Herodotus
Xerxes Invades Greece
from The Histories
In this section, Herodotus relates the invasion of the Greek mainland by the
Persian king Xerxes in 480 B.C. According to this account, what are the differences
between the Greeks and the Persians?
After Egypt was subdued, Xerxes, being about to take in hand the expedition
against Athens, called together an assembly of the noblest Persians to learn their
opinions, and to lay before them his own designs. So, when the men were met, the
king spake thus to them:-
“Persians, I shall not be the first to bring in among you a new custom- I shall
but follow one which has come down to us from our forefathers. Never yet, as our
old men assure me, has our race reposed itself, since the time when Cyrus overcame
Astyages, and so we Persians wrested the sceptre from the Medes. Now in all this
God guides us; and we, obeying his guidance, prosper greatly. What need have I
to tell you of the deeds of Cyrus and Cambyses, and my own father Darius, how
many nations they conquered, and added to our dominions? Ye know right well what
great things they achieved. But for myself, I will say that, from the day on which
I mounted the throne, I have not ceased to consider by what means I may rival
those who have preceded me in this post of honour, and increase the power of Persia
as much as any of them. And truly I have pondered upon this, until at last I have
found out a way whereby we may at once win glory, and likewise get possession
of a land which is as large and as rich as our own nay, which is even more varied
in the fruits it bears- while at the same time we obtain satisfaction and revenge.
For this cause I have now called you together, that I may make known to you what
I design to do.
My intent is to throw a bridge over the Hellespont and march an army through
Europe against Greece, that thereby I may obtain vengeance from the Athenians
for the wrongs committed by them against the Persians and against my father. Your
own eyes saw the preparations of Darius against these men; but death came upon
him, and balked his hopes of revenge. In his behalf, therefore, and in behalf
of all the Persians, I undertake the war, and pledge myself not to rest till I
have taken and burnt Athens, which has dared, unprovoked, to injure me and my
father. Long since they came to Asia with Aristagoras of Miletus, who was one
of our slaves, and, entering Sardis, burnt its temples and its sacred groves;
again, more lately, when we made a landing upon their coast under Datis and Artaphernes,
how roughly they handled us ye do not need to be told. For these reasons, therefore,
I am bent upon this war; and I see likewise therewith united no few advantages.
Once let us subdue this people, and those neighbours of theirs who hold the land
of Pelops the Phrygian, and we shall extend the Persian territory as far as God’s
heaven reaches. The sun will then shine on no land beyond our borders; for I will
pass through Europe from one end to the other, and with your aid make of all the
lands which it contains one country.
For thus, if what I hear be true, affairs stand: the nations whereof I have
spoken, once swept away, there is no city, no country left in all the world, which
will venture so much as to withstand us in arms. By this course then we shall
bring all mankind under our yoke, alike those who are guilty and those who are
innocent of doing us wrong. For yourselves, if you wish to please me, do as follows:
when I announce the time for the army to meet together, hasten to the muster with
a good will, every one of you; and know that to the man who brings with him the
most gallant array I will give the gifts which our people consider the most honourable.
This then is what ye have to do. But to show that I am not self-willed in this
matter, I lay the business before you, and give you full leave to speak your minds
upon it openly.”
Xerxes, having so spoken, held his peace.
Whereupon Mardonius took the word, and said: “Of a truth, my lord, thou dost
surpass, not only all living Persians, but likewise those yet unborn. Most true
and right is each word that thou hast now uttered; but best of all thy resolve
not to let the Ionians who live in Europe- a worthless crew- mock us any more.
It were indeed a monstrous thing if, after conquering and enslaving the Sacae,
the Indians, the Ethiopians, the Assyrians, and many other mighty nations, not
for any wrong that they had done us, but only to increase our empire, we should
then allow the Greeks, who have done us such wanton injury, to escape our vengeance.
What is it that we fear in them?- not surely their numbers?- not the greatness
of their wealth? We know the manner of their battle- we know how weak their power
is; already have we subdued their children who dwell in our country, the Ionians,
Aeolians, and Dorians. I myself have had experience of these men when I marched
against them by the orders of thy father; and though I went as far as Macedonia,
and came but a little short of reaching Athens itself, yet not a soul ventured
to come out against me to battle.
