3.4
And so it befell, as the story goes, that when the verses composed by Aeschylus upon Amphiaraus were recited in the theater:— He wishes not to seem, but rather just to be, And reap a harvest from deep furrows in a mind From which there spring up honorable counselings, Seven Against Thebes, 592 ff.(Dindorf). all the spectators turned their eyes on Aristides, feeling that he, above all men, was possessed of such excellence.
4.1
It was not only against the inclinations of his good-will and personal favour that he was a most strenuous champion of justice, but also against those of his anger and hatred. At any rate a story is told, how he was once prosecuting an enemy in court, and after he had made his accusation the judges were loath to hear the defendant at all, and demanded that their vote be taken against him straightway; but Aristides sprang to his feet and seconded the culprit’s plea for a hearing and the usual legal procedure.
4.2
And again, when he was serving as private arbitrator between two men, on one of them saying that his opponent had done Aristides much injury, Tell me rather, he said, whether he has done thee any wrong; it is for thee, not for myself, that I am seeking justice. When he was elected overseer of the public revenues, he proved clearly that large sums had been embezzled, not only by his fellow-officials, but also by those of former years and particularly by Themistocles:— The man was clever, but of his hand had no control.
