2.4
For such reasons I have decided to persevere in my writing of Lives, and so have composed this tenth book, containing the life of Pericles, and that of Fabius Maximus, who waged such lengthy war with Hannibal. The men were alike in their virtues, and more especially in their gentleness and rectitude, and by their ability to endure the follies of their peoples and of their colleagues in office, they proved of the greatest service to their countries. But whether I aim correctly at the proper mark must be decided from what I have written.
3.1
Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, of the deme Cholargus, and of the foremost family and lineage on both sides. His father, Xanthippus, who conquered the generals of the King at Mycale,479 B.C. married Agariste, granddaughterHis niece, rather. of that Cleisthenes who, in such noble fashion, expelled the Peisistratidae and destroyed their tyranny, instituted laws, and established a constitution best tempered for the promotion of harmony and safety.
3.2
She, in her dreams, once fancied that she had given birth to a lion, and a few days thereafter bore Pericles.Cf. Hdt. 6.131 His personal appearance was unimpeachable, except that his head was rather long and out of due proportion. For this reason the images of him, almost all of them, wear helmets, because the artists, as it would seem, were not willing to reproach him with deformity. The comic poets of Attica used to call him Schinocephalus, or Squill-head (the squill is sometimes called schinus)
3.3
So the comic poet Cratinus, in his Cheirons, says: Faction and Saturn, that ancient of days, were united in wedlock; their offspring was of all tyrants the greatest, and lo! he is called by the gods the head-compeller. Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 86. And again in his Nemesis: Come, Zeus! of guests and heads the Lord! Kock, Com. Att. Frag. i. p. 49.