And yet, I am told, these very Greeks are wont to wage wars against one another
in the most foolish way, through sheer perversity and doltishness. For no sooner
is war proclaimed than they search out the smoothest and fairest plain that is
to be found in all the land, and there they assemble and fight; whence it comes
to pass that even the conquerors depart with great loss: I say nothing of the
conquered, for they are destroyed altogether. Now surely, as they are all of one
speech, they ought to interchange heralds and messengers, and make up their differences
by any means rather than battle; or, at the worst, if they must needs fight one
against another, they ought to post themselves as strongly as possible, and so
try their quarrels. But, notwithstanding that they have so foolish a manner of
warfare, yet these Greeks, when I led my army against them to the very borders
of Macedonia, did not so much as think of offering me battle. Who then will dare,
O king! to meet thee in arms, when thou comest with all Asia’s warriors at thy
back, and with all her ships? For my part I do not believe the Greek people will
be so foolhardy. Grant, however, that I am mistaken herein, and that they are
foolish enough to meet us in open fight; in that case they will learn that there
are no such soldiers in the whole world as we. Nevertheless let us spare no pains;
for nothing comes without trouble; but all that men acquire is got by painstaking.”
When Mardonius had in this way softened the harsh speech of Xerxes, he too
held his peace.
The other Persians were silent; all feared to raise their voice against the
plan proposed to them. But Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, and uncle of Xerxes,
trusting to his relationship, was bold to speak:- “O king!” he said, “it is impossible,
if no more than one opinion is uttered, to make choice of the best: a man is forced
then to follow whatever advice may have been given him; but if opposite speeches
are delivered, then choice can be exercised. In like manner pure gold is not recognised
by itself; but when we test it along with baser ore, we perceive which is the
better. I counselled thy father, Darius, who was my own brother, not to attack
the Scyths, a race of people who had no town in their whole land. He thought however
to subdue those wandering tribes, and would not listen to me, but marched an army
against them, and ere he returned home lost many of his bravest warriors. Thou
art about, O king! to attack a people far superior to the Scyths, a people distinguished
above others both by land and sea. ‘Tis fit therefore that I should tell thee
what danger thou incurrest hereby.
Thou sayest that thou wilt bridge the Hellespont, and lead thy troops through
Europe against Greece. Now suppose some disaster befall thee by land or sea, or
by both. It may be even so; for the men are reputed valiant. Indeed one may measure
their prowess from what they have already done; for when Datis and Artaphernes
led their huge army against Attica, the Athenians singly defeated them. But grant
they are not successful on both elements. Still, if they man their ships, and,
defeating us by sea, sail to the Hellespont, and there destroy our bridge- that,
sire, were a fearful hazard.
And here ’tis not by my own mother wit alone that I conjecture what will happen;
but I remember how narrowly we escaped disaster once, when thy father, after throwing
bridges over the Thracian Bosphorus and the Ister, marched against the Scythians,
and they tried every sort of prayer to induce the Ionians, who had charge of the
bridge over the Ister, to break the passage. On that day, if Histiaeus, the king
of Miletus, had sided with the other princes, and not set himself to oppose their
views, the empire of the Persians would have come to nought. Surely a dreadful
thing is this even to hear said, that the king’s fortunes depended wholly on one
man.
“Think then no more of incurring so great a danger when no need presses, but
follow the advice I tender. Break up this meeting, and when thou hast well considered
the matter with thyself, and settled what thou wilt do, declare to us thy resolve.
I know not of aught in the world that so profits a man as taking good counsel
with himself; for even if things fall out against one’s hopes, still one has counselled
well, though fortune has made the counsel of none effect: whereas if a man counsels
ill and luck follows, he has gotten a windfall, but his counsel is none the less
silly.
Seest thou how God with his lightning smites always the bigger animals, and
will not suffer them to wax insolent, while those of a lesser bulk chafe him not?
How likewise his bolts fall ever on the highest houses and the tallest trees?
So plainly does He love to bring down everything that exalts itself. Thus ofttimes
a mighty host is discomfited by a few men, when God in his jealousy sends fear
or storm from heaven, and they perish in a way unworthy of them. For God allows
no one to have high thoughts but Himself. Again, hurry always brings about disasters,
from which huge sufferings are wont to arise; but in delay lie many advantages,
not apparent (it may be) at first sight, but such as in course of time are seen
of all. Such then is my counsel to thee, O king!
