The Persian Wars.
The names of the famous contests are enshrined in the world’s admiration. Aside from a formal knowledge of the fascinating struggle, deeper things are to be considered. What was the danger to Europe in this Persian attack? Persians were of the same race as Greeks. Why would it not have been well for them in their might to tack the little Greek city states on as part of a great world empire? And the secret of the success of Greece in repelling them is to be found in the essential difference between the thoughtful self-respecting Greek, and the flogged and servile Persian. We speak of the “man behind the gun.” In those days it was the “man who held the sword.”