one of the noblest families in Persia; gave him a palace and an equipage suitable to it, and settled a noble pension on him. He used to carry him abroad on his parties of hunting, and every banquet and entertainment: and sometimes conversed privately with him, so that the lords of the court grew jealous and uneasy upon that account. He even presented him to the princesses, who honoured him with their esteem, and received his visits. It is observed, as a proof of the peculiar favour showed him, that by the king's special order, Themistocles was admitted to hear the lectures and discourses of the Magi, and was instructed by them in all the secrets of their philosophy.

Another proof of his great credit is related. Demaratus of Sparta, who was then at court, being commanded by the king to ask any thing of him, he desired that he might be suffered to make his entry on horseback, into the city of Sardis, with the royal tiara on his head a ridiculous vanity! equally unworthy of the Grecian grandeur, and the simplicity of a Lacedemonian! The king, exasperated at the insolence of his demand, expressed his disgust in the strongest terms, and seemed resolved not to pardon him; but Themistocles having interceded, the king restored him to favour.

In fine, Themistocles was in such great credit, that under the succeeding reigns, in which the affairs of Persia were still more mixed with those of Greece, whenever the kings were desirous of drawing over any Greek to their interest, they used to declare expressly in their letters, that he should be in greater favour with them than Themistocles had been with king Ar

taxerxes.

It is said also that Themistocles, when in his most flourishing condition in Persia, was honoured and esteemed by all the world, who were emulous in making their court to him, said one day, when his table was covered magnificently, "Children, we should have been ruined, if we had not been ruined."

But at last, as it was judged necessary for the king's interest that Themistocles should reside in some city of Asia Minor, that he might be ready on any occasion which should present itself; accordingly he was sent to Magnesia, situated on the Meander; and for his subsistence, besides the whole revenues of that city, which amounted to fifty talents" every year, had those of Myunte and Lampsacus assigned him. One of the cities was to furnish him with bread, another with wine, and a third with other provisions. Some authors add two more, viz. for his furniture and clothes. Such was the custom of the ancient kings of the east: instead of settling pensions on persons they rewarded, they gave them cities, and sometimes even provinces, which, under the name of bread, wine, &c. were to furnish them abundantly with all things necessary for supporting, in a magnificent manner, their family and equipage. Themistocles lived for some years at Magnesia in the utmost splendor, till he came to his end in the manner which will be related hereafter.

SECTION III.

GIMON BEGINS TO MAKE A FIGURE AT ATHENS.

THE Athenians having lost one of their most distinguished citizens, as well as ablest generals, by the

* 50,000 crowns, or about 11,2501. sterling.=$.50,000.

• A. M. 3534. Ant. J. C. 470. Diod. 1. xi. p. 45. Plut. in Cim. p. 482, 488

banishment of Themistocles, endeavoured to retrieve that loss, by bestowing the command of the armies on Cimon, who was not inferior to him in merit.

He spent his youth in such excesses as did him no honour, and presaged no good with regard to his future conduct. P The example of this illustrious Athenian, who passed his juvenile years in so dissolute a manner, and afterwards rose to so exalted a pitch of glory, shows that parents must not always despair of the happiness of a son, when wild and irregular in his youth; especially when nature has endued him with genius, goodness of heart, generous inclinations, and an esteem for persons of merit. Such was the character of Cimon. The ill reputation he had drawn upon himself, having prejudiced the people against him, he at first was very ill received by them; when, being discouraged by this repulse, he resolved to lay aside all thoughts of concerning himself with the affairs of the public. But Aristides perceiving that his dissolute turn of mind was united with many fine qualities, he consoled him, inspired him with hope, pointed out the paths he should take, instilled good principles into him, and did not a little contribute, by the excellent instructions he gave him, and the affection he expressed for him on all occasions, to make him the man he afterwards appeared. What more important service could he have done his country?

a Plutarch observes, that after Cimon had laid aside his juvenile extravagancies, his conduct was in all things great and noble; and that he was not inferior to Miltiades either in courage or intrepidity, nor to Themistocles in prudence and sense; but that he was more 9 Plut, in Cim. p. 481.

P Plut. in Cim. p. 480.

just and virtuous than either of them; and that without being at all inferior to them in military virtues he surpassed them far in the practice of the moral ones.

It would be of great advantage to a state, if those who excel in professions of every kind, would take pleasure and make it their duty to fashion and instruct such youths as are remarkable for the pregnancy of their parts and goodness of disposition. They would thereby have an opportunity of serving their country even after their death, and of perpetuating in it, in the person of their pupils, a taste and inclination for true merit, and the practice of the wisest maxims.

The Athenians, a little after Themistocles had left his country, having put to sea a fleet under the command of Cimon, the son of Miltiades, took Eion, on the banks of the Strymon, Amphipolis, and other places of Thrace; and as this was a very fruitful country, Cimon planted a colony in it, and sent ten thousand Athenians thither for that purpose.

The fate of Eion is of too singular a kind to be omitted here. Boges was governor of it under the king of Persia, and acted with such a zeal and fidelity for his sovereign, as have few examples. When beseiged by Cimon and the Athenians, it was in his power to have capitulated upon honourable terms, and he might have retired to Asia with his family and all his effects. However, being persuaded he could not do this with honour, he resolved to die rather than surrender. The city was assaulted with the utmost fury, and he defended it with incredible bravery. Being at

Herod. 1. vii. c. 107. Plut. p. 482.

Plutarch calls him Butis. Herodotus seems to place this history under Xerxes; but it is more probable, that it happened under Artaxerres his successor.

last in the utmost want of provisions, he threw from the walls into the river Strymon all the gold and silver in the place; and causing fire to be set to a pile, and having killed his wife, his children, and his whole family, he threw them into the midst of the flames, and afterwards rushed into them himself. Xerxes could not but admire, and at the same time bewail, so surprising an example of generosity. The heathens, indeed, might give this name to what is rather savage ferocity and barbarity.

Cimon made himself master also of the island of Scyros, where he found the bones of Theseus, the son of Egeus, who had fled from Athens to that city, and there ended his days. An oracle had commanded that search should be made after his bones. Cimon put them on board his galley, adorned them magnificently, and carried them to his native country, near eight hundred years after Theseus had left it. The people received them with the highest expressions of joy; and, to perpetuate the remembrance of this event, they founded a disputation, or prize, for tragic writers, which became very famous, and contributed exceedingly to the improvement of the drama, by the wonderful emulation it excited among the tragic poets, whose pieces were represented in it. For Sophocles having, in his youth, brought his first play on the stage, the archon, or chief magistrate who presided at these games, observing there was a strong faction among the spectators, prevailed with Cimon, and the rest of the generals his colleagues, who were ten in number, and chosen out of each tribe, to sit as judges. The prize was adjudged to Sophocles, which so deeply afflicted Eschylus, who till then had been considered