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Afterwards, while the Ionian fleet was still assembled at Lade,
councils were held, and speeches made by divers persons - among the
rest by Dionysius, the Phocaean captain, who thus expressed
himself: "Our affairs hang on the razor's edge, men of Ionia,
either to be free or to be slaves; and slaves, too, who have shown
themselves runaways. Now then you have to choose whether you will
endure hardships, and so for the present lead a life of toil, but
thereby gain ability to overcome your enemies and establish your own
freedom; or whether you will persist in this slothfulness and
disorder, in which case I see no hope of your escaping the king's
vengeance for your rebellion. I beseech you, be persuaded by me, and
trust yourselves to my guidance. Then, if the gods only hold the
balance fairly between us, I undertake to say that our foes will
either decline a battle, or, if they fight, suffer complete discomfiture."
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