dead, and that Themistokles gave himself up to his son; but Ephorus,
Deinon, Kleitarchus, Herakleides, and many others, say that it was to
Xerxes himself that he came. But the narrative of Thucydides agrees
better with the dates, although they are not thoroughly settled.
At this perilous crisis Themistokles first applied to Artabanus, a
chiliarch, or officer in command of a regiment of a thousand men, whom
he told that he was a Greek, and that he wished to have an interview
with the king about matters of the utmost importance, and in which the
king was especially interested. He replied, "Stranger, the customs of
different races are different, and each has its own standard of right
and wrong; yet among all men it is thought right to honour, admire, and
to defend one's own customs. Now we are told that you chiefly prize
freedom and equality; we on the other hand think it the best of all our
laws to honour the king, and to worship him as we should worship the
statue of a god that preserves us all. Wherefore if you are come with
the intention of adopting our customs, and of prostrating yourself
before the king, you may be permitted to see the king, and speak with
him; but if not, you must use some other person to communicate with him;
for it is not the custom for the king to converse with any one who does
not prostrate himself before him." Themistokles, hearing this, said to
him, "Artabanus, I am come to increase the glory and power of the king,
and will both myself adopt your customs, since the god that has exalted
the Persians will have it so, and will also increase the number of those
who prostrate themselves before the king. So let this be no impediment
to the interview with him which I desire." "Whom of the Greeks," asked
Artabanus, "are we to tell him is come? for you do not seem to have the
manners of a man of humble station." "No one," answered Themistokles,
"must learn my name before the king himself." This is the story which we
are told by Phanias. But Eratosthenes, in his treatise on wealth, tells
us also that Themistokles was introduced to Artabanus by an Eretrian
lady with whom the latter lived.
XXVIII. When he was brought into the king's presence he prostrated
himself, and stood silent. The king then told his interpreter to ask him
who he was; and when the interpreter had asked this question, he told
him to answer, "I am, O King, Themistokles the Athenian, an exile, a man
who has wrought much evil to the Persians, but more good than evil, in
that I stopped the pursuit when Greece was safe, and I was able to do
you a kindness as all was well at home. In my present fallen fortunes I
am prepared to be grateful for any mark of favour you may show me, or to
deprecate your anger, should you bear a grudge against me. You may see,
from the violence of my own countrymen against me, how great were the
benefits which I conferred upon the Persians; so now use me rather as a
means of proving your magnanimity than of glutting your wrath. Wherefore
save me, your suppliant, and do not destroy one who has become the enemy
of Greece." Themistokles also introduced a supernatural element into his
speech by relating the vision which he saw at the house of Nikogenes,
and also a prophecy which he received at the shrine of Jupiter of
Dodona, which bade him "go to the namesake of the god," from which he
concluded that the god sent him to the king, because they were both
great, and called kings. To this speech the Persian king made no answer,
although he was astonished at his bold spirit; but in conversation with
his friends he spoke as though this were the greatest possible piece of
good fortune, and in his prayers begged Arimanios to make his enemies
ever continue to banish their ablest men. He is said to have offered a
sacrifice to the gods and to have drunk wine at once, and during the
night in his soundest sleep he thrice cried out, "I have got
Themistokles the Athenian."
XXIX. At daybreak he called together his friends and sent for
Themistokles, who augured nothing pleasant from the insults and abuse
which he received from the people at the palace gates, when they heard
his name. Moreover Roxanes the chiliarch, as Themistokles passed by him
in silence into the king's presence, whispered, "Thou subtle serpent of
Greece, the king's good genius has led thee hither." But when he was
come before the king and had prostrated himself a second time, the king
embraced him, and said in a friendly tone that he already owed him two
hundred talents: for as he had brought himself he was clearly entitled
to the reward which was offered to any one else who would do so. He also
promised him much more than this, and encouraged him to speak at length
upon the affairs of Greece. To this Themistokles answered, that human
speech was like embroidered tapestry, because when spread out it shows
all its figures, but when wrapped up it both conceals and spoils them,
wherefore he asked for time. The king was pleased with his simile, and
bade him take what time he chose. He asked for a year, during which he
learned the Persian language sufficiently to talk to the king without an
interpreter. This led the people to imagine that he discoursed about the
affairs of Greece; but many changes were made at that time in the great
officers of the court, and the nobles disliked Themistokles, imagining
that he dared to speak about them to the king. Indeed, he was honoured
as no other foreigner ever was, and went hunting with the king and lived
in his family circle, so that he came into the presence of the king's
mother, and became her intimate friend, and at the king's command was
instructed in the mysteries of the Magi.
