surnamed the Just, one of the most celebrated characters of his age for purity and integrity, and contemporary with Themistocles, was the son of Lycurgus, a man of middle rank, and born at Athens. His dispositions and temper from his youth all conjoined in anticipating that greatness to which he afterwards arose. To a firm, resolute, and placid temper, he likewise added a great contempt of dissimulation, and an utter abhorrence of every thing dishonourable. He began very early to meditate on subjects of government, and applied to his studies with the greatest assiduity. He imbibed a strong predilection for oligarchy upon becoming acquainted with the laws of Lycurgus, which excited his admiration, and gave him a distaste of the unlimited democracy then established in his native city. On the other hand, Themistocles favoured democracy; and even when at school, he is said to have been his constant antagonist on that point. A perpetual opposition to one another in all political points, whether just or unjust, was the consequence of this difference of opinion, when their abilities raised them to several important stations in the state. Although it was deemed absolutely necessary at that time for a party leader to oppose all the acts of his antagonist whatsoever with the greatest vehemence, yet Aristides did not follow this practice without self-reproach. It is related, that one day having firmly opposed a proposal of Themistocles in the assembly, which in his own confidence he knew to be right, on coming out he exclaimed, "The affairs of the Athenians will never prosper, till they throw both of us into the barathrum," (the dungeon for condemned criminals). Aristides maintained a strict observance of justice, and when in his own opinion a friend was guilty, he would never screen him from the punishment due to his offence. Neither desirous of profit nor honour, he served his country from the purest principles of duty; and his character was so universally known, that once, when these verses of Æschylus, describing Amphiarus were recited in the theatre,

"To be, and not to seem, is this man's maxim; His mind repose on its conscious worth, And wants no other praise"

the eyes of the whole assembly were immediately directed towards Aristides, as the true picture of the idea the poet wished to delineate. When in the office of public treasurier, by convicting Themistocles and several others of making free with the public property, he raised up a party against himself; and when he gave in his own account, they to retaliate the affront, accused him of embezzling the public stores; and it was only by the intervention of the court of Areopagus that he got himself cleared. He was, however, again elected to that office, and then, although he kept a secret account against those people concerned with him, he permitted them to plunder without reprehension. It consequently fell out that he was universally praised, his acquaintance cultivated with the greatest avidity, and interest made on all sides to continue him in office. But when the people were about to proceed to elect him again to that trust, he severely chided them, and said, "that while he had served them with fidelity he was treated with calumny, and incurred their displeasure; now that he had really violated his trust, he met with general applause, and was reckoned an excellent citizen." He then exhibited their deceits, and made all parties ashamed of the part they had acted.

Aristides was present at the battle of Marathon, fought B.C. 490, and was next in command among the Athenians to Miltiades; and there, upon that general's proposing to come to battle as soon as possible, he seconded his motion with the utmost vigour. In the field he distinguished himself with intrepidity, valour, and generosity; and being left after the battle to secure the spoils, he executed his trust with honour and fidelity, bringing all to the public account, reserving nothing for himself. He was elected to the important office of chief magistrate the year following; but by the art of Themistocles, the high authority he had attained by his merits was at length converted into an accusation against him; and he was accordingly banished by the ostracism, although a mild, often an unjust, measure in the policy of the Athenian state, for getting a temporary relief from the presence of any political influence by which they thought their independence might be injured. A circumstance which occurred on this occasion gives a very high idea of his character. A rustic citizen coming up to vote against him, although not personally acquainted with Aristides, and being himself unable to write, ordered the first person whom he met, who accidentally happened to be Aristides himself, to inscribe his name upon the shell, signifying his acquiescence in the sentence of the state. The patriot said, "Did Aristides ever injure you?" The rustic replied, "I do not so much as know him, but I am tired with everywhere hearing him called the Just."—Aristides, taking the shell, wrote his own name upon it, and returned it in silence to the voter. Lifting up his hands to heaven, he supplicated that the Athenians might never behold the day which should induce them to remember Aristides; and then quitted the city.

