HKB
the odium he incurred with the populace in the discussions about their debts was, that he trampled upon the poor, not for money's sake, but out of pride and insolence.
Antipater, in a letter written upon the death of Aristotle the philosopher, observes, "Amongst his other gifts he had that of persuasiveness," and the absence of this in the character of Marcius made all his great actions and noble qualities unacceptable to those whom they benefited: pride, and self-will, the consort, as Plato calls it, of solitude, made him insufferable. With the skill which Alcibiades, on the contrary, professed to treat every one in the way most agreeable to him, we cannot wonder that all his successes were attended with the most exuberant favor and honor; his very errors, at times, being accompanied by something of grace and felicity. And so, in spite of great and frequent hurt that he had done the city, he was repeatedly appointed to office and command; while Coriolanus stood in vain for a place which his great services had made his due.
Alcibiades never professed to deny that it was pleasant to him to be honored and distasteful to him to be overlooked; and, accordingly, he always tried to place himself upon good terms with all that he met; Coriolanus' pride forbade him to pay attentions to those who could have promoted his advancement, and yet his love of distinction made him feel hurt and angry when he was disregarded. Such are the faulty parts of his character, which in all other respects was a noble one. For his temperance, continence, and probity, he might claim to be compared with the best and purest of the Greeks; not in any sort of kind with Alcibiades, the least scrupulous and most entirely careless of human beings in all these points.
ARISTIDES
Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, was of the tribe Antiochis, and township of Alopece. Being the friend and supporter of that Clisthenes, who settled the government after the expulsion of the tyrants, and emulating and admiring Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian above all politicians, he adhered to the aristocratical principles of government; and had Themistocles, son to Neocles, his adversary on the side of the populace. Some say that, when boys together, they were always at variance in all their words and actions, serious as well as playful. One was ready, venturesome, and subtle, engaging readily and eagerly in everything; the other of a staid and settled temper, intent on the exercise of justice, not admitting any degree of falsity, indecorum, or trickery, even at his play. Ariston of Ceos says that the first origin of enmity which rose to so great a height, was a love affair; they were rivals for the affection of the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, and were passionate beyond moderation, and did not lay aside their animosity when the beauty that had excited it passed away; but carried their heats and differences into public business.
Themistocles joined an association of partisans, and fortified himself with considerable strength; so that when some one told him that if he were impartial, he would make a good magistrate, "I wish," replied he, "I may never sit on that tribunal where my friends shall not plead a greater privilege than strangers."
But Aristides walked alone on his path in politics being unwilling to go with associates in ill doing, or to cause them vexation by not gratifying their wishes.