the city to such straits that Boutes, the
Persian general, perceiving that escape was impossible, set it on
fire, and himself with his friends and property perished in the
flames. When Kimon took the city he found nothing in it of any value,
as everything had been destroyed in the fire together with the Persian
garrison; but as the country was beautiful and fertile, he made it an
Athenian colony. Three stone statues of Hermes at Athens were now set
up by a decree of the people, on the first of which is written:--

"Brave men were they, who, by the Strymon fair,
First taught the haughty Persians to despair;"

and on the second--

"Their mighty chiefs to thank and praise,
The Athenians do these columns raise;
That generations yet to come,
May fight as well for hearth and home;"

and on the third--

"Mnestheus from Athens led our hosts of yore,
With Agamemnon, to the Trojan shore;
Than whom no chief knew better to array,
The mail-clad Greeks, when mustering for the fray:
Thus Homer sung; and Athens now, as then,
Doth bear away the palm for ruling men."

VIII. These verses, although Kimon's name is nowhere mentioned in
them, appeared to the men of that time excessively adulatory. Neither
Themistokles nor Miltiades had ever been so honoured. When Miltiades
demanded the honour of an olive crown, Sophanes of Dekeleia rose up in
the public assembly and said,--"Miltiades, when you have fought and
conquered the barbarians alone, you may ask to be honoured alone, but
not before"--a harsh speech, but one which perfectly expressed the
feeling of the people.

Why, then, were the Athenians so charmed with Kimon's exploit? The
reason probably was because their other commanders had merely defended
them from attack, while under him they had been able themselves to
attack the enemy, and had moreover won territory near Eion, and
founded the colony of Amphipolis. Kimon also led a colony to Skyros,
which island was taken by Kimon on the following pretext.

The original inhabitants were Dolopes,[308] who were bad farmers, and
lived chiefly by piracy. Emboldened by success they even began to
plunder the strangers who came into their ports, and at last robbed
and imprisoned some Thessalian merchants whose ships were anchored at
Ktesium. The merchants escaped from prison, and laid a complaint
against the people of Skyros before the Amphiktyonic council. The
people refused to pay the f