while the men of military age were away on sea and in the army, the
Corinthians and their allies, thinking they would either attack a
deserted country or they (_the Athenians_) would withdraw from
Aegina, marched out and took Gereneia. 50. And the Athenians, some being
at a distance and some near, did not dare to summon either, but trusting
their own spirits and despising the invaders, the old men and the boys
thought they alone could face the danger, (51) the former gaining courage
from experience and the latter from their natures. And they in themselves
became brave and the boys imitated them, the older men knowing how to
command and the boys being able to obey commands. 52. Under the
leadership of Myronides they set out for Megaris and conquered in battle
all the forces (of the enemy), by those past service and those not yet
ready for it, going into a foreign country to meet those who presumed to
invade theirs. 53. And they set up a trophy for this glorious deed of
theirs, and shameful act of the enemy, and the men, some no longer strong
in body, the rest not yet strong, became greater in spirit and went back
home with great renown, the latter to their teachers, the former to
meditate on the future.

54. It is no easy task for one man to enumerate the brave deeds of so
many, nor to tell in a single day the acts of all time. For what speech
or time or orator could adequately testify to the valor of these men
lying here? 55. For after countless struggles and signal contests and
glorious encounters they have made Greece free, and proved their country
the greatest, which ruled the sea for seventy years, kept the allies from
revolt, (56) not permitting the many to be enslaved by the few, but
forcing all to share alike, nor weakening the allies, but establishing
them, so that the great king no longer longed for others' goods, but
yielded up some of his own possessions and trembled for the future. 57.
No ships sailed for Asia in that time, nor was a tyrant established among