But I can make the matter clear in yet briefer terms. Of all the Hellenic states,
excepting our own,
and on behalf of the sons of Heracles they conquered the Argives and the rest of the
Peloponnesians in battle, and delivered the founders and leaders of
But it seems to me fitting that I should speak also of the city's achievements against the barbarians, the more so since the subject which I have undertaken is the question of who should take the lead against them. Now if I were to go through the list of all our wars, I should speak at undue length; therefore I shall confine myself to the most important, endeavoring to deal with this topic also in the same manner in which I have just dealt with the other.
Let us single out, then, the races which have the strongest instinct for domination and the greatest power of aggression—the Scythians and the Thracians and the Persians; it so happens that these have all had hostile designs upon us and that against all these our city has fought decisive wars. And yet what ground will be left for our opponents if it be shown that those among the Hellenes who are powerless to obtain their rights see fit to appeal to us for help, and that those among the barbarians who purpose to enslave the Hellenes make us the first object of their attacks?
Now, while the most celebrated of our wars was the one against the Persians, yet
certainly our deeds of old offer evidence no less strong for those who dispute over
ancestral rights. For while
Of a truth they were not successful; nay, in this conflict against our forefathers alone they were as utterly overwhelmed as if they had fought the whole world. How great were the disasters which befell them is evident; for the tradition respecting them would not have persisted for so long a time if what was then done had not been without parallel.
At any rate, we are told regarding the Amazons that of all who came not one returned again, while those who had remained at home were expelled from power because of the disaster here; and we are told regarding the Thracians that, whereas at one time they dwelt beside us on our very borders, they withdrew so far from us in consequence of that expedition that in the spaces left between their land and ours many nations, races of every kind, and great cities have been established.
Noble indeed are these achievements—yea, and appropriate to those who dispute over the
hegemony. But of the same breed as those which have been mentioned, and of such a kind as
would naturally be expected of men descended from such ancestors, are the deeds of those
who fought against Darius and Xerxes.
surpassing each in the way appropriate to each;