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And, furthermore, not even the present peace, nor yet that “autonomy” which is inscribed in the treaties1 but is not found in our governments, is preferable to the rule of Athens. For who would desire a condition of things where pirates command the seas2 and mercenaries occupy our cities;
1 Above all, the Treaty or Peace of Antalcidas, 387 B.C. Cf. Isoc. 4.120 ff. Xen. Hell. 5.1.31, quotes from this treaty: “King Artaxerxes thinks it just that the cities in Asia, and the islands of Clazomene and Cyprus, shall belong to him. He thinks it just also to leave all the other cities autonomous, both small and great—except Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, which are to belong to Athens, as they did originally. Should any parties refuse to accept this peace, I will make war upon them, along with those who are of the same mind, by land as well as by sea, with ships and with money” (Trans. by Grote, Hist. ix. p. 212). See General Introduction. p. xliii, and introduction to Panegyricus.
2 In the absence of the Athenian fleet.