Many times have I wondered at those who first convoked the national assemblies and
 established the athletic games, amazed that they should have thought the
 prowess of men's bodies to be deserving of so great bounties, while to those who had
 toiled in private for the public good and trained their own minds so as to be able to help
 also their fellow-men they apportioned no reward whatsoever,

when, in all reason, they ought rather to have made provision for the latter; for if all
 the athletes should acquire twice the strength which they now possess, the rest of the
 world would be no better off; but let a single man attain to wisdom, and all men will reap
 the benefit who are willing to share his insight.

Yet I have not on this account lost heart nor chosen to abate my labors; on the
 contrary, believing that I shall have a sufficient reward in the approbation which my
 discourse will itself command, I have come before you to give my counsels on the war
 against the barbarians and on concord among ourselves. I am, in truth, not unaware that
 many of those who have claimed to be sophists

have rushed upon this theme, but I hope to rise so far superior to them that it will seem
 as if no word had ever been spoken by my rivals upon this subject; and, at the same time,
 I have singled out as the highest kind of oratory that which deals with the greatest affairs and, while best
 displaying the ability of those who speak, brings most profit to those who hear; and this
 oration is of that character.

In the next place, the moment for action has not yet gone by, and so made it now futile
 to bring up this question; for then, and only then, should we cease to speak, when the
 conditions have come to an end and there is no longer any need to deliberate about them,
 or when we see that the discussion of them is so complete that there is left to others no
 room to improve upon what has been said.

But so long as conditions go on as before, and what has been said about them is
 inadequate, is it not our duty to scan and study this question, the right decision of
 which will deliver us from our mutual warfare, our present confusion, and our greatest
 ills?

Furthermore, if it were possible to present the same subject matter in one form and in
 no other, one might have reason to think it gratuitous to weary one's hearers by speaking
 again in the same manner as his predecessors; but since oratory is of such a nature

that it is possible to discourse on the same subject matter in many different ways—to
 represent the great as lowly or invest the little with grandeur, to recount the things of
 old in a new manner or set forth events of recent date in an old fashion —it follows that one must not shun the subjects upon
 which others have spoken before, but must try to speak better than they.

For the deeds of the past are, indeed, an inheritance common to us all; but the ability
 to make proper use of them at the appropriate time, to conceive the right sentiments about
 them in each instance, and to set them forth in finished phrase, is the peculiar gift of
 the wise.

And it is my opinion that the study of oratory as well as the other
 arts would make the greatest advance if we should admire and honor, not those who make the
 first beginnings in their crafts, but those who are the most finished craftsmen in each,
 and not those who seek to speak on subjects on which no one has spoken before, but those
 who know how to speak as no one else could.

Yet there are some who carp at discourses which are beyond the powers of ordinary men
 and have been elaborated with extreme care, and who have gone so far astray that they
 judge the most ambitious oratory by the standard of the pleas made in the petty actions of
 the courts; as if both kinds should be alike and should not be
 distinguished, the one by plainness of style, the other by display; or as if they
 themselves saw clearly the happy mean, while the man who knows how to speak elegantly
 could not speak simply and plainly if he chose.

Now these people deceive no one; clearly they praise those who are near their own level.
 I, for my part, am not concerned with such men, but rather with those who will not
 tolerate, but will resent, any carelessness of phrase, and will seek to find in my
 speeches a quality which they will not discover in others. Addressing myself to these, I
 shall proceed with my theme, after first vaunting a little further my own powers.

For I observe that the other orators in their introductions seek to conciliate their
 hearers and make excuses for the speeches which they are about to deliver, sometimes alleging that their preparation has been on the spur
 of the moment, sometimes urging that it is difficult to find words to match the greatness
 of their theme.

But as for myself, if I do not speak in a manner worthy of my subject and of my
 reputation and of the time which I have spent —not merely the hours which have been devoted to my speech but also
 all the years which I have lived—I bid you show me no indulgence but hold me up to
 ridicule and scorn; for there is nothing of the sort which I do not deserve to suffer, if
 indeed, being no better than the others, I make promises so great. 
 So much, by way of introduction, as to my personal claims.

But as to our public interests, the speakers who no sooner come before us than they
 inform us that we must compose our enmities against each other and turn against the
 barbarian, rehearsing the misfortunes which have come upon us from our
 mutual warfare and the advantages which will result from a campaign against our natural
 enemy—these men do speak the truth, but they do not start at the point from which they
 could best bring these things to pass.

For the Hellenes are subject, some to us, others to the Lacedaemonians, the polities by which they
 govern their states having thus divided most of them. If any man, therefore, thinks that
 before he brings the leading states into friendly relations, the rest will unite in doing
 any good thing, he is all too simple and out of touch with the actual conditions.

No, the man who does not aim merely to make an oratorical display, but desires to
 accomplish something as well, must seek out such arguments as will persuade these two
 states to share and share alike with each other, to divide the supremacy between them, and
 to wrest from the barbarians the advantages which at the present time they desire to seize
 for themselves at the expense of the Hellenes.

Now our own city could easily be induced to adopt this policy, but at present the
 Lacedaemonians are still hard to persuade; for they have inherited the false doctrine that
 leadership is theirs by ancestral right. If, however, one should prove to them that this
 honor belongs to us rather than to them, perhaps they might give up splitting hairs about
 this question and pursue their true interests.

So, then, the other speakers also should have made this their starting-point and should
 not have given advice on matters about which we agree before instructing us on the points
 about which we disagree. I, at all events, am justified by a twofold motive in devoting
 most of my attention to these points: first and foremost, in order that some good may come
 of it, and that we may put an end to our mutual rivalries and unite in a war against the
 barbarian;

and, secondly, if this is impossible, in order that I may show who they are that stand in
 the way of the happiness of the Hellenes, and that all may be made to see that even as in
 times past Athens justly held the sovereignty
 of the sea, so now she not unjustly lays claim to the hegemony.

For in the first place, if it is the most experienced and the most capable who in any
 field of action deserve to be honored, it is without question our right to recover the
 hegemony which we formerly possessed; for no one can point to another state which so far
 excels in warfare on land as our city is superior in fighting battles on the sea.

But, in the next place, if there are any who do not regard this as a fair basis of
 judgement, since the reversals of fortune are frequent (for sovereignty never remains in
 the same hands), and who believe that the hegemony, like any other prize, should be held
 by those who first won this honor, or else by those who have rendered the most service to
 the Hellenes, I think that these also are on our side;

for the farther back into the past we go in our examination of both these titles to
 leadership, the farther behind shall we leave those who dispute our claims. For it is
 admitted that our city is the oldest and the greatest in the world and in the eyes of all men the most renowned. But
 noble as is the foundation of our claims, the following grounds give us even a clearer
 title to distinction:

for we did not become dwellers in this land by driving others out of it, nor by finding it uninhabited, nor by coming together
 here a motley horde composed of many races; but we are of a lineage so noble and so pure
 that throughout our history we have continued in possession of the very land which gave us
 birth, since we are sprung from its very soil and are
 able to address our city by the very names which we apply to our nearest kin;

for we alone of all the Hellenes have the right to call our city at once nurse and
 fatherland and mother. And yet, if men are to have good ground for pride and make just
 claims to leadership and frequently recall their ancestral glories, they must show that
 their race boasts an origin as noble as that which I have described.

So great, then, are the gifts which were ours from the beginning and which fortune has
 bestowed upon us. But how many good things we have contributed to the rest of the world we
 could estimate to best advantage if we should recount the history of our city from the
 beginning and go through all her achievements in detail; for we should find that not only
 was she the leader in the hazards of war, but that the social order in general in which we
 dwell,

with which we share the rights of citizenship and through which we are able to live, is
 almost wholly due to her. It is, however, necessary to single out from the number of her
 benefactions, not those which because of their slight importance have escaped attention
 and been pased over in silence, but those which because of their great importance have
 been and still are on the lips and in the memory of all men everywhere.

Now, first of all, that which was the first necessity of man's nature was provided by
 our city; for even though the story has taken the form of a myth, yet it deserves to be told again. When Demeter came
 to our land, in her wandering after the rape of Kore, and, being moved to kindness towards
 our ancestors by services which may not be told save to her initiates, gave these two
 gifts, the greatest in the world—the fruits of the earth, 
 which have enabled us to rise above the life of the beasts, and the holy rite which inspires in those who partake of it
 sweeter hopes regarding both the end
 of life and all eternity,

—our city was not only so beloved of the gods but also so devoted to mankind that, having
 been endowed with these great blessings, she did not begrudge them to the rest of the
 world, but shared with all men what she had received. The
 mystic rite we continue even now, each year, to reveal to the initiates; and as for the fruits of the
 earth, our city has, in a word, instructed the world in their uses, their cultivation, and
 the benefits derived from them.

