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and, in the second place, that it is absurd to submit to the cauteries and cuttings of physicians in order that we may be relieved of greater pains and yet refuse to hear discourses before knowing clearly whether or not they have the power to benefit their hearers.
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I have said these things at the outset because in the rest of my discourse I am going to speak without reserve and with complete frankness. For suppose that a stranger from another part of the world were to come to Athens,Cf. Isoc. 4.133. having had no time to be tainted with our depravity, but brought suddenly face to face with what goes on here, would he not think that we are mad and bereft of our senses, seeing that we plume ourselves upon the deeds of our ancestors and think fit to eulogize our city by dwelling upon the achievements of their time and yet act in no respect like them but do the very opposite?
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For while they waged war without ceasing in behalf of the Hellenes against the barbarians, we removed from their homes those who derive their livelihood from Asia and led them against the Hellenes;The Athenian general Chares employed Asiatic mercenaries in the war against the Athenian allies. and while they liberated the cities of HellasCf. Isoc. 4.83. and lent them their aid and so were adjudged worthy of the hegemony, we seek to enslave these citiesBy conquest of the revolting allies. and pursue a policy the very opposite of theirs and then feel aggrieved that we are not held in like honor with them—
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we who fall so far short of those who lived in those days both in our deeds and in our thoughts that, whereas they brought themselves to abandon their countrySee Isoc. 4.96. for the sake of saving the other Hellenes and fought and conquered the barbarians both on the land and on the sea,Especially the battles of Marathon and Salamis. we do not see fit to run any risk even for our own advantage;
