Note 27 — Chapter VII

Cimon, son of Miltiades, after having long conducted the policy of Athens, was banished owing to the jealousy of his countrymen, it being supposed that he was unduly attached to the Spartan interest. Previous to the battle of Tanagra, fought in Bœotia, between the Lacedæmonians and Athenians, he came to the camp of the latter, and requested permission to serve with the men of his tribe. This was refused, his enemies asserting that he wished to sow discord in the army, and he was ordered to quit the camp. Before his departure he requested Euthippus and others, his friends, who had shared with him the odium of being too well inclined to the cause of Sparta, to signalize their zeal and courage in the ensuing battle, and refute, by their actions, the stigma cast upon them. These men, to the number of a hundred, ranged themselves round Cimon’s armour, which they erected as their standard, and fell valiantly to a man by each other’s side, leaving to the Athenians much regret and repentance that they had wrongfully accused them.—Plut., Vit. Cimon.