“I am not, like some Athenians” Plut Cim 14 3.
“On a slight pretext” Ibid., 17 3.
“Let Cimon take his sister” Unpublished: see Oxford Classical Dictionary under Cimon.
the lost leader was soon forgiven Plut Cim 17 5.
he was lucky to have survived The account given here of Pericles’ education is indebted to Garland, pp. 58, 61–63, 102–4, 172.
“played the role of masseur” Plut Per 4 1.
“His was a tongue” Ibid., 4 3. Timon of Phlius was the commentator.
“About the gods” DK80b4.
“man is the measure” DK80b1.
an eclipse of the sun Per 35 1–2.
self-preservation and ambition Ibid., 7 3.
“Elpinice, you are too old” Ibid., 10 5.
Ephialtes was kidnapped one night and murdered Diod 11 77 6.
a certain Aristodicus Plut Per 10 7.
“poisonous accusation” Ibid., 10 6.
a citizenship law Arist Con 26 3.
two obols a day Some say it was one obol a day.
up to twenty thousand citizens…were in receipt Hammond, p. 301. Arist Con 24 3.
“The poor, the men of the people” Xen Con 1 4. This document was probably written in the 420s and so too early for Xenophon. Its author has received the modern nickname of the Old Oligarch.
“everywhere on earth” Ibid., 1 5.
A broken inscription survives Fornara, p. 78.
many Athenians escaped For the Egyptian expedition, Thuc 1 104, 109–10.
“From the time when the sea” Sim Ep 45 1–4.
Peace of Callias Some dispute that the peace was ever agreed, but see Isoc Pan 117–18 and Plut Cim 13 4–5.
a Panhellenic congress Plut Per 17.
15. THE KINDLY ONES
Aeschylus’s Oresteia is the main source (I am indebted to Philip Vellacott’s translation, Penguin Classics, London, 1959). Also Connolly and Dodge’s The Ancient City and Garland’s Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. See Hall as well as Goldhill for a full account of Greek tragedy.
A watchman stands on the roof This opening section derives from Aesch Ag 1–39.
“tragedy, then, is an action” Arist Poet 3 4–8, 3 13 21–25, 28–30.
performed only once In the fourth century the quality of new tragedies declined in step with a loss of political energy in the Athenian polity. Revivals of the classics became popular.
Athens spent more on theater Plut Pre 349a.
as many as 1,500 persons were involved Garland, p. 182.
“Lysicrates, son of Lysitheides” Camp, p. 147.
“slices from the great banquet” Ath 8 347e.
“ships and ropes rotted” Aesch Ag 194–95.
“harness of necessity” Ibid., 218.
he that’s coming must be provided for Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, 1 5 71–72.
“As our guest, call this your home” Aesch Cho 707.
“Oh misery!” Ibid., 691.
“How shall I escape my father’s curse” Ibid., 925.
“The old is trampled by the new!” Aesch Eum 778–79.
“Share my home with me” Ibid., 833.
“provoke bloodshed” Ibid., 856–63.
During the opening ceremony See Goldhill, pp. 101–2.
the names of men Ibid., p. 104.
“Since this is how matters have turned out” Aesch Eum, 481–88.
“Never let civil war, which eats men” Ibid., 979–84.
“ancient children” Ibid., 1034.
16. “CROWNED WITH VIOLETS”
Plutarch’s life of Pericles, Diodorus Siculus, and Thucydides are the main sources. Also Garland, Camp, and the findings of archaeologists.
“On one street” Plut Per 7 4.
“harmonised with his way of life” Plut Per 8 1.
“that eyesore” and “war rushing down” Ibid., 8 5.
nicknamed the Olympian Ibid., 8 2–3.
“the Athenians were under no obligation” Ibid., 12 3.
A decree was passed in 448 Some scholars believe the bill was passed into law in the 430s or 426/5, but I follow mainstream opinion.
“In this way he relieved” Plut Per, 11 5.
“the size of the Athenian forces” Ibid., 20 1.
the guilty polis was the island of Samos The Samian revolt is described in Thuc 1 115 1–117 3 and Plut Per 24 1–28 6.
the building of an aqueduct The aqueduct can still be seen and is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Pythagoreion.
Plutarch mentions a report Plut Per 281–83.
within an inch of depriving Athens Thuc 8 76 4.
“as if the spring had been taken” Arist Rhet 1365a 34.
A sentry runs to the ruler This section describes the plot of Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. I am indebted to the translation by E. F. Watling, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, 1947.
“Wonders are many on the earth” Soph Ant 332ff.
“And yet you dared to contravene it?” Ibid., 449–55.
the beautiful Aspasia The section on Aspasia is indebted to Bicknell, who argues that Axiochus, the father of Aspasia, was the same man as the father-in-law of the elder Alcibiades, and so grandfather of Axiochus, son of the elder Alcibiades.
“From her comes all the race” Hes Theo 590–95. The translation is by Dorothea Wender, Penguin Classics, Harmondsworth, 1972.
met her lover at a funeral Lys 1 8.
“your duty is to stay indoors” Xen Oec 7 36.
“Perhaps I should say a few words” Thuc 2 45 2.
“We have hetairae” Dem Neaira 122.
Plato has Socrates hint Plato Alc 1 118d-e.
“To find our Zeus a Hera” Plut Per 24 6. I am grateful to the late Ian Scott-Kilvert for his translation of this verse.
madam of a brothel Ibid., 24 3.
procured free-born Athenian women Ibid., 32 1.
“great art and power” Ibid., 24 1.
“Yesterday I heard Aspasia” Plato Men 236b.
“regarding his beauty” Plut Alc 1 3.
Once as a small boy Ibid., 2 2–3. Childhood tales about the famous are rightly distrusted. But this incident of the knucklebones has the ring of truth and casts anticipatory and accurate light on the character of the adult Alcibiades.
“Leave the flute to the Thebans” Ibid., 2 5.
“Alcibiades, you bite like a woman” Ibid., 2 2.
“If he’s dead” Ibid., 2 3.
“I’m trying to work out” Diod 12 38 3 and Plut Alc 7 2.
Socrates took Alcibiades under his wing For Socrates’ relations with Alcibiades, see Plut Alc 6.