Artabanus loses the argument, and Xerxes prepares to invade Greece.
Here his first care was to send off heralds into Greece, who were to prefer
a demand for earth and water, and to require that preparations should be made
everywhere to feast the king. To Athens indeed and to Sparta he sent no such demand;
but these cities excepted, his messengers went everywhere. Now the reason why
he sent for earth and water to states which had already refused was this: he thought
that although they had refused when Darius made the demand, they would now be
too frightened to venture to say him nay. So he sent his heralds, wishing to know
for certain how it would be.
Xerxes, after this, made preparations to advance to Abydos, where the bridge
across the Hellespont from Asia to Europe was lately finished. Midway between
Sestos and Madytus in the Hellespontine Chersonese, and right over against Abydos,
there is a rocky tongue of land which runs out for some distance into the sea.
This is the place where no long time afterwards the Greeks under Xanthippus, the
son of Ariphron, took Artayctes the Persian, who was at that time governor of
Sestos, and nailed him living to a plank. He was the Artayctes who brought women
into the temple of Protesilaus at Elaeus, and there was guilty of most unholy
deeds.
Towards this tongue of land then, the men to whom the business was assigned
carried out a double bridge from Abydos; and while the Phoenicians constructed
one line with cables of white flax, the Egyptians in the other used ropes made
of papyrus. Now it is seven furlongs across from Abydos to the opposite coast.
When, therefore, the channel had been bridged successfully, it happened that a
great storm arising broke the whole work to pieces, and destroyed all that had
been done.
So when Xerxes heard of it he was full of wrath, and straightway gave orders
that the Hellespont should receive three hundred lashes, and that a pair of fetters
should be cast into it. Nay, I have even heard it said that he bade the branders
take their irons and therewith brand the Hellespont. It is certain that he commanded
those who scourged the waters to utter, as they lashed them, these barbarian and
wicked words: “Thou bitter water, thy lord lays on thee this punishment because
thou hast wronged him without a cause, having suffered no evil at his hands. Verily
King Xerxes will cross thee, whether thou wilt or no. Well dost thou deserve that
no man should honour thee with sacrifice; for thou art of a truth a treacherous
and unsavoury river.” While the sea was thus punished by his orders, he likewise
commanded that the overseers of the work should lose their heads.
Then they, whose business it was, executed the unpleasing task laid upon them;
and other master-builders were set over the work. . .
And now when all was prepared- the bridges, and the works at Athos, the breakwaters
about the mouths of the cutting, which were made to hinder the surf from blocking
up the entrances, and the cutting itself; and when the news came to Xerxes that
this last was completely finished- then at length the host, having first wintered
at Sardis, began its march towards Abydos, fully equipped, on the first approach
of spring. At the moment of departure, the sun suddenly quitted his seat in the
heavens, and disappeared, though there were no clouds in sight, but the sky was
clear and serene. Day was thus turned into night; whereupon Xerxes, who saw and
remarked the prodigy, was seized with alarm, and sending at once for the Magians,
inquired of them the meaning of the portent. They replied- “God is foreshowing
to the Greeks the destruction of their cities; for the sun foretells for them,
and the moon for us.” So Xerxes, thus instructed, proceeded on his way with great
gladness of heart.
The army had begun its march, when Pythius the Lydian, affrighted at the heavenly
portent, and emboldened by his gifts, came to Xerxes and said- “Grant me, O my
lord! a favour which is to thee a light matter, but to me of vast account.” Then
Xerxes’ who looked for nothing less than such a prayer as Pythius in fact preferred,
engaged to grant him whatever he wished, and commanded him to tell his wish freely.
So Pythius, full of boldness, went on to say:-
“O my lord! thy servant has five sons; and it chances that all are called upon
to join thee in this march against Greece. I beseech thee, have compassion upon
my years; and let one of my sons, the eldest, remain behind, to be my prop and
stay, and the guardian of my wealth. Take with thee the other four; and when thou
hast done all that is in thy heart, mayest thou come back in safety.”
