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Hitherto the injuries on either side had been mere acts of common
violence; but in what followed the Persians consider that the Greeks
were greatly to blame, since before any attack had been made on
Europe, they led an army into Asia. Now as for the carrying off of
women, it is the deed, they say, of a rogue: but to make a stir
about such as are carried off, argues a man a fool. Men of sense care
nothing for such women, since it is plain that without their own
consent they would never be forced away. The Asiatics, when the
Greeks ran off with their women, never troubled themselves about the
matter; but the Greeks, for the sake of a single Lacedaemonian
girl, collected a vast armament, invaded Asia, and destroyed the
kingdom of Priam. Henceforth they ever looked upon the Greeks as
their open enemies. For Asia, with all the various tribes of
barbarians that inhabit it, is regarded by the Persians as their own;
but Europe and the Greek race they look on as distinct and separate.
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