Plutarch's life of Aristides "the Just," the Athenian statesman and general whose poverty, fairness, and quiet rivalry with Themistocles carried Athens through Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea.
Plutarch opens by weighing conflicting ancient testimony about whether Aristides son of Lysimachus died rich or poor, using the dispute to introduce his real subject: a man whose reputation for justice was so total that it became his epithet, "the Just." Aristides allied himself with the aristocratic faction after Cleisthenes' reforms and became the lifelong political rival of Themistocles, a rivalry Plutarch traces back to a boyhood infatuation with the same boy, Stesilaus. Where Themistocles built power through friends and favors, Aristides refused to let personal loyalty override justice, even ruling against his own case in a private dispute and exposing corruption in the treasury even when it cost him popularity.
The narrative follows Aristides through the defining crises of the Persian Wars: fighting beside Themistocles at Marathon, guarding the captured spoils there without touching them himself, being ostracized despite his popularity (the famous episode of the illiterate citizen who asked him to write his own name on the ostracism shard because he was tired of hearing him called "the Just"), and being recalled from exile as Xerxes invaded. At Salamis he sets aside his rivalry with Themistocles for the common good, secures Psyttaleia, and afterward serves as general at Plataea, where his diplomacy over battle order, his handling of a conspiracy in the Greek camp, and his role in securing the Delphic oracle's terms for victory are all given close attention. After the war he negotiates the assessment of tribute for the new Athenian-led alliance, a task Plutarch treats as a model of scrupulous fairness, and dies too poor for a proper burial, leaving the Athenian people to provide for his children and grandchildren for generations.
Aristides matters historically less for shaping events, where Themistocles and Miltiades usually get the credit, than as Plutarch's test case for what justice looks like in public life. Plutarch draws on Herodotus, Idomeneus, Demetrius of Phalerum, Panaetius, Theophrastus, Aristotle, and other now-fragmentary sources, weighing them against each other on points like Aristides' actual wealth and the date of his death. The result is both a portrait of incorruptible statesmanship and a case study in how later biographers argued over a man's legacy using conflicting archival and anecdotal evidence.
“For good men do not wage an unheralded and truceless war against gifts from friends; rather, they consider mean and low those gifts directed toward hoarding and greed, but do not repel those which involve some unprofitable ambition and splendor.”
— Aristides
“he said, 'Rather tell, good sir, what wrong he has done to you; for it is your case, not my own, that I am judging.'”
— Aristides
“"None," he said, "I don't even know the man, but everywhere I go people call him 'the Just,' and I'm sick of hearing it."”
— Aristides
“there is not so great a quantity of gold, either above the earth or beneath it, as the Athenians would accept in place of the freedom of the Greeks.”
— Aristides
“"That indeed is necessary, Themistocles, but truly noble and generalship worthy of the name is self-control with respect to one's hands."”
— Aristides
Plutarch says the title came from his consistent refusal to let favor, anger, or self-interest sway his judgment, whether presiding over a private lawsuit or exposing embezzlement in the Athenian treasury. The epithet became so widely repeated that, as the ostracism story shows, ordinary citizens grew tired of hearing it -- one illiterate voter asked Aristides himself to write his own name on the ostracism shard because he was sick of the nickname.
Plutarch explains that ostracism targeted anyone whose reputation, birth, or eloquence raised him above the multitude, and that Themistocles fueled envy by claiming Aristides had effectively made himself an unelected judge over everyone's affairs. The Athenians recalled him from exile a few years later when Xerxes' invasion made his loyalty and competence too valuable to lose.
The two men fought side by side at Marathon and set their enmity aside at Salamis, where Aristides secretly briefed Themistocles on the Persian encirclement and let him take credit for the winning strategy. Later, when Themistocles proposed secretly burning the allied Greek fleet for Athens' advantage, Aristides told the assembly the plan was profitable but unjust, and the Athenians dropped it purely on his word.
As general with full authority, Aristides led the Athenian contingent, defused a dispute with the Tegeans over battle position, uncovered and quietly contained a conspiracy to betray the army, and secured the Delphic oracle's conditions for victory, including the site tied to the shrine of Eleusinian Demeter. After the battle he mediated the dispute between Athens and Sparta over the prize of valor and helped establish the annual Eleutheria festival at Plataea.
After Sparta's leadership collapsed under Pausanias's harshness, the Greek allies asked specifically for Aristides to set fair tribute payments for the new alliance. Plutarch says he set the total at 460 talents and administered it so scrupulously that the allies called it a golden age, contrasting it with the much higher, more burdensome assessments under later Athenian leaders.
Plutarch opens the Life by weighing rival testimonies -- Demetrius of Phalerum argued Aristides was wealthy, citing his archonship and choregic offerings, while Panaetius countered that Demetrius had confused him with another man of the same name. Plutarch ultimately sides with the poverty tradition, citing Aristides' modest cloak, his testimony at Callias's trial, and the state-funded dowries and support given to his children and grandchildren after his death.
Plutarch reports two traditions -- that he died on a public mission in the Black Sea region, or that he died of old age in Athens, honored by his countrymen -- and dismisses a third account by Craterus claiming Aristides was convicted of bribery and died in disgrace near Ionia, noting Craterus supplies no documentary proof, unlike his usual practice.
Because he left no money for burial, the city built his tomb at Phalerum, provided dowries for his daughters, granted his son Lysimachus land and a daily allowance, and later supported his granddaughter Polycrite and other poor descendants, which Plutarch presents as proof of Athens' enduring gratitude.
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