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Plutarch · Life of Cimon §9.1-9.4

Ion's Recollections and the Stratagem of the Captives

Passage 9 of 19 · Greek

Summary

Ion of Chios recalls a dinner with Cimon in his youth, and Cimon narrates his clever stratagem regarding the division of captives and spoils from Sestos and Byzantium, which ultimately brought great wealth to Athens.

§9.1συνδειπνῆσαι δὲ τῷ Κίμωνί φησιν ὁ Ἴων παντάπασι μειράκιον ἥκων εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐκ Χίου παρὰ Λαομέδοντι·
Ion says that when he was still an absolute youth, having come to Athens from Chios to the house of Laomedon, he dined with Cimon.
καὶ τῶν σπονδῶν γενομένων παρακληθέντοςᾆσαι, καὶ ἄσαντοςοὐκ ἀηδῶς ἐπαινεῖν τοὺς παρόντας ὡς δεξιώτερον Θεμιστοκλέους· ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ᾄδειν μὲν οὐ φάναι μαθεῖν οὐδὲ κιθαρίζειν, πόλιν δὲ ποιῆσαι μεγάλην καὶ πλουσίαν ἐπίστασθαι·
When the libations had been made, Cimon was invited to sing, and as he sang not unpleasantly, those present praised him as being more accomplished than Themistocles; for they said that the latter had declared he had not learned to sing or to play the lyre, but that he knew how to make a city great and rich.
§9.2τοὐντεῦθεν, οἷον εἰκὸς ἐν πότῳ, τοῦ λόγου ῥυέντος ἐπὶ τὰς πράξεις τοῦ Κίμωνος καὶ μνημονευομένων τῶν μεγίστων, αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον ἓν διελθεῖν στρατήγημα τῶν ἰδίων ὡς σοφώτατον.
Thereupon, as is natural over wine, the conversation having turned to the achievements of Cimon, and the greatest of them being recalled, Cimon himself related one stratagem of his own which he regarded as the cleverest.
ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐκ Σηστοῦ καὶ Βυζαντίου πολλοὺς τῶν βαρβάρων αἰχμαλώτους λαβόντες οἱ σύμμαχοι τῷ Κίμωνι διανεῖμαι προσέταξαν, ὁ δὲ χωρὶς μὲν αὐτούς, χωρὶς δὲ τὸν περὶ τοῖς σώμασι κόσμον αὐτῶν ἔθηκεν, ᾐτιῶντο τὴν διανομὴν ὡς ἄνισον.
For when the allies had taken many barbarian captives from Sestos and Byzantium and directed Cimon to distribute them, he placed the captives themselves on one side, and their personal ornaments on the other, wherefore they blamed the division as unequal.
§9.3ὁ δὲ τῶν μερίδων ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς ἑλέσθαι τὴν ἑτέραν, ἣν δʼ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι καταλίπωσιν, ἀγαπήσειν Ἀθηναίους.
But he bade them choose one of the two portions, and said that the Athenians would be content with whichever one they left behind.
Ἡροφύτου δὲ τοῦ Σαμίου συμβουλεύσαντος αἱρεῖσθαι τὰ Περσῶν μᾶλλον ἢ Πέρσας, τὸν μὲν κόσμον αὐτοὶ ἔλαβον, Ἀθηναίοις δὲ τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους ἀπέλιπον.
When Herophytus of Samos advised them to choose the possessions of the Persians rather than the Persians themselves, they took the ornaments for themselves and left the captives to the Athenians.
καὶ τότε μὲν ὁ Κίμων ἀπῄει γελοῖος εἶναι δοκῶν διανομεύς, τῶν μὲν συμμάχων ψέλια χρυσᾶ καὶ μανιάκας καὶ στρεπτοὺς καὶ κάνδυας καὶ πορφύραν φερομένων, τῶν δʼ Ἀθηναίων γυμνὰ σώματα κακῶς ἠσκημένα πρὸς ἐργασίαν παραλαβόντων.
At that time, Cimon went away appearing to be a ridiculous distributor, since the allies carried off golden bracelets, collars, necklaces, robes, and purple dye, while the Athenians received naked bodies ill-suited for labor.
§9.4μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον οἱ τῶν ἑαλωκότων φίλοι καὶ οἰκεῖοι καταβαίνοντες ἐκ Φρυγίας καὶ Λυδίας ἐλυτροῦντο μεγάλων χρημάτων ἕκαστον, ὥστε τῷ Κίμωνι τεσσάρων μηνῶν τροφὰς εἰς τὰς ναῦς ὑπάρξαι καὶ προσέτι τῇ πόλει χρυσίον οὐκ ὀλίγον ἐκ τῶν λύτρων περιγενέσθαι.
But a little later, the friends and relatives of the captives came down from Phrygia and Lydia and ransomed each of them for large sums of money, so that Cimon had four months' provisions for his ships, and besides, not a little gold remained to the city from the ransoms.

Notes

  1. §9.1παρακληθέντοςᾄσαι, καὶ ἄσαντοςοὐκ — Genitive absolute construction with the omitted subject pronoun (αὐτοῦ) referring to Cimon. ᾄσαι is an infinitive depending on the participle παρακληθέντος (having been invited). ἄσαντος is the aorist active participle of ᾄδω (to sing) in the genitive, also forming a genitive absolute with the implied subject (αὐτοῦ).
  2. §9.1ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ᾄδειν μὲν οὐ φάναι μαθεῖν — Accusative with infinitive construction in indirect speech. ἐκεῖνον (referring to Themistocles) is the subject of the infinitive φάναι (to say/assert). οὐ goes with φάναι, meaning 'asserted that he had not...' and governs the complementary infinitives ᾄδειν ... μαθεῖν.
  3. §9.3ἣν δʼ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι καταλίπωσιν, ἀγαπήσειν Ἀθηναίους — A conditional relative clause in indirect discourse. The direct speech would have been `ἣν ἂν ... καταλίπητε, ἀγαπήσουσιν Ἀθηναῖοι` (relative pronoun with ἄν and subjunctive in the protasis, future indicative in the apodosis). In indirect speech, the main verb becomes the future infinitive ἀγαπήσειν with the subject accusative Ἀθηναίους.

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Life of Cimon §9.1-9.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg035.humanitext-grc2:9.1-9.4

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