After he had abundantly satisfied himself with the
accusations brought against Themistocles,—of whom he
says that, unknown to the other captains, he incessantly
robbed and spoiled the islands,—1 he at length openly
takes away the crown of victory from the Athenians, and
sets it on the head of the Aeginetans, writing thus: ‘The
Greeks having sent the first-fruits of their spoils to Delphi,
asked in general of the God, whether he had a sufficient
part of the booty and were contented with it. He answered,
that he had enough of all the other Greeks, but not of the
Aeginetans; for he expected a donary of them, as having
won the greatest honor in the battle at Salamis.’
2 See
here how he attributes not his fictions to the Scythians, to
the Persians, or to the Egyptians, as Aesop did his to the
ravens and apes; but using the very person of the Pythian Apollo, he takes from Athens the chief honor of the
battle at Salamis. And the second place in honor being
given to Themistocles at the Isthmus by all the other captains,—every one of which attributed to himself the first
degree of valor, but gave the next to Themistocles,—and
the judgment not coming to a determination, when he
should have reprehended the ambition of the captains, he
said, that all the Greeks weighed anchor from thence
[p. 366]
through envy, not being willing to give the chief honor of
the victory to Themistocles.3
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