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πρῶτοι ... ἀνέσχοντο. The statement, taken literally, is an exaggeration, disproved by the conduct of the Greeks in resisting the conquest of Ionia (i. 169) and in the Ionic revolt (v. 2, 102, 110, 113; vi. 28). Yet the fear of the Mede is proved by Theognis 764 πίνωμεν χαρίεντα μετ᾽ ἀλλήλοισι λέγοντες μηδὲν τὸν Μήδων δειδιότες πόλεμον (cf. 775), and the first occasion on which the Greeks won a clear victory in the open field might well be described by an Athenian as the first occasion on which Greeks dared to face the Mede (cf. Introd. § 32 (2)). The Persians had borrowed the Medic dress (cf. i. 135; vii. 62).

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