This statement, when I have added a few further proofs, no one could venture to
 discredit. In the first place, the very ground on which we might disparage the story,
 namely that it is ancient, would naturally lead us to believe that the events actually
 came to pass; for because many have told and all have heard the story which describes
 them, it is reasonable to regard this not, to be sure, as recent, yet withal as worthy of
 our faith. In the next place, we are not obliged to take refuge in the mere fact that we
 have received the account and the report from remote times; on the contrary, we are able
 to adduce even greater proofs than this regarding what took place.

For most of the Hellenic cities, in memory of our ancient services, send us each year the
 first-fruits of the harvest, and those who neglect to do so have often been admonished by
 the Pythian priestess to pay us our due portion of their crops and to observe in relation
 to our city the customs of their fathers. And about what, I should like to know, can we more
 surely exercise our faith than about matters as to which the oracle of Apollo speaks with
 authority, many of the Hellenes are agreed, and the words spoken long ago confirm the
 practice of today, while present events tally with the statements which have come down
 from the men of old?

But apart from these considerations, if we waive all this and carry our inquiry back to
 the beginning, we shall find that those who first appeared upon the earth did not at the
 outset find the kind of life which we enjoy to-day, but that they procured it little by
 little through their own joint efforts. Whom, then, must we think the most
 likely either to have received this better life as a gift from the gods or to have hit
 upon it through their own search?

Would it not be those who are admitted by all men to have been the first to exist, to be
 endowed with the greatest capacity for the arts, and to be the most devoted in the worship
 of the gods? And surely it is superfluous to attempt to show how high is the honor which
 the authors of such great blessings deserve; for no one could find a reward great enough
 to match the magnitude of their achievements.

This much, then, I have to say about that service to humanity which is the greatest, the
 earliest, and the most universal in its benefits. But at about the same time, our city,
 seeing the barbarians in possession of most of the country, while the Hellenes were
 confined within a narrow space and, because of the scarcity of the land, were conspiring
 and making raids against each other, and were perishing, some through want of daily
 necessities, others through war,

—our city, I say, was not content to let these things be as they were, but sent out
 leaders to the several states, who, enlisting the neediest of the people, and placing
 themselves at their head, overcame the barbarians in war, founded many cities on either
 continent, settled colonies in all the islands, and saved both those who followed them and
 those who remained behind;

for to the latter they left the home country—sufficient for their needs—and for the
 former they provided more land than they had owned since they embraced in their conquests
 all the territory which we Hellenes now possess. And so they smoothed the way for those also who in a
 later time resolved to send out colonists and imitate our city; for these did not have to
 undergo the perils of war in acquiring territory, but could go into the country marked out
 by us and settle there.

And yet who can show a leadership more ancestral than this, which had its origin before
 most of the cities of Hellas were founded, or
 more serviceable than this, which drove the barbarians from their homes and advanced the
 Hellenes to so great prosperity?

Nor did our city, after she had played her part in bringing to pass the most important
 benefits, neglect what remained to be done; on the contrary she made it but the beginning
 of her benefactions to find for those who were in want that sustenance which men must have
 who are to provide well also for their other needs; but considering that an existence
 limited to this alone was not enough to make men desire to live, she gave such careful
 thought to their remaining wants as well that of the good things which are now at the
 service of mankind—in so far as we do not have them from the gods but owe them to each
 other—there is not one in which our city has had no part, and most of them are due to her
 alone.

For, finding the Hellenes living without laws and in scattered abodes, some oppressed by
 tyrannies, others perishing through anarchy, she delivered them from these evils by taking
 some under her protection and by setting to others her own example; for she was the first
 to lay down laws and establish a polity.

This is apparent from the fact that those who in the beginning brought charges of
 homicide, and desired to settle their mutual differences by reason and not by violence,
 tried their cases under our laws. Yes, and the arts also, both those which
 are useful in producing the necessities of life and those which have been devised to give
 us pleasure, she has either invented or stamped with her approval, and has then presented
 them to the rest of the world to enjoy.

Moreover, she has established her polity in general in such a spirit of welcome to
 strangers and
 friendliness to all men, that it adapts itself both
 to those who lack means and to those who wish to enjoy the means which they possess, and
 that it fails to be of service neither to those who are prosperous nor to those who are
 unfortunate in their own cities; nay, both classes find with us what they desire, the
 former the most delightful pastimes, the latter the securest refuge.

Again, since the different populations did not in any case possess a country that was
 self-sufficing, each lacking in some things and producing others in excess of their needs,
 and since they were greatly at a loss where they should dispose of their surplus and
 whence they should import what they lacked, in these difficulties also our city came to
 the rescue; for she established the Piraeus 
 as a market in the center of Hellas—a market of such abundance that the articles which it
 is difficult to get, one here, one there, from the rest of the world, all these it is easy
 to procure from Athens .

Now the founders of our great festivals are justly praised for handing down to us a
 custom by which, having proclaimed a truce and resolved our pending quarrels, we come together in one place, where, as
 we make our prayers and sacrifices in common, we are reminded of the kinship which exists
 among us and are made to feel more kindly towards each other for the future, reviving our
 old friendships and establishing new ties.

And neither to common men nor to those of superior gifts is the time so spent idle and
 profitless, but in the concourse of the Hellenes the latter have the opportunity to
 display their prowess, the former to behold these contending against each other in the
 games; and no one lacks zest for the festival, but all find in it that which flatters
 their pride, the spectators when they see the athletes exert themselves for their benefit,
 the athletes when they reflect that all the world is come to gaze upon them. Since, then,
 the benefits which accrue to us from our assembling together are so great, here again our
 city has not been backward;

for she affords the most numerous and the most admirable spectacles, some passing all
 bounds in the outlay of money, some highly reputed for their artistic worth, and others
 excelling in both these regards; 
 and the multitude of people who visit us is so great that, whatever advantage there is in
 our associating together, this also has been compassed by our city, Athens . Besides, it is possible to find with us as
 nowhere else the most faithful friendships and to enjoy the most varied social
 intercourse; and, furthermore, to see contests not alone of speed and strength, but of
 eloquence and wisdom and of all the other arts—and for these the greatest prizes;

since in addition to those which the
 city herself sets up, she prevails upon the rest of the world also to offer prizes; for the judgements pronounced by us command such great approbation
 that all mankind accept them, gladly. But apart from these considerations, while the
 assemblages at the other great festivals are brought together only at long intervals and
 are soon dispersed, our city throughout all time is a festival for
 those who visit her.

Philosophy, moreover, which has
 helped to discover and establish all these institutions, which has educated us for public
 affairs and made us gentle towards each other, which has distinguished between the
 misfortunes that are due to ignorance and those which spring from necessity, and taught us
 to guard against the former and to bear the latter nobly—philosophy, I say, was given to
 the world by our city. And Athens it is that has honored eloquence,

which all men crave and envy in its possessors; for she realized that this is the one
 endowment of our nature which singles us out from all living creatures, and that by using
 this advantage we have risen above them in all other respects as well; she saw
 that in other activities the fortunes of life are so capricious that in them often the
 wise fail and the foolish succeed, whereas beautiful and artistic speech is never allotted
 to ordinary men, but is the work of an intelligent mind,

and that it is in this respect that those who are accounted wise and ignorant present the
 strongest contrast; and she knew, furthermore, that whether men have been liberally
 educated from their earliest years is not to be determined by their courage or their
 wealth or such advantages, but is made manifest most of all by their speech, and that this
 has proved itself to be the surest sign of culture in every one of us, and that those who
 are skilled in speech are not only men of power in their own cities but are also held in
 honor in other states.

And so far has our city distanced the rest of mankind in thought and in speech that her
 pupils have become the teachers of the rest of the
 world; and she has brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but
 an intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our
 culture than to those who share a common blood.

But in order that I may not appear to be dwelling at length on the details when I have
 proposed to speak on the general subject nor to be extolling the city for these
 accomplishments because I lack ground for praising her conduct in war, let what I have
 said suffice for those who glory in such services. But I think that honor is due to our
 ancestors no less for their wars than for their other benefactions;

for not slight, nor few, nor obscure, but many and dread and great, were the struggles
 they sustained, some for their own territories, some for the freedom of the rest of the
 world; for at all times, without ceasing, they have offered the city as a common refuge
 and as a champion to the Hellenes whenever oppressed.

