The gods rule by a necessity of their nature because
they are strongest; men do likewise."
=Results of These Wars.=--These wars did not result in uniting the
Greeks into one body. No city, Sparta more than Athens, was able to
force the others to obey her. They only exhausted themselves by
fighting one another. It was the king of Persia who profited by the
strife. Not only did the Greek cities not unite against him, but all
in succession allied themselves with him against the other Greeks. In
the notorious Peace of Antalcidas (387) the Great King declared that
all the Greek cities of Asia belonged to him, and Sparta recognized
this claim. Athens and Thebes did as much some years later. An
Athenian orator said, "It is the king of Persia who governs Greece; he
needs only to establish governors in our cities. Is it not he who
directs everything among us? Do we not summon the Great King as if we
were his slaves?" The Greeks by their strife had lost the vantage that
the Median war had gained for them.
FOOTNOTES:
[71] Twelve Ionian colonies, twelve AEolian, four Dorian.
[72] Herod., i.
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