240 



CIMON. 



a tradition, according to which tin- Cimmerians were 

 to be found among the wild inhabitants of the caves 

 round the Avenius; and Pytheas took a race which 

 lie fouiul on the Danish peninsula for Cimmerians. 

 These fables only serve to create confusion in history. 

 The real Cimmerians had never proceeded so far 

 north but dwelt on the Vistula, from whence, under 

 the name of Cimbri, they sallied, together with the 

 Teutones, and made themselves formidable to the 

 Romans. In the year 114 B. C., when the Romans 

 were already masters of a part of the eastern Alps, 

 in the present Carniola, Istria, &c., and had esta- 

 blished themselves in Dalmatia and Illyria, along the 

 coast, immense bodies of barbarians suddenly made 

 their appearance, who overcame the consul Papirius 

 Carbo in the country now called Stiria ; but, instead 

 of entering Italy, they proceeded to the north, and, 

 soon after, jointly with the Tigurians, entered the 

 territory of the Allobroges. The Romans sent two 

 armies, commanded by the consuls L. Cassius and 

 M. Aurelius Scaurus, to oppose them, but both were 

 defeated ; the former by the Tigurians, the latter by 

 the Cimbri. Even after this success, the victors did 

 not enter Italy, but overran Gaul with three bodies, 

 consisting of Teutones, Cimbri, and Ambrones. Two 

 new armies with which the consul C. .Man I ins and 

 the pro-consul Q. Servilius Caepio hastened to op- 

 pose them, were likewise defeated, beyond the Rho- 

 danus. The Romans lost, according to Aetius, 

 80,000 men. Whilst Rome placed her last hope in 

 Marius, the barbarians overran the other western 

 countries of Europe. Gaul suffered severely, but 

 the Iberians and Belgians repulsed the invaders. 

 Upon this, they resolved to descend into Italy. The 

 Teutones and Ambrones were to enter on the wes- 

 tern side of the Alps, the Cimbri and Tigurians on 

 the east. After Marius had waited the approach of 

 Uie first during three entire years, and had accustom- 

 ed his troops to their appearance, he routed them 

 completely (102 B. C.), in two days on the first 

 day the Ambrones, on the second the Teutones at 

 Aix, in Provence. The Cimbri, on the other liand, who 

 had driven back the consul Catullus on the Adige, 

 and had spread themselves along the Po, demanded 

 land of the Romans, but were totally routed by Ma- 

 rius at Vercelli, 101 B. C. After this period, the 

 Cimbri and Teutones disappear from history. A 

 part of them had remained behind in Belgia with the 

 baggage. These are the Advatici. At a later pe- 

 riod, the Romans recognised the Cimbri to be a Ger- 

 man nation. For a long time, deceived by their ap- 

 pearance, they took them for Celts. The Celtic ex- 

 terior of the Cimbri may be explained by their con- 

 nexion and mixture with the Celts on their march 

 from the Danube and the Carpathian mountains. 



CIMON, son of Miltiades and Hegesipyle, daugh- 

 ter of a Thracian prince, Olorus, was, according to 

 Plutarch, educated in a very negligent manner, and 

 indulged in every species of excess. In the Persian 

 war, ne began to make himself known. When 

 Themistocles proposed to abandon the city and take j 

 refuge in the ships, in order to carry on the war by ; 

 sea, Cimon, in company with several other young i 

 men, ascended the citadel, deposited the bridle of his 

 horse in the temple, and took from the wall one of ! 

 the shields, with which he went down to the fleet. 

 He displayed great courage in the battle of Salamis, 

 and attracted the attention of Aristides, who attach- 

 ed himself to lum, as he considered him fit to 

 counteract the dangerous influence of Themistocles. 