And it is for this very reason that we are sometimes charged with adopting a foolish
 policy in that we are accustomed to cultivate the weaker peoples —as though such charges
 do not support those who desire to sing our praises. For it was not because we failed to
 appreciate how much more advantageous great alliances are in point of security that we
 pursued this policy in regard to the weak; no, although we realized much more exactly than
 our rivals the consequences of such a course, we nevertheless preferred to stand by the
 weaker even against our interests rather than to unite with the stronger in oppressing
 others for our own advantage.

The character and power of Athens may be judged from the appeals which sundry people
 have in times past made to us for our help. Those of recent occurrence or for
 insignificant ends I shall omit; but long before the Trojan War (for it is only fair that
 those who dispute about immemorial rights should draw their arguments from that early
 time) there came to us the sons of Heracles and, a little before them,
 Adrastus, Talaus's son, king of Argos .

Adrastus, on his return from the expedition against Thebes where he had met with disaster and had not by his own efforts been
 able to recover the bodies of those who had fallen under the Cadmean fortress, called upon
 our city to lend aid in a misfortune which was of universal concern, and not to suffer
 that men who die in battle be left unburied nor that ancient custom and immemorial
 law 
 be brought to naught.

The sons of Heracles, on the other hand, came fleeing the persecution of Eurystheus,
 ignoring the other states as not capable of succouring them in their distress, and looking
 upon our city as the only one great enough to make return for the benefits which their
 father had bestowed upon all mankind.

So from these facts it is easy to see that even at that time our city was in the
 position of a leader; for who would venture an appeal for help to those who were weaker
 than themselves, or to those who were subject to others, passing by those who had greater
 power, especially in matters not of personal but of public interest which none would be
 likely to take in hand but those who claimed to stand first among the Hellenes?

And, in the next place, the suppliants were manifestly not disappointed in the hopes
 which caused them to take refuge with our ancestors; for the Athenians went to war against
 the Thebans in the cause of those who had fallen in the battle, and against the power of
 Eurystheus in the cause of the sons of Heracles. Taking the field against the Thebans,
 they compelled them to restore the dead to their kindred for burial; and when the
 Peloponnesians, led by Eurystheus, had invaded our territory, they marched out against
 them, conquered them in battle, and put an end to their leader's insolence.

And though they already commanded admiration for their other deeds, these exploits
 enhanced their fame still more; for they did not do things by halves, but so completely
 revolutionized the fortunes of either monarch that Adrastus, who had seen fit to throw
 himself on our mercy, went his way, having in despite of his foes won all that he had
 asked, while Eurystheus, who had expected to overpower us, was himself made captive and
 compelled to sue for mercy;

and, although he had throughout all his life inflicted his orders and indignities on one
 whose nature transcended that of man, and who, being the son of Zeus, possessed, while
 still a mortal, the strength of a god, yet, when Eurystheus offended against us, he
 suffered so complete a reverse that he fell into the power of Heracles' sons and came to a
 shameful end.

Many are the services which we have rendered to the state of the Lacedaemonians, but it
 has suited my purpose to speak of this one only; for, starting with the advantage afforded
 by our succor of them, the descendants of Heracles—the progenitors of those who now reign
 in Lacedaemon—returned to the Peloponnese , took
 possession of Argos , Lacedaemon , and Messene , settled Sparta , and
 were established as the founders of all the blessings which the Lacedaemonians now enjoy.

These benefits they should have held in grateful remembrance, and should never have
 invaded this land from which they set out and acquired so great prosperity, nor have
 placed in peril the city which had imperilled herself for the sons of Heracles, nor, while
 bestowing the kingship upon his posterity, have yet thought it right
 that the city which was the means of the deliverance of their race should be enslaved to
 their power.

But if we have to leave out of account considerations of gratitude and fairness, and,
 returning to the main question, state the point which is most essential, assuredly it is
 not ancestral custom for immigrants to set themselves over the sons of the soil, or the
 recipients of benefits over their benefactors, or refugees over those who gave them
 asylum.

But I can make the matter clear in yet briefer terms. Of all the Hellenic states,
 excepting our own, Argos and Thebes and Lacedaemon were at that time the greatest, as they still are to this day.
 And yet our ancestors were manifestly so superior to them all that on behalf of the
 defeated Argives they dictated terms to the Thebans at the moment of their greatest pride,

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 Lacedaemon out of all danger from Eurystheus. Therefore,
 as to what state was the first power in Hellas , I
 do not see how anyone could produce more convincing evidence.

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 Hellas was still
 insignificant, our territory was invaded by the Thracians, led by Eumolpus, son of
 Poseidon, and by the Scythians, led by the Amazons, 
 the daughters of Ares—not at the same time, but during the period when both races were
 trying to extend their dominion over Europe ; for
 though they hated the whole Hellenic race, they raised complaints against us in particular, thinking that in this way they would
 wage war against one state only, but would at the same time impose their power on all the
 states of Hellas .

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. For
 when that greatest of all wars broke out and a multitude of dangers presented themselves
 at one and the same time, when our enemies regarded themselves as irresistible because of
 their numbers and our allies thought themselves endowed with a courage which could not be
 excelled, we outdid them both,

surpassing each in the way appropriate to each; and having proved our superiority
 in meeting all dangers, we were straightway awarded the meed of valor, and we obtained, not long after, the sovereignty of the sea by the willing grant of the Hellenes at large and without protest
 from those who now seek to wrest it from our hands.

And let no one think that I ignore the fact that during these critical times the
 Lacedaemonians also placed the Hellenes under obligations for many services; nay, for this
 reason I am able the more to extol our city because, in competition with such rivals, she
 so far surpassed them. But I desire to speak a little more at length about these two
 states, and not to hasten too quickly by them, in order that we may have before us
 reminders both of the courage of our ancestors and of their hatred against the barbarians.

And yet I have not failed to appreciate the fact that it is difficult to come forward
 last and speak upon a subject which has long been appropriated, and upon which the very
 ablest speakers among our citizens have many times addressed you at the public
 funerals; 
 for, naturally, the most important topics have already been exhausted, while only
 unimportant topics have been left for later speakers. Nevertheless, since they are
 apposite to the matter in hand, I must not shirk the duty of taking up the points which
 remain and of recalling them to your memory.

Now the men who are responsible for our greatest blessings and deserve our
 highest praise are, I conceive, those who risked their bodies in defense of Hellas ; and yet we cannot in justice fail to recall also
 those who lived before this war and were the ruling power in each of the two states; for
 they it was who, in good time, trained the coming generation and turned the masses of the
 people toward virtue, and made of them stern foemen of the barbarians.

For they did not slight the commonwealth, nor seek to profit by it as their own
 possession, nor yet neglect it as the concern of others; but were as careful of the public
 revenues as of their private property, yet abstained from them as men ought from that to
 which they have no right. Nor did they estimate well-being by the standard of money,
 but in their regard that man seemed to have laid up the securest fortune and the noblest
 who so ordered his life that he should win the highest repute for himself and leave to his
 children the greatest name;

neither did they vie with one another in temerity, nor did they cultivate recklessness in
 themselves, but thought it a more dreadful thing to be charged with dishonor by their
 countrymen than to die honorably for their country; and they blushed more for the sins of
 the commonwealth than men do nowadays for their own.

The reason for this was that they gave heed to the laws to see that they should be exact
 and good—not so much the laws about private contracts as those which have to do with men's
 daily habits of life; for they understood that for good and true men there would be no
 need of many written laws, but that if
 they started with a few principles of agreement they would readily be of one mind as to
 both private and public affairs.

So public-spirited were they that even in their party struggles they opposed one another,
 not to see which faction should destroy the other and rule over the remnant, but which
 should outstrip the other in doing something good for the state; and they organized their
 political clubs, not for personal advantage, but for the benefit of the people.

In the same spirit they governed their relations with other states. They treated the
 Hellenes with consideration and not with insolence, regarding it as their duty to command
 them in the field but not to tyrannize over them, desiring rather to be addressed as
 leaders than as masters, and rather to be greeted as saviors than reviled as destroyers;
 they won the Hellenic cities to themselves by doing kindness instead of subverting them by
 force,

keeping their word more faithfully than men now keep their oaths, and thinking it right
 to abide by their covenants as by the decrees of necessity; they exulted less in the
 exercise of power than they gloried in living with self-control, thinking it their duty to
 feel toward the weaker as they expected the stronger to feel toward themselves; and, while
 they regarded their home cities as their several places of abode, yet they considered
 Hellas to be their common fatherland.