But Xerxes was greatly angered, and replied to him: “Thou wretch! darest thou
speak to me of thy son, when I am myself on the march against Greece, with sons,
and brothers, and kinsfolk, and friends? Thou, who art my bond-slave, and art
in duty bound to follow me with all thy household, not excepting thy wife! Know
that man’s spirit dwelleth in his ears, and when it hears good things, straightway
it fills all his body with delight; but no sooner does it hear the contrary than
it heaves and swells with passion. As when thou didst good deeds and madest good
offers to me, thou wert not able to boast of having outdone the king in bountifulness,
so now when thou art changed and grown impudent, thou shalt not receive all thy
deserts, but less. For thyself and four of thy five sons, the entertainment which
I had of thee shall gain protection; but as for him to whom thou clingest above
the rest, the forfeit of his life shall be thy punishment.” Having thus spoken,
forthwith he commanded those to whom such tasks were assigned to seek out the
eldest of the sons of Pythius, and having cut his body asunder, to place the two
halves. one on the right, the other on the left, of the great road, so that the
army might march out between them.
Then the king’s orders were obeyed; and the army marched out between the two
halves of the carcase.
As Xerxes leads his troops in Greece, he asks a native Greek if the Greeks
will put up a fight.
Now after Xerxes had sailed down the whole line and was gone ashore, he sent
for Demaratus the son of Ariston, who had accompanied him in his march upon Greece,
and bespake him thus:-
“Demaratus, it is my pleasure at this time to ask thee certain things which
I wish to know. Thou art a Greek, and, as I hear from the other Greeks with whom
I converse, no less than from thine own lips, thou art a native of a city which
is not the meanest or the weakest in their land. Tell me, therefore, what thinkest
thou? Will the Greeks lift a hand against us? Mine own judgment is, that even
if all the Greeks and all the barbarians of the West were gathered together in
one place, they would not be able to abide my onset, not being really of one mind.
But I would fain know what thou thinkest hereon.”
Thus Xerxes questioned; and the other replied in his turn,- “O king! is it
thy will that I give thee a true answer, or dost thou wish for a pleasant one?”
Then the king bade him speak the plain truth, and promised that he would not
on that account hold him in less favour than heretofore.
So Demaratus, when he heard the promise, spake as follows:-
“O king! since thou biddest me at all risks speak the truth, and not say what
will one day prove me to have lied to thee, thus I answer. Want has at all times
been a fellow-dweller with us in our land, while Valour is an ally whom we have
gained by dint of wisdom and strict laws. Her aid enables us to drive out want
and escape thraldom. Brave are all the Greeks who dwell in any Dorian land; but
what I am about to say does not concern all, but only the Lacedaemonians. First
then, come what may, they will never accept thy terms, which would reduce Greece
to slavery; and further, they are sure to join battle with thee, though all the
rest of the Greeks should submit to thy will. As for their numbers, do not ask
how many they are, that their resistance should be a possible thing; for if a
thousand of them should take the field, they will meet thee in battle, and so
will any number, be it less than this, or be it more.”
When Xerxes heard this answer of Demaratus, he laughed and answered:-
“What wild words, Demaratus! A thousand men join battle with such an army as
this! Come then, wilt thou- who wert once, as thou sayest, their king- engage
to fight this very day with ten men? I trow not. And yet, if all thy fellow-citizens
be indeed such as thou sayest they are, thou oughtest, as their king, by thine
own country’s usages, to be ready to fight with twice the number. If then each
one of them be a match for ten of my soldiers, I may well call upon thee to be
a match for twenty. So wouldest thou assure the truth of what thou hast now said.
If, however, you Greeks, who vaunt yourselves so much, are of a truth men like
those whom I have seen about my court, as thyself, Demaratus, and the others with
whom I am wont to converse- if, I say, you are really men of this sort and size,
how is the speech that thou hast uttered more than a mere empty boast? For, to
go to the very verge of likelihood- how could a thousand men, or ten thousand,
or even fifty thousand, particularly if they were all alike free, and not under
one lord- how could such a force, I say, stand against an army like mine? Let
them be five thousand, and we shall have more than a thousand men to each one
of theirs. If, indeed, like our troops, they had a single master, their fear of
him might make them courageous beyond their natural bent; or they might be urged
by lashes against an enemy which far outnumbered them. But left to their own free
choice, assuredly they will act differently. For mine own part, I believe, that
if the Greeks had to contend with the Persians only, and the numbers were equal
on both sides, the Greeks would find it hard to stand their ground. We too have
among us such men as those of whom thou spakest- not many indeed, but still we
possess a few. For instance, some of my bodyguard would be willing to engage singly
with three Greeks. But this thou didst not know; and therefore it was thou talkedst
so foolishly.”
