Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/387

ARATUS. 379 and I will take means for the removal of Arlstratus ; " to which Aratus consenting, Nealces blotted out Aristratus, and in his place j^ainted a palm-tree, not daring to add any thing else of his own invention. The feet of the defaced figure of Aristratus are said to have escaped notice, and to be hid under the chariot. Bv these means Aratus got favor with the king, who, after he was more fully acquainted with him, loved him so much the more, and gave him for the relief of his city one hundred and fifty talents; forty of which he immediatelj' carried away with nim, when he sailed to Peloponnesus, but the rest the king divided into instalments, and sent them to him afterwards at diflereut times. Assuredly it was a gi'eat thing to procure for his fellow-citizens a sum of money, a small portion of which had been sufficient, when presented b}' a king to other captains and pojjular leaders, to induce them to turn dishonest, and betray and give away their native coun- tries to him. But it was a much greater, that b' means of this money he eiFected a reconciliation and good un- derstanding between the rich and poor, and created quiet and securit}- for the whole people. His moderation, also, amidst so great power was very admirable. For being declared sole arbitrator and plenipotentiary for settling the questions of property in the case of the exiles, he would not accept the commission alone, but, associating with himself fifteen of the citizens, with great pains and trouble he succeeded in adjusting matters, and established joeace and good-will in the city, for which good service, not only all the citizens in general bestowed extraordinary honors upon him, but the exiles, apart by themselves, erecting his statue in brass, inscribed on it these elegiac verses : — Your counsels, deeds, and skill for Greece in war Known beyond Hercules's pillars are ;