As the Persians were meditating a new invasion of Greece, he employed himself in his exile in encouraging the Greeks to defend their liberties against the invaders. The Athenians immediately, upon the approach of Xerxes, recalled Aristides, whose absence they began sincerely to regret, along with their other exiles. Aristides. At this critical moment, upon his return, he suspended all political animosities; and upon understanding that it was the design of Themistocles to fight the Persian navy in the straits of Salamis, he waited on him in private, proposed an oblivion of all past circumstances, extolled his intentions, and gave him his sincere promise to do the utmost in his power towards effecting his designs. Themistocles, some time after the battle of Salamis, acquainted the Athenians that he had formed a scheme which, although it was of such a nature as forbade his public avowal of it to them, was of inestimable advantage to the state. They immediately ordered that he should communicate it to Aristides. It was a project for consuming the whole confederate fleet of Greece by fire, except their own ships; and thus the entire sway of the sea would be left to the Athenian navy. Aristides reported that nothing could be more unjust, and at the same time, nothing more advantageous than the scheme of Themistocles. Upon this report, the people immediately determined to drop any further thought of it. It was equally to the honour of the Athenians that they made such a determination, and to Aristides that he was made the referee on this occasion. Aristides, before the battle of Platæa, was of considerable service in persuading his countrymen, who were elated with their former successes, to submit to the superior power of the Spartans, and in preserving peace and amity between the confederate forces. He acquitted himself with great valour and resolution in the engagement, and was appointed after the victory to determine a very dangerous dispute concerning the honour of the day, which he conferred upon the Platæans, giving up the claim of the Athenians, the Lacedemonians following his example. Upon the rebuilding of Athens, he was the first person to promote a law which divided the administration among the citizens at large, and enjoined that the archons, or chief magistrates, should be elected out of the whole body of the people, who had so deservedly merited the favour of the state.

Aristides, upon the continuation of the war with the Persians, was sent along with Cimon, the son of Miltiades, to take the command of the Athenian forces in the confederate army. Their humility and meekness, compared with the haughty domineering temper of Pausanias, so engaged the rest of the allies, that the superiority of rank was conferred upon Athens, with the joint concurrence of the other states. The nomination of Aristides to lay an equal assentment upon all the states for the purpose of defraying the expense of the war, was a signal proof of the high idea all Greece had of his integrity and justice. The wisdom and impartiality with which he performed this commission gave universal satisfaction. He obliged all the confederates, after this affair was terminated, solemnly to swear to all the articles of association. The advice which he afterwards gave the Athenians to extend their own territories beyond their proper limits, must certainly have proceeded from some very pressing necessity, when he thus drew down the consequences of the perjury upon his own head. Aristides, on Themistocles's falling under the displeasure of the ruling party, would not concur in a capital prosecution of him; and instead of triumphing over an old enemy, he always spoke of him after his banishment with the highest respect.

In that age it was common for men who had borne the highest public offices to make no increase to their private fortunes, but no man ever carried this disinterestedness to so high a pitch as Aristides. He was indeed so remarkably poor, that when a prosecution was raised against Callias, a rich relation of his, the orator pleading against him, in order to excite the indignation of his audience, made some remarks upon his ability to assist Aristides, and at the same time upon the extreme indigence in which he permitted him and his family to live. Callias, in his vindication, was forced to call Aristides to testify that he had frequently offered him considerable sums, which he would not accept, saying, "that it better became Aristides to glory in his poverty than Callias in his riches," which appear to have been acquired not very honourably.

This great man died about 407 years B.C., according to some at Athens, at an advanced age; others say at Pontus, where he was transacting public business. He was buried at the public expense, and his daughters received portions out of the public treasury; and a pension and an estate in land was bestowed on his son Lysimachus, in gratitude for the signal services Aristides had done his country. (Gen. Biog.)

Aristides of Miletus, a famous Greek author, often cited by the ancients.

very eloquent Athenian orator, who became a convert to the Christian religion, and about the year 124 presented to the emperor Adrian an apology for the Christians.

Aristides, Ælius, a celebrated orator, born in Mysia, about 129 years before the Christian era. The best edition of his works is that of Oxford, printed in Greek and Latin, in two volumes quarto.

painter contemporary with Apelles, flourished at Thebes about the 122d Olympiad. He was the first, according to Pliny, who expressed character and passion, the human mind, and its several emotions; but he was not remarkable for softness of colouring. "His most celebrated picture was of an infant (on the taking of a town) at the mother's breast, who is wounded and expiring." The sensations of the mother were clearly marked, and her fear lest the child, upon failure of the milk, should suck her blood." Alexander the Great (continues the same author) took this picture with him to Pella."

Junius (in his Treatise de Pictura Veterum) conjectures that the following beautiful epigram of Æmilius was written on this exquisite picture:

Εὖκα, τάλαι, παῖδε μήτηρ ἐν ἀπὸ τῆς μαζοῦς αὐτῆς Εἰκόνισιν νοστατοῦν νεκρὰ κατὰ Φθίμαν. Ἡ δὲ γὰρ ἐξέφυσεν λιποτόνων ἀλλὰ τα μέτρα; Φιλάρη καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ πανδεκατερίαν φράζει.

Elegantly translated thus:

Suck, little wretch, while yet thy mother lives, Suck the last drop her fainting bosom gives! She dies! her tenderness survives her breath, And her fond love is provident in death.

Webb's Inquiries, Dial. vii. p. 161.