The Good Book

by A. C. Grayling

  12. Only the Thespians and the Thebans remained; and of these the Thebans were kept back by Leonidas as hostages, very much against their will.

  13. The Thespians, on the contrary, stayed willingly, refusing to retreat, and declaring that they would not forsake Leonidas and his followers.

  14. So they stayed with the Spartans, and died with them. Their leader was Demophilus, the son of Diadromes.

  15. At sunrise Xerxes made his preparations, then waited until the time of morning when it is usual for city forums to fill, before beginning his advance.

  16. Ephialtes had advised this because the descent of the mountain is much quicker, and the distance much shorter, than the way round the hills.

  17. So the barbarians under Xerxes began to approach; and the Greeks under Leonidas, as they now went out determined to die,

  18. Advanced much further than on previous days, until they reached the more open portion of the pass.

  19. Hitherto they had held their station within the wall, and from this had sallied out to fight at the point where the pass was narrowest.

  20. Now they joined battle beyond the defile, and made great slaughter among the barbarians, who fell in heaps.

  21. Behind them the captains of the Persian squadrons, armed with whips, urged their men forward with continual blows.

  22. Many were thrust into the sea, and there perished; a still greater number were trampled to death by their own soldiers;

  23. No one heeded the dying. For the Greeks, reckless of their own safety and desperate,

  24. Since they knew that, as the mountain had been crossed, their destruction was at hand,

  25. Exerted themselves with the most furious valour against the barbarians.

  26. By this time the spears of most of the Greeks were shivered, so with their swords they cut down the ranks of the Persians;

  27. And here, as they strove, Leonidas fell fighting bravely, together with many other famous Spartans, whose names are imperishable on account of their great worthiness, all three hundred of them.

  28. There fell too at the same time many famous Persians: among them, two sons of Darius, Abrocomes and Hyperanthes, his children by Phratagune, the daughter of Artanes.

  29. 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 bravery succeeded in carrying away the body.

  30. This combat was scarcely ended when the Persians with Ephialtes approached; and the Greeks, informed that the Persian elite troops were closing in behind them, made a change in the manner of their fighting.

  31. Drawing back into the narrowest part of the pass, and retreating even behind the cross wall, they posted themselves on a hillock,

  32. Where they stood drawn up together in one close body, except only the Thebans.

  33. This hillock is at the entrance of the pass, where the stone lion now stands which was set up in honour of Leonidas.

  34. Here the Greeks defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands and teeth;

  35. 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 on every side,

  36. Overwhelmed the remnant beneath showers of missiles.

  Chapter 73

  1. Thus nobly did the whole body of Lacedaemonians and Thespians behave;

  2. But one man is said to have distinguished himself above the rest, namely, Dieneces the Spartan.

  3. A speech he made before the Greeks fought the Persians remains on record.

  4. One of the Trachinians told him, such was the number of the barbarians, that when they shot their arrows the sun would be darkened by their multitude.

  5. Dieneces, not at all frightened at these words, answered, ‘Our Trachinian friend brings us excellent tidings.

  6. ‘If the barbarians darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade.’

  7. Next to Dieneces a pair of Spartan brothers are reputed to have made themselves conspicuous: they were Alpheus and Maro, the sons of Orsiphantus.

  8. There was also a Thespian who gained greater glory than any of his countrymen: he was Dithyrambus, the son of Harmatidas.

  9. 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:

  10. ‘Here did four thousand men from Pelops’ land/against three hundred thousand bravely stand.’ This was in honour of all.

  11. Another was for the Spartans alone: ‘Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell/that here, obeying her orders, we fell.’

  12. These inscriptions, and the pillars likewise, were all set up by the Amphictyons.

  13. The Thebans under the command of Leontiades remained with the Greeks, and fought against the barbarians only so long as necessity compelled them.

  14. No sooner did they see victory inclining to the Persians, and the Greeks under Leonidas hurrying with all speed towards the hillock,

  15. Than they moved away from their companions, and with hands upraised advanced towards the barbarians,

  16. Exclaiming, as was indeed true, that they for their part wished well to the Persians, and had been among the first to give earth and water to the king;

  17. Force alone had brought them to Thermopylae; and so they must not be blamed for the slaughter which had befallen the king’s army.

  18. These words, the truth of which was attested by the Thessalians, sufficed to obtain the Thebans the grant of their lives.

  19. However, their good fortune was not without some drawback; for several of them were slain by the barbarians on their first approach;

  20. And the rest, who were the greater number, had the royal mark branded upon their bodies by the command of Xerxes; Leontiades, their captain, being the first to suffer.

  21. Thus fought the Greeks at Thermopylae. And Xerxes, after the fight was over, called for Demaratus to question him; and began as follows:

  22. ‘Demaratus, you are a worthy man; your truth-speaking proves it. All has happened as you warned. Now then, tell me,

  23. ‘How many Lacedaemonians are there left, and of those left how many are such brave warriors as these? Or are they all alike?’

  24. ‘King!’ replied the other, ‘the whole number of the Lacedaemonians is very great; and many are the cities which they inhabit.

