Tales from Herodotus

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21812, 18 June 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

Tales from Herodotus

There was in the army of Xerxes a Spartan exile named Demaratus. When he had reviewed all his forces, the king called this man to him and asked him, “Do you think that any of the Greeks will stand against me when they see all my host? Will they not rather run away and hasten to submit?’’ Demaratus replied, “O King, I cannot answer you about the other Greeks, but of the Spartans, if a thousand cf them march out. or more or less, be assured that these will stand and fight.” Then Xerxes said, “No man who is alone can fight against 10 men, however great his strength; but we shall outnumber the Greeks by many more than 10 to one, so how will they be able to fight against us? It is true that if they had a tyrant over them, he might compel them to go out and die fighting; but the Spartans have no tyrant, and they will consider their own safety and seek to avoid fighting.” Demaratus answered, “They have a master over them, the law, which they fear more than your soldiers fear you; and it always orders the same thing, never to fear the enemy.” But Xerxes paid no attention to his words. On the Greek side, fleet and army had to work together: it was no use holding the mountain passes if the

Persian fleet could occupy the country behind them, and it was no use to defeat the Persian fleet and let the army over-run the mainland. So the Greek commanders looked for a place where the fleet and army could support each other. They found it at Thermopylae. At this spot the only route into Greece led at the foot of steep cliffs whicn stood a few yards from the sea. The narrow pass was defended by an old wall; the Greeks decided to repair it and await the Persians. The island of Euboea lay along the coast. If the Greeks held the inside channel, the Persians would either have to fight in a narrow space where their superior numbers would not help them, or else risk the dangerous voyage round the outside of Euboea. Before ever they saw the Greek fleet, the Persians lost many ships in a storm. There was some indecisive fighting at Artemisium, at the northward end of the strait; then a squadron was detached to * sail round Euboea and take the Greeks in the rear. These ships ftlso were wrecked, and those which

9—THERMOPYLAE

(By W.EM.)

survived were destroyed by a Greek squadron. Meanwhile the Spartan king, Leonidas, had occupied Thermopylae with 300 Spartans and a few thousand other Greeks. The Persian army arrived and encamped outside the pass. Xerxes sent a scout to examine the Greek position; he rode almost up to the wall and saw the Spartans exercising themselves and combing their long hair. He saw everything and rode away unmolested. Xerxes did not attack for four days, hoping that the Greeks would lose heart or that his fleet would turn the position. On the fifth, he attacked; his officers drove their men on with whips, so that they were forced into the sea or were trampled under foot in the narrow place; and thousands fell under the long spears of the Spartans. On the next day, he sent his “Immortals" against the Spartans; these were his best troops, and had their name because when one died his place was filled at once, so that their number was always the same. But they were no more successful; three times, it is said, Xerxes sprang from his throne in pity for them. The next day there came into the Persian camp a Greek named Ephialtes; for a reward, he promised

to lead the Persians by a mountain track round to the back of the Spartan position. That m Sht, a Persian general, Hydarnes, led his division up the valley and into the mountains. At one point the track was guarded by a thousand Greeks. They heard the rustle of the leaves as the Persians marched up through the oak forests, and prepar®*! to fight; but Hydarnes brushed them aside and continued along the tj.gck Down in the pass, foe Spartan priest had sacrificed, and after reading the omens he told Le 2^ a ® he was to die that day. Soon afterwards there came deserters from the Persian camp who told him that Hydarnes had started up the track Into the mountains. He hoped that the thousand men who were there might stop the Persians: and m an y case it was unbecoming for a Spartan king to retreat before an enemy; so although he expected to be cut off and surrounded he determined to stay where he was. He sent back moat of his troops, but kept his three hundred Spartans and about a thousand allies.

When the Persians attacked, they no longer stayed in the shelter of the wall, but went out into the open to meet them. They fought desperately. When nearly all their spears; were broken, they withdrew to a little hill and defended themselves with their swords. Before evening they were all slain. But it so happened that two of the three hundred had been away on sick leave; they were blinded with a disease of the eyes. When they heard that Leonidas was likely to be surrounded, one of them called s< tv, vai K niad® him lead him *hat should die fighting, the other whose name was Aristodemus, returned to Sparta. There his countrymen held him in such contempt that no one would speak to him or give him fire; and coward, lm ° Wn #s Arig * ode »us the