Nepos, Aristides 1

Arist. 1.1Aristīdēs, Lȳsimachī fīlius, Athēniēnsis, aequālis ferē fuit Themistoclī atque cum eō dē prīncipātū contendit: namque obtrectārunt inter sē.

Aristides, son of Lysimachus, an Athenian, was about the same age as Themistocles and competed with him for the first place in the state; for they disparaged each other.

Note. Nepos opens every life with the same formula: name, father's name in the genitive (Lysimachī fīlius), city (Athēniēnsis). aequālis takes the dative: Themistoclī. obtrectārunt is a contracted perfect for obtrectāvērunt, very common in Nepos (-āvērunt → -ārunt).

Arist. 1.2In hīs autem cognitum est, quantō antestāret ēloquentia innocentiae.

In their case, however, it became clear how far eloquence outweighed integrity.

Note. quantō antestāret: an indirect question, so the subjunctive. quantō is an ablative of degree of difference ('by how much'). ēloquentia (Themistocles') is the subject; innocentiae (Aristides') is dative after ante-stāre 'stand before, surpass'.

Arist. 1.2Quamquam enim adeō excellēbat Aristīdēs abstinentiā, ut ūnus post hominum memoriam, quem quidem nōs audierīmus, cognōmine Iūstus sit appellātus, tamen ā Themistocle collabefactus testulā illā exiliō decem annōrum multātus est.

For although Aristides so excelled in self-restraint that he alone within human memory, at least as far as we have heard, was called by the surname 'the Just', nevertheless, brought down by Themistocles, he was punished with ten years' exile by that famous potsherd.

Note. Quamquam … tamen: 'although … nevertheless'. adeō … ut introduces a result clause (sit appellātus). quem quidem nōs audierīmus is a restrictive relative clause in the subjunctive: 'as far as we at least have heard'. testulā illā: the potsherd on which Athenians scratched a name in an ostracism; a man 'ostracized' left Athens for ten years without losing his property. exiliō decem annōrum multātus: multāre takes the ablative of the penalty.

Arist. 1.3Quī quidem cum intellegeret reprimī concitātam multitūdinem nōn posse, cēdēnsque animadvertisset quendam scrībentem, ut patriā pellerētur, quaesīsse ab eō dīcitur, quārē id faceret aut quid Aristīdēs commīsisset, cūr tantā poenā dignus dūcerētur.

When he realized that the stirred-up crowd could not be checked, and as he was leaving noticed someone writing that he should be driven from his country, he is said to have asked him why he was doing it, or what Aristides had done to be thought deserving of so great a punishment.

Note. The famous anecdote: an illiterate voter asked Aristides himself to write 'Aristides' on his sherd. cēdēns 'as he was going away'. Two indirect questions follow quaesīsse: quārē id faceret and quid … commīsisset, then cūr … dūcerētur depends on that. dignus takes the ablative: tantā poenā.

Arist. 1.4Cui ille respondit sē ignōrāre Aristīdēn, sed sibi nōn placēre, quod tam cupidē labōrāsset, ut praeter cēterōs Iūstus appellārētur.

The man answered him that he did not know Aristides, but that he did not like it that he had worked so eagerly to be called 'the Just' above everyone else.

Note. Indirect statement after respondit: sē ignōrāre, sibi nōn placēre (sē and sibi refer to the voter). quod … labōrāsset: subjunctive because it gives the voter's reason, not Nepos'. labōrāsset = labōrāvisset.

Arist. 1.5Hic decem annōrum lēgitimam poenam nōn pertulit.

He did not serve the full ten-year punishment fixed by law.

Note. lēgitimam poenam: the full legal term. In 480 BC, with the Persians coming, Athens recalled its ostracized citizens.

Arist. 1.5Nam postquam Xerxēs in Graeciam dēscendit, sextō ferē annō quam erat expulsus, populī scītō in patriam restitūtus est.

For after Xerxes came down into Greece, in about the sixth year after he had been expelled, he was restored to his country by a decree of the people.

Note. sextō ferē annō quam: 'in about the sixth year after' (quam = postquam after an ordinal of time). populī scītō: ablative, 'by a decree of the people', the Athenian assembly.