48
And yet it is not possible that cities should take on such increase unless there are those who govern them by such principles as Evagoras had and as I endeavored to describe a little before. In consequence I am not afraid of appearing to exaggerate in speaking of the qualities of the man, but rather lest I greatly fall short of doing justice to his deeds.
49
For who could do justice to a man of such natural gifts, a man who not only increased the importance of his own city, but advanced the whole region surrounding the island to a regime of mildness and moderation? Before Evagoras gained the throne the inhabitants were so hostile to strangers and fierce that they considered the best rulers to be those who treated the Greeks in the most cruel fashion.
50
At present, however, they have undergone so great a change that they strive with one another to see who shall be regarded as most friendly to the Greeks, and the majority of them take their wives from us and from them beget children, and they have greater pleasure in owning Greek possessions and observing Greek institutions than in their own, and more of those who occupy themselves with the liberal arts and with education in general now dwell in these regions than in the communities in which they formerly used to live. And for all these changes, no one could deny that Evagoras is responsible.
51
The most convincing proof of the character and uprightness of Evagoras is this—that many of the most reputable Greeks left their own fatherlands and came to Cyrus to dwell, because they considered Evagoras’s rule less burdensome and more equitable than that of their own governments at home.E.g., Andocides, the Athenian orator, who had an estate in Cyprus (cf. Andoc. 1.4), and other Greeks who were forced into exile. To mention all the others by name would be too great a task:
