h to fight with
ten men? and yet if your State is such throughout as thou dost describe
it, thou their king ought by your laws to stand in array against double
as many as another man; that is to say, if each of them is a match for
ten men of my army, I expect of thee that thou shouldest be a match for
twenty. Thus would be confirmed the report which is made by thee: but if
ye, who boast thus greatly are such men and in size so great only as
the Hellenes who come commonly to speech with me, thyself included, then
beware lest this which has been spoken prove but an empty vaunt. For
come, let me examine it by all that is probable: how could a thousand or
ten thousand or even fifty thousand, at least if they were all equally
free and were not ruled by one man, stand against so great an army?
since, as thou knowest, we shall be more than a thousand coming about
each one of them, supposing them to be in number five thousand. If
indeed they were ruled by one man after our fashion, they might perhaps
from fear of him become braver than it was their nature to be, or they
might go compelled by the lash to fight with greater numbers, being
themselves fewer in number; but if left at liberty, they would do
neither of these things: and I for my part suppose that, even if equally
matched in numbers, the Hellenes would hardly dare to fight with the
Persians taken alone. With us however this of which thou speakest is
found in single men, 96 not indeed often, but rarely; for there are
Persians of my spearmen who will consent to fight with three men of the
Hellenes at once: but thou hast had no experience of these things and
therefore thou speakest very much at random."

104. To this Demaratos replied: "O king, from the first I was sure that
if I uttered the truth I should not speak that which was pleasing to
thee; since however thou didst compel me to speak the very truth, I told
thee of the matters which concern the Spartans. And yet how I am at this
present time attached to them by affection thou knowest better than any;
seeing that first they took away from me the rank and privileges which
came to me from my fathers, and then also they have caused me to be
without native land and an exile; but thy father took me up and gave
me livelihood and a house to dwell in. Surely it is not to be supposed
likely that the prudent man will thrust aside friendliness which is
offered to him, but rather that he will accept it with full contentment.
97