ἦν μὲν οὖν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς φιλολάκων· καὶ τῶν γε παίδων τῶν διδύμων τὸν ἕτερον Λακεδαιμόνιον ὠνόμασε, τὸν δʼ ἕτερον Ἠλεῖον, ἐκ γυναικὸς αὐτῷ Κλειτορίας γενομένους, ὡς Στησίμβροτος ἱστορεῖ· διὸ πολλάκις τὸν Περικλέα τὸ μητρῷον αὐτοῖς γένος ὀνειδίζειν. Διόδωρος δʼ ὁ Περιηγητὴς καὶ τούτους φησὶ καὶ τὸν τρίτον τῶν Κίμωνος υἱῶν Θεσσαλὸν ἐξ Ἰσοδίκης γεγονέναι τῆς Εὐρυπτολέμου τοῦ Μεγακλέους.
It is true indeed that he was from the first a philo-Laconian. He actually named one of his twin sons Lacedaemonius, and the other Eleius,— the sons whom a woman of Cleitor bare him, as Stesimbrotus relates, wherefore Pericles often reproached them with their maternal lineage. But Diodorus the Topographer says that these, as well as the third of Cimon’s sons, Thessalus, were born of Isodice, the daughter of Euryptolemus, the son of Megacles.
ηὐξήθη δʼ ὑπὸ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων ἤδη τῷ Θεμιστοκλεῖ προσπολεμούντων καὶ τοῦτον ὄντα νέον ἐν Ἀθήναις μᾶλλον ἰσχύειν καὶ κρατεῖν βουλομένων. οἱ δʼ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸ πρῶτον ἡδέως ἑώρων οὐ μικρὰ τῆς πρὸς ἐκεῖνον εὐνοίας τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν ἀπολαύοντες· αὐξανομένοις γὰρ αὐτοῖς κατʼ ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰ συμμαχικὰ πολυπραγμονοῦσιν οὐκ ἤχθοντο τιμῇ καὶ χάριτι τοῦ Κίμωνος.
And he was looked upon with favour by the Lacedaemonians, who soon were at enmity with Themistocles, and therefore preferred that Cimon, young as he was, should have the more weight and power in Athens. The Athenians were glad to see this at first, since they reaped no slight advantage from the good will which the Spartans showed him. While their empire was first growing, and they were busy making alliances, they were not displeased that honor and favour should be shown to Cimon.
τὰ γὰρ πλεῖστα διʼ ἐκείνου τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν διεπράττετο, πρᾴως μὲν τοῖς συμμάχοις, κεχαρισμένως δὲ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ὁμιλοῦντος. ἔπειτα δυνατώτεροι γενόμενοι καὶ τὸν Κίμωνα τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις οὐκ ἠρέμα προσκείμενον ὁρῶντες ἤχθοντο. καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ παντὶ μεγαλύνων τὴν Λακεδαίμονα πρὸς Ἀθηναίους, καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε τύχοι μεμφόμενος αὐτοῖς ἢ παροξύνων, ὥς φησι Στησίμβροτος, εἰώθει λέγειν· ἀλλʼ οὐ Λακεδαιμόνιοί γε τοιοῦτοι.
He was the foremost Hellenic statesman, dealing gently with the allies and acceptably with the Lacedaemonians. But afterwards, when they became more powerful, and saw that Cimon was strongly attached to the Spartans, they were displeased thereat. For on every occasion he was prone to exalt Lacedaemon to the Athenians, especially when he had occasion to chide or incite them. Then, as Stesimbrotus tells us, he would say, But the Lacedaemonians are not of such a sort.
ὅθεν φθόνον ἑαυτῷ συνῆγε καὶ δυσμένειάν τινα παρὰ τῶν πολιτῶν.
ἡ δʼ οὖν ἰσχύσασα μάλιστα κατʼ αὐτοῦ τῶν διαβολῶν αἰτίαν ἔσχε τοιαύτην. Ἀρχιδάμου τοῦ Ζευξιδάμου τέταρτονἔτος ἐν Σπάρτῃ βασιλεύοντος ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ μεγίστου δὴ τῶν μνημονευομένων πρότερον ἥ τε χώρα τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων χάσμασιν ἐνώλισθε πολλοῖς καὶ τῶν Ταϋγέτων τιναχθέντων κορυφαί τινες ἀπερράγησαν, αὐτὴ δʼ ἡ πόλις ὅλη συνεχύθη πλὴν οἰκιῶν πέντε, τὰς δʼ ἄλλας ἤρειψεν ὁ σεισμός.
