[220] καὶ τοῖς (220) λίθοις, ὥσπερ Ὅμηρος ἔφη τὸν κατ´ οἰκίαν τοῖχον, ἅμα καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἡρμοσμένα, ἄπειρά τε μεγέθη καὶ λάμποντα χαλκοῦ στιλπνότερον. ὁ δὲ δὴ πολὺ μείζων καὶ σεμνότερος κύκλος πάντη παντάπασιν ἀρραγὴς καὶ ἄλυτος πολὺ πάντας ὑπερλάμπων, καὶ οὐδεὶς τῶν πώποτε οὕτω παγείς. τούτων τῶν τειχῶν προασπίζουσιν ἄνδρες φυγὴν οὐ νομίσαντες, ἡρμοσμένοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἁρμονίᾳ, ᾗ τοὺς Μυρμιδόνας Ὅμηρός φησι, πρὸς ὂν εἶπον τοῖχον τότε εἰκάζων, πᾶσι τοῖς ὀργάνοις τοῦ πολέμου συνεχῆ μὲν οὕτως, ἀλλήλοις τὰ κράνη, ὡς μὴ εἶναι μέσον ὀϊστὸν διεξελθεῖν, ἀσπίδες δὲ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἐξαρθεῖσαι μετεώρους ἂν δέχοιντο δρόμους, τοσούτῳ στερροτέρους τῶν κατ´ ἄστυ ποιητῶν ὥστε καὶ ἱππεῦσιν ἔξεστιν ἐπιθεῖν, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ Εὐριπίδου, κατάχαλκον ὁρᾶν πεδίον τότε φήσεις ἀληθῶς. θώρακες δὲ οὕτως ἀλλήλων ἔχονται ὥστε εἰ καὶ γυμνὸν τάξαις τὸν μέσον, ἀρκεῖν αὐτῷ τὰ ἑκατέρωθεν ἀπαντῆσαι μέχρι τοῦ μέσου· οἱ δὲ ἄκοντες οἷον ἐκ Διὸς περιπίπτοντες ἀλλήλους ἐγκαταλαμβάνουσι. τοιαίδε αἱ ἁρμονίαι συγκέκλεινται, ὅ τε τῶν διεξόδων κύκλος τειχῶν τε καὶ ὁ τῆς πάσης ἔφορος γῆς. πάλαι μὲν οὖν Δαρεῖος μετ´ Ἀρταφέρνου καὶ Δάτιδος νήσου μιᾶς μίαν πόλιν ἠδυνήθη σαγηνεύσας ἑλεῖν, ὑμεῖς δ´ ἅπασαν, εἰ οἷόν τ´ εἰπεῖν, σαγηνεύσαντες τὴν οἰκουμένην οὕτως σώζετε τοῖς κοινοῖς αὐτὴν πολίταις τε καὶ ξένοις, οὓς, ὥσπερ ἔφην, ἐξ ἁπάντων προκρίναντες ἐξηγάγετε, ἐλπίδας τε παραστήσαντες τοῖς γιγνομένοις ἀγαθοῖς ἀνδράσι μὴ μεταμελήσειν. οὐ γὰρ ἐξ εὐπατριδῶν ἔσεσθαι τὸν ἀεὶ πρῶτον δυνάμενον καὶ δεύτερον τὸν δεύτερον καὶ τὴν ἄλλην τάξιν ὡσαύτως, ἧς ἂν ἕκαστος ἀξίας ᾖ, ταύτην σχήσειν, ἅτε οὐ λόγων, ἀλλ´ ἔργων ἐνταῦθα κρινόντων τοὺς ἀγαθούς· παραδείγματά τε ἐμφανῆ πᾶσι τούτων ποιήσαντες, ὥστε ἅπαντας μὲν ἀργίαν συμφορὰν ἡγεῖσθαι,

[220] also walls of stone joined and neat (like the wall of a house described by Homer), boundless in size and shining brighter than bronze. But that much greater and more august ring, at all points altogether unbreakable and indissoluble, far outshining all, steadfast as no other heretofore — that ring is the men who shield these walls and know no retreat. With all the weapons of war, they are joined to one another as firmly as Homer says the Myrmidons were, when he compares them to the wall I mentioned. Their helmets are so close together that no arrow can pass in between. Their shields, held above their heads, could support hanging racetracks so much sturdier than those put up in town that even men on horseback could ride over them. You will honestly say you see "a field of bronze" (as Euripides put it). The breastplates so impinge on one another that if a man in formation between two others were unarmed, their armor would meet in the middle and cover him. Their javelins fall thick as rain and blanket one another. Such is the chain that binds {the ring of frontier defenses and the guardian of the whole world}. Long ago, Darius with Artaphernes and Datis was able to catch one city on one island in a dragnet. But you keep the whole world in a dragnet (if one may use the word), by means of men that are at the same time citizens and foreign born. As I said, of all men you have chosen them, marched them off, and offered them hopes: "If you prove yourselves brave, you will not regret it. Instead of the supreme commander always being of patrician stock, with the second-in-command from the next class below, and so on down the line, each man will get whatever he deserves, for good men are tested here not by words but by deeds." By conspicuous examples you have taught all of them to regard idleness as a misfortune