but I am determined to go, with the appearance indeed of defending the
pass of Thermopylae, but in reality to die for the liberty of Greece.'
Saying this, he instantly went out of the assembly, and prepared for the
expedition, taking with him about three hundred Spartans. Before he
went, he embraced his wife, who hung about him in tears, as being well
acquainted with the dangerous purposes of his march; but he endeavoured
to comfort her, and told her that a short life was well sacrificed to
the interests of his country, and that Spartan women should be more
careful about the glory than the safety of their husbands. He then
kissed his infant children, and charging his wife to educate them in the
same principles he had lived in, went out of his house, to put himself
at the head of those brave men who were to accompany him.

"As they marched through the city, all the inhabitants attended them
with praises and acclamations; the young women sang songs of triumph,
and scattered flowers before them; the youths were jealous of their
glory, and lamented that such a noble doom had not rather fallen upon
themselves; while all their friends and relations seemed rather to
exult in the immortal honour they were going to acquire, than to be
dejected with the apprehensions of their loss; and as they continued
their march through Greece, they were joined by various bodies of their
allies, so that their number amounted to about six thousand when they
took possession of the straits of Thermopylae.

"In a short time Xerxes approached with his innumerable army, which was
composed of various nations, and armed in a thousand different manners,
and, when he had seen the small number of his enemies, he could not
believe that they really meant to oppose his passage; but when he was
told that this was surely their design, he sent out a small detachment
of his troops, and ordered them to take those Grecians alive and bring
them bound before him. The Persian troops set out and attacked the
Grecians with considerable fury; but in an instant they were routed, the
greater part slain, and the rest obliged to fly. Xerxes was enraged at
this misfortune, and ordered the combat to be renewed with greater
forces. The attack was renewed, but always with the same success,
although he sent the bravest troops in his whole army. Thus was this
immense army stopped in its career, and the pride of their monarch
humbled by so inconsiderable a body of Grecians, that