The Complete Aristotle (eng.)

of Lysimachus, and Themistocles, son of
Lysimachus, and Themistocles, son of Neocles, of whom the latter
appeared to devote himself to the conduct of war, while the former
had the reputation of being a clever statesman and the most upright
man of his time. Accordingly the one was usually employed as
general, the other as political adviser. The rebuilding of the
fortifications they conducted in combination, although they were
political opponents; but it was Aristides who, seizing the
opportunity afforded by the discredit brought upon the
Lacedaemonians by Pausanias, guided the public policy in the matter
of the defection of the Ionian states from the alliance with
Sparta. It follows that it was he who made the first assessment of
tribute from the various allied states, two years after the battle
of Salamis, in the archonship of Timosthenes; and it was he who
took the oath of offensive and defensive alliance with the Ionians,
on which occasion they cast the masses of iron into the sea.
24
    After this, seeing the state growing in confidence and much
wealth accumulated, he advised the people to lay hold of the
leadership of the league, and to quit the country districts and
settle in the city. He pointed out to them that all would be able
to gain a living there, some by service in the army, others in the
garrisons, others by taking a part in public affairs; and in this
way they would secure the leadership. This advice was taken; and
when the people had assumed the supreme control they proceeded to
treat their allies in a more imperious fashion, with the exception
of the Chians, Lesbians, and Samians. These they maintained to
protect their empire, leaving their constitutions untouched, and
allowing them to retain whatever dominion they then possessed. They
also secured an ample maintenance for the mass of the population in
the way which Aristides had pointed out to them. Out of the
proceeds of the tributes and the taxes and the contributions of the
allies more than twenty thousand persons were maintained. There
were 6,000 jurymen, 1,600 bowmen, 1,200 Knights, 500 members of the
Council, 500 guards of the dockyards, besides fifty guards in the
Acropolis. There were some 700 magistrates at home, and some 700
abroad. Further, when they subsequently went to war, there were in
addition 2,500 heavy-armed troops, twenty guard-ships, and other
ships which collected the tributes, with crews amounting to 2,000
men, selected by lot; and besides these there were the persons
maintained at the Prytaneum, and orphans, and gaolers, since all
these were supported by the state.
25
    Such was the way in which the people earned their livelihood.
The supremacy of the Areopagus lasted for about seventeen years
after the Persian wars, although gradually declining. But as the
strength of the masses increased, Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, a
man with a reputation for incorruptibility and public virtue, who
had become the leader of the people, made an attack upon that
Council. First of all he ruined many of its members by bringing
actions against them with reference to their administration. Then,
in the archonship of Conon, he stripped the Council of all the
acquired prerogatives from which it derived its guardianship of the
constitution, and assigned some of them to the Council of Five
Hundred, and others to the Assembly and the law-courts. In this
revolution he was assisted by Themistocles, who was himself a
member of the Areopagus, but was expecting to be tried before it on
a charge of treasonable dealings with Persia. This made him anxious
that it should be overthrown, and accordingly he warned Ephialtes
that the Council intended to arrest him, while at the same time he
informed the Areopagites that he would reveal to them certain
persons who were conspiring to subvert the constitution. He then
conducted the representatives delegated by the Council to the
residence of Ephialtes, promising to show them the conspirators who
assembled there, and proceeded to converse with them in an earnest
manner. Ephialtes, seeing this, was seized with alarm and took
refuge in suppliant guise at the altar. Every one was astounded at
the occurrence, and presently, when the Council of Five Hundred
met, Ephialtes and Themistocles together proceeded to denounce the
Areopagus to them. This they repeated in similar fashion in the
Assembly, until they succeeded in depriving it of its power. Not
long afterwards, however, Ephialtes was assassinated by Aristodicus
of