The Attic poets
called him squill-head, and the comic poet, Kratinus, in his play
'Cheirones,' says,
"From Kronos old and faction,
Is sprung a tyrant dread,
And all Olympus calls him,
The man-compelling head."
And again in the play of 'Nemesis'
"Come, hospitable Zeus, with lofty head."
Telekleides, too, speaks of him as sitting
"Bowed down
With a dreadful frown,
Because matters of state have gone wrong,
Until at last,
From his head so vast,
His ideas burst forth in a throng."
And Eupolis, in his play of 'Demoi,' asking questions about each of the
great orators as they come up from the other world one after the other,
when at last Perikles ascends, says,
"The great headpiece of those below."
IV. Most writers tell us that his tutor in music was Damon, whose name
they say should be pronounced with the first syllable short. Aristotle,
however, says that he studied under Pythokleides. This Damon, it seems,
was a sophist of the highest order, who used the name of music to
conceal this accomplishment from the world, but who really trained
Perikles for his political contests just as a trainer prepares an
athlete for the games. However, Damon's use of music as a pretext did
not impose upon the Athenians, who banished him by ostracism, as a
busybody and lover of despotism.
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