Xanthippus

His father, Clynius, fitted out a trireme at his own cost, and fought it gloriously at Artemisium.

He was afterwards slain at Corinea, fighting the Boeotians, and Alcibiades was therefore reared as the ward of Pericles and Araphrion, the sons of Xanthippus, his near kinsmen.

It is said, and with good reason, that the favour and affection which Socrates showed him contributed not a little to his reputation.

Certain it is that Nicias, Demosthenes, Lamachus, Formio, Thrasybulus, and Theramenes were prominent men and his contemporaries, and yet we cannot so much as name the mother of any of them.

For his own wife was near of kin to him, and she had been wedded first to Hipponicus, to whom she bore Callius, surnamed the Rich.

She bore also, as the wife of Pericles, Xanthippus and Parahis.

Afterwards, since their married life was not agreeable, he legally bestowed her upon another man, with her own consent, and himself took Aspasia and loved her exceedingly.

Twice a day, as they say, on going out and on coming in from the marketplace, he would salute her with a loving kiss.

They were likely soon to cease, now that the multitude had stung him, as it were, and left their passion with their sting.

But his domestic affairs were in a sorry plight, since he had lost not a few of his intimate friends during the pestilence, and had for some time been rent and torn by a family feud.

The eldest of his legitimate sons, Xanthippus, who was naturally prodigal, had married a young and extravagant wife, the daughter of Tisander, the son of Epilichus, was much displeased at his father's exactitude in making him but a meager allowance, and that a little at a time.

Accordingly, he sent to one of his father's friends and got money, pretending that Pericles bade him do it.

Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, of the deme Colargus, and of the foremost family and lineage on both sides.

His father, Xanthippus, who conquered the generals of the king at Machaela, married Agariste, granddaughter of that Cleisthenes who, in such noble fashion, expelled the Pisistrate and destroyed their tyranny, instituted laws, and established a constitution best attempered for the promotion of harmony and safety.

She, in her dreams, once fancied that she had given birth to a lion, and a few days thereafter bore Pericles.

His personal appearance was unimpeachable, except that his head was rather long and out of due proportion.

The reason for his success was not his power as a speaker merely, but, as Thucydides says, the reputation of his life and the confidence reposed in him as one who was manifestly proven to be utterly disinterested and superior to bribes.

He made the city, great as it was when he took it, the greatest and richest of all cities, and grew to be superior in power to kings and tyrants.

Some of these actually appointed him guardian of their sons, but he did not make his estate a single drachma greater than it was when his father left it to him.

Of his power there can be no doubt, since Thucydides gives so clear an exposition of it, and the comic poets unwittingly reveal it even in their malicious jibes, calling him and his associates new Pisistratidae, and urging him to take solemn oath not to make himself a tyrant, on the plea, forsooth, that his preeminence was incommensurate with a democracy and too oppressive.

And much affecting fondness was shown by the tame domestic animals, which ran along with yearning cries of distress by the side of their masters as they embarked.

A story is told of one of these, the dog of Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, how he could not endure to be abandoned by his master, and so sprang into sea, swam across the strait by the side of his master's trireme, and staggered out on Salamis, only to faint and die straight away.

They say that the spot which is pointed out to this day as Dog's Mound is his tomb.

These were surely great achievements of Themistocles, but there was a greater still to come.

He said he came escorting two gods, Persuasion and Compulsion, and they replied that they already had two great gods, Penury and Powerlessness, who hindered them from giving him money.

Timereon, the lyric poet of Rhodes, assailed Themistocles very bitterly in a song to the effect that for bribes he had secured the restoration of other exiles, but had abandoned him, though a host and a friend, and all for money.

The song runs thus, Come, if thou prizest Pausanias, or if Xanthippus, or if Leotychidas, then I shall praise Aristides, the one best man of all, who came from sacred Athens.

Since Leto loathes Themistocles, the liar, cheat, and traitor, who, though Timereon was his host, by knavish monies was induced not to bring him back into his native Lalesis, but took three talents of silver and went cruising off to perdition, restoring some exiles unjustly, chasing some away, and slaying some.

For Miltiades' political enemies, this was the time to strike.

A young nobleman by the name of Xanthippus, who was connected by marriage to the powerful Alcmaeonid family, filed a charge against him for deceiving the Athenian people.

By the day of his trial, his wound was gangrenous, and he had to be carried in on a stretcher.

It was standard procedure for defendants to speak in their own defense, but he was too weak even to do that.

So his friends and relatives spoke on his behalf, reminding the jurors of his service to Athens at Marathon and before.

The Athenians found him guilty.

But instead of the death penalty, which was what Xanthippus had asked for, they imposed a fine of 50 talents.

That was an enormous sum for an individual.