When two men
paid their addresses to his daughter, he chose the more agreeable
instead of the richer of the two, saying that he preferred a man without
money to money without a man. Such was his character, as shown in his
talk.
XIX. Immediately after the great war, he began to rebuild and fortify
the city. In order to succeed in this, Theopompus says that he bribed
the Spartan ephors into laying aside opposition, but most writers say
that he outwitted them by proceeding to Sparta nominally on an embassy.
Then when the Spartans complained to him that Athens was being
fortified, and when Poliarchus came expressly from Aegina to charge him
with it, he denied it, and bade them send commissioners to Athens to see
whether it was true, wishing both to obtain time for the fortifications
to be built, and also to place these commissioners in the hands of the
Athenians, as hostages for his own safety. His expectations were
realised; for the Lacedaemonians, on discovering the truth, did him no
harm, but dissembled their anger and sent him away. After this he built
Peiraeus, as he perceived the excellence of its harbours, and was
desirous to turn the whole attention of the Athenians to naval pursuits.
In this he pursued a policy exactly the opposite to that of the ancient
kings of Attica; for they are said to have endeavoured to keep their
subjects away from the sea, and to accustom them to till the ground
instead of going on board ships, quoting the legend that Athene and
Poseidon had a contest for the possession of the land, and that she
gained a decision in her favour by the production of the sacred olive.
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