greatest witness of all is the freedom of our cities--the liberty of
that land in which you were born and bred. For you call no man master
or lord; you bow your heads to none save to the gods alone. Such were
your forefathers, and their sons are ye. Think not I am going to say
that you put to shame in any way your ancestry--far from it. Not many
days since, you too were drawn up in battle face to face with these
true descendants of their ancestors, and by the help of heaven you
conquered them, though they many times outnumbered you. At that time,
it was to win a throne for Cyrus that you showed your bravery; to-day,
when the struggle is for your own salvation, what is more natural than
that you should show yourselves braver and more zealous still. Nay, it
is very meet and right that you should be more undaunted still to-day
to face the foe. The other day, though you had not tested them, and
before your eyes lay their immeasurable host, you had the heart to go
against them with the spirit of your fathers. To-day you have made 16
trial of them, and knowing that, however many times your number, they
do not care to await your onset, what concern have you now to be
afraid of them?

"Nor let any one suppose that herein is a point of weakness, in that
Cyrus's troops, who before were drawn up by your side, have now
deserted us, for they are even worse cowards still than those we
worsted. At any rate they have deserted us, and sought refuge with
them. Leaders of the forlorn hope of flight--far better is it to have
them brigaded with the enemy than shoulder to shoulder in our ranks.
But if any of you is out of heart to think that we have no cavalry,
while the enemy have many squadrons to command, lay to heart this
doctrine, that ten thousand horse only equal ten thousand men upon
their backs, neither less nor more. Did any one ever die in battle
from the bite or kick of a horse? It is the men, the real swordsmen,