“Personally I admire Cimon,” said Zopyrus quietly. “He is a warrior, every inch of him, and I favor the plan of appointing him successor to Aristides as commander of the fleet.”
“Then you too are against me!” cried the older man hotly. “I had counted on your friendship as an unswerving reality, but I realize there is no such thing as human constancy.”
Zopyrus was deeply moved. “I do not for one moment doubt your sincerity in serving Athens, and at the time of Salamis your policy was a wise one and saved Greece from a sad fate, but conditions have changed since Platæa.”
“Do you know,” asked the statesman leaning toward his young companion and lowering his tones, “that there were those who doubted me at Salamis and were ready to believe that my scheme for compelling the Greeks to fight was an act intended to favor the enemy? Had the Persians been victorious at the time my doom would have been sealed.”
“Athens is too severe, too critical,” continued Themistocles, his voice rising in excitement. “Because such men as Miltiades and Pausanias become arrogant and selfish after Marathon and Platæa, they assume that I must do likewise after Salamis. This Delean League which is proposed by Cimon would exclude the Thessalians and Argives, both as you know friendly to us, and would substitute allies of Sparta. The national spirit which made the Greeks omnipotent against the millions of Darius and Xerxes must live again! Oh, Athens is temporarily blind, blind, and I am powerless to save her now! You are young, Zopyrus, will you not fight this confederacy and clear my name of suspicions of intrigue with Persia? Seek one Leobotes, an old enemy of my family, and prevent him from pressing against me the charge of Medism. Do this, my friend, and anything that is within my power I will do for you.”
“I will do what I can,” replied Zopyrus earnestly. Changing the subject he said, “You have heard no doubt, of the fate of Pausanias?”
“I can imagine what it is, but I had not heard.”
“I was informed before coming here,” said Zopyrus, “that starvation in the temple of Poseidon ended his miserable existence. As you know a wall had been built around the temple and armed guards stationed without who watched night and day. Just before the end came he was brought forth into the open to die that he might not pollute the temple.”
“Alas poor Pausanias!” cried Themistocles, “how relentless are those who think ill of us! You were guilty of the charge against you, but by the gods I am not!”
Zopyrus was deeply impressed by the grief of Themistocles. He put his hand into his tunic and tore from his throat a talisman that had hung on a slender chain. Thrusting it into the hand of the amazed Themistocles he whispered hurriedly, “I hope you may never need it, but should it prove necessary, this will make you welcome at the court of Xerxes or his successor either at Persepolis or Susa.”