The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [168]
11. They left just as the lamps were being lit in the evening, and went quickly and silently along,
12. Beginning at the Asopus, where that stream flows through the cleft in the hills,
13. Then along the ridge of the mountain which is called, like the pathway over it, Anopaea, and ends at the city of Alpenus,
14. The first Locrian town as one comes from Malis; pasing by the stone called Melampygus and the seats of the Cercopians.
15. Here the path is at its narrowest point.
16. The Persians marched all night, with the mountains of Oeta on their right hand, and on their left those of Trachis. At dawn they found themselves close to the summit.
17. The hill was guarded by a thousand Phocian men-at-arms, who were placed there to defend not just the pathway but also their own country.
18. They had volunteered for this service, and had pledged themselves to Leonidas to maintain the post.
19. Now, during all the time that the Persians were making their way up, the Greeks were unaware of them.
20. But the whole mountain was covered with groves of oak, and it happened that the air was very still, so that the leaves which the Persians stirred as they passed by made a loud rustling.
21. Hearing this the Phocians jumped up and flew to their arms.
22. In a moment the barbarians came in sight, and, perceiving men arming themselves, were greatly amazed;
23. For they had fallen in with an enemy where they expected no opposition.
24. Hydarnes, alarmed at the sight, and fearing lest the Phocians might be Lacedaemonians, inquired of Ephialtes to what nation these troops belonged.
25. Ephialtes told him, whereupon Hydarnes arrayed his Persians for battle.
26. The Phocians, galled by the showers of arrows to which they were exposed, and imagining themselves the special object of the Persian attack,
27. Fled hastily to the crest of the mountain, and there made ready to meet death;
28. But while their mistake continued, the Persians, not thinking it worth their while to delay on account of Phocians, passed on and descended the mountain with all possible speed.
Chapter 72
1. The Greeks at Thermopylae received the first warning of the destruction which dawn was bringing them,
2. From deserters who brought news that the Persians were marching round by the hills: it was still night when these men arrived.
3. Last of all, scouts came running down from the heights, and brought the same account, when the day was just beginning to break.
4. Then the Greeks held a council to consider what they should do. Opinions were divided: some were strong against quitting their post, while others argued the opposite.
5. So when the council had broken up, part of the troops departed and went home to their several states;
6. Part however resolved to remain, and to stand by Leonidas to the last.
7. It is said that Leonidas himself sent away the troops who departed, because he tendered their safety,
8. But thought it unseemly that either he or his Spartans should quit the post they had been especially sent to guard.
9. It is likely 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.
10. He therefore commanded them to retreat, but said that he himself could not retreat with honour; knowing that, if he stayed, glory awaited him and the Spartans.
11. So the allies, when Leonidas ordered them to retire, obeyed him and departed.
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.