Aristides

This argument of Panaetius should be more closely examined as to its validity; but to banishment in ostracism every one was liable who was superior to the common run of men in reputation, or lineage, or eloquence. And so it was that Damon, the teacher of Pericles, was ostracized because he was thought to be rather extraordinary in his wisdom.[*](Plut. Per. 4.2)

Furthermore, Idomeneus says that Aristides obtained the office of archon, not by lot, but by the election of the Athenians.[*]( From 508 B.C. to 487 B.C. the archons were elected by the Assembly; after 487, they were once more chosen by lot.) And if he was made archon after the battle of Plataea, as Demetrius himself has written, it is certainly very credible that in view of such a reputation and such successes as he there won, he should be deemed worthy, for his valor, of an office which men who drew lots for it obtained for their wealth.

In fact, Demetrius is clearly ambitious to rescue not only Aristides, but also Socrates from what he deems the great evil of poverty, for he says that Socrates owned not only his house, but also seventy minas out at interest with Crito.

Aristides was an intimate friend of that Cleisthenes who set the state in order after the expulsion of the tyrants. He also admired and emulated, above all other statesmen, Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian. He therefore favoured an aristocratic form of government, and ever had opposed to him, as champion of the people, Themistocles the son of Neocles. Some say that even as boys and fellow-pupils, from the outset, in every word and deed, whether serious or trivial, they were at variance with one another,