Saturday, March 2, 2024

The loyal dog of Xanthippus

From Plutarch's Lives translated by Bernadotte Perrin.  Athens has decided to evacuate before the Persians with the navy removing to Salamis where a great battler shattered the Persian fleet leading ultimately to the retreat of Xerxes from Greece.  

When the entire city was thus putting out to sea, the sight provoked pity in some, and in others astonishment at the hardihood of the step; for they were sending off their families in one direction, while they themselves, unmoved by the lamentations and tears and embraces of their loved ones, were crossing over to the island where the enemy was to be fought. Besides, many who were left behind on account of their great age invited pity also, and much affecting fondness was shown by the tame domestic animals, which ran along with yearning cries of distress by the side of their masters as they embarked.  A story is told of one of these, the dog of Xanthippus the father of Pericles, how he could not endure to be abandoned by his master, and so sprang into the sea, swam across the strait by the side of his master's trireme, and staggered out on Salamis, only to faint and die straightway. They say that the spot which is pointed out to this day as ‘Dog's Mound’ is his tomb.

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