When Demaratus the Spartan was bidden to ask for a boon, he asked to be
allowed to drive through Sardis wearing his tiara upright like that of
the king. Mithropaustes, the king's cousin, took hold of Demaratus by
his tiara, saying, "You have no brains for the king's tiara to cover;
do you think you would become Zeus if you were given his thunderbolt to
wield?" The king was very angry with Demaratus because of this request,
but Themistokles by his entreaties restored him to favour. It is also
said that the later Persian kings, whose politics were more mixed up
with those of Greece, used to promise any Greek whom they wished to
desert to them that they would treat him better than Themistokles. We
are told that Themistokles himself, after he became a great man and was
courted by many, was seated one day at a magnificent banquet, and said
to his children, "My sons, we should have been ruined if it had not been
for our ruin." Most writers agree that three cities, Magnesia,
Lampsakus, and Myous, were allotted to him for bread, wine, and meat. To
these Neanthes of Kyzikus and Phanias add two more, Perkote and
Palaiskepsis, which were to supply bedding and clothing respectively.
XXX. On one occasion, when he went down to the seaside on some business
connected with Greece, a Persian named Epixyes, Satrap of Upper Phrygia,
plotted his assassination. He had long kept some Pisidians who were to
kill him when he passed the night in the town of Leontokophalos, which
means 'Lion's Head.' It is said that the mother of the gods appeared to
him while he was sleeping at noon and said, "Themistokles, be late at
Lion's Head, lest you fall in with a lion. As a recompense for this
warning, I demand Mnesiptolema for my handmaid." Themistokles, disturbed
at this, after praying to the goddess, left the highway and made a
circuit by another road, avoiding that place; when it was night he
encamped in the open country. As one of the sumpter cattle that carried
his tent had fallen into a river, Themistokles's servants hung up the
rich hangings, which were dripping with wet, in order to dry them. The
Pisidians meanwhile came up to the camp with drawn swords, and, not
clearly distinguishing in the moonlight the things hung out to dry,
thought that they must be the tent of Themistokles, and that they would
find him asleep within it. When they came close to it and raised the
hangings, the servants who were on the watch fell upon them and seized
them. Having thus escaped from danger, he built a temple to Dindymene at
Magnesia to commemorate the appearance of the goddess, and appointed
his daughter Mnesiptolema to be its priestess.
XXXI. When he came to Sardis, he leisurely examined the temples and the
offerings which they contained, and in the temple of the mother of the
gods, he found a bronze female figure called the Water-carrier, about
two cubits high, which he himself, when overseer of the water supply of
Athens, had made out of the fines imposed upon those who took water
illegally.
Either feeling touched at the statue being a captive, or else willing to
show the Athenians how much power he possessed in Persia, he proposed to
the Satrap of Lydia to send it back to Athens. This man became angry at
his demand, and said that he should write to the king, and tell him of
it. Themistokles in terror applied himself to the harem of the Satrap,
and by bribing the ladies there induced them to pacify him, while he
himself took care to be more cautious in future, as he saw that he had
to fear the enmity of the native Persians. For this reason, Theopompus
tells us, he ceased to wander about Asia, but resided at Magnesia,
where, receiving rich presents and honoured equally with the greatest
Persian nobles, he lived for a long time in tranquillity; for the king's
attention was so entirely directed to the affairs of the provinces of
the interior that he had no leisure for operations against Greece. But
when Egypt revolted, and the Athenians assisted it, and Greek triremes
sailed as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Kimon was master of the sea,
then the king determined to attack the Greeks, and prevent their
development at his expense. Armies were put in motion, generals were
appointed, and frequent messages were sent to Themistokles from the
king, bidding him attack Greece and fulfil his promises. Themistokles,
unmoved by resentment against his countrymen, and uninfluenced by the
thought of the splendid position which he might occupy as
commander-in-chief, possibly too, thinking that his task was an
impossible one, as Greece possessed many great generals, especially
Kimon, who had a most brilliant reputation, but chiefly because he would
not soil his glory and disgrace the trophies which he had won,
determined, as indeed was his best course, to bring his life to a
fitting close. He offered sacrifice to the gods, called his friends
together, and, having taken leave of them, drank bull's blood, according
to the most common tradition, but according to others, some
quickly-operating poison, and died at Magnesia in the sixty-fifth year
of a life almost entirely spent in great political and military
employments.
The King of Persia, when he heard of the manner of his death and his
reasons for dying, admired him more than ever, and continued to treat
his family and friends with kindness.
XXXII. Themistokles left five children, Neokles, Diokles, Archeptolis,
Polyeuktus, Kleophantus, by his first wife Archippe, who was the
daughter of Lysander, of the township of Alopekai. Of these Kleophantus
is mentioned by Plato the philosopher as being an excellent horseman,
but otherwise worthless. Of the elder ones, Neokles was bitten by a
horse and died while still a child, and Diokles was adopted by his
grandfather Lysander. He also had several daughters by his second wife,
of whom Mnesiptolema married Archeptolis, her father's half-brother;
Italia married Panthoides of the island of Chios, and Sybaris married
Nikomedes, an Athenian. After Themistokles's death, his nephew
Phrasikles sailed to Magnesia, and with her brother's consent married
Nicomache, and also took charge of the youngest child, who was named
Asia.
