97
These are the things about which we must take counsel, and we must not wait to indulge our resentment until that will no longer avail us, but must consider now how we may prevent such a disaster. For it is disgraceful that we, who in former times would not allow even free men the right of equal speech, are now openly tolerating licence of speech on the part of slaves.Others translate ἰσηγαρίας as “political unity” and understand τῶν ἐλευθέρων to refer to the allies of Sparta. But the passage is probably better taken as referring to the military harshness of the Spartans toward any and all with whom they came in contact, as, for instance, when Astyochus started to beat free men for speaking too freely (see Thuc. 8.84).
98
For thus we shall give ground for the suspicion that in time past we have been nothing at all but idle boasters, that by nature we are no different from the rest of mankind, and that the sternness and dignity of manner which we cultivate is not natural, but a mere pose. Let us, therefore, give no such occasion to those who are wont to speak ill of us, but let us endeavor to confute their words by patterning our actions after those of our forefathers.
99
Remember the men who at DipaeaIn 471 B.C. See Hdt. 9.35, and Paus. 8.8.4. fought against the Arcadians, of whom we are told that, albeit they stood arrayed with but a single line of soldiery, they raised a trophy over thousands upon thousands; remember the three hundred who at ThyreaIn 542 B.C. See Hdt. 1.82, and Paus. 2.38.5. lsocrates confuses two contests, one earlier, where three hundred Argives fought against three hundred Spartans, one later, where both sides matched their full forces. defeated the whole Argive force in battle; remember the thousand who went to meet the foe at Thermopylae,
