ταῦτα καίπερ οὐδαμοῦ τὸ Κίμωνος ὄνομα δηλοῦντα τιμῆς ὑπερβολὴν ἔχειν ἐδόκει τοῖς τότε ἀνθρώποις. οὔτε γὰρ Θεμιστοκλῆς τοιούτου τινὸς οὔτε Μιλτιάδης ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ τούτῳ γε θαλλοῦ στέφανον αἰτοῦντι Σωφάνης ὁ Δεκελεὺς ἐκ μέσου τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀναστὰς ἀντεῖπεν, οὐκ εὐγνώμονα μέν, ἀρέσασαν δὲ τῷ δήμῳ τότε φωνὴν ἀφείς· ὅταν γάρ, ἔφη, μόνος ἀγωνισάμενος, ὦ Μιλτιάδη, νικήσῃς τοὺς βαρβάρους, τότε καὶ τιμᾶσθαι μόνος ἀξίου.
Although these inscriptions nowhere mentioned Cimon by name, his contemporaries held them to be a surpassing honor for him. Neither Themistocles nor Miltiades achieved any such, nay, when the latter asked for a crown of olive merely, Sophanes the Deceleian rose up in the midst of the assembly and protested. His speech was ungracious, but it pleased the people of that day. When, said he, thou hast fought out alone a victory over the Barbarians, then demand to be honored alone.
διὰ τί τοίνυν τὸ Κίμωνος ὑπερηγάπησαν ἔργον; ἢ ὅτι τῶν μὲν ἄλλων στρατηγούντων ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ παθεῖν ἠμύνοντο τοὺς πολεμίους, τούτου δὲ καὶ ποιῆσαι κακῶς ἠδυνήθησαν ἐπὶ τὴν ἐκείνων αὐτοὶ στρατεύσαντες, καὶ προσεκτήσαντο χώρας αὐτήν τε τὴν Ἠϊόνα καὶ τὴν Ἀμφίπολιν οἰκίσαντες;
Why, then, were the people so excessively pleased with the achievement of Cimon? Perhaps it was because when the others were their generals they were trying to repel their enemies and so avert disaster; but when he led them they were enabled to ravage the land of their enemies with incursions of their own, and acquired fresh territories for settlement, not only Eion itself, but also Amphipolis.
ὤικισαν δὲ καὶ Σκῦρον ἑλόντος Κίμωνος ἐξ αἰτίας τοιαύτης. Δόλοπες ᾤκουν τὴν νῆσον, ἐργάται κακοὶ γῆς· ληϊζόμενοι δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν ἐκ παλαιοῦ, τελευτῶντες οὐδὲ τῶν εἰσπλεόντων παρʼ αὐτοὺς καὶ χρωμένων ἀπείχοντο ξένων, ἀλλὰ Θετταλούς τινας ἐμπόρους περὶ τὸ Κτήσιον ὁρμισαμένους συλήσαντες εἷρξαν.
They settled Scyros too, which Cimon seized for the following reason. Dolopians were living on the island, but they were poor tillers of the soil. So they practised piracy on the high sea from of old, and finally did not withhold their hands even from those who put into their ports and had dealings with them, but robbed some Thessalian merchants who had cast anchor at Ctesium, and threw them into prison.
ἐπεὶ δὲ διαδράντες ἐκ τῶν δεσμῶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι δίκην κατεδικάσαντο τῆς πόλεως Ἀμφικτυονικήν, οὐ βουλομένων τὰ χρήματα τῶν πολλῶν συνεκτίνειν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἔχοντας καὶ διηρπακότας ἀποδοῦναι κελευόντων, δείσαντες ἐκεῖνοι πέμπουσι γράμματα πρὸς Κίμωνα, κελεύοντες ἥκειν μετὰ τῶν νεῶν ληψόμενον τὴν πόλιν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐνδιδομένην.
When these men had escaped from bondage and won their suit against the city at the Amphictyonic assembly, the people of Scyros were not willing to make restitution, but called on those who actually held the plunder to give it back. The robbers, in terror, sent a letter to Cimon, urging him to come with his fleet to seize the city, and they would give it up to him.
