184 \HISTORICAL TALES.

through honor and virtue won a higher distinction
than the others had gained through warlike fame.

Throughout the whole career of the brilliant
Themistocles he -had a persistent opponent, Aris-
tides, a man, like him, born of undistinguished pa-
rents, but who by moral strength and innate power
of intellect won the esteem and admiration of his
fellow-citizens. He became the leader of the aristo-
cratic section of the people, as Themistocles did of
the: democratic, and for years the city was divided
between their adherents. But the brilliancy of
Themistocles was replaced in Aristides by a staid
and quiet disposition. He was natively austere,
taciturn, and deep-revolving, winning influence by
silent methods, and retaining it by the strictest
honor and justice and a hatred of all forms of false-
hood or political deceit.

For years these two men divided the political
power of Athens between them, until in the end
Aristides said that the city would have no peace
until it threw the pair of them into the pit kept for
condemned criminals. So just was Aristides that,
on one of his enemies being condemned by the court
without a hearing, he rose in his seat and begged
the court not to impose sentence without giving the
accused an opportunity for defence.

Aristides was one of the generals at Marathon,
and was left to guard the spoils on the field of battle
after the defeat of the Persians. At a later date, by
dint of false reports, Themistocles succeeded in
having him ostracized, obtaining the votes of the
rabble against him. One of these, not knowing