our; he
was called Epialtes. He betrayed to Xerxes the secret of the mountain
path, probably for money. He later fled to Thessaly with a price on his
head, but returned to Anticyra, and there he was slain by Athenades.
Then Xerxes was glad beyond measure when he heard of the path, and sent
his men along the path by night. They found the Phocians guarding it,
but the Phocians disgracefully fled to the higher part of the mountain.
The Persians, disdaining to pursue them, marched to the pass behind the
Spartan camp, and the Greeks were now surrounded in van and rear. But
news of this had come to Leonidas, and his army was not of one mind as
to what they should do. Some were for retreating and abandoning a
position which it was now impossible to hold. Leonidas bade them depart;
but for him and his countrymen it was not honourable to turn their backs
on any foe. He sent away the soothsayer, or prophet, Megistias, but he
returned, and bade his son go home. The Thespians, to their immortal
honour, chose to bide the brunt with Leonidas. There thus remained what
was left of the Three Hundred, their personal attendants, seven hundred
Thespians, and some Thebans, about whose conduct it is difficult to
speak with certainty, as accounts differ. Leonidas, on this last day of
his life, did not wait to be attacked in front and rear, but, sallying
into the open, himself assailed the Persians. They drove the barbarians
like cattle with their spears; the captains of the barbarians drove them
back on the spears with whips. Many fell from the path into the sea, and
there perished, and many more were trodden down and died beneath the
feet of their own companions. But the spears of the Greeks broke at last
in their hands, so they drew their swords, and rushed to yet closer
quarters. In this charge fell Leonidas, 'the bravest man,' says the
Greek historian, 'of men whose names I know,' and he knew the names of
all the Three Hundred. Over the body of Leonidas fell the two brothers
of Xerxes, for they fought for the corpse, and four times the Greeks
drove back the Persians. Now came up the Persians with the traitor
Epialtes, attacking the Greeks in the rear. Now was their last hour
come, so they bore the body of the king within the wall. There they
occupied a little mound in a sea of enemies, and there each man fought
till he died, stabbing with his dagger when his sword was broken, and
biting, and striking with the fist, when the dagger-point was