12-15-2011, 07:43 AM
Well.. yes, they did regret the fact that Greeks kept on weakening themselves through "civil" war and "using" (more like being used by) barbarians in order to promote their own individual interests. We can see such comments much before the Roman advent into Greek politics, when it is the Persians who keep the flow of Persian gold to ensure that Greece remains in perpetual war. Xenophon, Thucydides... Polybius even scolds Epirotans for siding with Illyrians instead of putting their trust in Greek alliances. Never though does anyone even propose a political union... this would sound like science fiction to them.
As for the 10,000... why should they inspire dreams of political unity? What they did inspire and prove, was that the Persians could be conquered by a strong Greek army. It is them that inspired Isocrates and with him Philip and Alexander but not just them. We see this comment many times expressed by Laconians and Athenians... Everyone seems to have entertained such thoughts after the exploits of the 10,000 and the subsequent campaigns of the Lacedaemonians in Ionia.
As for the 10,000... why should they inspire dreams of political unity? What they did inspire and prove, was that the Persians could be conquered by a strong Greek army. It is them that inspired Isocrates and with him Philip and Alexander but not just them. We see this comment many times expressed by Laconians and Athenians... Everyone seems to have entertained such thoughts after the exploits of the 10,000 and the subsequent campaigns of the Lacedaemonians in Ionia.
