and when, more than all this, he would see our slaves bringing from the land which our
 fathers bequeathed to us first-fruits of the harvest and sacrifices greater than our own,
 and would hear from their lips such taunts as you would expect from men who once were
 subjected to the strictest bondage but now have made a treaty with their masters on terms
 of equality? How keenly every one of us would smart under these insults no man alive could
 set forth in words. These are the things about which we must take counsel, and we must not wait to indulge
 our resentment until that will no longer avail us, but must consider now how we may
 prevent such a disaster. For it is disgraceful that we, who in former times would not
 allow even free men the right of equal speech, are now openly tolerating licence of speech
 on the part of slaves. Others translate ἰσηγαρίας as “political unity” and understand τῶν ἐλευθέρων to refer to the allies of Sparta . But the passage is probably better taken as
 referring to the military harshness of the Spartans toward any and all with whom they
 came in contact, as, for instance, when Astyochus started to beat free men for speaking
 too freely (see Thuc. 8.84 ). 
 For thus we shall give ground for the suspicion that in time past we have been nothing at
 all but idle boasters, that by nature we are no different from the rest of mankind, and
 that the sternness and dignity of manner which we cultivate is not natural, but a mere
 pose. Let us, therefore, give no such occasion to those who are wont to speak ill of us,
 but let us endeavor to confute their words by patterning our actions after those of our
 forefathers. Remember the men who at Dipaea In 471
 B.C. See Hdt. 9.35 , and Paus.
 8.8.4 . fought against the Arcadians, of whom we are told that, albeit
 they stood arrayed with but a single line of soldiery, they raised a trophy over thousands
 upon thousands; remember the three hundred who at Thyrea In
 542 B.C. See Hdt. 1.82 , and Paus. 2.38.5 . lsocrates confuses two contests, one earlier,
 where three hundred Argives fought against three hundred Spartans, one later, where both
 sides matched their full forces. defeated the whole Argive force in battle; remember the thousand who went to meet the foe at
 Thermopylae , who, although they engaged seven hundred thousand of the barbarians, did not flee nor
 suffer defeat, but laid down their lives on the spot where they were stationed, Cf. Isoc. 4.90-92 . 
 acquitting themselves so nobly that even those who eulogize them with all the resources of
 art can find no praises equal to their valor.