Because they were inspired by such sentiments, and educated the young in such habits of
 conduct, they produced in the persons of those who fought against the Asiatic hordes men
 of so great valor that no one, either of the poets or of the sophists, has ever been able
 to speak in a manner worthy of their achievements. And I can well excuse them, for it is
 quite as difficult to praise those who have excelled the exploits of the rest of the world
 as to praise those who have done no good thing at all; for in the case of the latter the
 speaker has no support in deeds, and to describe the former there exist no fitting words.

For what words can match the measure of such men, who so far surpassed the members of the
 expedition against Troy that, whereas the latter
 consumed ten years beleaguering a single city they, in a short space of time, completely defeated the
 forces that had been collected from all Asia , and
 not only saved their own countries but liberated the whole of Hellas as well? And from what deeds or hardships or dangers would they have
 shrunk so as to enjoy men's praise while living—these men who were so ready to lay down
 their lives for the sake of the glory they would have when dead?

Methinks some god out of admiration for their valor brought about this war in order that
 men endowed by nature with such a spirit should not be lost in obscurity nor die without
 renown, but should be deemed worthy of the same honors as are given to those who have
 sprung from the gods and are called demi-gods; for while the gods surrendered the bodies
 even of their own sons to the doom of nature, yet they have made immortal the memory of
 their valor.

Now while our forefathers and the
 Lacedaemonians were always emulous of each other, yet during that time their rivalry was
 for the noblest ends; they did not look upon each other as enemies but as competitors, nor
 did they court the favor of the barbarians for the enslavement of the Hellenes ;
 on the contrary, they were of one mind when the common safety was in question, and their
 rivalry with each other was solely to see which of them should bring this about. They
 first displayed their valor when Darius sent his troops;

for when the Persians landed in Attica the
 Athenians did not wait for their allies, but, making the common war their private cause,
 they marched out with their own forces alone to meet an enemy who looked with contempt
 upon the whole of Hellas—a mere handful against thousands upon thousands —as if they were about to risk the lives
 of others, not their own; the Lacedaemonians, on the other hand, no sooner heard of
 the war in Attica than they put all else aside
 and came to our rescue, having made as great haste as if it had been their own country
 that was being laid waste.

A proof of the swiftness and of the rivalry of both is that, according to the account,
 our ancestors on one and the same day learned of the
 landing of the barbarians, rushed to the defense of the borders of their land, won the
 battle, and set up a trophy of victory over the enemy; while the Lacedaemonians in three
 days and as many nights covered twelve hundred stadia in marching
 order: so strenuously did they both hasten, the Lacedaemonians to share in the dangers,
 the Athenians to engage the enemy before their helpers should arrive.

Then came the later expedition, which was led by Xerxes in person;
 he had left his royal residence, boldly taken command as general in the field, and
 collected about him all the hosts of Asia . What
 orator, however eager to overshoot the mark, has not fallen short of the truth in speaking
 of this king,

who rose to such a pitch of arrogance that, thinking it a small task to subjugate
 Hellas , and proposing to leave a memorial such
 as would mark a more than human power, did not stop until he had devised and compelled the
 execution of a plan whose fame is on the lips of all mankind—a plan by which, having
 bridged the Hellespont and channelled Athos , he sailed his ships across the mainland, and
 marched his troops across the main?

It was against a king who had grown so proud, who had carried through such mighty tasks,
 and who had made himself master of so many men, that our ancestors and the Lacedaemonians
 marched forth, first dividing the danger: the latter going to Thermopylae to oppose the land forces with a
 thousand picked soldiers of
 their own, supported by a few of their allies, with the purpose of checking the Persians
 in the narrow pass from advancing farther; while our ancestors sailed to Artemisium with sixty triremes which they had manned to oppose the whole armada of the enemy.

And they dared to do these things, not so much in contempt of their foes as in keen
 rivalry against each other: the Lacedaemonians envying our city its victory at Marathon,
 and seeking to even the score, and fearing, furthermore, lest our city should twice in
 succession be the instrument of saving Hellas ;
 while our ancestors, on the other hand, desired above all to maintain the reputation they
 had won, and to prove to the world that in their former battle they had conquered through
 valor and not through fortune, and in the next place to incite the Hellenes to carry on
 the war with their ships, by showing that in fighting on the sea no less than on the land
 valor prevails over numbers.

But though they displayed equal courage, they did not meet with similar fortunes. The
 Lacedaemonians were utterly destroyed. Although in spirit they were victorious, in body
 they were outworn; for it were sacrilege to say that they were defeated, since not one of
 them deigned to leave his post. Our ancestors, on the
 other hand, met and conquered the advance squadron of the Persians and when they heard
 that the enemy were masters of the pass, they sailed back home and
 adopted such measures for what remained to be done that, however many and however glorious
 had been their previous achievements, they outdid themselves still more in the final
 hazards of that war.

For when all the allies were in a state of dejection, and the Peloponnesians were
 fortifying the Isthmus and selfishly seeking their own safety; when the other states had
 submitted to the barbarians and were fighting on the Persian side, save only those which
 were overlooked because of their insignificance; when twelve hundred ships of war were
 bearing down upon them, and an innumerable army was on the point of
 invading Attica ; when no light of deliverance
 could be glimpsed in any quarter, but, on the contrary, the Athenians had been abandoned
 by their allies and cheated of their every hope;

and when it lay in their power not only to escape from their present dangers but also to
 enjoy the signal honors which the King held out to them, since he conceived that if he
 could get the support of the Athenian fleet he could at once become master of the
 Peloponnesus also, then our ancestors scorned
 to accept his gifts; nor did they give way to
 anger against the Hellenes for having betrayed them and rush gladly to make terms with the
 barbarians;

nay, by themselves they made ready to battle for freedom, while they forgave the rest for
 choosing bondage. For they considered that while it was natural for the weaker states to
 seek their security by every means, it was not possible for those states which asserted
 their right to stand at the head of Hellas to
 avoid the perils of war; on the contrary, they believed that just as it is preferable for
 men who are honorable to die nobly rather than to live in disgrace, so too it is better
 for cities which are illustrious to be blotted out from the sight of mankind rather than
 to be seen in a state of bondage.

It is evident that they were of this mind; for when they were not able to marshal
 themselves against both the land and the sea forces at once, they took with them the
 entire population, abandoned the city, and sailed to the neighboring island, in order that
 they might encounter each force in turn. And yet how could men be shown to be braver
 or more devoted to Hellas than our ancestors,
 who, to avoid bringing slavery upon the rest of the Hellenes, endured to see their city
 made desolate, their land ravaged, their sanctuaries rifled, their temples burned, and all
 the forces of the enemy closing in upon their own country?

But in truth even this did not satisfy them; they were ready to give battle on the
 sea—they alone against twelve hundred ships of war. They were not, indeed, allowed to
 fight alone; for the Peloponnesians, put to shame by our courage, and thinking, moreover,
 that if the Athenians should first be destroyed, they could not themselves be saved from
 destruction, and that if the Athenians should succeed, their own cities would be brought
 into disrepute, they were constrained to share the dangers. Now the clamors that arose
 during the action, and the shoutings and the cheers—things which are common to all those
 who fight on ships—I see no reason why I should take time to describe;

my task is to speak of those matters which are distinctive and give claim to leadership,
 and which confirm the arguments which I have already advanced. In short, our city was so
 far superior while she stood unharmed that even after she had been laid waste she
 contributed more ships to the battle for the deliverance of Hellas than all the others put together who fought in the
 engagement; and no one is so prejudiced against us that he would not acknowledge that it
 was by winning the sea fight that we conquered in the war, and that the credit for this is
 due to Athens .

Who then should have the hegemony, when a campaign against the barbarians is in
 prospect? Should it not be they who distinguished themselves above all others in the
 former war? Should it not be they who many times bore, alone, the brunt of battle, and in
 the joint struggles of the Hellenes were awarded the prize of valor? Should it not be they
 who abandoned their own country to save the rest of Hellas, who in ancient times founded
 most of the Hellenic cities, and who later delivered them from the greatest disasters?
 Would it not be an outrage upon us, if, having taken the largest share in the evils of
 war, we should be adjudged worthy of a lesser share in its honors, and if, having at that
 time been placed in the lead in the cause of all the Hellenes, we should now be compelled
 to follow the lead of others?

