[751] Plato, Symp. c. 36, p. 221.
[752] Thuc. iv, 81. δόξας εἶναι κατὰ πάντα ἀγαθὸς, etc.
[753] Thucyd. v, 116.
[754] Aristophan. Equit. 55, 391, 740, etc. In one passage of the play, Kleon is reproached with pretending to be engaged at Argos in measures for winning the alliance of that city, but in reality, under cover of this proceeding, carrying on clandestine negotiations with the Lacedæmonians (464). In two other passages, he is denounced as being the person who obstructs the conclusion of peace with the Lacedæmonians (790, 1390).
[755] Thucyd. v, 17; iii, 45. καταφανέστερος μὲν εἶναι κακουργῶν, καὶ ἀπιστότερος διαβάλλων—βιαιότατος τῶν πολιτῶν.
[756] Aristophan. Acharn. 8, with the Scholiast, who quotes from Theopompus. Theopompus, Fragment, 99, 100, 101, ed. Didot.
[757] The public speaking of Kleon was characterized by Aristotle and Theopompus (see Schol. ad Lucian. Timon, c. 30), not as wheedling, but as full of arrogance; in this latter point too like that of the elder Cato at Rome (Plutarch, Cato, c. 14). The derisory tone of Cato in his public speaking, too, is said to have been impertinent and disgusting (Plutarch, Reipub. Gerend. Præcept. p. 803, c. 7).
[758] An epigram which Plutarch (Cato, c. 1) gives us from a poet contemporary of Cato the Censor, describes him:—
Πυῤῥὸν, πανδακέτην, γλαυκόμματον, οὐδὲ θανόντα
Πόρκιον εἰς Ἀΐδην Περσεφόνη δέχεται.