Men said in Greece in after time that the Persian was the rock on which he himself made shipwreck. That expressed but half the truth. It was true in the sense that the success in the war was not owing to good management on the part of the Greeks. THE PATH OF THE ANOPÆA. It was not true in the sense that the Persian’s mistakes were the main factor in his failure. The main factor was conspicuously the superiority of the Greek weapons in close fighting, a form of combat which the Persian as the assailant could not avoid. It was a lesson which the European Greek took long in learning. Aristagoras the Ionian had pointed it out to Kleomenes when he visited him at Sparta in the first year of the fifth century. And yet it was not until the early years of the next century that the Greeks of Europe came to appreciate to the full the effectiveness of their national panoply as compared with that of the Persian. The incidents of the strange adventure of the 10,000 which Xenophon recorded at last convinced them of the real nature and magnitude of their strength when matched with the great Empire of the East.
By Malian treachery and Phocian cowardice Xerxes was saved from the desperate position in which he found himself after the failure of the two days’ assault on the pass.
The tale runs thus in Herodotus:—
H. vii. 213.
“When the king was now at a loss to know what to do in the circumstances in which he found himself, Epialtes, a Malian, came to speak with him, thinking he would get some great reward from the king, and told him of the path leading through the mountain to Thermopylæ.... H. vii. 215. Xerxes approved of Epialtes’ proposal, and being much pleased thereat, immediately despatched Hydarnes and those he commanded.”
H. vii. 211.
Herodotus says in an earlier chapter that these were the Immortals.
“He started from the camp about the time of the lighting of the lamps. Native Malians discovered this path, and, after doing so, led the Thessalians by it against the Phocians, at the time when the latter, after blocking the pass with a wall, were under cover from attack. Ever since that time the path has been put to an ill use by the Malians. The path is as follows: it begins from that part of the Asopos river which flows through the defile.”[120]
“The mountains here and the path are both called by the same name, Anopæa. This Anopæa extends along the ridge of the mountain, and debouches at the city of Alpenos, which is the first Locrian town as you come from Malis, and by the stone called Melampygos, and at the seats of the Kerkopes, where it is narrowest. Such is the nature of the path along which the Persians, after crossing the Asopos, marched the whole night long, having the mountains of Œta on their right, and those of Trachis on their left. Day was dawning when they arrived at the summit of the mountain. At this part of the mountain, as I have already shown, a thousand Phocian hoplites were on guard, protecting their own country, and watching the path. For the pass below was guarded by the troops I have mentioned; but the path through the mountains Phocian volunteers undertook to guard for Leonidas. H. vii. 218. It was not until the Persians reached the summit that the Phocians discovered their presence in the following way. Owing to the mountain being covered with oak forest, the Persian ascent had been unobserved. There was no wind, but inasmuch as considerable noise was inevitably made by the trampling of the feet upon the leaves, the Phocians proceeded to run up and put on their armour. The Persians came up immediately. When they saw men putting on their armour they were amazed, for, never expecting that any one would appear and oppose them, they had come upon an army. Hydarnes, then, fearing that the Phocians were Lacedæmonians, questioned Epialtes as to the nature of the force; and on hearing the truth, he drew up the Persians in fighting order. The Phocians, however, assailed by a thick shower of arrows, betook themselves in flight to the peak of the mountain, thinking at first that they were the main object of attack, and prepared to defend themselves to the death. Such was their intention; but the Persians with Epialtes and Hydarnes paid no regard to the Phocians, but proceeded to descend the mountain with all speed.”
