[35,13] ἐγὼ δὲ ὁρῶ καὶ ταύτην τὴν πόλιν οὐδεμιᾶς ἐνδεεστέραν τῶν πρώτων, καὶ ξυνήδομαι καὶ ἀγαπῶ. τῆς γὰρ ἠπείρου τὸ καρτερώτατον νέμεσθε καὶ πιότατον, πεδίων δὲ καὶ ὀρῶν μεταξὺ καλλίστων ἵδρυσθε, καὶ πηγὰς ἀφθονωτάτας ἔχετε καὶ χώραν εὐκαρποτάτην ξύμπαντα μυρία φέρουσαν, πυρούς τε ζειάς τ´ ἠδ´ εὐρυφυὲς κρῖ λευκόν, καὶ πολλὰς μὲν ἀγέλας, πολλὰς δὲ ποίμνας ποιμαίνετε καὶ βουκολεῖτε. τῶν τε ποταμῶν οἱ μέγιστοι καὶ πολυωφελέστατοι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐνθένδε ἔχουσιν, ὅ τε Μαρσύας οὗτος, διὰ μέσης τῆς πόλεως ὑμῶν ῥέων, ὅ τε Ὀργᾶς, ὅ τε Μαίανδρος, πολὺ πάντων {τῶν} ποταμῶν θειότατος καὶ σοφώτατος, ὃς ἑλίττων μυρίας καμπὰς σχεδόν τι τὴν ἀρίστην τῆς Ἀσίας ἔπεισιν.

[35,13] But {speaking of protection}, I perceive that this city of yours also is inferior to none of the first rank, and I rejoice with you and am content that it is so. For example, you occupy the strongest site and the richest on the continent ; you are settled in the midst of plains and mountains of rare beauty ; you have most abundant springs and a soil of greatest fertility, bearing, all told, unnumbered products, "Both wheat and spelt and broad-eared barley white" ; and many are the droves of cattle and many the flocks of sheep you tend and pasture. And as for rivers, the largest and most serviceable have their source here—the Marsyas yonder, bearing its waters through the midst of your city, and the Orgas, and the Maeander, by far the most godlike and the wisest of all rivers, a river which with its countless windings visits, one may almost say, all that is best in Asia.

[35,14] τῆς τε Φρυγίας προκάθησθε καὶ Λυδίας, ἔτι δὲ Καρίας, ἄλλα τε ἔθνη περιοικεῖ πολυανδρότατα, Καππάδοκές τε καὶ Πάμφυλοι καὶ Πισίδαι, καὶ τούτοις ἅπασιν ἀγορὰν ὑμεῖς καὶ ξύνοδον παρέχεσθε τὴν αὑτῶν πόλιν. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν πολλὰς τῶν ἀνωνύμων πόλεων, τοῦτο δὲ πολλὰς εὐδαίμονας κώμας ὑπηκόους ἔχετε. σημεῖον δὲ μέγιστον τῆς δυνάμεως ὑμῶν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν φόρων. ὡς γὰρ οἶμαι τῶν ὑποζυγίων κράτιστα δοκεῖ τὰ πλεῖστον ἕλκοντα, οὕτω καὶ τῶν πόλεων εἰκὸς ἀρίστας εἶναι τὰς πλεῖστον ἀργύριον ὑποτελούσας.

[35,14] Furthermore, you stand as a bulwark in front of Phrygia and Lydia and Caria besides ; and there are other tribes around you whose members are most numerous, Cappadocians and Pamphylians and Pisidians, and for them all your city constitutes a market and a place of meeting. And also many cities unknown to fame and many prosperous villages are subject to your sway. And a very great index of your power is found in the magnitude of the contributions with which you are assessed. For, in my opinion, just as those beasts of burden are judged to be most powerful which carry the greatest loads, so also it is reasonable to suppose that those cities are the most considerable which pay the largest assessments.