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Xanthippus, father of Pericles (cf. ch. 131. 2). The enmity still existed in the next generation between Pericles and Cimon.

The charge was clearly ἀπατησέως τοῦ δήμου, a form of προδοσία. But treason was not exactly defined till the archonship of Euclides, 403 B. C. (Nepos, Milt. 7). Ephorus makes the treason consist in taking bribes from the Persian, for in his account there is no deceiving of the people.

The procedure was no doubt by εἰσαγγελία (ὑπὸ τὸν δῆμον) before the Assembly; cf. Plato, l. c.


σηπομένου: mortification following a sprain or bruise seems improbable. In the account of Nepos (Milt. 7) Miltiades had been wounded in the siege.

οἱ φίλοι: Nepos (l. c.) names his brother Stesagoras (al. Tisagoras), but he was long dead; cf. ch. 38.


προσγενομένου. At least in an ἀγὼν τιμητός there were two questions decided by separate votes: (1) the guilt of the accused, (2) the amount of the penalty. Miltiades was found guilty on the charge of deceiving the people, but on the second point the people was favourable to him. The penalty of death proposed by Xanthippus was reduced to a fine of fifty talents, which was probably proposed by his friends. They would suggest a large sum so as to secure the rejection of the death-penalty (contrast the case of Socrates). The suggestion of Nepos (Ephorus) that fifty talents was the cost of the expedition is a mere guess. The exaggerations of later writers, e.g. that Miltiades died in prison (Nepos, Milt. 7; Diod. x. 30; Plut. Cim. 4), and that Cimon was imprisoned, are baseless fictions (Meyer, F. ii. 25 f.) unknown to H.

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  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Cornelius Nepos, Miltiades, 7
    • Plutarch, Cimon, 4
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