II
12. The next day the king ordered his own bodyguard, called the Ten Thousand Immortals, to attack the holders of the pass. The Immortals were the picked soldiers of the whole army, but they fared no better than the others. Three times the king sprang from his throne in dismay as he saw his soldiers driven back with great loss. And on the third day the Persians fought with no better success.
13. While the king was in doubt what to do, a treacherous Greek came and told him about the path over the mountains. Xerxes at once sent soldiers along that path to attack the Greeks from the rear.
14. When the guards who had been stationed on the mountain brought news of the coming of the Persians, the Greeks were not agreed as to what they should do. Some wanted to retreat and abandon a position which it was now impossible to hold.
15. Leonidas bade them depart; but for him and his countrymen it was not honorable to turn their backs on any foe. For the manner of the Spartans was this: to die rather than yield. However sorely beset or overwhelmed by numbers, they never left the ground alive and unvictorious.
16. Leonidas had two kinsmen in the camp whom he tried to save by giving them messages and letters to Sparta. But one answered that he had come to fight, not to carry letters; and the other said that his deeds would tell all that Sparta wished to know. Another Spartan, 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 shade."
A Spartan soldier
17. Some of the Greeks retired, but a few resolved to stay with the brave Spartans. And now the Greeks under Leonidas did not wait to be attacked in front and rear, but marched out into the wide part of the pass and assailed the Persians. The Persian officers drove their soldiers forward with whips. The poor wretches were pierced with the Greek spears, hurled into the sea, or trampled under foot.
18. The Spartans, knowing that death awaited them, were desperate, and displayed the utmost possible valor. When their spears were broken, they assailed the Persians with their swords. And when the swords gave out, they fought with their daggers, and even with their hands and teeth, till not one living man remained among them.
19. When the sun went down, there was only a mound of slain, bristling with spears and arrows.
The heroic Spartans were buried on the spot where they fell, and over them was raised a column with the inscription: "Strangers, go tell at Sparta that we lie here obedient to its laws."
20. The column and its inscription have long since perished, but the glory of the Three Hundred will endure forever.
I. Xerx´es. Hu mil´i a´tion: shame; disgrace. Ther mop´y læ. Lē ŏn´ĭ das. As sured´: sure; certain. Val´iant: brave.
II. Ȧ băn´dȯn: give up. Băde: ordered. Sōre´ly̆: greatly. Rē̍ tīred´: went away. Ăs sāiled´: attacked. Văl´or: courage. In scrip´tion: that which is inscribed or written, especially on a building or monument.