted to four hundred
and sixty talents; to which Perikles added nearly a third part, for
Thucydides tells us that at the commencement of the Peloponnesian war,
the Athenians received six hundred talents a year from their allies.
After the death of Perikles, the popular orators gradually raised the
sum total to thirteen hundred talents. It was not so much that the
money was