previous next
[27] And yet notwithstanding that we hold these titles, the Thebans would on the one hand restore Asia as his ancestral right to the barbarian,1 who has not yet held sway over it for two hundred years, while on the other hand they would rob us of Messene, which we have held for more than twice that length of time;2 and although it was only the other day that they razed both Thespiae and Plataea to the ground,3 yet now, after a lapse of four hundred years, they propose to settle their colonists in Messene acting in both cases contrary to the oaths and covenants.4

1 By the peace terms of Pelopidas. See introduction to this oration.

2 Messene was not actually subdued until 724-723 B.C. Perhaps Isocrates is speaking loosely, or perhaps he follows another source than Pausanias, who is almost our sole authority for this period. However, the conquests of Alcamenes took place about 786 B.C., and Isocrates perhaps refers to this or a similar event. See Paus. 4.4.3. Dinarchus (Din. 1.73) gives the same figure as lsocrates.

3 Plataea was destroyed about 372 B.C., and Thespiae shortly after. See Dio. Sic. 15.46.4 and Xen. Hell. 6.3.1. Others give the date as 374 B.C.

4 Cf. the Peace of Antalcidas. See Isoc. 4.115 ff. and note.

load focus Greek (George Norlin)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Sort places alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a place to search for it in this document.
Messene (Greece) (3)
Thespiae (Greece) (2)
Plataea (2)

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
786 BC (1)
374 BC (1)
372 BC (1)
hide References (8 total)
  • Cross-references in notes to this page (2):
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (5):
    • Dinarchus, Against Demosthenes, 73
    • Diodorus, Historical Library, 15.46.4
    • Isocrates, Panegyricus, 115
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4.4.3
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 6.3.1
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (1):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: