Cimon

And so it was that though Cimon took the city, he gained no other memorable advantage thereby, since most of its treasures had been burned up with the Barbarians; but the surrounding territory was very fertile and fair, and this he turned over to the Athenians for occupation. Wherefore the people permitted him to dedicate the stone Hermae, on the first of which is the inscription:—

1. Valorous-hearted as well were they who at Eion fighting,
2. Facing the sons of the Medes, Strymon’s current beside,
3. Fiery famine arrayed, and gore-flecked Ares, against them,
4. Thus first finding for foes that grim exit,—despair;

1. Unto their leaders reward by Athenians thus hath been given;
2. Benefits won such return, valorous deeds of the brave.
3. All the more strong at the sight will the men of the future be eager,
4. Fighting for commonwealth, war’s dread strife to maintain;

and on the third:—

1. With the Atridae of old, from this our city, Menestheus
2. Led his men to the plain Trojan called and divine.
3. He, once Homer asserted, among well-armoured Achaeans,
4. Marshaller was of the fight, best of them all who had come.
5. Thus there is naught unseemly in giving that name to Athenians;
6. Marshallers they both of war and of the vigor of men.

Although these inscriptions nowhere mentioned Cimon by name, his contemporaries held them to be a surpassing honor for him. Neither Themistocles nor Miltiades achieved any such, nay, when the latter asked for a crown of olive merely, Sophanes the Deceleian rose up in the midst of the assembly and protested. His speech was ungracious, but it pleased the people of that day. When, said he, thou hast fought out alone a victory over the Barbarians, then demand to be honored alone.

Why, then, were the people so excessively pleased with the achievement of Cimon? Perhaps it was because when the others were their generals they were trying to repel their enemies and so avert disaster; but when he led them they were enabled to ravage the land of their enemies with incursions of their own, and acquired fresh territories for settlement, not only Eion itself, but also Amphipolis.

They settled Scyros too, which Cimon seized for the following reason. Dolopians were living on the island, but they were poor tillers of the soil. So they practised piracy on the high sea from of old, and finally did not withhold their hands even from those who put into their ports and had dealings with them, but robbed some Thessalian merchants who had cast anchor at Ctesium, and threw them into prison.

When these men had escaped from bondage and won their suit against the city at the Amphictyonic assembly, the people of Scyros were not willing to make restitution, but called on those who actually held the plunder to give it back. The robbers, in terror, sent a letter to Cimon, urging him to come with his fleet to seize the city, and they would give it up to him.

In this manner Cimon got possession of the island, drove out the Dolopians and made the Aegean a free sea. On learning that the ancient Theseus, son of Aegeus, had fled in exile from Athens to Scyros, but had been treacherously put to death there, through fear, by Lycomedes the king, Cimon eagerly sought to discover his grave.