Cimon   

And unrefined, for great things well endued:" for this may fairly
be added to the character which Stesimbrotus has given of him.
They accused him, in his younger years, of cohabiting with his own
sister Elpinice, who, indeed, otherwise had no very clear reputation,
but was reported to have been over-intimate with Polygnotus the painter;
and hence, when he painted the Trojan women in the porch, then called
the Plesianactium, and now the Poecile, he made Laodice a portrait
of her. Polygnotus was not an ordinary mechanic, nor was he paid for
his work, but out of a desire to please the Athenians painted the
portico for nothing. So it is stated by the historians, and in the
following verses by the poet Melanthius:-
"Wrought by his hand the deeds of heroes grace
At his own charge our temples and our place." Some affirm that Elpinice
lived with her brother, not secretly, but as his married wife, her
poverty excluding her from any suitable match. But afterwards, when
Callias, one of the richest men of Athens, fell in love with her,
and proffered to pay the fine the father was condemned in, if he could
obtain the daughter in marriage, with Elpinice's own consent, Cimon
betrothed her to Callias. There is no doubt but that Cimon was, in
general, of an amorous temper. For Melanthius, in his elegies, rallies
him on his attachment for Asteria of Salamis, and again for a certain
Mnestra. And there can be no doubt of his unusually passionate affection
for his lawful wife Isodice, the daughter of Euryptolemus, the son
of Megacles; nor of his regret, even to impatience, at her death,
if any conclusion may be drawn from those elegies of condolence, addressed
to him upon his loss of her. The philosopher Panaetius is of opinion
that Archelaus, the writer on physics, was the author of them, and
indeed the time seems to favour that conjecture. All the other points
of Cimon's character were noble and good. He was as daring as Miltiades,
and not inferior to Themistocles in judgment, and was incomparably
more just and honest than either of them. Fully their equal in all
military virtues, in the ordinary duties of a citizen at home he was
immeasurably their superior. And this, too, when he was very young,
his years not yet strengthened by any experience. For when Themistocles,
upon the Median invasion, advised the Athenians to forsake their city
and their country, and to carry all their arms on shipboard and fight
the enemy by sea, in the straits of Salamis; when all the people stood
amazed at the confidence and rashness of this advice, Cimon was seen,
the first of all men, passing with a cheerful countenance through
the Ceramicus, on his way with his companions to the citadel, carrying
a bridle in his hand to offer to the goddess, intimating that there
was no more need of horsemen now, but of mariners. There, after he
had paid his devotions to the goddess, and offered up the bridle,
he took down one of the bucklers that hung upon the walls of the temple,
and went down to the port; by this example giving confidence to many
of the citizens. He was also of a fairly handsome person, according
to the poet Ion, tall and large, and let his thick and curly hair
grow long. After he had acquitted himself gallantly in this battle
of Salamis, he obtained great repute among the Athenians, and was
regarded with affection, as well as admiration. He had many who followed
after him, and bade him aspire to actions not less famous than his
father's battle of Marathon. And when he came forward in political
life, the people welcomed him gladly, being now weary of Themistocles;
in opposition to whom, and because of the frankness and easiness of
his temper, which was agreeable to every one, they advanced Cimon
to the highest employments in the government. The man that contributed
most to his promotion was Aristides, who early discerned in his character
his natural capacity, and purposely raised him, that he might be a
counterpoise to the craft and boldness of Themistocles.
After the Medes had been driven out of Greece, Cimon was sent out
as an admiral, when the Athenians had not yet attained their dominion
by sea, but still followed Pausanias and the Lacedaemonians; and his
fellow-citizens under his command were highly distinguished, both
for the excellence of their discipline, and for their extraordinary