And you will observe that this is the opinion which men hold, not of these heroes only,
but of all mankind. Thus, no one would praise our city either because she was once
mistress of the sea, or because she extorted such huge sums of money from her allies and
carried them up into the Acropolis,The treasury of the
Confederacy of Delos was originally in the
island of Delos; later it was transferred to
the Parthenon at Athens. nor yet,
surely, because she obtained power over many cities—power to devastate them, or aggrandize
them, or manage them according to her pleasure (for all these things it was possible for
her to do);
no, all these things have been the source of many complaints against her, while because
of the battle of Marathon, the naval battle at Salamis, and most of all because her citizens abandoned their own homes to
insure the deliverance of Hellas,For these services see Isoc.
4.91-96. she enjoys the encomiums of all mankind. The same opinion is
held regarding the Lacedaemonians also;
their defeat at Thermopylae is more
admired than their many victories; the trophyHe means the
spot where the trophy was raised, marked later by the column erected by the Greeks.
Hdt. 7..228. which was erected by the barbarians
over the Lacedaemonians is an object of affectionate regard and of pilgrimages, while the
trophies erected by the Lacedaemonians over their enemies call forth, not praise, but
odium; for the former is regarded as a proof of valor, the latter of selfish greed.
Now if, after examining and reviewing all these admonitions in your own mind, you feel
that my discourse is in any part rather weak and inadequate,For like apologies see Isoc. 15.9; Isoc. 12.4; Isoc. Letter
6.6. set it down to my age, which might well claim the indulgence of all;
but if it is up to the standard of my former publications, I would have you believe that
it was not my old age that conceived it but the divine will that prompted it, not out of
solicitude for me, but because of its concern for Hellas, and because of its desire to deliver her out of her present
distress and to crown you with a glory far greater than you now possess.
I think that you are not unaware in what manner the gods order the affairs of mortals:
for not with their own hands do they deal out the blessings and curses that befall us;
rather they inspire in each of us such a state of mind that good or ill, as the case may
be,