Now up to this point I am sure that all men would acknowledge that our city has been the
 author of the greatest number of blessings, and that she should in fairness be entitled to
 the hegemony. But from this point on some take us to task, urging that after we succeeded
 to the sovereignty of the sea we brought many evils upon the Hellenes; and, in these
 speeches of theirs, they cast it in our teeth that we enslaved the Melians and destroyed
 the people of Scione .

I, however, take the view, in the first place, that it is no sign that we ruled badly if
 some of those who were at war with us are shown to have been severely disciplined, but
 that a much clearer proof that we administered the affairs of our allies wisely is seen in
 the fact that among the states which remained our loyal subjects not one experienced these
 disasters.

In the second place, if other states had dealt more leniently with the same
 circumstances, they might reasonably censure us; but since that is not the case, and it is
 impossible to control so great a multitude of states without disciplining those who
 offend, does it not follow that we deserve praise because we acted harshly in the fewest
 possible cases and were yet able to hold our dominion for the greatest length of time?

But I believe that all men are of the opinion that those will prove the best leaders and
 champions of the Hellenes under whom in the past those who yielded obedience have fared
 the best. Well, then, it will be found that under our supremacy the private households
 grew most prosperous and that the commonwealths also became greatest. For we were not
 jealous of the growing states,

nor did we engender confusion among them by setting up conflicting polities side by side,
 in order that faction might be arrayed against faction and that both might court our
 favor. On the contrary, we regarded harmony among our allies as the common boon of all,
 and therefore we governed all the cities under the same laws, deliberating about them in
 the spirit of allies, not of masters;

guarding the interests of the whole confederacy but leaving each member of it free to
 direct its own affairs; supporting the people but making war on despotic powers, considering it an outrage that the many should be
 subject to the few, that those who were poorer in fortune but not inferior in other
 respects should be banished from the offices, that, furthermore, in a fatherland which
 belongs to all in common some should hold the place of masters, others of aliens, and
 that men who are citizens by birth should
 be robbed by law of their share in the government.

It was because we had these objections, and others besides, to oligarchies that we
 established the same polity in the other states as in Athens
 itself—a polity which I see no need to extol at greater length, since I can tell the truth
 about it in a word: They continued to live under this regime for seventy years, and, during this time, they
 experienced no tyrannies, they were free from the domination of the barbarians, they were
 untroubled by internal factions, and they were at peace with all the world.

On account of these services it becomes all thinking men to be deeply grateful to us,
 much rather than to reproach us because of our system of colonization; for we sent our
 colonies into the depopulated states for the protection of their territories and not for
 our own aggrandizement. And here is proof of this: We had in proportion to the number of
 our citizens a very small territory, but a very great empire; we possessed twice as many ships
 of war as all the rest combined, and these were
 strong enough to engage double their number; at the very borders of Attica lay Euboea ,

which was not only fitted by her situation to command the sea, but also surpassed all the
 islands in her general resources, and Euboea lent itself more
 readily to our control than did our own country besides, while we knew that both among the
 Hellenes and among the barbarians those are regarded most highly who have driven their
 neighbors from their homes and
 have so secured for themselves a life of affluence and ease, nevertheless, none of these
 considerations tempted us to wrong the people of the island;

on the contrary, we alone of those who have obtained great power suffered ourselves to
 live in more straitened circumstances than those who were reproached with being our
 slaves. And yet, had we been disposed to seek our own advantage,
 we should not, I imagine, have set our hearts on the territory of Scione (which, as all the world knows, we gave over to
 our Plataean refugees), and passed over this great territory which would have enriched us
 all.

Now although we have shown ourselves to be of such character and have given so
 convincing proof that we do not covet the possessions of others, we are brazenly denounced
 by those who had a hand in the decarchies —men who have befouled
 their own countries, who have made the crimes of the past seem insignificant, and have
 left the would-be scoundrels of the future no chance to exceed their villiany; and who,
 for all that, profess to follow the ways of Lacedaemon , when they practise the very opposite, and bewail the disasters
 of the Melians, when they have shamelessly inflicted irreparable wrongs upon their own
 citizens. For what crime have they overlooked?

What act of shame or outrage is wanting in their careers? They regarded the most lawless
 of men as the most loyal; they courted traitors as if they were benefactors; they chose to
 be slaves to one of the Helots so that they might oppress their own countries; they honored the
 assassins and murderers of their fellow-citizens more than their own parents;

and to such a stage of brutishness did they bring us all that, whereas in former times,
 because of the prosperity which prevailed, every one of us found many to sympathize with
 him even in trifling reverses, yet under the rule of these men, because of the multitude
 of our own calamities, we ceased feeling pity for each other, since there was no man to
 whom they allowed enough of respite so that he could share another's burdens.

For what man dwelt beyond their reach? What man was so far removed from public life that
 he was not forced into close touch with the disasters into which such creatures plunged
 us? But in the face of all this, these men, who brought their own cities to such a pitch
 of anarchy, do not blush to make unjust charges against our city; nay, to crown their
 other effronteries, they even have the audacity to talk of the private and public suits
 which were once tried in Athens , when they
 themselves put to death without trial more men in
 the space of three months than Athens tried
 during the whole period of her supremacy.

And of their banishments, their civil strife, their subversion of laws, their political
 revolutions, their atrocities upon children, their insults to women, their pillage of
 estates, who could tell the tale? I can only say this much of the whole business—the
 severities under our administration could have been readily brought to an end by a single
 vote of the people, while the murders and
 acts of violence under their regime are beyond any power to remedy.

And, furthermore, not even the present peace, nor yet that “autonomy” which is inscribed
 in the treaties but is not found in our governments, is preferable
 to the rule of Athens . For who would desire a
 condition of things where pirates command the seas and mercenaries occupy our cities;

where fellow-countrymen, instead of waging war in defense of their territories against
 strangers, are fighting within their own walls against each other; where more
 cities have been captured in war than before we made the peace; and where revolutions
 follow so thickly upon each other that those who are at home in their own countries are
 more dejected than those who have been punished with exile? For the former are in dread of
 what is to come, while the latter live ever in the hope of their return.

And so far are the states removed from “freedom” and “autonomy” that some of them are ruled by tyrants, some are controlled by alien
 governors, some have been sacked and razed, and some have become slaves to the
 barbarians—the same barbarians whom we once so chastened for their temerity in crossing
 over into Europe , and for their overweening
 pride,

that they not only ceased from making expeditions against us, but even endured to see
 their own territory laid waste; 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
 Phaselis 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 dominion of ills for the Hellenes. In fact, after the disaster which befell
 us in the Hellespont , when our rivals took our place as leaders, the
 barbarians won a naval victory, became rulers
 of the sea, occupied most of the islands, 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 treaties 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, 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 dictates 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 war with the avowed intention 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 them 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. 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 slaves ; 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 enemy 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 , after peace had been concluded; they seized the
 Cadmea in Thebes ; and now they are laying siege to Olynthus 
 and Phlius: on the other hand, they are assisting Amyntas, king of the
 Macedonians, and Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily , and
 the barbarian king who rules over Asia , to extend their dominions
 far and wide.

And yet is it not extraordinary that those who stand at the head of the Hellenes should
 set up one man as master over a host of human beings so great that it is not easy to
 ascertain even their numbers, while they do not permit the very greatest of our cities to
 govern even themselves, but try to compel them to submit to slavery or else involve them
 in the greatest disasters?

But most monstrous of all it is to see a people who arrogate to themselves the right of
 leadership making war every day upon the Hellenes and committed for all time to an
 alliance with the barbarians.

And let no one suppose that I am ill-natured, because I have recalled these facts to you
 in rather harsh terms, after having stated at the outset that I intended to speak on
 conciliation; for it is not with the intention of stigmatizing the city of the
 Lacedaemonians in the eyes of others that I have spoken as I have about them, but that I
 may induce the Lacedaemonians themselves, so far as it lies in the power of words to do
 so, to make an end of such a policy.

It is not, however, possible to turn men from their errors, or to inspire in them the
 desire for a different course of action without first roundly condemning their present
 conduct; and a distinction must be made between accusation, when one denounces with intent
 to injure, and admonition, when one uses like words with intent to benefit; for the same
 words are not to be interpreted in the same way unless they are spoken in the same spirit.

