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After Cimon had won these great successes by means of his own skill as general and his valour, his fame was noised abroad not only among his fellow citizens but among all other Greeks as well. For he had captured three hundred and forty ships, more than twenty thousand men, and a considerable sum of money. [2] But the Persians, having met with so great reverses, built other triremes in greater number, since they feared the growing might of the Athenians. For from this time the Athenian state kept receiving significant enhancement of its power, supplied as it was with an abundance of funds and having attained to great renown for courage and for able leadership in war. [3] And the Athenian people, taking a tenth part of the booty, dedicated it to the god, and the inscription which they wrote upon the dedication they made ran as follows1:“ E'en from the day when the sea divided Europe from Asia,
And the impetuous god, Ares, the cities of men
Took for his own, no deed such as this among earth-dwelling mortals
Ever was wrought at one time both upon land and at sea.
These men indeed upon Cyprus sent many a Mede to destruction,
Capturing out on the sea warships a hundred in sum
Filled with Phoenician men; and deeply all Asia grieved o'er them,
Smitten thus with both2 hands, vanquished by war's mighty power.
”3

1 The inscription is attributed to Simonides (frag. 103 Diehl; 171 Edmonds).

2 "To do a thing with both hands was to do it earnestly and thoroughly; there is a double intention here, the hands being also 'arms' military and naval" (Edmonds).

3 The contents of the three preceding chapters reveal Diodorus in the worst light. The inscription referred to a battle off Cyprus in 449 B.C. and had nothing to do with the battle of the Eurymedon, and Cimon could not have fought at Cyprus in the day and been at the Eurymedon in time to land his men by nightfall. Moreover, great generals do not win battles by such comic-opera stratagems. The reliable description of the battle is in Plut. Cimon 12-13. See E. Meyer, Forschungen, 2, pp. 7 ff.; Walker in Camb. Anc. Hist. 5, pp. 54 ff.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MEGALO´POLIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHOENI´CIA
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    • Plutarch, Cimon, 12
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