Demaratus answered him- “I knew, O king! at the outset, that if I told thee
the truth, my speech would displease thine ears. But as thou didst require me
to answer thee with all possible truthfulness, I informed thee what the Spartans
will do. And in this I spake not from any love that I bear them- for none knows
better than thou what my love towards them is likely to be at the present time,
when they have robbed me of my rank and my ancestral honours, and made me a homeless
exile, whom thy father did receive, bestowing on me both shelter and sustenance.
What likelihood is there that a man of understanding should be unthankful for
kindness shown him, and not cherish it in his heart? For mine own self, I pretend
not to cope with ten men, nor with two- nay, had I the choice, I would rather
not fight even with one. But, if need appeared, or if there were any great cause
urging me on, I would contend with right good will against one of those persons
who boast themselves a match for any three Greeks. So likewise the Lacedaemonians,
when they fight singly, are as good men as any in the world, and when they fight
in a body, are the bravest of all. For though they be free-men, they are not in
all respects free; Law is the master whom they own; and this master they fear
more than thy subjects fear thee. Whatever he commands they do; and his commandment
is always the same: it forbids them to flee in battle, whatever the number of
their foes, and requires them to stand firm, and either to conquer or die. If
in these words, O king! I seem to thee to speak foolishly, I am content from this
time forward evermore to hold my peace. I had not now spoken unless compelled
by thee. Certes, I pray that all may turn out according to thy wishes.” Such was
the answer of Demaratus; and Xerxes was not angry with him at all, but only laughed,
and sent him away with words of kindness.
Of course, Demaratus was correct, and the Greeks did put up a fight. In one
of the famous battles of ancient history, the Persian force met a much smaller
Greek army at a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae.
King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Malis called Trachinia, while
on their side the Greeks occupied the straits. These straits the Greeks in general
call Thermopylae (the Hot Gates); but the natives, and those who dwell in the
neighbourhood, call them Pylae (the Gates). Here then the two armies took their
stand; the one master of all the region lying north of Trachis, the other of the
country extending southward of that place to the verge of the continent.
The Greeks who at this spot awaited the coming of Xerxes were the following:-
From Sparta, three hundred men-at-arms; from Arcadia, a thousand Tegeans and Mantineans,
five hundred of each people; a hundred and twenty Orchomenians, from the Arcadian
Orchomenus; and a thousand from other cities: from Corinth, four hundred men;
from Phlius, two hundred; and from Mycenae eighty. Such was the number from the
Peloponnese. There were also present, from Boeotia, seven hundred Thespians and
four hundred Thebans.
Besides these troops, the Locrians of Opus and the Phocians had obeyed the
call of their countrymen, and sent, the former all the force they had, the latter
a thousand men. For envoys had gone from the Greeks at Thermopylae among the Locrians
and Phocians, to call on them for assistance, and to say- “They were themselves
but the vanguard of the host, sent to precede the main body, which might every
day be expected to follow them. The sea was in good keeping, watched by the Athenians,
the Eginetans, and the rest of the fleet. There was no cause why they should fear;
for after all the invader was not a god but a man; and there never had been, and
never would be, a man who was not liable to misfortunes from the very day of his
birth, and those misfortunes greater in proportion to his own greatness. The assailant
therefore, being only a mortal, must needs fall from his glory.” Thus urged, the
Locrians and the Phocians had come with their troops to Trachis.
The various nations had each captains of their own under whom they served;
but the one to whom all especially looked up, and who had the command of the entire
force, was the Lacedaemonian, Leonidas. Now Leonidas was the son of Anaxandridas,
who was the son of Leo, who was the son of Eurycratidas, who was the son of Anaxander,
who was the son of Eurycrates, who was the son of Polydorus, who was the son of
Alcamenes, who was the son of Telecles, who was the son of Archelaus, who was
the son of Agesilaus, who was the son of Doryssus, who was the son of Labotas,
who was the son of Echestratus, who was the son of Agis, who was the son of Eurysthenes,
who was the son of Aristodemus, who was the son of Aristomachus, who was the son
of Cleodaeus, who was the son of Hyllus, who was the son of Hercules.
