from his regal office in the commonwealth, a Lacedæmonian, distinguished in action and counsel, and the only king of Sparta, who, by obtaining the Olympic prize in the chariot-race, had increased the lustre of his country. He went into voluntary banishment, and, retiring to Asia, was there protected by Darius; while Leutychides succeeded to the regal authority in Sparta. Upon the death of Cleomenes, Leonidas became king, who ruled in conjunction with this Leutychides, when Xerxes, the sou of Darius, invaded Greece. The number of land and naval forces which accompanied that monarch, together with the servants, women, and other usual attendants on the army of an eastern prince, amounted to upwards of five millions, as reported by Herodotus, who wrote within a few years after the event, and publicly recited his history at the Olympic games. In this general assembly not only from Greece itself, but from every part of the world, wherever a colony of Grecians was planted, had he greatly exceeded the truth, he must certainly have been detected, and censured by some among so great a multitude; and such a voluntary falsehood must have entirely destroyed that merit and authority, which have procured to Herodotus the veneration of all posterity, with the appellation of the Father of History. On the first news of this attempt on their liberty, a convention, composed of deputies from the several states of Greece, was immediately held at the isthmus of Corinth to consult on proper measures for the public safety. The Spartans also sent messengers to inquire of the oracle at Delphi into the event of the war, who returned with an answer from the priestess of Apollo, that either a king, descended from Hercules, must die, or Lacedæmon would be entirely destroyed. Leonidas immediately offered to sacrifice his life for the preservation of Lacedæmon; and, marching to Thermopyla, possessed himself of that important pass with three hundred of his countrymen; who, with the forces of some other cities in the Peloponnesus, together with the Thebans, Thespians, and the troops of those states which adjoined to Thermopyla, composed an army of near eight thousand men.

| to fight till the last extremity. Xerxes, notwithstanding, in the confidence of his power, sent ambassadors to the Grecians to demand their arms, to bid them disperse, and become his friends and allies; which proposals being received with disdain, he commanded the Medes and Cissians to seize on the Grecians, and bring them alive into his presence. These nations immediately attacked the Grecians, and were soon repulsed with great slaughter; fresh troops still succeeded; but with no better fortune than the first, being opposed to an enemy not only superior in valour and resolu tion, but who had the advantage of discipline, and were furnished with better arms both offensive and defensive.

Plutarch in his Laconic Apothegms reports, that the Persian king offered to invest Leonidas with the sovereignty of Greece, provided he would join his arms to those of Persia. This offer was too considerable a condescension to have been made before a trial of their force, and must therefore have been proposed by Xerxes after such a series of ill success, as might probably have depressed the insolence of his temper; and it may be easily admitted, that the virtue of Leonidas was proof against any temptations of that nature. Whether this be a fact or not, thus much is certain, that Xerxes was reduced to extreme difficulties by this resolute defence of Thermopyla; till he was extricated from his distress by a Malian, named Epialtes, who conducted twenty thousand of the Persian army into Greece through a pass, which lay higher up the country among the mountains of Eta: whereas the passage at Thermopyla was situated on the sea-shore between those mountains and the Malian bay. The defence of the upper pass had been committed to a thousand Phocians, who upon the first sight of the enemy inconsiderately abandoned their station, and put themselves in array upon a neighbouring eminence; but the Persians wisely avoided an engagement, and with the utmost expedition marched to Thermopylæ.

Leonidas no sooner received information, that the barbarians had passed the mountains, and would soon be in a situation to surround him, than he commanded the allies to retreat, reserving the three hundred Spartans, and four hundred Thebans, whom, as they followed him with reluctance at first, he now compelled to stay. But the Thespians, whose number amounted to seven hundred, would not be persuaded by Leonidas to forsake him. Their commander was Demophilus, and the most eminent amongst them for his valour was Di

