OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ.
King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Trachis, and the Greeks
pitched their camp in the Pass. (This Pass is called Thermopylæ, that
is to say, the Hot Gates, by the greater part of the Greeks, but the
inhabitants of the country call it Pylæ, that is to say, the Gates.)
Here then the two armies were set over against each other, the one
being master of all the country from the Pass northward, and the other
having that which lay to the southward. Now the Greeks that abode
the coming of the Persians in this place were these--three hundred
Spartans, heavy-armed men; and men of Tegea and Matinea a thousand,
from each five hundred, and from Orchomenus one hundred and twenty,
and from the rest of Arcadia a thousand. From Corinth there came four
hundred, and from Phlius two hundred, and from Mycenæ eighty. So many
came from the Peloponnesus; of the Bœotians there came seven hundred
from Thespiæ and four hundred from Thebes. Besides these there had
come at the summons the Locrians of Opus with all the men that they
had, and a thousand Phocians. For these the other Greeks had summoned
to their help, saying to them by messengers, “We all that are here
are come but as the vanguard of the host; as for the others we look
for their coming day by day. The sea also is in safe keeping, being
watched by the men of Athens and the men of Ægina, and such others as
have been appointed to this work. Remember also that he who now comes
against Greece is no god, but a man only; nor is there any mortal, nor
ever will be, with whom from the very day of his birth misfortune is
not always close at hand, and the greater the man the greater also the
misfortune. Wherefore it may be believed that he who now comes against
us, being but a mortal man, may fail of his purpose.” When the Phocians
and Locrians heard these words, they came to the help of the Greeks
at Trachis. All of these had commanders of their own, for every city
one; but he that was most admired and had the chief command of the army
was a Spartan, Leonidas by name, being the twenty-first in descent
from Hercules, and having obtained the kingdom in Sparta contrary
to expectation. For he had two brothers that were older than he, to
wit, Cleomenes and Dorieus, and so had no thoughts of the kingdom.
Nevertheless, when Cleomenes died without male offspring, and Dorieus
also was dead, having perished in Sicily, the kingdom came to Leonidas,
for he was older than Cleombrotus. (This Cleombrotus was the youngest
of the sons of Anaxandrides.) This Leonidas had to wife Gorgo, the
daughter of Cleomenes; and now he went to Thermopylæ, taking with him
three hundred men according to the custom of the kings of Sparta. These
three hundred he had chosen from such as had male children. On his
way he took with him the four hundred men of Thebes, their commander
being Leontiades. Now the cause why Leonidas made much account of
taking these men rather than any other of the Greeks was this. It was
commonly laid to the charge of the Thebans that they favored the cause
of the Persians. For this cause he summoned them to the war, seeking
to know whether they would send the men or would plainly refuse the
alliance of the Greeks. And the Thebans, though they wished otherwise,
nevertheless sent the men. The Spartans indeed sent on Leonidas and his
company beforehand, purposing themselves to follow. For they thought
that when the allies knew that these were already gone, they would
also make ready; and they feared lest these should favor the Persians,
if they themselves should be seen to linger. And they purposed, when
they should have kept the feast--for it chanced to be the feast of the
Carneia--to leave a garrison in Sparta, and to follow with their whole
force. And the rest of the allies were minded to do the same thing; and
it so befell that the festival of Olympia was being kept at this time.
But when they sent these men before them, they had no thought that
matters at Thermopylæ would be brought to an end so speedily.
Now the Greeks that were at Thermopylæ, when they saw that the Persians
were now near to the mouth of the Pass, were sore afraid, and took
counsel together whether they should not depart. The Peloponnesians,
for the most part, desired to return to the Peloponnesus and guard
the Isthmus; but Leonidas, seeing that the Phocians and Locrians were
greatly vexed at this counsel, gave his sentence that they should
remain, and should send messengers to the cities of the Greeks, bidding
them send all the help that they could, for that they were over few to
stand up against so great a host.