Leonidas had come to be king of Sparta quite unexpectedly.
Having two elder brothers, Cleomenes and Dorieus, he had no thought of ever
mounting the throne. However, when Cleomenes died without male offspring, as Dorieus
was likewise deceased, having perished in Sicily, the crown fell to Leonidas,
who was older than Cleombrotus, the youngest of the sons of Anaxandridas, and,
moreover, was married to the daughter of Cleomenes. He had now come to Thermopylae,
accompanied by the three hundred men which the law assigned him, whom he had himself
chosen from among the citizens, and who were all of them fathers with sons living.
On his way he had taken the troops from Thebes, whose number I have already mentioned,
and who were under the command of Leontiades the son of Eurymachus. The reason
why he made a point of taking troops from Thebes, and Thebes only, was that the
Thebans were strongly suspected of being well inclined to the Medes. Leonidas
therefore called on them to come with him to the war, wishing to see whether they
would comply with his demand, or openly refuse, and disclaim the Greek alliance.
They, however, though their wishes leant the other way, nevertheless sent the
men.
The force with Leonidas was sent forward by the Spartans in advance of their
main body, that the sight of them might encourage the allies to fight, and hinder
them from going over to the Medes, as it was likely they might have done had they
seen that Sparta was backward. They intended presently, when they had celebrated
the Carneian festival, which was what now kept them at home, to leave a garrison
in Sparta, and hasten in full force to join the army. The rest of the allies also
intended to act similarly; for it happened that the Olympic festival fell exactly
at this same period. None of them looked to see the contest at Thermopylae decided
so speedily; wherefore they were content to send forward a mere advanced guard.
Such accordingly were the intentions of the allies.
The Greek forces at Thermopylae, when the Persian army drew near to the entrance
of the pass, were seized with fear; and a council was held to consider about a
retreat. It was the wish of the Peloponnesians generally that the army should
fall back upon the Peloponnese, and there guard the Isthmus. But Leonidas, who
saw with what indignation the Phocians and Locrians heard of this plan, gave his
voice for remaining where they were, while they sent envoys to the several cities
to ask for help, since they were too few to make a stand against an army like
that of the Medes.
While this debate was going on, Xerxes sent a mounted spy to observe the Greeks,
and note how many they were, and see what they were doing. He had heard, before
he came out of Thessaly, that a few men were assembled at this place, and that
at their head were certain Lacedaemonians, under Leonidas, a descendant of Hercules.
The horseman rode up to the camp, and looked about him, but did not see the whole
army; for such as were on the further side of the wall (which had been rebuilt
and was now carefully guarded) it was not possible for him to behold; but he observed
those on the outside, who were encamped in front of the rampart. It chanced that
at this time the Lacedaemonians held the outer guard, and were seen by the spy,
some of them engaged in gymnastic exercises, others combing their long hair. At
this the spy greatly marvelled, but he counted their number, and when he had taken
accurate note of everything, he rode back quietly; for no one pursued after him,
nor paid any heed to his visit. So he returned, and told Xerxes all that he had
seen.
Upon this, Xerxes, who had no means of surmising the truth- namely, that the
Spartans were preparing to do or die manfully- but thought it laughable that they
should be engaged in such employments, sent and called to his presence Demaratus
the son of Ariston, who still remained with the army. When he appeared, Xerxes
told him all that he had heard, and questioned him concerning the news, since
he was anxious to understand the meaning of such behaviour on the part of the
Spartans. Then Demaratus said-
“I spake to thee, O king! concerning these men long since, when we had but
just begun our march upon Greece; thou, however, didst only laugh at my words,
when I told thee of all this, which I saw would come to pass. Earnestly do I struggle
at all times to speak truth to thee, sire; and now listen to it once more. These
men have come to dispute the pass with us; and it is for this that they are now
making ready. ‘Tis their custom, when they are about to hazard their lives, to
adorn their heads with care. Be assured, however, that if thou canst subdue the
men who are here and the Lacedaemonians who remain in Sparta, there is no other
nation in all the world which will venture to lift a hand in their defence. Thou
hast now to deal with the first kingdom and town in Greece, and with the bravest
men.”
Then Xerxes, to whom what Demaratus said seemed altogether to surpass belief,
asked further “how it was possible for so small an army to contend with his?”
