[54]
The character and power of Athens may be judged from the appeals which sundry people have in times past made to us for our help. Those of recent occurrence or for insignificant ends I shall omit; but long before the Trojan War （for it is only fair that those who dispute about immemorial rights should draw their arguments from that early time） there came to us the sons of Heracles1 and, a little before them, Adrastus, Talaus's son, king of Argos.
1 Heracles had been during his life a slave to the commands of Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. After the death of Heracles and his apotheosis, his sons were driven by Eurystheus out of the Peloponnesus. In the course of their wanderings they found refuge in Athens, where Theseus, the king, championed their cause against their oppressor. Eurystheus was killed in battle by Hyllus, one of the sons of Heracles. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 94. Adrastus, king of Argos, was the leader ot he expedition known in story as that of the Seven against Thebes. They were defeated by the Thebans and were not even allowed to recover their dead for burial. Adrastus fled to Athens and there was given refuge and aid to avenge himself on the Thebans. See Grote, Hist. i. p. 277. Both of these episodes are commonplaces in panegyrics on Athens. Cf. Isoc. 6.42; Isoc. 12.168-171; Lys. 2.7-16—a close parallel to Isocrates; Plat. Menex. 239b ff.; Dem. 60.8, 27; Lyc. 1.98; Xen. Hell. 6.5.46.
Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.
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