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Aeschylus wrote these verses on Amphiaraus— His shield no emblem bears; his generous soul Wishes to be, not to appear, the best; While the deep furrows of his noble mind Harvests of wise and prudent counsel bear. Σῆμα δ᾽οὐκ ἐπῆν κύκλω Οὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος ἀλλ᾽εἶναι θέλει, Βαθεῖαν ἄλοκα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενος, Ἐξ ἦς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βοθλεύματα. Aesch. Sept. 591. Thus the passage stands in all MSS, of Aeschylus; but it is quoted by Plutarch in his Life of Aristides, § 3, with δίκαιος in the second verse in the place of ἄριστος. It has been plausibly conjectured, that the actor who spoke the part intentionally substituted the word δίκαιος as a compliment to Aristides, on seeing him in a conspicuous place among the spectators. See Hermann’s note on the passage in his edition of Aeschylus. (G.) And when they were pronounced in the theatre, all turned their eyes upon Aristides.
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PERICLES. Whenever he entered on his command as general, while he was putting on his war-cloak, he used thus to bespeak himself: Remember, Pericles, you govern freemen, Grecians, Athenians. He advised the Athenians to demolish Aegina, as a dangerous eyesore to the haven of Piraeus. To a friend that wanted him to bear false witness and to bind the same with an oath, he said: I am a friend only as far as the altar. When he lay on his deathbed, he blessed himself that no Athenian ever went into mourning upon his account.