“O king!” Demaratus answered, “let me be treated as a liar, if matters fall
not out as I say.”
But Xerxes was not persuaded any the more. Four whole days he suffered to go
by, expecting that the Greeks would run away. When, however, he found on the fifth
that they were not gone, thinking that their firm stand was mere impudence and
recklessness, he grew wroth, and sent against them the Medes and Cissians, with
orders to take them alive and bring them into his presence. Then the Medes rushed
forward and charged the Greeks, but fell in vast numbers: others however took
the places of the slain, and would not be beaten off, though they suffered terrible
losses. In this way it became clear to all, and especially to the king, that though
he had plenty of combatants, he had but very few warriors. The struggle, however,
continued during the whole day.
Then the Medes, having met so rough a reception, withdrew from the fight; and
their place was taken by the band of Persians under Hydarnes, whom the king called
his “Immortals”: they, it was thought, would soon finish the business. But when
they joined battle with the Greeks, ’twas with no better success than the Median
detachment- things went much as before- the two armies fighting in a narrow space,
and the barbarians using shorter spears than the Greeks, and having no advantage
from their numbers. The Lacedaemonians fought in a way worthy of note, and showed
themselves far more skilful in fight than their adversaries, often turning their
backs, and making as though they were all flying away, on which the barbarians
would rush after them with much noise and shouting, when the Spartans at their
approach would wheel round and face their pursuers, in this way destroying vast
numbers of the enemy. Some Spartans likewise fell in these encounters, but only
a very few. At last the Persians, finding that all their efforts to gain the pass
availed nothing, and that, whether they attacked by divisions or in any other
way, it was to no purpose, withdrew to their own quarters.
During these assaults, it is said that Xerxes, who was watching the battle,
thrice leaped from the throne on which he sate, in terror for his army.
Next day the combat was renewed, but with no better success on the part of
the barbarians. The Greeks were so few that the barbarians hoped to find them
disabled, by reason of their wounds, from offering any further resistance; and
so they once more attacked them. But the Greeks were drawn up in detachments according
to their cities, and bore the brunt of the battle in turns- all except the Phocians,
who had been stationed on the mountain to guard the pathway. So, when the Persians
found no difference between that day and the preceding, they again retired to
their quarters.
Now, as the king was in great strait, and knew not how he should deal with
the emergency, Ephialtes, the son of Eurydemus, a man of Malis, came to him and
was admitted to a conference. Stirred by the hope of receiving a rich reward at
the king’s hands, he had come to tell him of the pathway which led across the
mountain to Thermopylae; by which disclosure he brought destruction on the band
of Greeks who had there withstood the barbarians. . .
The Greeks at Thermopylae received the first warning of the destruction which
the dawn would bring on them from the seer Megistias, who read their fate in the
victims as he was sacrificing. After this deserters came in, and brought the news
that the Persians were marching round by the hills: it was still night when these
men arrived. Last of all, the scouts came running down from the heights, and brought
in the same accounts, when the day was just beginning to break. Then the Greeks
held a council to consider what they should do, and here opinions were divided:
some were strong against quitting their post, while others contended to the contrary.
So when the council had broken up, part of the troops departed and went their
ways homeward to their several states; part however resolved to remain, and to
stand by Leonidas to the last.
It is said that Leonidas himself sent away the troops who departed, because
he tendered their safety, but thought it unseemly that either he or his Spartans
should quit the post which they had been especially sent to guard. For my own
part, I incline to think that Leonidas gave the order, because he perceived the
allies to be out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own
mind was made up. He therefore commanded them to retreat, but said that he himself
could not draw back with honour; knowing that, if he stayed, glory awaited him,
and that Sparta in that case would not lose her prosperity. For when the Spartans,
at the very beginning of the war, sent to consult the oracle concerning it, the
answer which they received from the Pythoness was “that either Sparta must be
overthrown by the barbarians, or one of her kings must perish.”
The remembrance of this answer, I think, and the wish to secure the whole glory
for the Spartans, caused Leonidas to send the allies away. This is more likely
than that they quarrelled with him, and took their departure in such unruly fashion.
To me it seems no small argument in favour of this view, that the seer also
who accompanied the army, Megistias, the Acarnanian- said to have been of the
blood of Melampus, and the same who was led by the appearance of the victims to
warn the Greeks of the danger which threatened them- received orders to retire
(as it is certain he did) from Leonidas, that he might escape the coming destruction.
