Nicias   

them supported Nicias. For his was not that sort of gravity which
is harsh and offensive, but he tempered it with a certain caution
and deference, winning upon the people, by seeming afraid of them.
And being naturally diffident and unhopeful in war, his good-fortune
supplied his want of courage, and kept it from being detected, as
in all his commands he was constantly successful. And his timorousness
in civil life, and his extreme dread of accusers, was thought very
suitable in a citizen of a free state; and from the people's good-will
towards him, got him no small power over them, they being fearful
of all that despised them, but willing to promote one who seemed to
be afraid of them; the greatest compliment their betters could pay
them being not to contemn them.
Pericles, who by solid virtue and the pure force of argument ruled
the commonwealth, had stood in need of no disguises nor persuasions
with the people. Nicias, inferior in these respects, used his riches,
of which he had abundance, to gain popularity. Neither had he the
nimble wit of Cleon to win the Athenians to his purposes by amusing
them with bold jests; unprovided with such qualities, he courted them
with dramatic exhibitions, gymnastic games, and other public shows,
more sumptuous and more splendid than had been ever known in his or
in former ages. Amongst his religious offerings, there was extant,
even in our days, the small figure of Minerva in the citadel, having
lost the gold that covered it; and a shrine in the temple of Bacchus,
under the tripods, that were presented by those who won the prize
in the shows or plays. For at these he had often carried off the prize,
and never once failed. We are told that on one of these occasions,
a slave of his appeared in the character of Bacchus, of a beautiful
person and noble stature, and with as yet no beard upon his chin;
and on the Athenians being pleased with the sight, and applauding
a long time, Nicias stood up, and said he could not in piety keep
as a slave one whose person had been consecrated to represent a god.
And forthwith he set the young man free. His performances at Delos
are, also, on record, as noble and magnificent works of devotion.
For whereas the choruses which the cities sent to sing hymns to the
god were wont to arrive in no order, as it might happen, and, being
there met by a crowd of people crying out to them to sing, in their
hurry to begin, used to disembark confusedly, putting on their garlands,
and changing their dresses as they left the ships, he, when he had
to convoy the sacred company, disembarked the chorus at Rhenea, together
with the sacrifice, and other holy appurtenances. And having brought
along with him from Athens a bridge fitted by measurement for the
purpose, and magnificently adorned with gilding and colouring, and
with garlands and tapestries: this he laid in the night over the channel
betwixt Rhenea and Delos, being no great distance. And at break of
day he marched forth with all the procession to the god, and led the
chorus, sumptuously ornamented, and singing their hymns, along over
the bridge. The sacrifices, the games, and the feast being over, he
set up a palm-tree of brass for a present to the god, and bought a
parcel of land with ten thousand drachmas which he consecrated; with
the revenue the inhabitants of Delos were to sacrifice and to feast,
and to pray the gods for many good things to Nicias. This he engraved
on a pillar, which he left in Delos to be a record of his bequest.
This same palm-tree, afterwards broken down by the wind, fell on the
great statue which the men of Naxos presented, and struck it to the
ground.
It is plain that much of this might be vainglory, and the mere desire
of popularity and applause; yet from other qualities and carriages
of the man one might believe all this cost and public display to be
the effect of devotion. For he was one of those who dreaded the divine
powers extremely, and, as Thucydides tells us, was much given to arts
of divination. In one of Pasiphon's dialogues, it is stated that he
daily sacrificed to the gods, and keeping a diviner at his house,
professed to be consulting always about the commonwealth, but for
the most part inquired about his own private affairs, more especially