The people of Magnesia show a splendid tomb of Themistokles in their
market-place; but with regard to the fate of his remains we must pay no
attention to Andokides, who in his address to his friends, tells us that
the Athenians stole them and tore them to pieces, because he would tell
any falsehood to excite the hatred of the nobles against the people.
Phylarchus, too, writes his history in such dramatic form that he all
but resorts to the actual machinery of the stage, bringing forward one
Neokles, and Demopolis as the children of Themistokles to make a
touching scene, which anyone can see is untrue. Diodorus the
topographer, in his treatise 'On Tombs' says, more as a conjecture than
as knowing it for a fact, that in the great harbour of Peiraeus a kind
of elbow juts out from the promontory of Alkimus, and that when one
sails past this, going inwards, where the sea is most sheltered, there
is a large foundation, and upon it the tomb of Themistokles, shaped like
an altar. It is thought that the comic poet Plato alludes to this in the
following verses:
"By the sea's margin, by the watery strand,
Thy monument, Themistokles, shall stand;
By this directed to thy native shore
The merchant shall convey his freighted store;
And when our fleets are summoned to the fight,
Athens shall conquer with thy tomb in sight."
The descendants of Themistokles are given certain privileges at Magnesia
even to the present day, for I know that Themistokles, an Athenian, my
friend and fellow-student in the school of Ammonias the philosopher,
enjoyed them.
LIFE OF CAMILLUS.
I. The strangest fact in the life of Furius Camillus is that, although
he was a most successful general and won great victories, though he was
five times appointed dictator, triumphed four times, and was called the
second founder of Rome, yet he never once was consul. The reason of this
is to be found in the political condition of Rome at that time; for the
people, being at variance with the senate, refused to elect consuls, and
chose military tribunes instead, who, although they had full consular
powers, yet on account of their number were less offensive to the people
than consuls. To have affairs managed by six men instead of two appears
to have been a consolation to those who had suffered from the arbitrary
rule of a few. It was during this period that Camillus reached the
height of power and glory, and yet he would not become consul against
the will of the people, although several occasions occurred when he
might have been elected, but in his various appointments he always
contrived, even when he had sole command, to share his power with
others, while even when he had colleagues he kept all the glory for
himself. His moderation prevented any one from grudging him power, while
his successes were due to his genius, in which he confessedly surpassed
all his countrymen.
II. The family of the Furii was not a very illustrious one before
Camillus gained glory in the great battle with the Aequi and Volsci,
where he served under the dictator Postumius Tubertus. Riding out before
the rest of the army, he was struck in the thigh by a dart, but tore it
out, assailed the bravest of the enemy, and put them to flight. After
this, amongst other honours he was appointed censor, an office of great
dignity at that time. One admirable measure is recorded of his
censorship, that by arguments and threatening them with fines he
persuaded the unmarried citizens to marry the widow women, whose number
was very great on account of the wars. Another measure to which he was
forced was that of taxing orphans, who had hitherto been exempt from
taxation. This was rendered necessary by the constant campaigns which
were carried on at a great expense, and more especially by the siege of
Veii. Some call the inhabitants of this city Veientani. It was the
bulwark of Etruria, possessing as many fighting men as Rome itself; the
citizens were rich, luxurious, and extravagant in their habits, and
fought bravely many times for honour and for power against the Romans.
At this period, having been defeated in several great battles, the
people of Veii had given up any schemes of conquest, but had built
strong and high walls, filled their city with arms and provisions, and
all kinds of material of war, and fearlessly endured a siege, which was
long, no doubt, but which became no less irksome and difficult to the
besiegers. Accustomed as the Romans had been to make short campaigns in
summer weather, and to spend their winters at home, they were now for
the first time compelled by their tribunes to establish forts and
entrench their camp, and pass both summer and winter in the enemy's
country for seven years in succession. The generals were complained of,
and as they seemed to be carrying on the siege remissly, they were
removed, and others appointed, among them Camillus, who was then tribune
for the second time. But he effected nothing in the siege at that time,
because he was sent to fight the Faliscans and Capenates, who had
insulted the Roman territory throughout the war with Veii, when the
Roman army was engaged elsewhere, but were now driven by Camillus with
great loss to the shelter of their city walls.