  25. ‘But what you really need to know is that there is a city of Lacedaemon called Sparta, which contains within it about eight thousand full-grown men.

  26. ‘They are, one and all, equal to those who have fought here. The other Lacedaemonians are brave men, but not such warriors as these.’

  27. ‘Tell me now, Demaratus,’ said Xerxes, ‘how we can subdue these Spartans with least loss to ourselves.

  28. ‘You must know all the paths of their counsels, since you were once their king.’ Demaratus answered, ‘I advise this: send three hundred vessels from your fleet to attack the shores of Laconia.

  29. ‘There is an island called Cythera in those parts, not far from the coast, concerning which Chilon, one of our wisest men, remarked,

  30. ‘That Sparta would be better off if that island sank to the bottom of the sea, so constantly did he expect that it would give occasion to a project such as I now recommend.

  31. ‘Send your ships to that island, and the Spartans will keep their troops at home, fearing an attack on their very gates.

  32. ‘They will not then give any help to the rest of the Greeks. In this way all Greece can be subdued; and then Sparta, left to herself, will be powerless.

  33. ‘But if you will not take this advice, I will tell you what will happen. When you reach the Peloponnese, you will find the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow neck of land, where all the Peloponnesians will be gathered together;

  34. ‘And there you will have to fight bloodier battles
than any you have yet witnessed. If you follow my plan, the Isthmus and the cities of the Peloponnese will yield to you without a battle.’

  Chapter 74

  1. Achaeamenes, brother of Xerxes, and commander of the fleet, immediately spoke, fearing that Xerxes would do as Demaratus advised.

  2. ‘Demaratus is wrong, and speaks from resentment of your success. We have lost four hundred vessels by shipwreck;

  3. ‘If three hundred more are sent away, our enemies will become a match for us.

  4. ‘Let us keep our whole fleet in one body, and it will be dangerous for them to venture an attack, as they will certainly be no match for us.

  5. ‘Besides, while our sea and land forces together advance, the fleet and army can each help the other; but if they are parted, no aid will come from one to the other.

  6. ‘Keep all together; if the Lacedaemonians come out against the Persians to battle, they will not be able to repair the disaster which has befallen them here.’

  7. Xerxes replied, ‘Achaeamenes, I agree with you. But Demaratus advised what he thought best; it is just that his judgement is not so good as yours.

  8. ‘Never will I believe that he does not wish my cause well; for that is disproved both by his former counsels, and also by the circumstances of the case.

  9. ‘A citizen does indeed envy any fellow-citizen who is luckier than himself, and often hates him secretly;

  10. ‘If such a man be called on for counsel, he will not give his best thoughts, unless indeed he is a man of exalted virtue, and such are rarely found.

  11. ‘But a friend of another country delights in the good fortune of his foreign bond-friend, and will give him, when asked, the best advice in his power.

  12. ‘Therefore I warn all men not to speak ill of Demaratus, who is my bond-friend.’

  13. Then Xerxes proceeded to pass among the slain, looking for the body of Leonidas, whom he knew to have been the Lacedaemonian leader.

  14. On finding it he ordered that the head should be cut off, and the torso and limbs crucified upon a cross.

  15. This proves most clearly that King Xerxes had more hatred for Leonidas, while he was still in life, than for any other man.

  16. He would not otherwise have used his body so shamefully. For the Persians, more than any other nation, usually pay high honours to those who are valiant in battle.

  Chapter 75

  1. Meanwhile the Greek fleet lay at Artemisium, two hundred and seventy ships not counting the penteconters, under the command of the Spartan Eurybiades, son of Eurycleides.

  2. A Spartan had been appointed admiral because the allies recognised that if a Lacedaemonian did not take the command, they would break up the fleet, for never would they serve under the Athenians.

  3. From the outset, even before the embassy went to Sicily to solicit alliance, there had been a talk of entrusting the Athenians with the command at sea;

  4. But the allies were averse to the plan, so the Athenians did not press it, for there was nothing they had so much at heart as the salvation of Greece,

  5. And they knew that, if they quarrelled among themselves about the command, Greece would be defeated.

  6. In this they were right, for internal strife is a thing as much worse than war carried on by a united people, as war itself is worse than peace.

  7. When the Greek fleet arrived at Artemisium, and saw the number of Persian ships at anchor near Aphetae,

  8. And the abundance of Xerxes’ troops everywhere, they were full of alarm at what they saw,

  9. And began to speak of drawing back from Artemisium towards the inner parts of their country.

  10. When the Euboeans heard this, they went to Eurybiades, and begged him to wait while they removed their families to safety.

  11. But he refused, so they went to Themistocles, the Athenian commander, to whom they gave a bribe of thirty talents, on his promise that the fleet would remain and risk a battle in defence of Euboea.

  12. Themistocles succeeded in keeping the fleet by giving Eurybiades five talents out of the thirty, which he gave as if they came from himself;

  13. And having in this way persuaded the admiral, he approached Adeimantus, the son of Ocytus, the Corinthian leader,

  14. Who was the only remonstrant now, and who still threatened to sail away from Artemisium and not wait for the other captains.

