Polybius

“When a state after having passed with safety through many and great dangers arrives at the higher degree of power, and possesses an entire and undisputed sovereignty, it is manifest that the long continuance of prosperity must give birth to costly and luxurious manners…” –Polybius

Arrian

“Our enemies are Medes and Persians; men who, for centuries, have lived soft and luxurious lives. We, of Macedon, for generations past, have been trained in the hard school of danger and war. Above all, we are free men, and they are slaves”. –Arrian