Such is the pride of birth that belongs to the ancestors of these men throughout the ages. As for Courage and the other elements of virtue, I shrink from rehearsing the whole story, being on my guard for fear an untimely length shall attach to my speech , Another commonplace: Hyp. 4 expresses a similar fear. but such facts as it is worth while even for those who are familiar with them to recall to mind and most profitable for the inexperienced to hear, Thuc. 2.36.4 may be compared. events of great power to inspire and calling for no tedious length of speech, these I shall endeavor to rehearse in summary fashion. Hyp. 5 ἐπὶ κεφαλαίου . For the ancestors of this present generation, both their fathers and those who bore the names of these men in time past, by which they are recognized by those of our race, never at any time wronged any man, whether Greek or barbarian, but it was their pride, in addition to all their other good qualities, to be true gentlemen and supremely just, and in defending themselves they accomplished a long list of noble deeds. They so prevailed over the invading host of the Amazons as to expel them beyond the Phasis, and the host of Eumolpus and of many another foeman they drove not only out of their own land but also from the lands of all the other Greeks—invaders whom all those dwelling on our front to the westward neither withstood nor possessed the power to halt. The female warriors known as Amazons were repelled by Theseus. The Phasis River in Colchis, now the Rion, was the legendary boundary between Europe and Asia. Eumolpus invaded Greece from Thrace but was halted by Erechtheus at Eleusis. The route to all parts of the mainland issued from Athens on the west side. Moreover, they were styled the saviors of the sons of Heracles, who himself was the savior of the rest of mankind, when they arrived in this land as suppliants, fleeing before Eurystheus. In addition to all these and many other noble deeds they refused to suffer the lawful rites of the departed to be treated with despite when Creon forbade the burial of the seven against Thebes. This phrase became proverbial as the title of a drama by Aeschylus. Theseus, king of Athens, gave aid to the suppliant wives of the Argive heroes when Creon, king of Thebes, refused burial to their slain husbands: Eur. Supp. Now, omitting mention of many exploits that are classed as myths, I have recalled to mind the above-mentioned, each of which affords so many charming themes that our writers of poetry, whether recited or sung, The distinction is between epic and dramatic poetry, which was recited, and odes such as those of Pindar, and dithyrambs, which were sung to musical accompaniment. and many historians, have made the deeds of those men the subjects of their respective arts; at the present time I shall mention the following deeds, which, though in point of merit they are no whit inferior to the former, still, through being closer in point of time, have not yet found their way into poetry or even been exalted to epic rank. Those men single-handed twice repulsed by land and sea the expedition assembled out of the whole of Asia, King Darius of Persia was repulsed at Marathon, 490, and Xerxes at Salamis, 480 B.C. The Persian wars are discussed at length in Plat. Menex. 239d ff. and at their individual risks established themselves as the authors of the joint salvation of all the Greeks. And though what I shall say next has been said before by many another, still even at this date those dead must not be deprived of their just and excellent praise. For I say that with good reason those men might be judged so far superior to those who campaigned against Troy, that the latter, the foremost princes out of the whole of Greece, with difficulty captured a single stronghold of Asia after besieging it for ten years, Blass notes this sentiment in Isoc. 4.83 . It is found also in Hyp. 35 .