I. An Athenian statesman, called the Just, died probably in 468 B. C. Of his early life little is positively known. He was one of the ten leaders of the Athenians at the time of the Persian invasion under Darius, and before the battle of Marathon persuaded the other generals to follow his example in giving up the chief command to Miltiades, instead of each claiming it for one day, as was allowed by law. This united action insured the success of the battle. The year after Marathon (489) he was appointed archon, but a few years later, by the intrigues of his rival Themistocles, he was ostracized on the pretext that he was acquiring an influence dangerous in a democracy. He employed the period of his exile in endeavoring to stir up the Grecian cities to resist the Persians, at that time preparing for a second invasion. He sought an interview with Themistocles before the battle of Salamis (480), concerted with him the plan of that engagement, and gave him his hearty support. The success of the Greeks at Plataea (479), where he commanded under Pausanias, was chiefly owing to his courage and watchfulness. The Persian war continuing, he, with Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was sent at the head of the Athenian forces to join the confederate army.

When the Ionian states, disgusted with the arrogance of Pausanias, decided to form a confederation under the hegemony of Athens, Aris-tides was appointed to adjust the relations of the various parties to the arrangement, and to assess the expenses of the war on the several , states - a commission which he executed to the satisfaction of all. When Themistocles fell under suspicion he did not join in the prosecution; and after the banishment of his rival he always spoke of him with admiration and respect. He died so poor that he was buried at the public cost; his daughters received dowries out of the public treasury, and a landed estate was bestowed on his son.

II. Aelius, a Greek rhetorician, born at Hadriani in Bithynia, A. I). 117 or 129, died about 180. He was the son of Eudaemon, a priest of Jupiter. After travelling through the countries which border the Mediterranean, and as far as Ethiopia, he took up his abode at Smyrna; and when that city was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 178, he persuaded his friend the emperor Marcus Aure-lius to assist in rebuilding it. For this Aristides was named the founder of the city, and a bronze statue was raised to him in the agora. Fifty-five of his orations and declamations have been preserved, consisting of eulogies on various divinities, panegyrics on towns, and treatises on rhetorical topics. In his " Sacred Discourses," where Aristides describes a singular malady, not unlike somnambulism, the disciples of mesmerism find something similar to the mesmeric phenomena. A statue discovered in the 16th century, representing Aristides in a sitting posture, is now in the museum of the Vatican. The best complete edition of his works is that of Dindorf (3 vols., Leipsie, 1829).

III. Of Thebes, a Greek painter, nourished from about 360 to 330 B. C. He is said by Pliny to have been a little older than his contemporary Apelles, and to have been the first who expressed upon the countenance the passions of the soul. At the time of the Roman conquest (146 B. C), the consul Mummius, discovering the high price set upon a battle picture by Aristides, seized it and sent it to Rome. It was placed in the temple of Ceres, and is said to have been the first foreign painting exposed to the view of the Romans.