Cimon was the son of Miltiades and Hegesipyle, who was by birth a
Thracian, and daughter to the king Olorus. By this means the historian
Thucydides was his kinsman by the mother's side; for his father's name
also, in remembrance of this common ancestor, was Olorus, and he was
the owner of the gold mines in Thrace, and met his death, it is said, by
violence, in Scapte Hyle, a district of Thrace. Cimon was left an orphan
very young, with his sister Elpinice, who was also young and unmarried.
And at first he had but an indifferent reputation, being looked upon
as disorderly in his habits, fond of drinking, and resembling his
grandfather, also called Cimon, in character, whose simplicity got him
the surname of Coalemus the simpleton. Stesimbrotus of Thasos, who
lived about the same time with Cimon, reports of him that he had little
acquaintance either with music, or any of the other liberal studies
and accomplishments, then common among the Greeks; that he had nothing
whatever of the quickness and the ready speech of his countrymen in
Attica; that he had great nobleness and candor in his disposition, and
in his character in general, resembled rather a native of Peloponnesus,
than of Athens; as Euripides describes Hercules:--
----Rude And unrefined, for great things, well-endued;
for this may fairly be added to the character which Stesimbrotus has
given of him.
Almost all the points of Cimon's character were noble and good. He was
as daring as Miltiades, and not inferior to Themistocles in judgment,
and was incomparably more just and honest than either of them. Fully
their equal in all military virtues, in the ordinary duties of a citizen
at home he was immeasurably their superior. And this, too, when he
was very young, his years not strengthened by any experience. For when
Themistocles, upon the Median invasion, advised the Athenians to forsake
their city and their country, and to carry all their arms on shipboard,
and fight the enemy by sea, in the straits of Salamis; when all the
people stood amazed at the confidence and rashness of this advice, Cimon
was seen, the first of all men, passing with a cheerful countenance
through the Ceramics, on his way with his companions to the citadel,
carrying a bridle in his hand to offer to the goddess, intimating that
there was no more need of horsemen now, but of mariners. There, after
he had paid his devotions to the goddess, and offered up the bridle, he
took down one of the bucklers that hung upon the walls of the temple,
and went down to the port; by this example giving confidence to many of
the citizens. He was also of a fairly handsome person, according to the
poet Ion, tall and large, and let his thick and curly hair grow long.
After he had acquitted himself gallantly in this battle of Salamis,
he obtained great repute among the Athenians, and was regarded with
affection, as well as admiration. He had many who followed after him,
and bade him aspire to actions not less famous than his father's battle
of Marathon. And when he came forward in political life, the people
welcomed him gladly, being now weary of Themistocles; in opposition to
whom, and because of the frankness and easiness of his temper, which was
agreeable to every one, they advanced Cimon to the highest employments
in the government. The man that contributed most to his promotion was
Aristides, who early discerned in his character his natural capacity,
and purposely raised him, that he might be a counterpoise to the craft
and boldness of Themistocles. After the Medes had been driven out of
Greece, Cimon was sent out as admiral, when the Athenians had not yet
attained their dominion by sea, but still followed Pausanias and the
Lacedaemonians; and his fellow-citizens under his command were highly
distinguished, both for the excellence of their discipline, and for
their extraordinary zeal and readiness. And further, perceiving that
Pausanias was carrying on secret communications with the barbarians, and
writing letters to the king of Persia to betray Greece, and, puffed
up with authority and success, was treating the allies haughtily, and
committing many wanton injustices, Cimon, taking advantage, by acts of
kindness to those who were suffering wrong, and by his general humane
bearing, robbed him of the command of the Greeks, before he was aware,
not by arms, but by his mere language and character. Cimon, strengthened
with the accession of the allies, went as general into Thrace. For he
was told that some great men among the Persians, of the king's kindred,
being in possession of Eion, a city situated upon the river Strymon,
infested the neighboring Greeks. First he defeated these Persians in
battle, and shut them up within the walls of their town. Then he fell
upon the Thracians of the country beyond the Strymon, because they
supplied Eion with victuals, and driving them entirely out of the
country, took possession of it as conqueror, by which means he reduced
the besieged to such straits, that Butes, who commanded there for the
king, in desperation set fire to the town, and burned himself, his
goods, and all his relations, in one common flame. By this means,
Cimon got the town, but no great booty; as the barbarians had not only
consumed themselves in the fire, but the richest of their effects.
However, he put the country into the hands of the Athenians, a most
advantageous and desirable situation for a settlement. For this action,
the people permitted him to erect the stone Mercuries, upon the first of
which was this inscription:--
Of bold and patient spirit, too, were those Who, where the Strymon under
Eion flows, With famine and the sword, to utmost need Reduced at last
the children of the Mede.