over the Hellespont, and the canal of Athos, and the host of ships, considering that there was no salvation for them either by land or by sea, for there was no one to help them, and remembering that in the first expedition, when the Persians destroyed Eretria, no one came to their help, or would risk the danger of an alliance with them, they thought that this would happen again, at least on land; nor, when they looked to the sea, could they descry any hope of salvation; for they were attacked by a thousand vessels and more.  One chance of safety remained, slight indeed and desperate, but their only one.  They saw that on the former occasion they had gained a seemingly impossible victory, and borne up by this hope, they found that their only refuge was in themselves and in the Gods.  All these things created in them the spirit of friendship; there was the fear of the moment, and there was that higher fear, which they had acquired by obedience to their ancient laws, and which I have several times in the preceding discourse called reverence, of which the good man ought to be a willing servant, and of which the coward is independent and fearless.  If this fear had not possessed them, they would never have met the enemy, or defended their temples and sepulchres and their country, and everything that was near and dear to them, as they did; but little by little they would have been all scattered and dispersed.

Megillus:  Your words, Athenian, are quite true, and worthy of yourself and of your country.

Athenian:  They are true, Megillus; and to you, who have inherited the virtues of your ancestors, I may properly speak of the actions of that day.  And I would wish you and Cleinias to consider whether my words have not also a bearing on legislation; for I am not discoursing only for the pleasure of talking, but for the argument’s sake.  Please to remark that the experience both of ourselves and the Persians was, in a certain sense, the same; for as they led their people into utter servitude, so we too led ours into all freedom.  And now, how shall we proceed? for I would like you to observe that our previous arguments have good deal to say for themselves.

Megillus:  True; but I wish that you would give us a fuller explanation.

Athenian:  I will.  Under the ancient laws, my friends, the people was not as now the master, but rather the willing servant of the laws.

Megillus:  What laws do you mean?

Athenian:  In the first place, let us speak of the laws about music,—­that is to say, such music as then existed—­in order that we may trace the growth of the excess of freedom from the beginning.  Now music was early divided among us into certain kinds and manners.  One sort consisted of prayers to the Gods, which were called hymns; and there was another and opposite sort called lamentations, and another termed paeans, and another, celebrating the birth of Dionysus, called, I believe, ‘dithyrambs.’