In this way he awakened the envy and hatred of his fellow-citizens. At any rate, the strongest charge against him arose as follows. When Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, was in the fourth year of his reign at Sparta, a greater earthquake than any before reported rent the land of the Lacedaemonians into many chasms, shook Taygetus so that sundry peaks were torn away, and demolished the entire city with the exception of five houses. The rest were thrown down by the earthquake.
ἐν δὲ μέσῃ τῇ στοᾷ γυμναζομένων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἐφήβων καὶ τῶν νεανίσκων λέγεται μικρὸν πρὸ τοῦ σεισμοῦ λαγὼν παραφανῆναι, καὶ τοὺς μὲν νεανίσκους, ὥσπερ ἦσαν ἀληλιμμένοι, μετὰ παιδιᾶς ἐκδραμεῖν καὶ διώκειν, τοῖς δʼ ἐφήβοις ὑπολειφθεῖσιν ἐπιπεσεῖν τὸ γυμνάσιον καὶ πάντας ὁμοῦ τελευτῆσαι. τὸν δὲ τάφον αὐτῶν ἔτι νῦν Σεισματίαν προσαγορεύουσι.
It is said that while the young men and youths were exercising together in the interior of the colonnade, just a little before the earthquake, a hare made its appearance, and the youths, all anointed as they were, in sport dashed out and gave chase to it, but the young men remained behind, on whom the gymnasium fell, and all perished together. Their tomb, even down to the present day, they call Seismatias.
ταχὺ δὴ συνιδὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρόντος τὸν μέλλοντα κίνδυνον ὁ Ἀρχίδαμος, καὶ τοὺς πολίτας ὁρῶν ἐκ τῶν οἰκιῶν τὰ τιμιώτατα πειρωμένους σώζειν, ἐκέλευσε τῇ σάλπιγγι σημαίνειν, ὡς πολεμίων ἐπιόντων, ὅπως ὅτι τάχιστα μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἀθροίζωνται πρὸς αὐτόν. ὃ δὴ καὶ μόνον ἐν τῷ τότε καιρῷ τὴν Σπάρτην διέσωσεν. οἱ γὰρ εἵλωτες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν συνέδραμον πανταχόθεν ὡς ἀναρπασόμενοι τοὺς σεσωσμένους τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν.
Archidamus at once comprehended from the danger at hand that which was sure to follow, and as he saw the citizens trying to save the choicest valuables out of their houses, ordered the trumpet to give the signal of an enemy’s attack, in order that they might flock to him at once under arms. This was all that saved Sparta at that crisis. For the Helots hurriedly gathered from all the country round about with intent to despatch the surviving Spartans.
ὡπλισμένους δὲ καὶ συντεταγμένους εὑρόντες ἀνεχώρησαν ἐπὶ τὰς πόλεις καὶ φανερῶς ἐπολέμουν, τῶν τε περιοίκων ἀναπείσαντες οὐκ ὀλίγους, καὶ Μεσσηνίων ἅμα τοῖς Σπαρτιάταις συνεπιθεμένων. πέμπουσιν οὖν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Περικλείδαν εἰς Ἀθήνας δεόμενοι βοηθεῖν, ὅν φησι κωμῳδῶν Ἀριστοφάνης καθεζόμενον ἐπὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς ὠχρὸν ἐν φοινικίδι στρατιὰν ἐπαιτεῖν.
But finding them arrayed in arms, they withdrew to their cities and waged open war, persuading many Perioeci also so to do. The Messenians besides joined in this attack upon the Spartans. Accordingly, the Lacedaemonians sent Pericleidas to Athens with request for aid, and Aristophanes introduces him into a comedy as sitting at the altars, pale of face, in purple cloak, soliciting an army.
