He made himself hateful to the allies also, by sailing round to the islands and trying to exact money from them. When, for instance, he demanded money of the Andrians, Herodotus says he made a speech to them and got reply as follows: he said he came escorting two gods, Persuasion and Compulsion; and they replied that they already had two great gods, Penury and Powerlessness, who hindered them from giving him money. Timocreon, the lyric poet of Rhodes, assailed Themistocles very bitterly in a song, to the effect that for bribes he had secured the restoration of other exiles, but had abandoned him, though a host and a friend, and all for money. The song runs thus:— Come, if thou praisest Pausanias, or if Xanthippus, Or if Leotychidas, then I shall praise Aristides, The one best man of all Who came from sacred Athens; since Leto loathes Themistocles, The liar, cheat, and traitor, who, though Timocreon was his host, By knavish moneys was induced not to bring him back Into his native Ialysus, But took three talents of silver and went cruising off,—to perdition, Restoring some exiles unjustly, chasing some away, and slaying some, Gorged with moneys; yet at the Isthmus he played ridiculous host with the stale meats set before his guests; Who ate thereof and prayed Heaven no happy return of the day for Themistocles! Much more wanton and extravagant was the raillery which Timocreon indulged in against Themistocles after the latter’s own exile and condemnation. Then he composed the song beginning:— O Muse grant that this song Be famed throughout all Hellas, As it is meet and just. It is said that Timocreon was sent into exile on a charge of Medizing, and that Themistocles concurred in the vote of condemnation. Accordingly, when Themistocles also was accused of Medizing, Timocreon composed these lines upon him:— Not Timocreon alone, then, made compacts with the Medes, But there are other wretches too; not I alone am brushless, There are other foxes too.
The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.
siege of Athens — a candidate entry siege of Rhodes — a deed Aristides — a life Herodotus — a life Leto — a life Pausanias — a candidate entry Pausanias the regent — a life Themistocles — a life Xanthippus — a candidate entry
Themistocles, Plutarch — translated by Bernadotte Perrin, 1914–1926
Perseus Digital Library — Plutarch, Parallel Lives (Perrin translation) · Bernadotte Perrin, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press / William Heinemann, 1914–1926
license: public-domain (US: pre-1930 publication); Perseus digital edition CC BY-SA 4.0, attribution recorded in ops/corpus-staging/SOURCES.md