off the king's daughter Europa;--these
would doubtless be Cretans;--and so they were quits for the former
injury. After this however the Hellenes, they say, were the authors of
the second wrong; for they sailed in to Aia of Colchis and to the river
Phasis with a ship of war, and from thence, after they had done the
other business for which they came, they carried off the king's daughter
Medea: and the king of Colchis sent a herald to the land of Hellas and
demanded satisfaction for the rape and to have his daughter back; but
they answered that, as the Barbarians had given them no satisfaction for
the rape of Io the Argive, so neither would they give satisfaction to
the Barbarians for this.

3. In the next generation after this, they say, Alexander the son of
Priam, having heard of these things, desired to get a wife for himself
by violence 4 from Hellas, being fully assured that he would not be
compelled to give any satisfaction for this wrong, inasmuch as the
Hellenes gave none for theirs. So he carried off Helen, and the
Hellenes resolved to send messengers first and to demand her back with
satisfaction for the rape; and when they put forth this demand, the
others alleged to them the rape of Medea, saying that the Hellenes were
now desiring satisfaction to be given to them by others, though they
had given none themselves nor had surrendered the person when demand was
made.

4. Up to this point, they say, nothing more happened than the carrying
away of women on both sides; but after this the Hellenes were very
greatly to blame; for they set the first example of war, making an
expedition into Asia before the Barbarians made any into Europe. Now
they say that in their judgment, though it is an act of wrong to
carry away women by force, it is a folly to set one's heart on taking
vengeance for their rape, and the wise course is to pay no regard when
they have been carried away; for it is evident that they would never be
carried away if they were not themselves willing to go. And the Persians
say that they, namely the people of Asia, when their women were carried
away by force, had made it a matter of no account, but the Hellenes on
account of a woman of Lacedemon gathered together a great armament, and
then came to Asia and destroyed the dominion of Priam; and that from
this time forward they had always considered the Hellenic race to be
their enemy: for Asia and the Barbarian races which dwell there the
Persians claim a