When Xerxes was descending upon Greece with his mighty armament, Themistocles was afraid of Epicydes the popular leader, unscrupulous and cowardly, lest possibly he might, by being elected general, bring about the ruin of the State; and so he bribed Epicydes to withdraw from his attempt to gain the command. 1
1 The story is told more fully in Plutarch's Life of Themistocles, chap. vi. (114 D).