Those, on the other hand, who stand highest in repute among them have never governed
 their lives by dictates of equality or of common interest or of loyalty to the state; on
 the contrary, their whole existence consists of insolence toward some, and servility
 towards others—a manner of life than which nothing could be more demoralizing to human
 nature. Because they are rich, they pamper their bodies; but because they are subject to
 one man’s power, they keep their souls in a state of abject and cringing fear, parading
 themselves at the door of the royal palace, prostrating themselves, and in every way
 schooling themselves to humility of spirit, falling on their knees before a mortal man,
 addressing him as a divinity, and thinking more lightly of the gods than of men. So it is that those of the Persians who come down to the sea, whom they term
 satraps, Viceroys of the king—provincial
 governors. do not dishonor the training which they receive at home, but cling
 steadfastly to the same habits: they are faithless to their friends and cowardly to their
 foes; their lives are divided between servility on the one hand and arrogance on the
 other; they treat their allies with contempt and pay court to their enemies. For example, they maintained the army under Agesilaus at their own expense for eight
 months, See Xen. Hell.
 3.4.26 ; Grote, Hist. ix. p. 92. but they deprived the
 soldiers who were fighting in the Persian cause of their pay for double that length of
 time; they distributed an hundred talents among the captors of Cisthene, Cisthene was probably a town in Asia Minor captured by Agesilaus in the campaign. but treated
 more outrageously than their prisoners of war the troops who supported them in the
 campaign against Cyprus . To put it briefly—and not to speak in detail but in general terms,— who of those that
 have fought against them has not come off with success, and who of those that have fallen
 under their power has not perished from their atrocities? Take the case of Conon, Conon was one of the Athenian generals at the battle of
 Aegospatomi. After that disaster he left Greece 
 and took service with the Persians against Sparta , and was instrumental in the defeat of the Spartan fleet at the
 battle of Cnidus . For the treachery referred to
 here see Grote, Hist. ix. p. 187. who, as commander in the service
 of Asia , brought an end to the power of the
 Lacadaemonians: did they not shamelessly seize him for punishment by death? Take, on the
 other hand, the case of Themistocles, Themistocles,
 commander of the Athenian fleet at Salamis , was
 later ostracized and took refuge at the Persian court. See Grote, Hist. 
 v. p. 138. who in the service of Hellas 
 defeated them at Salamis : did they not think him
 worthy of the greatest gifts? Then why should we cherish the friendship of men who punish their benefactors and so
 openly flatter those who do them injury? Who is there among us whom they have not wronged?
 When have they given the Hellenes a moment’s respite from their treacherous plots? What in
 our world is not hateful to them who did not shrink in the earlier war from rifling even
 the images and temples of the gods, and burning them to the ground? When they captured Athens . See
 Isoc. 4.96 ; Hdt. 8.53 ; Aesch. Pers. 809 .