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Last time, on Plutarch’s Life Of Themistocles, the war! Which is pretty much over, so we’re moving on to handing out the awards, and our first real discussion (in the texts studied for this class) of what Themistocles was up to between being Awesome At War and Chased From The Land.
Plutarch - Themistocles 17
Herodotus says that the [city] of the Aiginitans was the best of the cities, but nevertheless they all gave the prize to Themistocles by accident, from their jealousy. For after they sailed back to the Isthmus, the generals carried their vote to the altar, each having picked himself out as the best for excellence, but Themistocles second after himself. And when the Spartans led him down to Sparta, they gave a crown of branches to Aristides for being the best in manliness, and to Themistocles for wisdom; and they gave him a gift of the best chariot of the whole city, and sent him back home with an escort of three hundred young men right up to the border.
And it’s said that when the next Olympic games were convened, and Themistocles entered the stadium, those who were present ignored the contestants for the whole day to stare at him and point him out to visitors, admiring him and applauding him together; consequently, he was delighted, and told his friends that he had seized the fruit of the hard work he’d done for Greece.
Plutarch - Themistocles 18
For he was eager for fame by nature, if one may judge by the anecdotes passed down about him.* For when he was elected admiral by the city, he conducted none of his business--private or public--in order, but postponed everything that fell to him until the very day when he was about to sail off, so that by handling all sorts of matters and having all sorts of men crowded about him at once, he would seem to be a great man and full of power.
[And I do not translate most of the rest of this, due to time, but wish to give one more anecdote from this section, which I will quote directly from my textbook:]
A certain Antiphates had been one of the attractive young men at Athens, and in those days had treated Themistocles with disdain, but later he started to court him, because of his subsequent fame. To him he said, “My boy, it’s late in the day, but now we have both recovered our senses.”
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* Or, more succinctly in Greek, judging by the “ἀπομνημονευομένων”. Lordy. I’m glad I don’t have to speak this language, with words like that.
---
Also worth noting: as tomorrow is the last day of Greek class, it doesn’t look like I’ll be finishing this full translation. But! For the test, I still need to translate the last three sections, though none in-between. Out of consideration for my highly theoretical fans reading along, I’m going to do brief summaries of all the sections I’m skipping, and then post my translations for those last few sections.
Plutarch - Themistocles 17
Herodotus says that the [city] of the Aiginitans was the best of the cities, but nevertheless they all gave the prize to Themistocles by accident, from their jealousy. For after they sailed back to the Isthmus, the generals carried their vote to the altar, each having picked himself out as the best for excellence, but Themistocles second after himself. And when the Spartans led him down to Sparta, they gave a crown of branches to Aristides for being the best in manliness, and to Themistocles for wisdom; and they gave him a gift of the best chariot of the whole city, and sent him back home with an escort of three hundred young men right up to the border.
And it’s said that when the next Olympic games were convened, and Themistocles entered the stadium, those who were present ignored the contestants for the whole day to stare at him and point him out to visitors, admiring him and applauding him together; consequently, he was delighted, and told his friends that he had seized the fruit of the hard work he’d done for Greece.
Plutarch - Themistocles 18
For he was eager for fame by nature, if one may judge by the anecdotes passed down about him.* For when he was elected admiral by the city, he conducted none of his business--private or public--in order, but postponed everything that fell to him until the very day when he was about to sail off, so that by handling all sorts of matters and having all sorts of men crowded about him at once, he would seem to be a great man and full of power.
[And I do not translate most of the rest of this, due to time, but wish to give one more anecdote from this section, which I will quote directly from my textbook:]
A certain Antiphates had been one of the attractive young men at Athens, and in those days had treated Themistocles with disdain, but later he started to court him, because of his subsequent fame. To him he said, “My boy, it’s late in the day, but now we have both recovered our senses.”
---
* Or, more succinctly in Greek, judging by the “ἀπομνημονευομένων”. Lordy. I’m glad I don’t have to speak this language, with words like that.
---
Also worth noting: as tomorrow is the last day of Greek class, it doesn’t look like I’ll be finishing this full translation. But! For the test, I still need to translate the last three sections, though none in-between. Out of consideration for my highly theoretical fans reading along, I’m going to do brief summaries of all the sections I’m skipping, and then post my translations for those last few sections.