For we have reason to reproach the Lacedaemonians for this also, that in the interest of
 their own city they compel their neighbors to live in serfdom, In his second letter to Philip, 5, Isocrates urges him to make all the
 barbarians, excepting those who join forces with him, serfs of the Hellenes. but
 for the common advantage of their allies they refuse to bring about a similar condition,
 although it lies in their power to make up their quarrel with us and reduce all the
 barbarians to a state of subjection to the whole of Hellas . And yet it is the duty of men who are proud because of natural gifts and not merely
 because of fortune to undertake such deeds much rather than to levy tribute For tribute levied by Sparta see Xen. Hell. 6.2.16 . 
 on the islanders, The Cyclades , hilly and comparatively barren. who are deserving of
 their pity, seeing that because of the scarcity of land they are compelled to till
 mountains, while the people of the mainland, The
 “mainlanders”—Persian subjects in Asia
 Minor . because of the abundance of their territory, allow most of it
 to lie waste, and have, nevertheless, from that part of it which they do harvest, grown
 immensely rich. It is my opinion that if anyone should come here from another part of the world and
 behold the spectacle of the present state of our affairs, he would charge both the
 Athenians and the Lacedaemonians with utter madness, not only because we risk our lives
 fighting as we do over trifles when we might enjoy in security a wealth of possessions,
 but also because we continually impoverish our own territory while neglecting to exploit
 that of Asia . As for the barbarian, nothing is more to his purpose than to take measures to prevent us
 from ever ceasing to make war upon each other; while we, on the contrary, are so far from
 doing anything to embroil his interests or foment rebellion among his subjects that when,
 thanks to fortune, dissensions do break out in his empire we actually lend him a hand in
 putting them down. Even now, when the two armies are fighting in Cyprus , Reference to the
 ten years’ war between Artaxerxes and Evagoras, king of Salamis . For Evagoras see introduction to Isoc.
 2 , and for the war see Isoc. 9.64 ff. we
 permit him to make use of the one The armament of
 Tiribazus, composed largely of an army of Greek mercenaries and a navy drawn from Ionian
 Greeks. and to besiege the other, That of
 Evagoras. although both of them belong to Hellas ; for the Cyprians, who are in revolt against him, are not only on friendly terms with
 us See Isoc. 9.53-54 ; Xen. Hell. 4.8.24 . but are also seeking the
 protection of the Lacedaemonians; and as to the forces which are led by Tiribazus, the
 most effective troops of his infantry have been levied from these parts, Greeks who sold their services as mercenary troops because of
 poverty at home. See Isoc. 4.168 and note. and most
 of his fleet has been brought together from Ionia ; and all these would much more gladly make common cause and plunder
 Asia than risk their lives fighting against
 each other over trifling issues.