Megistias, however, though bidden to depart, refused, and stayed with the army;
but he had an only son present with the expedition, whom he now sent away.
So the allies, when Leonidas ordered them to retire, obeyed him and forthwith
departed. Only the Thespians and the Thebans remained with the Spartans; and of
these the Thebans were kept back by Leonidas as hostages, very much against their
will. The Thespians, on the contrary, stayed entirely of their own accord, refusing
to retreat, and declaring that they would not forsake Leonidas and his followers.
So they abode with the Spartans, and died with them. Their leader was Demophilus,
the son of Diadromes.
At sunrise Xerxes made libations, after which he waited until the time when
the forum is wont to fill, and then began his advance. Ephialtes had instructed
him thus, as the descent of the mountain is much quicker, and the distance much
shorter, than the way round the hills, and the ascent. So the barbarians under
Xerxes began to draw nigh; and the Greeks under Leonidas, as they now went forth
determined to die, advanced much further than on previous days, until they reached
the more open portion of the pass. Hitherto they had held their station within
the wall, and from this had gone forth to fight at the point where the pass was
the narrowest. Now they joined battle beyond the defile, and carried slaughter
among the barbarians, who fell in heaps. Behind them the captains of the squadrons,
armed with whips, urged their men forward with continual blows. Many were thrust
into the sea, and there perished; a still greater number were trampled to death
by their own soldiers; no one heeded the dying. For the Greeks, reckless of their
own safety and desperate, since they knew that, as the mountain had been crossed,
their destruction was nigh at hand, exerted themselves with the most furious valour
against the barbarians.
By this time the spears of the greater number were all shivered, and with their
swords they hewed down the ranks of the Persians; and here, as they strove, Leonidas
fell fighting bravely, together with many other famous Spartans, whose names I
have taken care to learn on account of their great worthiness, as indeed I have
those of all the three hundred. There fell too at the same time very many famous
Persians: among them, two sons of Darius, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, his children
by Phratagune, the daughter of Artanes. Artanes was brother of King Darius, being
a son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames; and when he gave his daughter to the king,
he made him heir likewise of all his substance; for she was his only child.
Thus two brothers of Xerxes here fought and fell. And now there arose a fierce
struggle between the Persians and the Lacedaemonians over the body of Leonidas,
in which the Greeks four times drove back the enemy, and at last by their great
bravery succeeded in bearing off the body. This combat was scarcely ended when
the Persians with Ephialtes approached; and the Greeks, informed that they drew
nigh, made a change in the manner of their fighting. Drawing back into the narrowest
part of the pass, and retreating even behind the cross wall, they posted themselves
upon a hillock, where they stood all drawn up together in one close body, except
only the Thebans. The hillock whereof I speak is at the entrance of the straits,
where the stone lion stands which was set up in honour of Leonidas. Here they
defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the
others resisting with their hands and teeth; till the barbarians, who in part
had pulled down the wall and attacked them in front, in part had gone round and
now encircled them upon every side, overwhelmed and buried the remnant which was
left beneath showers of missile weapons.
Thus nobly did the whole body of Lacedaemonians and Thespians behave; but nevertheless
one man is said to have distinguished himself above all the rest, to wit, Dieneces
the Spartan. A speech which he made before the Greeks engaged the Medes, remains
on record. One of the Trachinians told him, “Such was the number of the barbarians,
that when they shot forth their arrows the sun would be darkened by their multitude.”
Dieneces, not at all frightened at these words, but making light of the Median
numbers, answered “Our Trachinian friend brings us excellent tidings. If the Medes
darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade.” Other sayings too of a
like nature are reported to have been left on record by this same person.
Next to him two brothers, Lacedaemonians, are reputed to have made themselves
conspicuous: they were named Alpheus and Maro, and were the sons of Orsiphantus.
There was also a Thespian who gained greater glory than any of his countrymen:
he was a man called Dithyrambus, the son of Harmatidas.
The slain were buried where they fell; and in their honour, nor less in honour
of those who died before Leonidas sent the allies away, an inscription was set
up, which said:-
Against three hundred myriads bravely stand. This was in honour of all. Another was for the Spartans alone:-
Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell
That here, obeying her behests, we fell.