[139]
Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King's power as invincible.1 Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian—an ill-bred2 barbarian at that—and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by a man of the blood of Hellas, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom—and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task.
1 Cf. Isoc. 4.138 ff.
2 Cyrus. See 66.