Aristides

Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, belonged to the tribe Antiochis, and to the deme Alopece. As regards his substance, stories differ, some having it that he passed all the days of his life in severe poverty, and that at his death he left behind him two daughters who for a long time were not sought in marriage because of their indigence.

But in contradiction of this story which so many writers give, Demetrius of Phalerum, in his Socrates, says he knows of an estate in Phalerum which belonged to Aristides—the one in which he lies buried, and regards as proofs of his opulent circumstances, first, his office of Archon Eponymous, which only he could hold who obtained it by lot from among the families carrying the highest property assessments (these were called Pentacosiomedimni, or Five-hundred-bushellers);

second, his banishment in ostracism, for no poor men, but only men from great houses which incurred envy because of their family prestige, were liable to ostracism; third, and last, the fact that he left in the precinct of Dionysus as offerings for victory some choregic tripods, which, even in our day, were pointed out as still bearing the inscription: The tribe Antiochis was victorious; Aristides was Choregus; Archestratus was Poet.

Now this last argument, though it seems very strong, is really very weak. For both Epaminondas, who, as all men know, was reared and always lived in great poverty, and Plato the philosopher, took it upon themselves to furnish munificent public performances, the first, of men trained to play the flute, the second, of boys trained to sing and dance; but Plato received the money that he spent thereon from Dion of Syracuse, and Epaminonmas from Pelopidas.