8.

In Corinth a stranger is not compelled to stay with friends, for the city has inns where one can obtain food and lodgings. Nor is a stranger judged by his face, clothes or even the color of his skin, but solely by the weight of the bag in which he carries his money. I suspect that the majority of the city’s residents follow no honest trade but have as their sole profession the aiding of strangers to spend their money as rapidly as possible.

Upon our arrival we found many refugees from the Ionian cities. Most of them were wealthy people who, though they feared freedom and the will of the people, feared Persian vengeance even more. They were certain that reprisals awaited all the Ionian cities which had banished their tyrants, torn down the Persian buildings and replaced the ridge-stones of their walls. Many of the refugees were waiting for spring so that they might sail on the merchant vessels to the large Greek cities in Sicily or Italy and thus be as far from the Persians as possible.

“In the west is a greater Greece with rich cities and room to breathe,” they said. “The future lies in the West, while only destruction and ceaseless oppression lie in the East.”

But they had to admit that the uprising had spread as far as Cyprus, that Ionian ships ruled the sea, and that all the Ionian cities were again participating in the revolt.

With the arrival of spring we sailed to lonia on one of the first vessels.

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