But it seems to me fitting that I should speak also of the city’s achievements against
 the barbarians, the more so since the subject which I have undertaken is the question of
 who should take the lead against them. Now if I were to go through the list of all our
 wars, I should speak at undue length; therefore I shall confine myself to the most
 important, endeavoring to deal with this topic also in the same manner in which I have
 just dealt with the other. Let us single out, then, the races which have the strongest instinct for domination and
 the greatest power of aggression—the Scythians and the Thracians and the Persians; it so
 happens that these have all had hostile designs upon us and that against all these our
 city has fought decisive wars. And yet what ground will be left for our opponents if it be
 shown that those among the Hellenes who are powerless to obtain their rights see fit to
 appeal to us for help, and that those among the barbarians who purpose to enslave the
 Hellenes make us the first object of their attacks? Now, while the most celebrated of our wars was the one against the Persians, yet
 certainly our deeds of old offer evidence no less strong for those who dispute over
 ancestral rights. For while Hellas was still
 insignificant, our territory was invaded by the Thracians, led by Eumolpus, son of
 Poseidon, and by the Scythians, led by the Amazons, For
 these legendary wars against the Scythians, Amazons, and Thracians see Grote,
 Hist. i. pp. 201 ff. These stood out in the Athenian mind as their
 first great struggle against the barbarians, and generally found a place beside the
 Persian Wars in pictures of their glorious past. Cf. Isoc.
 6.42 ; Isoc. 7.75 ; Isoc.
 12.193 ; Lys. 2.4 ff. ; Plat. Menex. 239b ; Xen. Mem. 3.5.9 . 
 the daughters of Ares—not at the same time, but during the period when both races were
 trying to extend their dominion over Europe ; for
 though they hated the whole Hellenic race, they raised complaints These complaints are stated in Isoc.
 12.193 . against us in particular, thinking that in this way they would
 wage war against one state only, but would at the same time impose their power on all the
 states of Hellas . Of a truth they were not successful; nay, in this conflict against our forefathers alone
 they were as utterly overwhelmed as if they had fought the whole world. How great were the
 disasters which befell them is evident; for the tradition respecting them would not have
 persisted for so long a time if what was then done had not been without parallel. At any rate, we are told regarding the Amazons that of all who came not one returned
 again, while those who had remained at home were expelled from power because of the
 disaster here; and we are told regarding the Thracians that, whereas at one time they
 dwelt beside us on our very borders, they withdrew so far from us in consequence of that
 expedition that in the spaces left between their land and ours many nations, races of
 every kind, and great cities have been established.