that they not only ceased from making expeditions against us, but even endured to see their own territory laid waste;Allusion is to the victory of Conon at the Eurymedon, 466 B.C. and we brought their power so low, for all that they had once sailed the sea with twelve hundred ships, that they launched no ship of war this side of PhaselisCf. Isoc. 7.80. There appears to have been a definite treaty setting bounds beyond which neither the sea nor land forces of Persia might go: see Isoc. 4.120 and Isoc. 12.59-61; also Dem. 19.273; Lyc. 1.73. This was the so-called Treaty of Callias: see Grote, v. pp. 192 ff. but remained inactive and waited on more favorable times rather than trust in the forces which they then possessed.

And that this state of affairs was due to the valor of our ancestors has been clearly shown in the fortunes of our city: for the very moment when we were deprived of our dominion marked the beginning of a dominionFor this play of words— a)rxh/, “beginning,” and arxh/, “dominion”—cf. Isoc. 3.28, Isoc. 8.101, Isoc. 5.61. of ills for the Hellenes. In fact, after the disaster which befell us in the Hellespont,Battle of Aegospotami 405 B.C. when our rivals took our place as leaders, the barbarians won a naval victory,At the battle of Cnidus, but with the help of Conon. became rulers of the sea, occupied most of the islands,See Xen. Hell. 4.8.7. made a landing in Laconia, took Cythera by storm, and sailed around the whole Peloponnesus, inflicting damage as they went.

One may best comprehend how great is the reversal in our circumstances if he will read side by side the treatiesSee Isoc. 4.115 and note. which were made during our leadership and those which have been published recently; for he will find that in those days we were constantly setting limits to the empire of the King,Cf. Isoc. 4.118 and note. levying tribute on some of his subjects, and barring him from the sea; now, however, it is he who controls the destinies of the Hellenes, who dictatesCf. Isoc. 4.175; Xen. Hell. 6.3.9. what they must each do, and who all but sets up his viceroys in their cities.

For with this one exception, what else is lacking? Was it not he who decided the issue of the war, was it not he who directed the terms of peace, and is it not he who now presides over our affairs? Do we not sail off to him as to a master, when we have complaints against each other? Do we not address him as “The Great King” as though we were the captives of his spear? Do we not in our wars against each other rest our hopes of salvation on him, who would gladly destroy both Athens and Lacedaemon ?

Reflecting on these things, we may well be indignant at the present state of affairs, and yearn for our lost supremacy: and we may well blame the Lacedaemonians because, although in the beginning they entered upon the warThe Peloponnesian War. with the avowed intentionSee words of Brasidas in Thuc. 4.85. of freeing the Hellenes, in the end they delivered so many of them into bondage, and because they induced the Ionians to revolt from Athens, the mother city from which the Ionians emigrated and by whose influence they were often preserved from destruction, and then betrayed themBy the Treaty of Antalcidas, negotiated by Sparta, the Ionian cities of Asia Minor and the neighboring islands were given over to Persia (Xen. Hell. 5.1.31). to the barbarians—those barbarians in despite of whom they possess their lands and against whom they have never ceased to war.

At that time the Lacedaemonians were indignant because we thought it right by legitimate means to extend our dominion over certain peoples.As, for example, over the Ionian cities. Now, however, they feel no concern, when these peoples are reduced to such abject servitude that it is not enough that they should be forced to pay tribute and see their citadels occupied by their foes, but, in addition to these public calamities, must also in their own persons submit to greater indignities than those which are suffered in our world by purchased slavesSlaves by purchase were in worse case than slaves by capture in battle.; for none of us is so cruel to his servants as are the barbarians in punishing free men.

But the crowning misery is that they are compelled to take the field with the enemyThe Ionian cities were forced to fight with the Persians against Cyprus. See 134. in the very cause of slavery and to fight against men who assert their right to freedom, and to submit to hazards of war on such terms that in case of defeat they will be destroyed at once, and in case of victory they will strengthen the claims of their bondage for all time to come.

For these evils, who else, can we think, is to blame but the Lacedaemonians, seeing that they have so great power, yet look on with indifference while those who have placed themselves under the Lacedaemonian alliance are visited with such outrages, and while the barbarian builds up his own empire by means of the strength of the Hellenes? In former days, it is true, they used to expel tyrants and bring succor to the people, but now they have so far reversed their policy that they make war on responsible governments and aid in establishing absolute monarchies;

they sacked and razed the city of Mantinea,In 383 B.C. Cf. Isoc. 8.100; Xen. Hell. 5.2.7. after peace had been concluded; they seized the CadmeaIn the same year. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.25. The Cadmea was the citidel of Thebes. in Thebes; and nowThis helps in dating the they are laying siege to Olynthus and Phlius:The siege of Olynthus was begun in 382 B.C. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.11. The siege of Phlius was begun in 380 B.C. See Xen. Hell. 5.2.8. on the other hand, they are assisting Amyntas, king of the Macedonians,Amyntas, the father of Philip, was aided by the Spartans against Olynthus 383 B.C. See Isoc. 6.46 and Isoc. 5.106. and Dionysius,For the sympathy between Sparta and Dionysius see Isoc. 8.99, Isoc. 6.63. the tyrant of Sicily, and the barbarian king who rules over Asia,By the Peace of Antalcidas. to extend their dominions far and wide.