Philostratus
Β΄.
α΄. Περὶ δὲ Ἡρώδου τοῦ Ἀθηναίου τάδε χρὴ εἰδέναι· ὁ σοφιστὴς Ἡρώδης ἐτέλει μὲν ἐκ πατέρων ἐς τοὺς δισυπάτους, ἀνέφερε δὲ ἐς τὸν τῶν Αἰακιδῶν, 546οὓς ξυμμάχους ποτὲ ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἐπὶ τὸν Πέρσην ἐποιεῖτο, ἀπηξίου δὲ οὐδὲ τὸν Μιλτιάδην, οὐδὲ τὸν Κίμωνα, ὡς ἄνδρε ἀρίστω καὶ πολλοῦ ἀξίω Ἀθηναίοις 547τε καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι περὶ τὰ Μηδικά, ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἦρξε τροπαίων Μηδικῶν, ὁ δὲ ἀπῄτησε δίκας τοὺς βαρβάρους ὧν μετὰ ταῦτα ὕβρισαν.
Ἄριστα δὲ ἀνθρώπων πλούτῳ ἐχρήσατο. τουτὶ δὲ μὴ τῶν εὐμεταχειρίστων ἡγώμεθα, ἀλλὰ τῶν παγχαλέπων τε καὶ δυσκόλων, οἱ γὰρ πλούτῳ μεθύοντες ὕβριν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπαντλοῦσιν. προσδιαβάλλουσι δὲ ὡς καὶ τυφλὸν τὸν Πλοῦτον, ὃς εἰ καὶ τὸν ἄλλον χρόνον ἐδόκει τυφλός, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ Ἡρώδου ἀνέβλεψεν, ἔβλεψε μὲν γὰρ ἐς φίλους, ἔβλεψε δὲ ἐς πόλεις, ἔβλεψε δὲ ἐς ἔθνη, πάντων περιωπὴν ἔχοντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ θησαυρίζοντος
Lives of the Sophists
Book II
1. Concerning Herodes the Athenian the following facts ought to be known. Herodes the sophist on his father’s side belonged to a family which twice held consulships and also dated back to the house of the Aeacids,1 whom Greece once enlisted as allies against the Persian. Nor did he fail to be proud of Miltiades and Cimon,2 seeing that they were two very illustrious men and did great service to the Athenians and the rest of Greece in the wars with the Medes. For the former was the first to triumph over the Medes and the latter inflicted punishment on the barbarians for their insolent acts afterwards.3
No man employed his wealth to better purpose. And this we must not reckon a thing easy to achieve, but very difficult and arduous. For men who are intoxicated with wealth are wont to let loose a flood of insults on their fellow-men. And moreover they bring this reproach on Plutus4 that he is blind; but even if at all other times he appeared to be blind, yet in the case of Herodes he recovered his sight. For he had eyes for his friends, he had eyes for cities, he had eyes for whole nations, since the man watched over them all, and laid up the treasures
- 1Herodotus viii. 64 describes the invocation by the Athenians of the Aeacids Ajax and Telamon; cf. Philostratus, Heroicus 743.
- 2They were descended from Aeacus. Philostratus seems to reprove Plato, who disparaged them in the Gorgias 515.
- 3In 466 Cimon defeated the Persians by sea and land, and, later, expelled them from the Thracian Chersonese.
- 4Plutus was the god of wealth.