While the Greeks were holding a council on this matter, Xerxes sent a
scout, a horseman, to see how many in number they were, and what they
were doing. Now the man heard, while he was yet in Thessaly, that a
small company of men were gathered together in this place, the chief
of them being Spartans, and the leader King Leonidas, of the house
and lineage of Hercules. And when he rode up to the place where the
army was encamped, he saw a part of the men. The whole army he saw
not, for they had built again the wall that was across the Pass, and
were guarding it; and they that were within the wall he saw not; but
they that were without the wall, having their arms piled besides them,
he saw. Now it so chanced that they who had their place at the time
without the wall were the Spartans. These the horseman saw busy with
exercises and combing their hair. All this he much marveled to see,
finding also how few they were in number. And when he had learned every
thing for certain, he rode back again in peace; for no one pursued
after him, or indeed paid him any heed whatsoever. And when he was come
back he told Xerxes all the things that he had seen. But when Xerxes
heard these things he could by no means understand that which was
indeed the truth; how these men were making ready to slay as many as
might be of their enemy, and so perish. Thinking therefore that the
whole thing was but foolishness, he sent for Demaratus, for the man was
yet with the army. And when Demaratus stood before him he asked him
about these things, desiring to know what they signified. And Demaratus
said, “Thou hast heard from me, O King, the truth concerning these men
before this, even when we were first beginning this war; but when thou
heardest it thou didst but laugh at me, though I told thee that which
I knew would surely come to pass. For indeed, O King, I strive always
with my whole heart to tell thee the truth. Hear, therefore, yet again
what I say. These men are come hither to contend with us for the Pass;
and this they now prepare to do; and they have this custom among them,
that when they are about to put their lives in peril they adorn their
heads with exceeding care. Know, also, O King, that if thou canst
subdue these men, and such others of their nation as have been left
behind in Sparta, there is no nation upon the earth that will abide
thy coming or lift up a hand against thee; for this city that thou now
fightest against is the most honorable in all Greece, and these men are
the bravest.”
But these things seemed to Xerxes to be wholly beyond belief; and he
asked again the second time, “In what manner will these men, being so
few, as we know them to be, fight with my great army?”
But Demaratus answered this only, “O King, deal with me as with a liar
if every thing fall not out even as I have said.” Notwithstanding, he
could not persuade the King that it was so in truth.
Four days, therefore, did the King suffer to pass, hoping always that
the Greeks would flee away from their place. But on the fifth day,
seeing that they were not departed, but were full, as it seemed to him,
of impudence and folly, he grew angry, and sent against them the Medes
and the Cissians, giving them a command that they should take these
Greeks alive and bring them before him. But when these men came up and
fell upon the Greeks, many of them were slain. Then others came up into
their places and ceased not from fighting, though indeed they suffered
a very grievous slaughter, so that it was manifest to all men, and more
especially to the King, that though he had very many that bore arms,
yet had he but few men of war. And this battle endured throughout the
whole day.
The Medes, having been thus roughly handled, fell back and the Persians
took up the fighting in their place, even the Ten Thousand that had the
name of the Immortals, whom Hydarnes commanded. These men thought to
finish the matter very speedily. Nevertheless, when they came to deal
with the Greeks, they accomplished nothing more than had the Medes, but
fared just as ill, for indeed they fought in a narrow place, and their
spears were shorter than the spears of the Greeks, and their numbers
availed them not at all. As for the Spartans, they fought in a notable
way, showing themselves more skillful by far in battle than were their
enemies. Then they would sometimes turn their backs, and make as though
they were all fled; and when the barbarians saw them flee they would
pursue after them with much shouting and uproar. Then the Spartans
would turn again and stand face to face with the barbarians; and when
they turned they would slay such multitudes as could not be counted.
Here also there fell certain of the Spartans, but a few only. In the
end, when the Persians after many trials could not by any means gain
the Pass, neither by attacking in division nor by any other means, they
went back to their camp. And twice, while these battles were being
fought, did Xerxes leap from his seat in great fear for his army.
The next day also the barbarians fought, but fared no better than
before; for they hoped that the Greeks, being few in number, had been
overcome with their wounds, and would not be able any more to stand up
against them. But these had been ordered in companies, according to
their nations, and so fought, the one coming in the place of another.
Only the Phocians did not fight, being set over the mountain that
they might guard the path. Wherefore the Persians, finding that they
prevailed not one whit more than before, turned back to the camp.
The King, therefore, was greatly perplexed what he should do. But while
he considered there came to him a certain Ephialtes, a man of Malea,
and desired to talk with him. This man, hoping to receive a great
reward from the King, discovered to him the path that led over the
mountain to Thermopylæ. Thus did he bring to destruction the Greeks
that abode in the Pass. In after time, for fear of the Spartans, this
man fled into Thessaly. And when he fled the wardens of the Pass put a
price upon his life. This they did when the Amphictyons met at Pylæ.
