A RI S T I D ES .

Aristides, the son of Lyslmachus, was of the tribe An- tiochis, and township of Alopece. As to his wealth, state- ments differ; some say he passed his life in extreme poverty, and left behind him two daughters whose indi- gence long kept them unmarried : but Demetrius, the Phalerian, in opposition to this general report, professes in his Socrates, to know a farm at Phalerum going by Aris- tides's name, where he was interred ; and, as marks of his opulence, adduces firsrt, the office of archon epon^-mus, which he obtained by the lot of the bean ; which was confined to the highest assessed families, called the Penta- cosiomedimni ; second, the ostracism, which was not usually inflicted on the poorer citizens, but on those of great houses, whose station exposed them to envy ; third and last, that he left certain tripods in the temple of Bacchus, offerings for his victory in conducting the representation of dramatic performances, which were even in our age still to be seen, retaining this inscription upon them, " The tribe Antiochis obtained the victory : Aristides defrayed the charges : Archestratus's play waa acted." But this argument, though in appearance the strongest, is of the least moment of a.ny. For Epaminon- das, who all the world knows was educated, and lived his whole life, in much poverty, and also Plato, the philoso- pher, exhibited magnificent shows, the one an entertain- ment of flute-players, the other of dithyrambic singers;