  15. Themistocles said to him, ‘Would you forsake us? By no means! I will pay you better for remaining than the Persian would for leaving your friends,’

  16. And immediately sent on board Adeimantus’ ship a present of three talents of silver.

  17. So these two captains were won by gifts, and came over to the views of Themistocles, who was thereby able to gratify the Euboeans.

  18. He made his own gain on the occasion; for he kept the rest of the money, and no one knew of it. The commanders who took the gifts thought that the sums were furnished by Athens.

  19. So it came to pass that the Greeks stayed at Euboea and there gave battle to the enemy. Now the battle took place as follows.

  20. The barbarians reached Aphetae early in the afternoon, and then saw, as they had previously heard reported, that a fleet of Greek ships, few in number, lay at Artemisium.

  21. At once they were eager to engage, fearing that the Greeks would flee, and hoping to capture them before they could escape.

  22. They did not think it wise to make straight for the Greek station, in case the enemy saw them approaching, and thus escaped;

  23. In which case night might fall before they overtook the fugitives; for the Persians were resolved not to let a single person slip through their hands.

  24. They therefore contrived a plan to send two hundred ships around Euboea by Caphareus and Geraestus, so reaching the Euripus without being seen because they sailed outside the island of Sciathos.

  25. This was to enclose the Greeks on every side; the ships detached would block the Greeks’ line of retreat, while the rest of the Persian fleet would attack from the front.

  26. Now the Persians had with them a man named Scyllias, a native of Scione, who was the most expert diver of his day.

  27. At the time of the shipwreck off Mount Pelion he had recovered for the Persians much of what they lost, at the same time taking care to obtain a good share of the treasure for himself.

  28. He had been wishing to go over to the Greeks for some time, but no good opportunity had offered itself till now.

  29. So he slipped away, and no sooner reached Artemisium than he gave the Greek captains a full account of the damage done by the storm,

  30. And likewise told them of the ships sent to make the circuit of Euboea.

  31. On hearing this the Greeks held a council, at which they resolved on a plan: to remain at their moorings until midnight, then put out to sea, and attack the ships which were on their way round the island.

  32. Later in the day, when they found that no one meddled with them, they formed a new plan, which was to wait till near evening,

  33. And then sail out against the main body of the barbarians, for the purpose of testing the Persian mode of fighting and skill in manoeuvring.

  34. When the Persians saw the Greeks boldly sailing towards them with their few ships, they thought them mad, and went out to meet them,

  35. Expecting, as indeed seemed likely enough, that they would capture all their vessels with the greatest ease.

  36. Such of the Ionians as wished well to the Grecian cause but served unwillingly in the Persian fleet, seeing their countrymen surrounded, were sorely distressed; for they felt sure that not one of them would escape.

  37. On the other hand, such as saw with pleasure the attack on Greece, now vied eagerly with each other who should be the first to make prize of an Athenian ship, and thereby secure himself a rich reward from the king.

  38. For through both the fleets none were so much admired as the Athenians.

  39. The Greeks, at a signal, brought the sterns of their ships together into
a small compass, and turned their prows on every side towards the barbarians;

  40. After which, at a second signal, although enclosed within a narrow space, and closely pressed upon by the foe, yet they fell bravely to work,

  41. And captured thirty ships of the barbarians, at the same time taking prisoner Philaon, the son of Chersis, and brother of Gorgus king of Salamis, a man of much repute in the Persian fleet.

  42. The first to capture a Persian ship was Lycomedes the son of Aeschreas, an Athenian, who was afterwards given the prize for valour.

  43. Victory was still doubtful when night came, and put a stop to the combat. The Greeks sailed back to Artemisium,

  44. And the barbarians returned to Aphetae, much surprised at the result, which was far different from what they expected.

  45. In this battle only one of the Greeks who fought on the side of Xerxes deserted and joined his countrymen.

  46. This was Antidorus of Lemnos, whom the Athenians rewarded for his desertion by a present of land in Salamis.

  Chapter 76

  1. Evening had barely arrived when heavy rain – it was about midsummer – began to fall, which continued the whole night, with terrible thundering and lightning from Mount Pelion.

  2. The bodies of the slain and the broken pieces of damaged ships drifted in the direction of Aphetae, and floated about the prows of the Persian vessels there, disturbing the action of the oars.

  3. The barbarians were greatly dismayed by the storm, expecting certainly to perish, as they had fallen into such a multitude of misfortunes.

  4. For before they recovered from the tempest and the wreck of their vessels off Mount Pelion, they had been surprised by a sea fight which had taxed all their strength,

  5. And now the sea fight was scarcely over when they were exposed to floods of rain, and the rush of swollen streams into the sea, and violent thundering.

  6. If those who lay at Aphetae passed a comfortless night, far worse were the sufferings of those who had been sent to make the circuit of Euboea;

  7. The storm fell on them out at sea, and the result was calamitous. They were sailing near the Hollows of Euboea, when the wind began to rise and the rain to pour: