122
It is therefore the duty of a man who is high-minded, who is a lover of Hellas, who has a broader vision than the rest of the world, to employ these bands in a war against the barbarians, to strip from that empire all the territory which I defined a moment ago, to deliver these homeless wanderers from the ills by which they are afflicted and which they inflict upon others, to collect them into cities, and with these cities to fix the boundary of Hellas, making of them buffer states to shield us all.
123
For by doing this, you will not only make them prosperous, but you will put us all on a footing of security. If, however, you do not succeed in these objects, this much you will at any rate easily accomplish,—the liberation of the cities which are on the coast of Asia. But no matter what part of this undertaking you are able to carry out, or only attempt to carry out, you cannot fail to attain distinguished glory; and it will be well deserved if only you will make this the goal of your own efforts and urge on the Hellenes in the same course.
124
For as things now are, who would not have reason to be amazedFor this and what follows cf. Isoc. 4.133-136. at the turn events have taken and to feel contempt for us, when among the barbarians, whom we have come to look upon as effeminate and unversed in war and utterly degenerate from luxurious living,Persian effeminacy is described at length in Isoc. 4.150 ff. men have arisenDareius, Xerxes. who thought themselves worthy to rule over Hellas, while among the Hellenes no one has aspired so high as to attempt to make us masters of Asia?
125
Nay, we have dropped so far behind the barbarians that, while they did not hesitate even to begin hostilities against the Hellenes, we do not even have the spirit to pay them back for the injuries we have suffered at their hands. On the contrary, although they admit that in all their wars they have no soldiers of their own nor generals nor any of the things which are serviceable in times of danger,
