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As soon as Alexander had finished speaking, the ambassadors from
Sparta took the word and said, -
"We are sent here by the Lacedaemonians to entreat of you that ye
will not do a new thing in Greece, nor agree to the terms which are
offered you by the barbarian. Such conduct on the part of any of the
Greeks were alike unjust and dishonourable; but in you 'twould be
worse than in others, for divers reasons. 'Twas by you that this war
was kindled at the first among us - our wishes were in no way
considered; the contest began by your seeking to extend your empire -
now the fate of Greece is involved in it. Besides it was surely an
intolerable thing that the Athenians, who have always hitherto been
known as a nation to which many men owed their freedom, should now
become the means of bringing all other Greeks into slavery. We feel,
however, for the heavy calamities which press on you - the loss of
your harvest these two years, and the ruin in which your homes have
lain for so long a time. We offer you, therefore, on the part of the
Lacedaemonians and the allies, sustenance for your women and for the
unwarlike portion of your households, so long as the war endures. Be
ye not seduced by Alexander the Macedonian, who softens down the
rough words of Mardonius. He does as is natural for him to do - a
tyrant himself, he helps forward a tyrant's cause. But ye,
Athenians, should do differently, at least if ye be truly wise; for
ye should know that with barbarians there is neither faith nor truth."
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