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CIMON, son of Miltiades, the victor of Marathon, served as a young man in the war against Xerxes, and in after life commanded in most of those expeditions which weakened Persia and prevented her from resuming aggression against Greece. An aristocrat by birth, and opulent, he became the head of the conservative party at Athens, and strove to direct the warlike energy of his countrymen against Persia rather than against the Lacedæmonians, with whom, as the champions of oligarchy and old-fashioned ways, he had a natural sympathy. Greece was now virtually divided between the Lacedæmonian and the Athenian confederacies; but though there was much jealousy and suspicion, open war did not break out till twenty-two years after the expulsion of the Persians. This was largely due to the influence of Cimon. When the Helots revolted, the democratic party, headed by the great Pericles, urged that the opportunity should be seized for attacking Sparta. Cimon, on the contrary, appealed to his countrymen "not to see Greece lamed and Athens drawing without her yoke-fellow." This generous sentiment prevailed, and Cimon was sent with an army to the assistance of Sparta. The suspicious Lacedæmonians, however, soon rudely sent it back (B.C. 461). This insult led to the exile of Cimon as a partisan of Sparta and eventually to war. But five years later, when the irritation had cooled down, it was recognized that he was a thoroughly honest and patriotic man, and he was recalled. Towards the close of his life he had the satisfaction of negotiating a peace with Sparta, and commanding a new expedition against Persia. While engaged in this he died of disease. Though an aristocrat and wealthy he was generally popular, being affable and munificent both by disposition and from policy. For in Athens, where political and social equality was carried further than in any other country ancient or modern, the possessors of wealth found it advisable to use it in a public-spirited way.
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| This biography is
reprinted from The New Calendar of Great Men. Ed. Frederic
Harrison. London: Macmillan and Co., 1920. |
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