III. After this, while the war was at its height, much alarm was caused
by the strange phenomenon seen at the Alban lake, which could not be
accounted for on ordinary physical principles. The season was autumn,
and the summer had not been remarkable for rain or for moist winds, so
that many of the streams and marshes in Italy were quite dried up, and
others held out with difficulty, while the rivers, as is usual in
summer, were very low and deeply sunk in their bed. But the Alban lake,
which is self-contained, lying as it does surrounded by fertile hills,
began for no reason, except it may be the will of Heaven, to increase in
volume and to encroach upon the hillsides near it, until it reached
their very tops, rising quietly and without disturbance. At first the
portent only amazed the shepherds and herdsmen of the neighbourhood; but
when the lake by the weight of its waters broke through the thin isthmus
of land which restrained it, and poured down in a mighty stream through
the fertile plains below to the sea, then not only the Romans, but all
the people of Italy, thought it a portent of the gravest character. Much
talk about it took place in the camp before Veii, so that the besieged
also learned what was happening at the lake.
IV. As always happens during a long siege, where there are frequent
opportunities of intercourse between the two parties, one of the Romans
had become intimate with a citizen of Veii, who was learned in legendary
lore, and was even thought to have supernatural sources of information.
When this man heard of the overflowing of the lake, his Roman friend
observed that he was overjoyed, and laughed at the idea of the siege
being successful. The Roman told him that these were not the only
portents which troubled the Romans at the present time, but that there
were others stranger than this, about which he should like to consult
him, and, if possible, save himself in the common ruin of his country.
The man eagerly attended to his discourse, imagining that he was about
to hear some great secrets. The Roman thus decoyed him away farther and
farther from the city gate, when he suddenly seized him and lifted him
from the ground. Being the stronger man, and being assisted by several
soldiers from the camp, he overpowered him, and brought him before the
generals. Here the man, seeing that there was no escape, and that no one
can resist his destiny, told them of the ancient oracles about his city,
how it could not be taken until its enemies drove back the waters of the
Alban lake, and prevented its joining the sea. When the senate heard
this they were at a loss what to do, and determined to send an embassy
to Delphi to enquire of the God. The embassy consisted of men of mark
and importance, being Licinius Cossus, Valerius Potitus, and Fabius
Ambustus. After a prosperous journey they returned with a response from
Apollo, pointing out certain ceremonies which had been neglected in the
feast of the Latin games, and bidding them, if possible, force the
waters of the Alban lake away from the sea into its ancient course, or,
if this could not be done, to divide the stream by canals and
watercourses, and so to expend it in the plain. When the answer was
brought back, the priests took the necessary steps about the sacrifices,
while the people turned their attention to the diversion of the water.
V. In the tenth year of the war, the Senate recalled all the rest of the
generals, and made Camillus Dictator. He chose Cornelius Scipio to be
his Master of the Knights, and made a vow to the gods, that, if he
succeeded in bringing the war to a glorious close, he would celebrate a
great festival, and build a shrine to the goddess whom the Romans call
_Mater Matuta_. This goddess, from the rites with which she is
worshipped, one would imagine to be the same as the Greek Leukothea. For
they bring a slave girl into the temple and beat her, and then drive her
out; they take their brothers' children in their arms in preference to
their own, and generally their ceremonies seem to allude to the nursing
of Bacchus, and to the misfortunes which befell Ino because of her
husband's concubine. After this, Camillus invaded the Faliscan
territory, and in a great battle overthrew that people, and the
Capenates who came to their assistance. Next, he turned his attention to
the siege of Veii, and, perceiving that it would be a difficult matter
to take the city by assault, he ordered mines to be dug, as the ground
near the walls was easily worked, and the mines could be sunk to a
sufficient depth to escape the notice of the besieged. As this work
succeeded to his wish, he made a demonstration above ground to call the
enemy to the walls and distract their attention, while others made their
way unperceived through the mine to the Temple of Juno in the citadel,
the largest and most sacred edifice in the city. Here, it is said, was
the King of the Veientines, engaged in sacrificing. The soothsayer
inspected the entrails, and cried with a loud voice, that the goddess
would give the victory to whoever offered that victim. The Romans in the
mine, hearing these words, quickly tore up the floor, and burst through
it with shouts and rattling arms. The enemy fled in terror, and they
seized the victims and carried them to Camillus. However, this story
sounds rather fabulous.
The city was stormed, and the Romans carried off an enormous mass of
plunder. Camillus, who viewed them from the citadel, at first stood
weeping, but when, congratulated by the bystanders, raised his hands to
heaven and said, "Great Jupiter, and all ye other gods, that see all
good and evil deeds alike, ye know that it is not in unrighteous
conquest, but in self-defence, that the Romans have taken this city of
their lawless enemies. If," he continued, "there awaits us any reverse
of fortune to counterbalance this good luck, I pray that it may fall,
not upon the city or army of Rome, but, as lightly as may be, upon my
own head." After these words he turned round to the right, as is the
Roman habit after prayer, and while turning, stumbled and fell. All
those present were terrified at the omen, but he recovered himself,
saying that, as he had prayed, he had received a slight hurt to temper
his great good fortune.