t that time, when the whole of Asia was subject to the third
king of Persia. The first king, Cyrus, by his valour freed the Persians,
who were his countrymen, and subjected the Medes, who were their lords,
and he ruled over the rest of Asia, as far as Egypt; and after him came
his son, who ruled all the accessible part of Egypt and Libya; the
third king was Darius, who extended the land boundaries of the empire to
Scythia, and with his fleet held the sea and the islands. None presumed
to be his equal; the minds of all men were enthralled by him--so many
and mighty and warlike nations had the power of Persia subdued. Now
Darius had a quarrel against us and the Eretrians, because, as he said,
we had conspired against Sardis, and he sent 500,000 men in transports
and vessels of war, and 300 ships, and Datis as commander, telling him
to bring the Eretrians and Athenians to the king, if he wished to keep
his head on his shoulders. He sailed against the Eretrians, who were
reputed to be amongst the noblest and most warlike of the Hellenes of
that day, and they were numerous, but he conquered them all in three
days; and when he had conquered them, in order that no one might escape,
he searched the whole country after this manner: his soldiers, coming to
the borders of Eretria and spreading from sea to sea, joined hands and
passed through the whole country, in order that they might be able to
tell the king that no one had escaped them. And from Eretria they went
to Marathon with a like intention, expecting to bind the Athenians in
the same yoke of necessity in which they had bound the Eretrians. Having
effected one-half of their purpose, they were in the act of attempting
the other, and none of the Hellenes dared to assist either the Eretrians
or the Athenians, except the Lacedaemonians, and they arrived a day too
late for the battle; but the rest were panic-stricken and kept quiet,
too happy in having escaped for a time. He who has present to his mind
that conflict will know what manner of men they were who received the
onset of the barbarians at Marathon, and chastened the pride of the
whole of Asia, and by the victory which they gained over the barbarians
first taught other men that the power of the Persians was not
invincible, but that hosts of men and the multitude of riches alike
yield to valour. And I assert that those men are the fathers not only of
ourselves, but of our liberties and of the liberties of all who are on
th