The Junior Classics, vol 7 | Page 6

in front of it and on the ramparts, he
saw the Spartans, some of them engaged in active sports, and others in
combing their long hair. He rode back to the king, and told him what he
had seen. Now Xerxes had in his camp an exiled Spartan prince, named
Demaratus, who had become a traitor to his country, and was serving as
counselor to the enemy. Xerxes sent for him, and asked whether his
countrymen were mad to be thus employed instead of fleeing away; but
Demaratus made answer that a hard fight was no doubt in preparation,
and that it was the custom of the Spartans to array their hair with
especial care when they were about to enter upon any great peril.
Xerxes would, however, not believe that so petty a force could intend
to resist him, and waited four days, probably expecting his fleet to
assist him, but as it did not appear, the attack was made.

The Greeks, stronger men and more heavily armed, were far better able
to fight to advantage than the Persians with their short spears and
wicker shields, and beat them off with great ease. It is said that Xerxes
three times leapt off his throne in despair at the sight of his troops being
driven backwards; and thus for two days it seemed as easy to force a
way through the Spartans as through the rocks themselves. Nay, how
could slavish troops, dragged from home to spread the victories of an
ambitious king, fight like freemen who felt that their strokes were to
defend their homes and children?
That evening a wretched man, named Ephialtes, crept into the Persian
camp, and offered, for a great sum of money, to show the mountain
path that would enable the enemy to take the brave defenders in the rear!
A Persian general, named Hydarnes, was sent off at nightfall with a
detachment to secure this passage, and was guided through the thick
forests that clothed the hill-side. In the stillness of the air, at daybreak,
the Phocian guards of the path were startled by the crackling of the
chestnut leaves under the tread of many feet. They started up, but a
shower of arrows was discharged on them, and forgetting all save the
present alarm, they fled to a higher part of the mountain, and the enemy,
without waiting to pursue them, began to descend.
As day dawned, morning light showed the watchers of the Grecian
camp below a glittering and shimmering in the torrent bed where the
shaggy forests opened; but it was not the sparkle of water, but the shine
of gilded helmets and the gleaming of silvered spears. Moreover, a man
crept over to the wall from the Persian camp with tidings that the path
had been betrayed, that the enemy were climbing it, and would come
down beyond the Eastern Gate. Still, the way was rugged and
circuitous, the Persians would hardly descend before midday, and there
was ample time for the Greeks to escape before they could thus be shut
in by the enemy.
There was a short council held over the morning sacrifice. Megistias,
the seer, on inspecting the entrails of the slain victim, declared that
their appearance boded disaster. Leonidas ordered him to retire, but he
refused, though he sent home his only son.

There was no disgrace in leaving a post that could not be held, and
Leonidas recommended all the allied troops under his command to
march away while yet the way was open. As to himself and his
Spartans, they had made up their minds to die at their post, and there
could be no doubt that the example of such a resolution would do more
to save Greece than their best efforts could ever do if they were careful
to reserve themselves for another occasion.
All the allies consented to retreat, except the eighty men who came
from Mycenæ and the 700 Thespians, who declared that they would not
desert Leonidas. There were also 400 Thebans who remained; and thus
the whole number that stayed with Leonidas to confront two million of
enemies were fourteen hundred warriors, besides the helots or
attendants on the 300 Spartans, whose number is not known, but there
was probably at least one to each.
Leonidas had two kinsmen in the camp, like himself, claiming the
blood of Hercules, and he tried to save them by giving them letters and
messages to Sparta; but one answered that "he had come to fight, not to
carry letters;" and the other, that "his deeds would tell all that Sparta
wished to know." Another Spartan, named Dienices, when told that the
enemy's archers were so numerous that their arrows darkened the sun,
replied, "So much the better, we shall fight in the