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“These were victories won with the aid of all who joined in that expedition. But after they had divided the territory with the Argives and the Messenians and for themselves had settled in Sparta—at this juncture, as you say, they were so proud that although they then numbered no more than two thousand men1 they considered themselves unworthy to live unless they could make themselves masters of all the cities in the Peloponnesus.
1 The Spartans at the time of the Persian Wars numbered eight thousand according to Hdt. 7.234. Aristotle （Aristot. Pol. 2.9） states that in his day there were hardly one thousand.
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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