For we have reason to reproach the Lacedaemonians for this also, that in the interest of
 their own city they compel their neighbors to live in serfdom, but
 for the common advantage of their allies they refuse to bring about a similar condition,
 although it lies in their power to make up their quarrel with us and reduce all the
 barbarians to a state of subjection to the whole of Hellas .

And yet it is the duty of men who are proud because of natural gifts and not merely
 because of fortune to undertake such deeds much rather than to levy tribute 
 on the islanders, who are deserving of
 their pity, seeing that because of the scarcity of land they are compelled to till
 mountains, while the people of the mainland, because of the abundance of their territory, allow most of it
 to lie waste, and have, nevertheless, from that part of it which they do harvest, grown
 immensely rich.

It is my opinion that if anyone should come here from another part of the world and
 behold the spectacle of the present state of our affairs, he would charge both the
 Athenians and the Lacedaemonians with utter madness, not only because we risk our lives
 fighting as we do over trifles when we might enjoy in security a wealth of possessions,
 but also because we continually impoverish our own territory while neglecting to exploit
 that of Asia .

As for the barbarian, nothing is more to his purpose than to take measures to prevent us
 from ever ceasing to make war upon each other; while we, on the contrary, are so far from
 doing anything to embroil his interests or foment rebellion among his subjects that when,
 thanks to fortune, dissensions do break out in his empire we actually lend him a hand in
 putting them down. Even now, when the two armies are fighting in Cyprus , we
 permit him to make use of the one and to besiege the other, although both of them belong to Hellas ;

for the Cyprians, who are in revolt against him, are not only on friendly terms with
 us but are also seeking the
 protection of the Lacedaemonians; and as to the forces which are led by Tiribazus, the
 most effective troops of his infantry have been levied from these parts, and most
 of his fleet has been brought together from Ionia ; and all these would much more gladly make common cause and plunder
 Asia than risk their lives fighting against
 each other over trifling issues.

But these things we take no thought to prevent; instead, we wrangle about the islands of
 the Cyclades , when we have so recklessly given
 over so many cities and such great forces to the barbarians. And therefore some of our
 possessions are now his, some will soon be his, and others are threatened by his
 treacherous designs. And he has rightly conceived an utter contempt for us all;

for he has attained what no one of his ancestors ever did: Asia has been conceded both by us and by the Lacedaemonians to belong to
 the King; and as for the cities of the Hellenes, he has taken them so absolutely under his
 control that he either razes them to the ground or builds his fortresses within them. And
 all this has come about by reason of our own folly, not because of his power.

And yet there are those who stand in awe of the greatness of the King's power and
 maintain that he is a dangerous enemy, dwelling at length on the many reversals which
 he has brought about in the affairs of the Hellenes. In my judgement, however, those who
 express such sentiments do not discourage but urge on the expedition; for if he is going
 to be hard to make war against when we have composed our differences and while he, himself
 is still beset by dissensions, then verily we should be in utmost dread of that time when
 the conflicting interests of the barbarians are settled and are governed by a single
 purpose, while we continue to be, as now, hostile to each other.

But even though these objectors do in fact lend support to my contention, yet, for all
 that, they are mistaken in their views about the power of the King; for if they could show
 that he had ever in the past prevailed over both Athens and Lacedaemon at once,
 they would have reason for attempting to alarm us now. But if this is not the case, and
 the truth is that when we and the Lacedaemonians have been in conflict he has but given
 support to one of the two sides and so rendered the achievements of that one side more
 brilliant, this is no evidence of his own power. For in such times of crisis small forces
 have often played a great part in turning the scale; for example, even for the people of
 Chios I might make the claim that whichever side they have been
 inclined to support, that side has proved stronger on the sea.

Nay, it is obviously not fair to estimate the power of the King from those exploits in
 which he has joined forces with the one or the other of us, but rather from the wars which
 he, unaided, has fought on his own behalf. Take, first, the case of Egypt : since its revolt from the King, what progress has
 he made against its inhabitants? Did he not dispatch to this war the most renowned of the
 Persians, Abrocomas and Tithraustes and Pharnabazus, and did not they, after remaining
 there three years and suffering more disasters than they inflicted, finally withdraw in
 such disgrace that the rebels are no longer content with their freedom, but are already
 trying to extend their dominion over the neighboring peoples as well?

Next, there is his campaign against Evagoras. Evagoras is ruler over but a single
 city ; he is given over to the Persians by the terms of the
 Treaty ; his is an insular power and he has already sustained a disaster to his
 fleet; he has, at present, for the defense of his territory only three thousand
 light-armed troops; yet, humble as is the power of Evagoras, the King has not the power to
 conquer it in war, but has already frittered away six years in the attempt; and, if we may
 conjecture the future by the past, there is much more likelihood that someone else will
 rise in revolt before Evagoras is reduced by the siege—so slothful is the King in his
 enterprises.

Again, in the Rhodian War, the King had the good will of the allies of Lacedaemon because of the harshness with which they were governed, he
 availed himself of the help of our seamen; and at the head of his forces was Conon, who
 was the most competent of our generals, who possessed more than any other the confidence
 of the Hellenes, and who was the most experienced in the hazards of war; yet, although the
 King had such a champion to help him in the war, he suffered the fleet which bore the
 brunt of the defense of Asia to be bottled up for
 three years by only an hundred ships, and for fifteen months he deprived the soldiers of
 their pay; and the result would have been, had it depended upon the King alone, that they
 would have been disbanded more than once; but, thanks to their commander and to the alliance which was formed at
 Corinth , they barely succeeded in
 winning a naval victory.

And these were the most royal and the most imposing of his achievements, and these are
 the deeds about which people are never weary of speaking who are fain to exalt the power
 of the barbarians! So no one can say that I am not fair in my use of instances, nor that I
 dwell upon the minor undertakings of the King and pass over the most important;

for I have striven to forestall just such a complaint, and have recounted the most
 glorious of his exploits. I do not, however, forget his minor campaigns; I do not forget
 that Dercylidas, with a
 thousand heavy-armed troops, extended his power over Aeolis ; that Draco took possession of Atarneus , and afterwards collected an army of three thousand light-armed
 men, and devastated the plains of Mysia ; that
 Thimbron, with a force
 only a little larger, crossed over into Lydia and
 plundered the whole country; and that Agesilaus, with the help of the army of Cyrus,
 conquered almost all the territory this side of the Halys
 river .

And assuredly we have no greater reason to fear the army which wanders about with the King nor the valor of the Persians themselves; for
 they were clearly shown by the troops who marched inland with Cyrus to be no better than the King's soldiers who live on the coast.
 I refrain from speaking of all the other battles in which the Persians were worsted, and I
 am willing to grant that they were split with factions, and so where not inclined to throw
 themselves wholeheartedly into the struggle against the King's brother.

But after Cyrus had been killed, and all the people of Asia had joined forces, even under these favorable conditions they made
 such a disgraceful failure of the war as to leave for those who are in the habit of
 vaunting Persian valor not a word to say. For they had to deal with only six thousand
 Hellenes —not picked troops, but men who, owing to stress of
 circumstances, were unable to live in their own cities. These were, moreover,
 unfamiliar with the country; they had been deserted by their allies; they had been
 betrayed by those who made the expedition with them; they had been deprived of the general
 whom they had followed;

and yet the Persians were so inferior to these men that the King, finding himself in
 difficult straits and having no confidence in the force which was under his own command,
 did not scruple to arrest the captains of the auxiliaries in violation of the truce, hoping by this lawless act to throw their army into
 confusion, and preferring to offend against the gods rather than join issue openly with
 these soldiers.

But when he failed in this plot—for the soldiers not only stood together but bore their
 misfortune nobly,—then, as they set out on their journey home, he sent with them
 Tissaphernes and the Persian cavalry. But although these kept plotting against them
 throughout the entire journey, the Hellenes continued their march to the end as confidently as if
 they had been under friendly escort, dreading most of all the uninhabited regions of that
 country, and deeming it the best possible fortune to fall in with as many of the enemy as
 possible.

Let me sum up the whole matter: These men did not set out to get plunder or to capture a
 town, but took the field against the King himself, and yet they returned in greater
 security than ambassadors who go to him on a friendly mission. Therefore it seems to me
 that in every quarter the Persians have clearly exposed their degeneracy; for along the
 coast of Asia they have been defeated in many
 battles, and when they crossed to Europe they
 were duly punished, either perishing miserably or saving their lives with dishonor; and to
 crown all, they made themselves objects of derision under the very walls of their King's
 palace.

