Of his property, much was concealed by his friends and sent over to him
in Asia; but what was confiscated to the public treasury amounted,
according to Theopompus, to a hundred talents, and according to
Theophrastus to eighty, albeit Themistokles, before his entrance into
political life, did not possess property worth three talents.
XXVI. When he sailed to Kyme, he found that many of the inhabitants of
the Ionic coast were watching for an opportunity to capture him,
especially Ergoteles and Pythodorus (for indeed, to men who cared not
how they made their money, he would have been a rich prize, as the
Persian king had offered a reward of two hundred talents for him), he
fled to Aegae, a little Aeolian city, where he was known by no one
except his friend Nikogenes, the richest of all the Aeolians, who was
well known to the Persians of the interior. In this man's house he lay
concealed for some days. Here, after the feast which followed a
sacrifice, Olbius, who took charge of Nikogenes's children, fell into a
kind of inspired frenzy, and spoke the following verse:
"Night shall speak and give thee counsel, night shall give thee
victory." After this Themistokles dreamed a dream. He thought that a
snake was coiling itself upon his belly and crawling up towards his
throat. As soon as it reached his throat, it became an eagle and flapped
its wings, lifted him up, and carried him a long distance, until he saw
a golden herald's staff.
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