NEPOS

(1) I do not doubt that there will be many men, Atticus, who will consider this kind of writing trifling, and not sufficiently worthy of the characters of distinguished men, when they shall read it recorded who taught Epaminondas music, or [when when they shall find] that it is mentioned in his accomplishments that he danced gracefully and played skilfully on the pipes. (2) But these will be for the most part those who, unacquainted with Greek literature, will think nothing right unless it agrees with their own customs. (3) If these people could but learn that the same things are not honourable and dishonourable among all people, but that everything is judged by the customs of ancestores, they will not be surprised that we, in setting forth the excellent qualities of the Greeks, have followed their fashions.

MILTIADES

THEMISTOCLES

ARISTIDES

PAUSANIAS

CIMON

LYSANDER

ALCIBIADES

[5] (6) Alcibiades jointly with his colleagues had recovered Ionia, the Hellespont, and besides many Greek cities which are situated on the coast of Asia. Several of these they had taken by storm, among them Byzantium, and with no less a number had they entered into a friendship by their prudent policy, for the reason that they had exercised clemency towards their prisoners. (7) So laden with spoil, their army enriched, and with great achievements to their credit, they came to Athens.

[6] When the city went down in a body to the Piraeus to meet them, so great was the longing of all to see Alcibiades, that the multitude flocked to his trireme, just as if he were the only one that had arrived. (2) For the people were persuaded of this, that both their former failures and their present successes had been as a result of his doing. Consequently they were inclined to attribute both the loss of Sicily and the victories of the Lacedaemonians to their own fault, for having banished such a man from the state. And not without reason were they seen to think so; for as soon as he started to assume command of the army, neither by sea nor by land could the enemy match them. (3) As soon as Alcibiades disembarked, even though Theramenes and Thrasybulus had held command in the same affairs, and had arrived at the Piraeus at the same time as he, nevertheless all thronged about him, and, something which had never occurred before except with winners at Olympia, he was presented before everybody with laurel crowns and ribbons. With tears he accepted this gesture of goodwill on the part of his fellow- citizens, calling to mind their severity in times past. (4) Upon his arrival in the city, he called a public meeting and spoke in such a way that nobody was so hard-hearted as not to weep at his misfortune, and not to declare himself an enemy of those who had been instrumental in securing his banishment from the country, exactly as if it had been a different people, and not the same people then weeping, who had sentenced him for sacrilege. (5) Consequently his property was restored to him by the state, and those same priests, the Eumolpidae, who had cursed him, were now compelled to revoke their curse; and the pillars on which the curse had been written were dumped into the sea.

THRASYBULUS

CONON

DION

IPHICRATES

CHABRIAS

TIMOTHEUS

DATAMES

EPAMINONDAS

PELOPIDAS

AGESILAUS

EUMENES

PHOCION

TIMOLEON

DE REGIBUS

HAMILCAR

HANNIBAL

CATO

ATTICUS

[I] T. Pomponius Atticus, sprung from the most remote origin of the Roman race, obtained in unbroken succession the equestrian rank inherited from his ancestors. (2) He had a careful father and, in accordance with the times, rich and remarkably devoted to literature. This man, according as he himself was a lover of letters, had the boy instructed in all learning areas which youthful age ought to be acquainted with. (3) There was moreover in the boy, apart from a docility of disposition, great sweetness of countenance and of voice, so that he not only rapidly acquired what was conveyed to him, but also gave an excellent rendering of it. For this reason during his boyhood he was highly regarded among his contemporaries and shone forth more brilliantly than his fellow students would be able to bear with equanimity. (4) Consequently he stimulated all by his industry, in which number were L. Torquatus, C. Marius the son, and M. Cicero. All of these in his customary manner he bound so strongly to himself that no one was ever dearer to them [than he was].