And none of these things has happened by accident, but all of them have been due to
 natural causes; for it is not possible for people who are reared and governed as are the
 Persians, either to have a part in any other form of virtue or to set up on the field of
 battle trophies of victory over their foes. For how could
 either an able general or a good soldier be produced amid such ways of life as theirs?
 Most of their population is a mob without discipline or experience of dangers, which has
 lost all stamina for war and has been trained more effectively for servitude than are the
 slaves in our country.

Those, on the other hand, who stand highest in repute among them have never governed
 their lives by dictates of equality or of common interest or of loyalty to the state; on
 the contrary, their whole existence consists of insolence toward some, and servility
 towards others—a manner of life than which nothing could be more demoralizing to human
 nature. Because they are rich, they pamper their bodies; but because they are subject to
 one man's power, they keep their souls in a state of abject and cringing fear, parading
 themselves at the door of the royal palace, prostrating themselves, and in every way
 schooling themselves to humility of spirit, falling on their knees before a mortal man,
 addressing him as a divinity, and thinking more lightly of the gods than of men.

So it is that those of the Persians who come down to the sea, whom they term
 satraps, do not dishonor the training which they receive at home, but cling
 steadfastly to the same habits: they are faithless to their friends and cowardly to their
 foes; their lives are divided between servility on the one hand and arrogance on the
 other; they treat their allies with contempt and pay court to their enemies.

For example, they maintained the army under Agesilaus at their own expense for eight
 months, but they deprived the
 soldiers who were fighting in the Persian cause of their pay for double that length of
 time; they distributed an hundred talents among the captors of Cisthene, but treated
 more outrageously than their prisoners of war the troops who supported them in the
 campaign against Cyprus .

To put it briefly—and not to speak in detail but in general terms,— who of those that
 have fought against them has not come off with success, and who of those that have fallen
 under their power has not perished from their atrocities? Take the case of Conon, who, as commander in the service
 of Asia , brought an end to the power of the
 Lacadaemonians: did they not shamelessly seize him for punishment by death? Take, on the
 other hand, the case of Themistocles, who in the service of Hellas 
 defeated them at Salamis : did they not think him
 worthy of the greatest gifts?

Then why should we cherish the friendship of men who punish their benefactors and so
 openly flatter those who do them injury? Who is there among us whom they have not wronged?
 When have they given the Hellenes a moment's respite from their treacherous plots? What in
 our world is not hateful to them who did not shrink in the earlier war from rifling even
 the images and temples of the gods, and burning them to the ground?

Therefore, the Ionians deserve to be commended because, when their sanctuaries had been
 burned, they invoked the wrath of Heaven upon any who should disturb the ruins or should
 desire to restore their shrines as they were of old; and they did
 this, not because they lacked the means to rebuild them, but in order that there might be
 left a memorial to future generations of the impiety of the barbarians, and that none
 might put their trust in men who do not scruple to commit such sins against our holy
 temples, but that all might be on their guard against them and fear them, seeing that they
 waged that war not against our persons only, but even against our votive offerings to the
 gods.

Of my own countrymen also I have a similar tale to tell. For towards all other peoples
 with whom they have been at war, they forget their past enmities the moment they have
 concluded peace, but toward the Asiatics they feel no gratitude even when they receive
 favors from them; so eternal is the wrath which they cherish against the barbarians. Again, our fathers condemned many to death for defection to the
 Medes; in our public assemblies even to this day, before any other business is transacted,
 the Athenians call down curses upon any citizen
 who proposes friendly overtures to the Persians; and, at the celebration of the Mysteries,
 the Eumolpidae and the Kerykes, because of
 our hatred of the Persians, give solemn warning to the other barbarians also, even as to
 men guilty of murder, that they are for ever banned from the sacred rites.

So ingrained in our nature is our hostility to them that even in the matter of our
 stories we linger most fondly over those which tell of the Trojan and the Persian
 wars, 
 because through them we learn of our enemies' misfortunes; and you will find that our
 warfare against the barbarians has inspired our hymns, while that against the Hellenes has
 brought forth our dirges; and
 that the former are sung at our festivals, while we recall the latter on occasions of
 sorrow.

Moreover, I think that even the poetry of Homer has won a greater renown because he has
 nobly glorified the men who fought against the barbarians, and that on this account our
 ancestors determined to give his art a place of honor in our musical contests and in the
 education of our youth, in order that we,
 hearing his verses over and over again, may learn by heart the enmity which stands from of
 old between us and them, and that we, admiring the valor of those who were in the war
 against Troy , may conceive a passion for like
 deeds.

So it seems to me that the motives which summon us to enter upon a war against them are
 many indeed; but grief among them is the present opportunity, which we must not throw
 away; for it is disgraceful to neglect a chance when it is present and regret it when it
 is past. Indeed, what further advantage could we desire to have on our side when
 contemplating a war against the King beyond those which are now at hand?

Are not Egypt and Cyprus 
 in revolt against him? Have not Phoenicia and
 Syria been devastated because of the war? Has not Tyre , on which he set great store, been seized by his
 foes? Of the cities in Cilicia , the greater
 number are held by those who side with us and the rest are not difficult to acquire.
 Lycia no Persian has ever subdued.

Hecatomnus, the viceroy of Caria , has in reality
 been disaffected for a long time now, and will openly declare himself whenever
 we wish. From Cnidus to Sinope the coast
 of Asia is settled by Hellenes, and these we need not to persuade to go to war—all we have
 to do is not to restrain them. With such bases at our command for the operation of our
 forces, and with so widespread a war threatening Asia on every side, why, then, need we
 examine too closely what the outcome will be? For since the barbarians are unequal to
 small divisions of the Hellenes, it is not hard to foresee what would be their plight if
 they should be forced into a war against our united forces.

But this is how the matter stands: If the barbarian strengthens his hold on the cities
 of the coast by stationing in them larger garrisons than he has there now, perhaps those
 of the islands which lie near the mainland, as, for example, Rhodes and Samos and Chios , might incline to his side; but if we get possession
 of them first, we may expect that the populations of Lydia and Phrygia and of the rest
 of the up-country will be in the power of our forces operating from those positions.

Therefore we must be quick and not waste time, in order that we may not repeat the
 experience of our fathers. For
 they, because they took the field later than the barbarians and had to abandon some of
 their allies, were
 compelled to encounter great numbers with a small force; whereas, if they had crossed over
 to the continent in time to be first on the ground, having with them the whole strength of
 Hellas , they could have subdued each of the
 nations there in turn.

For experience has shown that when you go to war with people who are gathered together
 from many places, you must not wait until they are upon you, but must strike while they
 are still scattered. Now our fathers, having made this mistake at the outset, entirely
 retrieved it only after engaging in the most perilous of struggles; but we, if we are
 wise, shall guard against it from the beginning, and endeavor to be the first to quarter
 an army in the region of Lydia and Ionia ,

knowing that the King holds sway over the people of the continent, not because they are
 his willing subjects, but because he has surrounded himself with a force which is greater
 than any of those which they severally possess. So whenever we transport thither a force
 stronger than his, which we can easily do if we so will, we shall enjoy in security the
 resources of all Asia. Moreover, it is much more glorious to fight against the King for
 his empire than to contend against each other for the hegemony.

It were well to make the expedition in the present generation, in order that those who
 have shared in our misfortunes may also benefit by our advantages and not continue all
 their days in wretchedness. For sufficient is the time that is past, filled as it has been
 with every form of horror; for many as are the ills
 which are incident to the nature of man, we have ourselves invented more than those which
 necessity lays upon us, by engendering wars and factions among ourselves;

and, in consequence, some are being put to death contrary to law in their own countries,
 others are wandering with their women and children in strange lands, and many, compelled
 through lack of the necessities of life to enlist in foreign armies, are being slain, fighting for their
 foes against their friends. Against these ills no one has ever protested; and people are
 not ashamed to weep over the calamities which have been fabricated by the poets, while
 they view complacently the real sufferings, the many terrible sufferings, which result
 from our state of war; and they are so far from feeling pity that they even rejoice more
 in each other's sorrows than in their own blessings.

But perhaps many might even laugh at my simplicity if I should lament the misfortunes of
 individual men, in times like these, when Italy 
 has been laid waste, when Sicily has been enslaved, when such mighty cities have been given over to the
 barbarians, and when
 the remaining portions of the Hellenic race are in the gravest peril.

