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When the deputies of the Ionians and Aeolians, who had journeyed
with all speed to Sparta, reached the city, they chose one of their
number, Pythermus, a Phocaean, to be their spokesman. In order to
draw together as large an audience as possible, he clothed himself in a
purple garment, and so attired stood forth to speak. In a long
discourse he besought the Spartans to come to the assistance of his
countrymen, but they were not to be persuaded, and voted against
sending any succour. The deputies accordingly went their way, while
the Lacedaemonians, notwithstanding the refusal which they had given
to the prayer of the deputation, despatched a penteconter to the
Asiatic coast with certain Spartans on board, for the purpose, as I
think, of watching Cyrus and Ionia. These men, on their arrival at
Phocaea, sent to Sardis Lacrines, the most distinguished of their
number, to prohibit Cyrus, in the name of the Lacedaemonians, from
offering molestation to any city of Greece, since they would not allow it.
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