119
From many considerations you may realize that you ought to act in this way, but especially from the experiences of Jason.Jason, tyrant of Pherae, in Thessaly. His “talked-of” expedition against Persia is mentioned also by Xen. Hell. 6.1.12. See General Introd. p. xl, footnote. For he, without having achieved anything comparable to what you have done, won the highest renown, not from what he did, but from what he said; for he kept talking as if he intended to cross over to the continent and make war upon the King.
120
Now since Jason by use of words alone advanced himself so far, what opinion must we expect the world will have of you if you actually do this thing; above all, if you undertake to conquer the whole empire of the King, or, at any rate, to wrest from it a vast extent of territory and sever from it—to use a current phrase—“Asia from Cilicia to Sinope”A catch phrase for the territory of Asia Minor. Cf. “Asia from Cnidus to Sinope” in Isoc. 4.162.; and if, furthermore, you undertake to establish cities in this region, and to settle in permanent abodes those who now, for lack of the daily necessities of life, are wandering from place to place and committing outrages upon whomsoever they encounter?See Isoc. Letter 9.9. Cf. 96; Isoc. 4.168; Isoc. 8.24.
121
If we do not stop these men from banding together, by providing sufficient livelihood for them, they will grow before we know it into so great a multitude as to be a terror no less to the Hellenes than to the barbarians. But we pay no heed to them; nay, we shut our eyes to the fact that a terrible menace which threatens us all alike is waxing day by day.
