Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/117

 BATTLES OF THEBMOPYL^ AND ARTEMISIUM. 93 own numbers. It required all the efforts of the Persian officers, assisted by threats and the plentiful use of the whip, to force their men on to the fight. The Greeks fought with reckless bravery and desperation against this superior host, until at length their spears were broken, and they had no weapon left except their swords. It was at this juncture that Leonidas himself was slain, and around his body the battle became fiercer than ever : the Persians exhausted all their efforts to possess themselves of it, but were repulsed by the Greeks four several times, with the loss of many of their chiefs, especially two brothers of Xerxes. Fatigued, exhausted, diminished in number, and deprived of their most effective weapons, the little band of defenders retired, with the body of their chief, into the narrow strait behind the cross wall, whez'e they sat all together on a hillock, exposed to the attack of the main Persian army on one side, and of the detach- ment of Hydarnes, which had now completed its march, on the other. They were thus surrounded, overwhelmed with missiles, and slain to a man ; not losing courage even to the last, but de- fending themselves with their remaining daggers, with their un- armed hands, and even with their mouths.' Thus perished Leonidas with his heroic comrades, — three hundred Spartans and seven hundred Thespians. Amidst such equal heroism, it seemed difficult to single out any individual as distinguished : nevertheless, Herodotus mentions the Spartans Dienekes, Alpheus, and Maron, — and the Thespian Dithyram- bus, — as standing preeminent. The reply ascribed to the first became renowned."2 " The Persian host (he was informed) is so prodigious that their arrows conceal the sun." " So much the better (he answered), we shall then fight them in the shade." Herodotus had asked and learned the name of every individual among this memorable three hundred, and even six hundred years afterwards, Pausanias could still read the names engraved on a column at Sparta.3 One alone among them — Aristodemus ' Herodot. vii, 224. tTrv&o^riv 61 koI diravruv tuv rpiaKoaiuv. Pausa- nias, iii, 14, 1. Annual festivals, with a panegyrical oration and gymnastic matches, were still celebrated even in his time in honor of Leonidas, jointly with Pausanias, whose subsequent treason tarnished his laarela acquired at Piataea. It is remarkable, and not altogether creditable to
 * Herodot. vii, 225. « Herodot. vii, 226.