A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

154 The Ionic Revolt
And when he came to speech with Cleomenes he said to
him as follows:
"Marvel not, Cleomenes, at my earnestness in coming
hither, for the case is this. That the sons of the lonians
should be slaves instead of free is a reproach and a grief
most of all indeed to ourselves, but of all others most to
you, inasmuch as ye are the leaders of Hellas. Now therefore
I
entreat you by the gods of Hellas to rescue from
slavery the lonians, who are your own kinsmen. And
ye may easily achieve this, for the barbarians are not
valiant in fight; whereas ye have attained to the highest
point of valor in war; and their fighting is of this fashion,
namely with bows and arrows and a short spear, and they
go into battle wearing trousers and with caps on their
heads. Thus they are easily conquered. Then again they
who occupy that continent have good things in such
quantity as not all the other nations of the world together
possess; first gold, then silver and bronze and embroidered
garments and beasts of burden and slaves; all of which
ye might have for yourselves, if ye so desired. And the
nations, moreover, dwell in such order one after the other
as I shall declare:—the lonians here; and next to them the
Lydians who not only dwell in a fertile land, but are also
exceedingly rich in gold and silver,"—and as he said this
he pointed to the map of the Earth, which he carried M'ith
him engraved upon the tablet, — "and here next to the
Lydians," continued Aristagoras, "are the Eastern Phrygians,
who have the greatest number of sheep and cattle
of all people that I know, and also the most abundant
crops. Next to the Phrygians are the Cappadocians,
whom we call Syrians; and bordering upon them are the
Cilicians, coming down to this sea, in which lies the island
of Cyprus here; and these pay five hundred talents to