Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/268

 246 HISTORY OF GREECE. begin to hear of a new class of politicians : Eukrates, the rope- seller ; Kleon, the leather-seller ; Lysikles, the sheep-seller ; Hy- perbolus, the lamp-maker; 1 the two first of whom must have been already well-known as speakers in the ekklesia, even during the lifetime of Perikles. Among them all, the most distin- guished was Kleon, son of Kleaenetus. Kleon acquired his first importance among the speakers against Perikles, so that he would thus obtain for himself, during his early political career, the countenance of the numerous and aristocrati- cal anti-Perikleans. He is described by Thucydides in general terms as a person of the most violent temper and character in Athens, as being dishonest in his calumnies, and virulent in his invective and accusation. 2 Aristophanes, in his comedy of the Knights, reproduces these features, with others new and dis- tinct, as well as with exaggerated details, comic, satirical, and contemptuous. His comedy depicts Kleon in the point of view in which he would appear to the knights of Athens, a leather- dresser, smelling of the tan-yard, a low-born brawler, terrify- ing opponents by the violence of his criminations, the loudness of his voice, the impudence of his gestures, moreover, as venal in his politics, threatening men with accusations, and then receiving money to withdraw them ; a robber of the public treasury, persecuting merit as well as rank, and courting the favor of the assembly by the basest and most guilty cajolery. The general attributes set forth by Thucydides (apart from Aris- tophanes, who does not profess to write history), we may well accept ; the powerful and violent invective of Kleon, often dis- honest, together with his self-confidence and audacity in the public assembly. Men of the middling class, like Kleon and 1 Aristophan. Equit, 130. seqq., and Scholia; Eupolis. Dcroi, Fr.im.xv, p. 466, ed. Meineke. Sec the remarks in Ranek, Commentat. de Vita Aris tophanis, p. cccxxxiv, seqq. ai T(f) drjfjUft vrapaTroAv kv T^> TOTE 7rt$ava>rarof. lie also mentions Kleon a second time, two years afterwards, but in (x;rms which also seem to imply a first introduction, pi/Uara Je avrnvf Ivriyc KAe K~t.jj-&ei TTftfavtJrarof, iv, 21-28 . also v, 16. K/leuv vopi*uv fTEcio<: 4-v elvai KOKOVpytiv, nal inriaTorepOf diaSuTL^uv, etc.
 * Thucyd. iii, 36. Kfauv uv nal if ru u/l/.a Piaiora-oc TUV irol.iT&v