παραλαβὼν δʼ οὕτω τὴν νῆσον ὁ Κίμων τοὺς μὲν Δόλοπας ἐξήλασε καὶ τὸν Αἰγαῖον ἠλευθέρωσε, πυνθανόμενος δὲ τὸν παλαιὸν Θησέα τὸν Αἰγέως φυγόντα μὲν ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν εἰς Σκῦρον, αὐτοῦ δʼ ἀποθανόντα δόλῳ διὰ φόβον ὑπὸ Λυκομήδους τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐσπούδασε τὸν τάφον ἀνευρεῖν.
In this manner Cimon got possession of the island, drove out the Dolopians and made the Aegean a free sea. On learning that the ancient Theseus, son of Aegeus, had fled in exile from Athens to Scyros, but had been treacherously put to death there, through fear, by Lycomedes the king, Cimon eagerly sought to discover his grave.
καὶ γὰρ ἦν χρησμὸς Ἀθηναίοις τὰ Θησέως λείψανα κελεύων ἀνακομίζειν εἰς ἄστυ καὶ τιμᾶν ὡς ἥρωα πρεπόντως, ἀλλʼ ἠγνόουν ὅπου κεῖται, Σκυρίων οὐχ ὁμολογούντων οὐδʼ ἐώντων ἀναζητεῖν. τότε δὴ πολλῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ τοῦ σηκοῦ μόγις ἐξευρεθέντος, ἐνθέμενος ὁ Κίμων εἰς τὴν αὑτοῦ τριήρη τὰ ὀστᾶ καὶ τἆλλα κοσμήσας μεγαλοπρεπῶς κατήγαγεν εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ διʼ ἐτῶν σχεδὸν τετρακοσίων. ἐφʼ ᾧ καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡδέως ὁ δῆμος ἔσχεν.
For the Athenians had once received an oracle bidding them bring back the bones of Theseus to the city and honor him as became a hero, but they knew not where he lay buried, since the Scyrians would not admit the truth of the story, nor permit any search to be made. Now, however, Cimon set to work with great ardour, discovered at last the hallowed spot, had the bones bestowed in his own trireme, and with general pomp and show brought them back to the hero’s own country after an absence of about four hundred years. This was the chief reason why the people took kindly to him.
ἔθεντο δʼ εἰς μνήμην αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν τῶν τραγῳδῶν κρίσιν ὀνομαστὴν γενομένην. πρώτην γὰρ διδασκαλίαν τοῦ Σοφοκλέους ἔτι νέου καθέντος, Ἀψεφίων ὁ ἄρχων, φιλονεικίας οὔσης καὶ παρατάξεως τῶν θεατῶν, κριτὰς μὲν οὐκ ἐκλήρωσε τοῦ ἀγῶνος, ὡς δὲ Κίμων μετὰ τῶν συστρατήγων προελθὼν εἰς τὸ θέατρον ἐποιήσατο τῷ θεῷ τὰς νενομισμένας σπονδάς, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτοὺς ἀπελθεῖν, ἀλλʼ ὁρκώσας ἠνάγκασε καθίσαι καὶ κρῖναι δέκα ὄντας, ἀπὸ φυλῆς μιᾶς ἕκαστον.
But they also cherished in kindly remembrance of him that decision of his in the tragic contests which became so famous. When Sophocles, still a young man, entered the lists with his first plays, Apsephion the Archon, seeing that the spirit of rivalry and partisanship ran high among the spectators, did not appoint the judges of the contest as usual by lot, but when Cimon and his fellow-generals advanced into the theater and made the customary libation to the god, he would not suffer them to depart, but forced them to take the oath and sit as judges, being ten in all, one from each tribe.
ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀγὼν καὶ διὰ τὸ τῶν κριτῶν ἀξίωμα τὴν φιλοτιμίαν ὑπερέβαλε. νικήσαντος δὲ τοῦ Σοφοκλέους λέγεται τὸν Αἰσχύλον περιπαθῆ γενόμενον καὶ βαρέως ἐνεγκόντα χρόνον οὐ πολὺν Ἀθήνησι διαγαγεῖν, εἶτʼ οἴχεσθαι διʼ ὀργὴν εἰς Σικελίαν, ὅπου καὶ τελευτήσας περὶ Γέλαν τέθαπται.
So, then, the contest, even because of the unusual dignity of the judges, was more animated than ever before. But Sophocles came off victorious and it is said that Aeschylus, in great distress and indignation thereat, lingered only a little while at Athens, and then went off in anger to Sicily. There he died also, and is buried near Gela.
