Diodorus the
topographer, in his treatise 'On Tombs' says, more as a conjecture than
as knowing it for a fact, that in the great harbour of Peiraeus a kind
of elbow juts out from the promontory of Alkimus, and that when one
sails past this, going inwards, where the sea is most sheltered, there
is a large foundation, and upon it the tomb of Themistokles, shaped like
an altar. It is thought that the comic poet Plato alludes to this in the
following verses:
"By the sea's margin, by the watery strand,
Thy monument, Themistokles, shall stand;
By this directed to thy native shore
The merchant shall convey his freighted store;
And when our fleets are summoned to the fight,
Athens shall conquer with thy tomb in sight."
The descendants of Themistokles are given certain privileges at Magnesia
even to the present day, for I know that Themistokles, an Athenian, my
friend and fellow-student in the school of Ammonias the philosopher,
enjoyed them.
LIFE OF CAMILLUS.
I. The strangest fact in the life of Furius Camillus is that, although
he was a most successful general and won great victories, though he was
five times appointed dictator, triumphed four times, and was called the
second founder of Rome, yet he never once was consul. The reason of this
is to be found in the political condition of Rome at that time; for the
people, being at variance with the senate, refused to elect consuls, and
chose military tribunes instead, who, although they had full consular
powers, yet on account of their number were less offensive to the people
than consuls.
Pages:
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343