I am amazed at those who hold power in our states, if they think that they have occasion to be proud when they
 have never been able either to propose or to conceive a remedy for a situation so
 momentous; for they ought, if they had been worthy of their present reputation, to have
 dropped all else, and have proposed measures and given counsel about our war against the
 barbarians.

Perhaps they might have helped us to get something done; but even if they had given up
 before gaining their object, they would, at any rate, have left to us their words as
 oracles for the future. But as things are, those who are held in highest honor are intent
 on matters of little consequence, and have left it to us, who stand aloof from public
 life, to advise on matters of so great
 moment.

Nevertheless, the more faint-hearted our leading men happen to be, the more vigorously
 must the rest of us look to the means by which we shall deliver ourselves from our present
 discord. For as matters now stand, it is in vain that we make our treaties of peace; for
 we do not settle our wars, but only postpone them and wait for the opportune moment when
 we shall have the power to inflict some irreparable disaster upon each other.

We must clear from our path these treacherous designs and pursue that course of action
 which will enable us to dwell in our several cities with greater security and to feel
 greater confidence in each other. What I have to say on these points is simple and easy:
 It is not possible for us to cement an enduring peace unless we join together in a war
 against the barbarians, nor for the Hellenes to attain to concord until we wrest our
 material advantages from one and the same source and wage our wars against one and the
 same enemy.

When these conditions have been realized, and when we have been freed from the poverty
 which afflicts our lives—a thing that breaks up friendships, perverts the affections of
 kindred into enmity, and plunges the whole world into war and strife —then surely we shall enjoy a spirit of concord,
 and the good will which we shall feel towards each other will be genuine. For all these
 reasons, we must make it our paramount duty to transfer the war with all speed from our
 boundaries to the continent, since the only benefit which we can reap from the wars which
 we have waged against each other is by resolving that the experience which we have gained
 from them shall be employed against the barbarians.

But is it not well, you may perhaps ask, on account of the Treaty, to curb ourselves and
 not be over-hasty or make the expedition too soon, seeing that the states which have
 gained their freedom through the Treaty feel grateful toward the King, because they
 believe that it was through him that they gained their independence, while those states
 which have been delivered over to the barbarians complain very bitterly of the
 Lacedaemonians and only less bitterly of the other Hellenes who entered into the peace,
 because, in their view, they were forced by them into slavery? But, I reply, is it not our
 duty to annul this agreement, which has given birth to such a sentiment—the sentiment that
 the barbarian cares tenderly for Hellas , and
 stands guard over her peace, while among ourselves are to be found those who outrage and
 evilly entreat her?

The crowning absurdity of all, however, is the fact that among the articles which are
 written in the agreement it is only the worst which we guard and observe. For those which
 guarantee the independence of the islands and of the cities in Europe have long since been broken and are dead letters on
 the pillars, while those
 which bring shame upon us and by which many of our allies have been given over to the
 enemy—these remain intact, and we all regard them as binding upon us, though we ought to
 have expunged them and not allowed them to stand a single day, looking upon them as
 commands, and not as compacts; for who does not know that a compact is something which is
 fair and impartial to both parties, while a command is something which puts one side at a
 disadvantage unjustly?

On this ground we may justly complain of our envoys who negotiated this peace, 
 because, although dispatched by the Hellenes, they made the Treaty in the interest of the
 barbarians. For they ought, no matter whether they took the view that each of the states
 concerned should retain its original territory, or that each should extend its sovereignty
 over all that it had acquired by conquest, or that we should each retain control over what
 we held when peace was declared—they ought, I say, to have adopted definitely some one of
 these views, applying the principle impartially to all, and on this basis to have drafted
 the articles of the Treaty.

But instead of that, they assigned no honor whatsoever to our city or to Lacedaemon , while they set up the barbarian as lord of all
 Asia; as if we had gone to war for his sake, or as if the rule of the Persians had been
 long established, and we were only just now founding our cities—whereas in fact it is they
 who have only recently attained this place of honor, while Athens and Lacedaemon have been
 throughout their entire history a power among the Hellenes.

I think, however, that I shall show still more clearly both the dishonor which we have
 suffered, and the advantage which the King has gained by putting the matter in this way:
 All the world which lies beneath the firmament being divided into two parts, the one
 called Asia, the other Europe , he has taken half
 of it by the Treaty, as if he were apportioning the earth with Zeus, and
 not making compacts with men.

Yes, and he has compelled us to engrave this Treaty on pillars of stone and place it in
 our public temples — a trophy far more glorious for him than those which are set up
 on fields of battle; for the latter are for minor deeds and a single success, but this
 treaty stands as a memorial of the entire war and of the humiliation of the whole of
 Hellas .

These things may well rouse our indignation and make us look to the means by which we
 shall take vengeance for the past and set the future right. For verily it is shameful for
 us, who in our private life think the barbarians are fit only to be used as household
 slaves, to permit by our public policy so many of our allies to be enslaved by them; and
 it is disgraceful for us, when our fathers who engaged in the Trojan expedition because of
 the rape of one woman, all shared so deeply in the indignation of the wronged that they
 did not stop waging war until they had laid in ruins the city of him who had dared to
 commit the crime,

—it is disgraceful for us, I say, now that all Hellas is being continually outraged, to take not a single step to wreak a
 common vengeance, although we have it in our power to accomplish deeds as lofty as our
 dreams. For this war is the only war which is better than peace; it will be more like a
 sacred mission than a military expedition; and it will profit equally both those who crave
 the quiet life and those who are eager for war; for it will enable the former to reap the
 fruits of their own possessions in security and the latter to win great wealth from the
 possessions of our foes.

You will find, if you weigh the matter carefully, that this undertaking is most
 desirable for us from many points of view. For against whom, pray, ought men to wage war
 who crave no aggrandizement, but look to the claims of justice alone? Is it not against
 those who in the past have injured Hellas , and
 are now plotting against her, and have always been so disposed towards us?

And against whom should we expect men to direct their envy who, while not wholly lacking
 in courage, yet curb this feeling with prudence? Is it not against those who have
 compassed powers that are too great for man, and yet are less deserving than those who are
 unfortunate among us? And against whom should those take the field who both desire to
 serve their gods and are at the same time intent on their own advantage? Is it not against
 those who are both their natural enemies and their hereditary foes, who have acquired the
 greatest possessions and are yet, of all men, the least able to defend them? Do not the
 Persians, then, fulfill all these conditions?

Furthermore, we shall not even trouble the several states by levying soldiers from
 them—a practice which now in our warfare against each other they find most burdensome. For
 it is my belief that those who will be inclined to remain at home will be far fewer than
 those who will be eager to join this army. For who, be he young or old, is so indolent
 that he will not desire to have a part in this expedition—an expedition led by the
 Athenians and the Lacedaemonians, gathered together in the cause of the liberty of our
 allies, dispatched by all Greece , and faring
 forth to wreak vengeance on the barbarians?

And how great must we think will be the name and the fame and the glory which they will
 enjoy during their lives, or, if they die in battle, will leave behind them—they who will
 have won the meed of honor in such an enterprise? For if those who made war against an
 Alexander and took a single city were accounted worthy of such
 praise, what encomiums should we expect these men to win who have conquered the whole of
 Asia? For who that is skilled to sing or trained to speak will not labor and study in his
 desire to leave behind a memorial both of his own genius and of their valor, for all time
 to come?

I am not at the present moment of the same mind as I was at the beginning of my speech.
 For then I thought that I should be able to speak in a manner worthy of my theme; now,
 however, I have not risen to its grandeur, and many of the thoughts which I had in mind to
 utter have escaped me. Therefore you must come to my aid and try to picture to yourselves
 what vast prosperity we should attain if we should turn the war which now involves
 ourselves against the peoples of the continent, and bring the prosperity of Asia across to
 Europe .

And you must not depart to your homes as men who have merely listened to an oration; nay,
 those among you who are men of action must exhort one another to try to reconcile our city
 with Lacedaemon ; and those among you who make
 claims to eloquence must stop composing orations on “deposits,” or on the other
 trivial themes which now engage your efforts, and center your rivalry on this
 subject and study how you may surpass me in speaking on the same question,

bearing ever in mind that it does not become men who promise great things to waste their
 time on little things, nor yet to make
 the kind of speeches which will improve no whit the lives of those whom they convince, but
 rather the kind which, if carried out in action, will both deliver the authors themselves
 from their present distress and win
 for them the credit of bringing to pass great blessings for the rest of the world.