§1.1Cimon, Miltiadis filius, Atheniensis, duro admodum initio usus est adulescentiae.
Cimon, the Athenian, son of Miltiades, experienced a very harsh beginning of his youth.
nam cum pater eius litem aestimatam populo solvere non potuisset ob eamque causam in vinclis publicis decessisset, Cimon eadem custodia tenebatur neque legibus Atheniensium emitti poterat, nisi pecuniam, qua pater multatus erat, solvisset.
For since his father had been unable to pay the fine assessed to the people, and for that reason had died in the public prison, Cimon was held in the same custody and could not be released under the laws of the Athenians, unless he paid the money with which his father had been fined.
§1.2habebat autem in matrimonio sororem germanam suam, nomine Elpinicen, non magis amore quam more ductus: namque Atheniensibus licet eodem patre natas uxores ducere.
Moreover, he held in marriage his own sister, named Elpinice, led not so much by love as by custom; for indeed, it is lawful for the Athenians to marry women born of the same father.
§1.3huius coniugii cupidus Callias quidam, non tam generosus quam pecuniosus, qui magnas pecunias ex metallis fecerat, egit cum Cimone ut eam sibi uxorem daret: id si impetrasset, se pro illo pecuniam soluturum.
A certain Callias, desirous of this marriage, who was not so much noble as wealthy, having made great fortunes from the mines, treated with Cimon to give her to him as a wife: declaring that if he obtained this request, he would pay the money on his behalf.
§1.4is cum talem condicionem aspernaretur, Elpinice negavit se passuram Miltiadis progeniem in vinclis publicis interire, quoniam prohibere posset, seque Calliae nupturam, si ea quae polliceretur praestitisset.
When he rejected such a condition, Elpinice declared that she would not suffer the offspring of Miltiades to perish in the public prison, since she had the power to prevent it, and that she would marry Callias if he performed what he promised.