Evagoras (66-70)

For whom shall we find of the men of that age—if we disregard the fabulous tales and look at the truth—who has accomplished such feats or has brought about changes so great in political affairs? Evagoras, from private estate, made himself a sovereign: his entire family, which had been driven from political power, he restored again to their appropriate honors: the citizens of barbarian birth he transformed into Hellenes,

cravens into warriors, and obscure individuals into men of note: and having taken over a country wholly inhospitable and utterly reduced to savagery, he made it more civilized and gentler: furthermore, when he became hostile to the king, he defended himself so gloriously that the Cyprian War has become memorable for ever: and when he was the ally of the king, he made himself so much more serviceable than the others that,

in the opinion of all, the forces he contributed to the naval battle at Cnidus were the largest, and as the result of this battle, while the king became master of all Asia, the Lacedaemonians instead of ravaging the continent were compelled to fight for their own land, and the Greeks, in place of servitude, gained independence, and the Athenians increased in power so greatly that those who formerly were their rulers[*] came to offer them the hegemony.

Consequently, if anyone should ask me what I regard as the greatest of the achievements of Evagoras, whether the careful military preparations directed against the Lacedaemonians which resulted in the aforesaid successes, or the last war, or the recovery of his throne, or his general administration of affairs, I should be at a great loss what to say in reply: for each achievement to which I happen to direct my attention seems to me the greatest and most admirable.

Therefore, I believe that, if any men of the past have by their merit become immortal, Evagoras also has earned this preferment: and my evidence for that belief is this—that the life he lived on earth has been more blessed by fortune and more favored by the gods than theirs. For of the demigods the greater number and the most renowned were, we shall find, afflicted by the most grievous misfortunes, but Evagoras continued from the beginning to be not only the most admired, but also the most envied for his blessings.