And as time went on Ephialtes came back from banishment and went to
Anticyra. There a certain Athenades slew him, not for this treachery,
but for some other cause. But the Spartans honored Athenades not the
less on this account. This was the end of Ephialtes. As for the other
story, that there were two others, to wit, Phanagoras and Corydallus,
that led the Persians by this path, it is not to be believed. For the
wardens of the Pass set a price not on these two, but on Ephialtes,
having without doubt a perfect knowledge of the whole matter. Also it
is well known that Ephialtes went into banishment for this cause. Let
him therefore be named as having done this great wickedness.
The King was greatly pleased at the thing which this man undertook,
that is to say, the showing of the path; and he sent Hydarnes and the
Ten Thousand that were called the Immortals. These setting out from
the camp about the time of the lighting of the lamps, crossed over the
river Asopus, and marched all night, having Œta on their right and
Trachis on their left. And when it was morning they were found close to
the top of the mountain. At the first, indeed, the Phocians that had
been set to guard the path knew not of their coming, for the whole
of the mountain was covered with a wood of oak trees. But when they
came near, the morning being calm, there was heard a loud rustling, as
indeed could not but be, the Persians treading the leaves under their
feet. Then the Phocians leaped up and took their arms, and forthwith
the barbarians appeared; and the Phocians, when they saw the armed men,
were greatly astonished; for when they had not thought to deal with any
enemy whatsoever, lo! there was an army at hand. Hydarnes indeed was
much troubled, fearing that the men that he saw were Spartans. And he
inquired of Ephialtes who they might be; and when he knew the certainty
of the matter he commanded the Persians to make them ready for battle.
Then the Phocians, finding that the arrows fell very thickly upon them,
and thinking that the Persians were set upon their destruction, fled to
the top of the mountain, and prepared to meet their death. But Hydarnes
and Ephialtes took no heed of them, and went down the side of the
mountain with all the speed they could.
As for the Greeks that were in the Pass, they knew of the doom that
should come upon them so soon as the day appeared, first of all
from the soothsayer Megistias (for Megistias learned it from the
sacrifices). Afterward came in certain deserters with tidings that the
Persians had made a compass by the path across the mountains; lastly,
when the day was breaking, came the scouts running down from the hills.
Then the Greeks held a council, considering what they should do; and
they were divided; for some would not leave the post where they had
been set, and others were very eager to depart. And when the council
was broken up, some departed going each to their own cities, and others
made ready to abide in the Pass with Leonidas. Some say, indeed, that
Leonidas sent away them that departed, having a care for their safety;
but it did not become him and the Spartans that were with him, he said,
to leave their post that they had come to keep at the first. And indeed
it seems fit to be believed that Leonidas, seeing that the others were
faint-hearted and would not willingly abide the peril, bade them go,
but that he himself held it to be a shameful thing to depart. For he
knew that he should get for himself great glory by abiding at his post,
and that the prosperity of Sparta should not be destroyed. For when
the Spartans at the very beginning of the war sent to inquire of the
Pythia, seeking to know what should befall them, there was given to
them an oracle, that one of two things must come to pass, to wit, that
Sparta must perish, or that one of their kings must fall in battle.
And that oracle was this--
“Dwellers in Sparta’s proud domains,
Hear what the will of fate ordains:
Or falls your noble city low
Beneath the feet of Persian foe;
Or all your borders shall bewail
A Zeus-descended monarch slain;
Nor bull nor lion shall avail
The foe’s fierce onset to restrain;
Lo! onward moves his dark array,
Mighty as Zeus, and will not stay
Till King or city be his prey.”
Remembering therefore this oracle, and desiring to get for the Spartans
all the glory of this matter Leonidas sent away the others. This is
rather to be believed than that they had a controversy in the council,
and so departed in an unseemly fashion and without order.
And that this was so is manifest both from other things and also from
what befell Megistias the soothsayer. This Megistias was an Acarnanian
and of the house, it was reported, of Melampus; and Leonidas would have
sent him away together with the others, lest he should perish with
them. Megistias indeed would not depart, but he sent away his son who
chanced to be with the army; for indeed he had no other son but him
only.
The others thereupon hearkened to the words of Leonidas and departed;
but the Thespians and the Thebans only abode with the Spartans. This
the Thebans indeed did against their will, for Leonidas kept these to
be as hostages; but the Thespians remained of their own free will,
affirming that they would not leave Leonidas and his companions.
Wherefore they abode in the Pass and perished together with the
Spartans. Their leader was Demophilus.