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Of the Ionians at this period, one people, the Milesians, were in
no danger of attack, as Cyrus had received them into alliance. The
islanders also had as yet nothing to fear, since Phoenicia was still
independent of Persia, and the Persians themselves were not a
seafaring people. The Milesians had separated from the common cause
solely on account of the extreme weakness of the Ionians: for, feeble
as the power of the entire Hellenic race was at that time, of all its
tribes the Ionic was by far the feeblest and least esteemed, not
possessing a single State of any mark excepting Athens. The
Athenians and most of the other Ionic States over the world, went so
far in their dislike of the name as actually to lay it aside; and even
at the present day the greater number of them seem to me to be ashamed
of it. But the twelve cities in Asia have always gloried in the
appellation; they gave the temple which they built for themselves the
name of the Panionium, and decreed that it should not be open to any
of the other Ionic States; no State, however, except Smyrna, has
craved admission to it.
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