Frienemies de l’Antiquité: Aristide et Thémistocle vus par Plutarque

Abstract

In the Parallel Lives, Aristides and Themistocles are two antithetical characters. This opposition, already present in Herodotus’work and common to the literary tradition of the Persian wars, is particularly emphasized by Plutarch who shapes two characters endowed with opposing character traits who adopt completely different behaviors towards friends or wealth. This profound contrast is intended to highlight the collaboration between the two Athenians, ready to put aside personal differences to devote themselves together to the war against the Persians. The episode of reconciliation is in fact located, unlike other sources (Aristotle, Diodorus), before the battle of Salamis. However, Aristides and Themistocles do not limit themselves to settling their differences : they also take on the role of mediators during the war in order to address the disagreements between Athens and the other Greek cities and avoid hindering the common struggle against the barbarians. To do this, Plutarch adapts some passages of Herodotus (directly or by choosing sources that made such changes) to insert the protagonists of the Lives and create a climate of tension that they can happily resolve. His authorial choices appear consistent with the criticisms against Herodotus in De Herodoti Malignitate. The reflection about the Persian wars in Plutarch’s corpus seems therefore to be animated by a coherent vision, born from the tradition elaborated by the Attic orators in the fourth century : the conflict is seen as a privileged moment of the union between the Greeks, capable of overcoming the almost endemic rivalries that oppose them in view of the common good.