 When the Athenians, in concert with the other 

 Greeks, sent a fleet to Asia for the purpose of deliv- 

 ering their colonies from the Persian yoke, they gave 

 Aristides and Cimon the chief command ; and the re- 

 turn of Aristides to Athens, soon after, left Cimon at 



the head of the whole naval force of Greece. He dis- 

 tinguished himself by his splendid iidiievements in 

 Thrace, defeated the Persians on the banks of the 

 Strymon, and made himself master of the country. 

 He conquered the island of Scyros, the inhabitants ot 

 which were addicted to piracy, and founded an Athe- 

 nian colony there. Here he found the remains of 

 Theseus, and transported them to Athens, where a 

 temple was then built, for the first time, to Uu's hero. 

 He next subdued all the cities on the coast of Asia 

 Minor, and went against the Persian fleet, which lay 

 at the mouth of the Eurymedon. The Persians, al- 

 though superior in number, did not dare to abide ;m 

 engagement, but sailed up the river, to place them 

 selves under the protection of their laiid-furces. ( i 

 mon pursued and attacked them, and took or destroy- 

 ed more than 200 of their ships. He then landed, 

 and entirely defeated their army. These two vic- 

 tories, achieved in one day (B. C. 469), deliver- il 

 Greece from the Persians. Cimon returned to Athens, 

 in the embellishment of which he employed the spoils 

 which he had taken. He removed the walls from 

 his fields and gardens, tliat every one might be at 

 liberty to take whatever he pleased. His table was 

 spread for all the citizens of his curia. He never ap 

 pea red in public without being attended by several 

 slaves bearing garments, which he distributed to the 

 poor. He adorned the city with elegant walks, 

 caused the market-place to be planted with plane- 

 trees, transferred the academy to the beautiful gar- 

 dens of Athens, all at his own expense. This gen- 

 erosity was the more noble, as it could hardly be at 

 tributed to a desire of courting the people ; for he 

 constantly opposed Themistocles, and, at a subse- 

 quent period, Pericles and Ephialtes, who endeavour- 

 ed to extend the power of the people. Cimon used 

 his influence to preserve a good understanding be- 

 tween the Athenians and Lacedemonians, by the 

 latter of whom he was much beloved, and whom he 

 sought to imitate. About 466 B. C., the Thasians 

 having revolted, he defeated them, took possession 

 of their city, and of their gold mines on the neigh- 

 bouring continent, and founded the city of Amphipo- 

 lis. Scarcely had he returned to Athens, when 

 Pericles, and the other popular leaders, accused him 

 of being corrupted by the king of Macedon, because 

 he had refrained from seizing the possessions of that 

 prince in time of peace. But the people rejected so 

 groundless an accusation. An insurrection of the 

 Helots having broken out during the enterprise 

 against Thasos, the Lacedaemonians sought the assist- 

 ance of the Athenians, who were induced by Cimon 

 to send them aid. The Lacedaemonians, however, 

 fearing the inconstancy of the Athenians, sent back 

 then- troops, and thus excited their displeasure. 

 Pericles and Ephialtes had also profited by Cimon's 

 absence to take the jurisdiction, in a multitude of 

 cases, from the Areopagus, and transfer it to the 

 Heliasts ; thus giving an immense power to the infe- 

 rior classes. Cimon endeavoured, in vain, on his re- 

 turn, to place matters on the old footing. His ene- 

 mies, therefore, took advantage of the popular dis- 

 content, to which that subject had given rise, to pro- 

 cure his banishment. He retired into Bceotia. Soon 

 after, when the Athenians advanced to Tanagra, in 

 order to dispute the passage of the Lacedaemonians, 

 who were returning from Delphi, which they had 

 freed from the Phocians, he appeared, prepared to 

 fight, with his tribe. He urged his friends to show, 

 by their conduct, the groundlessness of the accusation 

 brought against him of favouring the Lacedaemonians, 

 and nearly all of them fell fighting with the greatest 

 bravery. Although the Athenians lost this battle, 

 they still continued the war till 456 B. C., when, the 

 Helots being entirely subdued, the Athenians feared 



