The people took this man
under its protection, and Pheidias was prosecuted before the Senate. The
alleged charges of theft were not proved, for Pheidias, by the advice of
Perikles, had originally fashioned the golden part of the statue in
such a manner that it could all be taken off and weighed, and this
Perikles bade the prosecutor do on this occasion. But the glory which
Pheidias obtained by the reality of his work made him an object of envy
and hatred, especially when in his sculpture of the battle with the
Amazons on the shield of the goddess he introduced his own portrait as a
bald-headed old man lifting a great stone with both hands, and also a
very fine representation of Perikles, fighting with an Amazon. The
position of the hand, which was holding a spear before the face of
Perikles, was ingeniously devised as if to conceal the portrait, which,
nevertheless, could plainly be seen on either side of it. For this,
Pheidias was imprisoned, and there fell sick and died, though some say
that his enemies poisoned him in order to cast suspicion upon Perikles.
At the instance of Glykon, the people voted to Menon, the informer, an
immunity from public burdens, and ordered the generals of the State to
provide for the wretch's safety.
XXXII. About the same time Aspasia was prosecuted for impiety, at the
suit of Hermippus, the comic playwright, who moreover accused her of
harbouring free-born Athenian ladies, with whom Perikles carried on
intrigues.
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