Ἐφιάλτου δὲ κωλύοντος καὶ διαμαρτυρομένου μὴ βοηθεῖν μηδʼ ἀνιστάναι πόλιν ἀντίπαλον ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἀλλʼ ἐᾶν κεῖσθαι καὶ πατηθῆναι τὸ φρόνημα τῆς Σπάρτης, Κίμωνά φησι Κριτίας τὴν τῆς πατρίδος αὔξησιν ἐν ὑστέρῳ θέμενον τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίων συμφέροντος ἀναπείσαντα τὸν δῆμον ἐξελθεῖν βοηθοῦντα μετὰ πολλῶν ὁπλιτῶν. ὁ δʼ Ἴων ἀπομνημονεύει καὶ τὸν λόγον, ᾧ μάλιστα τοὺς Ἀθηναίους ἐκίνησε, παρακαλῶν μήτε τὴν Ἑλλάδα χωλὴν μήτε τὴν πόλιν ἑτερόζυγα περιϊδεῖν γεγενημένην.
But Ephialtes opposed the project, and besought the Athenians not to succour nor restore a city which was their rival, but to let haughty Sparta lie to be trodden under foot of men. Whereupon, as Critias says, Cimon made his country’s increase of less account than Sparta’s interest, and persuaded the people to go forth to her aid with many hoplites. And Ion actually mentions the phrase by which, more than by anything else, Cimon prevailed upon the Athenians, exhorting them not to suffer Hellas to be crippled, nor their city to be robbed of its yoke-fellow.
ἐπεὶ δὲ βοηθήσας τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἀπῄει διὰ Κορίνθου τὴν στρατιὰν ἄγων, ἐνεκάλει Λάχαρτος αὐτῷ πρὶν ἐντυχεῖν τοῖς πολίταις εἰσαγαγόντι τὸ στράτευμα· καὶ γὰρ θύραν κόψαντας ἀλλοτρίαν οὐκ εἰσιέναι πρότερον ἢ τὸν κύριον κελεῦσαι. καὶ ὁ Κίμων ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὑμεῖς, εἶπεν, ὦ Λάχαρτε, τὰς Κλεωναίων καὶ Μεγαρέων πύλας κόψαντες, ἀλλὰ κατασχίσαντες εἰσεβιάσασθε μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἀξιοῦντες ἀνεῳγέναι πάντα τοῖς μεῖζον δυναμένοις. οὕτω μὲν ἐθρασύνατο πρὸς τὸν Κορίνθιον ἐν δέοντι, καὶ μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς διεξῆλθεν.
After he had given aid to the Lacedaemonians, he was going back home with his forces through the Isthmus of Corinth, when Lachartus upbraided him for having introduced his army before he had conferred with the citizens. People who knock at doors, said he, do not go in before the owner bids them; to which Cimon replied, And yet you Corinthians, O Lachartus, did not so much as knock at the gates of Cleonae and Megara, but hewed them down and forced your way in under arms, demanding that everything be opened up to the stronger. Such was his boldness of speech to the Corinthian in an emergency, and he passed on through with his forces.
οἱ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους αὖθις ἐκάλουν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐν Ἰθώμῃ Μεσσηνίους καὶ εἵλωτας, ἐλθόντων δὲ τὴν τόλμαν καὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα δείσαντες ἀπεπέμψαντο μόνους τῶν συμμάχων ὡς νεωτεριστάς. οἱ δὲ πρὸς ὀργὴν ἀπελθόντες ἤδη τοῖς λακωνίζουσι φανερῶς ἐχαλέπαινον, καὶ τὸν Κίμωνα μικρᾶς ἐπιλαβόμενοι προφάσεως ἐξωστράκισαν εἰς ἔτη δέκα· τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἦν χρόνου τεταγμένον ἅπασι τοῖς ἐξοστρακιζομένοις.
Once more the Lacedaemonians summoned the Athenians to come to their aid against the Messenians and Helots in Ithome, and the Athenians went, but their dashing boldness awakened fear, and they were singled out from all the allies and sent off as dangerous conspirators. They came back home in a rage, and at once took open measures of hostility against the Laconizers, and above all against Cimon. Laying hold of a trifling pretext, they ostracised him for ten years. That was the period decreed in all cases of ostracism.
