On another occasion the Lacedaemonians proposed, in a meeting of the
Amphiktyonic council, that all States that had taken no part in the
Persian war should be excluded from that council; Themistokles, fearing
that if the Lacedaemonians should exclude Thessaly, Argos, and Thebes,
they would have complete control over the votes, and be able to carry
what measures they pleased, made representations to the various States,
and influenced the votes of their deputies at the meeting, pointing out
to them that there were only thirty-one States which took any part in
the war, and that most of these were very small ones, so that it would
be unreasonable for one or two powerful States to pronounce the rest of
Greece outlawed, and be supreme in the council. After this he generally
opposed the Lacedaemonians; wherefore they paid special court to Kimon,
in order to establish him as a political rival to Themistokles.
XXI. Moreover, he made himself odious to the allies by sailing about the
islands and wringing money from them. A case in point is the
conversation which Herodotus tells us he held with the people of Andros,
when trying to get money from them. He said that he was come, bringing
with him two gods, Persuasion and Necessity; but they replied that they
also possessed two equally powerful ones, Poverty and Helplessness, by
whom they were prevented from supplying him with money.
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