συνδειπνῆσαι δὲ τῷ Κίμωνί φησιν ὁ Ἴων παντάπασι μειράκιον ἥκων εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐκ Χίου παρὰ Λαομέδοντι· καὶ τῶν σπονδῶν γενομένων παρακληθέντοςᾆσαι, καὶ ἄσαντοςοὐκ ἀηδῶς ἐπαινεῖν τοὺς παρόντας ὡς δεξιώτερον Θεμιστοκλέους· ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ᾄδειν μὲν οὐ φάναι μαθεῖν οὐδὲ κιθαρίζειν, πόλιν δὲ ποιῆσαι μεγάλην καὶ πλουσίαν ἐπίστασθαι·
Ion says that, coming from Chios to Athens as a mere stripling, he was once a fellow-guest with Cimon at a dinner given by Laomedon, and that over the wine the hero was invited to sing, and did sing very agreeably, and was praised by the guests as a cleverer man than Themistocles. That hero, they said, declared that he had not learned to sing, nor even to play the lyre, but knew how to make a city great and rich.
τοὐντεῦθεν, οἷον εἰκὸς ἐν πότῳ, τοῦ λόγου ῥυέντος ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις τοῦ Κίμωνος καὶ μνημονευομένων τῶν μεγίστων, αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον ἓν διελθεῖν στρατήγημα τῶν ἰδίων ὡς σοφώτατον. ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐκ Σηστοῦ καὶ Βυζαντίου πολλοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων αἰχμαλώτους λαβόντες οἱ σύμμαχοι τῷ Κίμωνι διανεῖμαι προσέταξαν, ὁ δὲ χωρὶς μὲν αὐτούς, χωρὶς δὲ τὸν περὶ τοῖς σώμασι κόσμον αὐτῶν ἔθηκεν, ᾐτιῶντο τὴν διανομὴν ὡς ἄνισον.
Next, Ion says, as was natural over the cups, the conversation drifted to the exploits of Cimon, and as his greatest deeds were being recounted, the hero himself dwelt at length on one particular stratagem which he thought his shrewdest. Once, he said, when the Athenians and their allies had taken many barbarian prisoners at Sestos and Byzantium and turned them over to him for distribution, he put into one lot the persons of the captives, and into another the rich adornments of their bodies, and his distribution was blamed as unequal.
ὁ δὲ τῶν μερίδων ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς ἑλέσθαι τὴν ἑτέραν, ἣν δʼ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι καταλίπωσιν, ἀγαπήσειν Ἀθηναίους. Ἡροφύτου δὲ τοῦ Σαμίου συμβουλεύσαντος αἱρεῖσθαι τὰ Περσῶν μᾶλλον ἢ Πέρσας, τὸν μὲν κόσμον αὐτοὶ ἔλαβον, Ἀθηναίοις δὲ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀπέλιπον. καὶ τότε μὲν ὁ Κίμων ἀπῄει γελοῖος εἶναι δοκῶν διανομεύς, τῶν μὲν συμμάχων ψέλια χρυσᾶ καὶ μανιάκας καὶ στρεπτοὺς καὶ κάνδυας καὶ πορφύραν φερομένων, τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων γυμνὰ σώματα κακῶς ἠσκημένα πρὸς ἐργασίαν παραλαβόντων.
But he bade the allies choose one of the lots, and the Athenians would be content with whichever one they left. So, on the advice of Herophytus the Samian to choose Persian wealth rather than Persians, the Allies took the rich adornments for themselves, and left the prisoners for the Athenians. At the time Cimon came off with the reputation of being a ridiculous distributor, since the allies had their gold anklets and armlets and collars and jackets and purple robes to display, while the Athenians got only naked bodies ill-trained for labour.
μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον οἱ τῶν ἑαλωκότων φίλοι καὶ οἰκεῖοι καταβαίνοντες ἐκ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας ἐλυτροῦντο μεγάλων χρημάτων ἕκαστον, ὥστε τῷ Κίμωνι τεσσάρων μηνῶν τροφὰς εἰς τὰς ναῦς ὑπάρξαι καὶ προσέτι τῇ πόλει χρυσίον οὐκ ὀλίγον ἐκ τῶν λύτρων περιγενέσθαι.
But a little while after, the friends and kinsmen of the captives came down from Phrygia and Lydia and ransomed every one of them at a great price, so that Cimon had four months’ pay and rations for his fleet, and besides that, much gold from the ransoms was left over for the city.
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