ἐν δὲ τούτῳ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων, ὡς ἐπανήρχοντο Δελφοὺς ἀπὸ Φωκέων ἐλευθερώσαντες, ἐν Τανάγρᾳ καταστρατοπεδευσάντων Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν ἀπήντων διαμαχούμενοι, Κίμων δὲ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων ἧκεν εἰς τὴν αὑτοῦ φυλὴν τὴν Οἰνηΐδα, πρόθυμος ὢν ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μετὰ τῶν πολιτῶν.
It was during this period that the Lacedaemonians, after freeing the Delphians from the Phocians, encamped at Tanagra on their march back home. Here the Athenians confronted them, bent on fighting their issue out, and here Cimon came in arms, to join his own Oeneid tribe, eager to share with his fellow-citizens in repelling the Lacedaemonians.
ἡ δὲ βουλὴ τῶν πεντακοσίων πυθομένη καὶ φοβηθεῖσα, τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ καταβοώντων ὡς συνταράξαι τὴν φάλαγγα βουλομένου καὶ τῇ πόλει Λακεδαιμονίους ἐπαγαγεῖν, ἀπηγόρευσε τοῖς στρατηγοῖς μὴ δέχεσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα. κἀκεῖνος μὲν ᾤχετο δεηθεὶς Εὐθίππου τοῦ Ἀναφλυστίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἑταίρων, ὅσοι μάλιστα τὴν τοῦ λακωνίζειν αἰτίαν ἔσχον, ἐρρωμένως ἀγωνίσασθαι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ διʼ ἔργων ἀπολύσασθαι τὴν αἰτίαν πρὸς τοὺς πολίτας.
But the Council of the Five Hundred learned of this and was filled with fear, since Cimon’s foes accused him of wishing to throw the ranks into confusion, and then lead the Lacedaemonians in an attack upon the city; so they forbade the generals to receive the man. As he went away he besought Euthippus of Anaphlystus and his other comrades, all who were specially charged with laconizing, to fight sturdily against the enemy, and by their deeds of valor to dissipate the charge which their countrymen laid at their door.
οἱ δὲ λαβόντες αὐτοῦ τὴν πανοπλίαν εἰς τὸν λόχον ἔθεντο· καὶ μετʼ ἀλλήλων συστάντες ἐκθύμως ἑκατὸν ὄντες ἔπεσον, πολὺν αὑτῶν πόθον καὶ μεταμέλειαν ἐφʼ οἷς ᾐτιάθησαν ἀδίκως ἀπολιπόντες τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις. ὅθεν οὐδὲ τῷ πρὸς Κίμωνα θυμῷ πολὺν χρόνον ἐνέμειναν, τὰ μέν, ὡς εἰκός, ὧν ἔπαθον εὖ μεμνημένοι, τὰ δὲ τοῦ καιροῦ συλλαμβανομένου.
They took his armour and set it in the midst of their company, supported one another ardently in the fight, and fell, to the number of one hundred, leaving behind them among the Athenians a great and yearning sense of their loss, and sorrow for the unjust charges made against them. For this reason the Athenians did not long abide by their displeasure against Cimon, partly because, as was natural, they remembered his benefits, and partly because the turn of events favoured his cause.
νενικημένοι γὰρ ἐν Τανάγρᾳ μάχῃ μεγάλῃ καὶ προσδοκῶντες εἰς ὥραν ἔτους στρατιὰν Πελοποννησίων ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐκάλουν ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς τὸν Κίμωνα· καὶ κατῆλθε τὸ ψήφισμα γράψαντος αὐτῷ Περικλέους. οὕτω τότε πολιτικαὶ μὲν ἦσαν αἱ διαφοραί, μέτριοι δʼ οἱ θυμοὶ καὶ πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν εὐανάκλητοι συμφέρον, ἡ δὲ φιλοτιμία πάντων ἐπικρατοῦσα τῶν παθῶν τοῖς τῆς πατρίδος ὑπεχώρει καιροῖς.
For they were defeated at Tanagra in a great battle, and expected that in the following spring-time an armed force of Peloponnesians would come against them, and so they recalled Cimon from his exile. The decree which provided for his return was formally proposed by Pericles. To such a degree in those days were dissensions based on political differences of opinion, while personal feelings were moderate, and easily recalled into conformity with the public weal. Even ambition, that master passion, paid deference to the country’s welfare.
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