Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/358

 540 HISTORY OF Vr remarkable a man as Themistokles, -were put in the shade by this incorruptible probity, which procured for him, however, along with the general esteem, no inconsiderable amount of private enmity from jobbers whom he exposed, and even some jealousy from persons who heard it proclaimed with offensive ostentation. We are told that a rustic and unlettered citizen gave his ostra- cizing vote, and expressed his dislike against Aristeides,' on the simple ground that he was tired of hearing him always called the Just. Now the purity of the most honorable man will not bear to be so boastfully talked of as if he were the only honorable man in the country : the less it is obtruded, the more deeply and cordially will it be felt: and the story just alluded to, whether true or false, illustrates that natural reaction of feeling, produced by absurd encomiasts, or perhaps by insidious enemies under the mask of encomiasts, who trumpeted forth Aristeides as The Just man at Attica, so as to wound the legitimate dignity of every one else. Neither indiscreet friends nor artful enemies, however, could rob him of the lasting esteem of his countrymen ; which he enjoyed, with intervals of their displeasure, to the end of his life. Though he was ostracized during a part of the period be- tween the battle of Marathon and Salamis, at a time when the rivalry between him and Themistokles was so violent that both could not remain at Athens without peril, yet the dangers of Athens during the invasion of Xerxes brought him back before the ten years of exile were expired. His fortune, originally very moderate, was still farther diminished during the course ot his life, so that he died very poor, and the state was obliged to lend aid to his children. Such were the characters of Themistokles and Aristeides, the two earliest leaders thrown up by the Athenian democracy. Half a century before, Themistokles would have been an active partisan in the faction of the Parali or the Pedieis, while Aris- teides would probably have remained an unnoticed citizen. At the present period of Athenian history, the characters of the Boldier, the magistrate, and the orator, were intimately blended together in a citizen who stood forward for eminence, though they tended more and more to divide themselves during the en? 1 Plutarch. Aristeides. c 7