Xerxes was now advanced as far as Thessalia; when hearing, that a small body of Grecians was assembled at Thermopyla, with some Lacedæmonians at their head, and among the rest Leonidas, a descendant of Hercules, he dispatched a single horseman before to observe their numbers, and discover their designs. When this horseman ap. proached, he could not take a view of the whole camp, which lay concealed behind a rampart, for-thyrambus, the son of Harmatides. Among the merly raised by the Phocians at the entrance of Thermopyla on the side of Greece; so that his whole attention was engaged by those who were on guard before the wall, and who at that instant chanced to be the Lacedæmonians. Their manner and gestures greatly astonished the Persian. Some were amusing themselves in gymnastic exercises; others were combing their hair; and all discovered a total disregard of him, whom they suffered to depart, and report to Xerxes what he had seen: which appearing to that prince quite ridiculous, he sent for Demaratus, who was with him in the camp, and required him to explain this strange behaviour of his countrymen. Demaratus informed him, that it was a custom among the Spartans to comb down and adjust their hair, when they were determined

Lacedæmonians the most conspicuous next to Leonidas was Dieneces, who being told, that the multitude of Persian arrows would obscure the Sun, replied, "the battle would then be in the shade." Two brothers, named Alpheus and Maron, are also recorded for their valour, and were Lacedæmonians. Megistias a priest, by birth an Acarnanian, and held in high honour at Sparta, refused to desert Leonidas, though entreated by him to consult his safety; but sent away his only son, and remained himself behind to die with the Lacedæmonians.

Herodotus relates, that Leonidas drew up his men in the broadest part of Thermopyla; where, being encompassed by the Persians, they fell with great numbers of their enemies: but Plutarck,

shall not all posterity reflect on the virtue of these men, as the object of imitation, who, though the loss of their lives was the necessary consequence of their undertaking, were yet unconquered in their spirit; and among all the great names, delivered down to remembrance, are the only heroes, who obtained more glory in their fall than others from the brightest victories? With justice may they be deemed the preservers of the Grecian liberty, even preferably to those, who were conquerors in the battles fought afterwards with Xerxes; for the memory of that valour, exerted in the defence of Thermopylæ, for ever dejected the barbarians, while the Greeks were fired with emulation to equal such a pitch of magnanimity. Upon the whole, there never were any before these, who attained to immortality through the mere excess of virtue; whence the praise of their fortitude hath not been recorded by historians only, but hath been celebrated by numbers of poets, among others by Simonides the lyric."

Pausanias, in his Laconics, considers the defence of Thermopyla by Leonidas, as an action superior to any achieved by his contemporaries, and to all the exploits of preceding ages. "Never," says he, "had Xerxes beheld Greece, and laid in ashes the city of Athens, had not his forces under Hydarnes been conducted through a path over mount Œta; and, by that means encompassing the Greeks, overcome and slain Leonidas." Nor is it improbable, that such a commander at the head of such troops should have maintained his post in so narrow a pass, till the whole army of Xerxes had perished by famine. At the same time his navy had been miserably shattered by a storm, and worsted in an engagement with the Athenians at Artemisium.

Diodorus Siculus, and others, affirm, that the Grecians attacked the very camp of Xerxes in the night. Both these dispositions are reconcileable to probability. He might have made an attack on the Persian camp in the night, and in the morning withdrawn his forces back to Thermopylæ, where they would be enabled to make the most obstinate resistance, and sell their lives upon the dearest terms. The action is thus described by Diodorus. "The Grecians, having now rejected all thoughts of safety, preferring glory to life, unanimously called on their general to lead them against the Persians, before they could be apprised, that their friends had passed round the mountains. Leonidas embraced the occasion, which the ready zeal of his soldiers afforded, and commanded them forthwith to dine, as men, who were to sup in Elysium. Himself in consequence of this command took a repast, as the means to furnish strength for a long continuance, and to give perseverance in danger. After a short refreshment the Grecians were now prepared, and received orders to assail the enemies in their camp, to put all they met to the sword, and force a passage to the royal pavilion; when, formed into one compact body with Leonidas himself at their head, they marched against the Persians, and entered their camp at the dead of night. The barbarians, wholly unprepared, and blindly conjecturing, that their friends were defeated, and themselves attacked by the united power of Greece, hurry together from their tents with the utmost disorder and consternation. Many were slain by Leonidas and his party, but much greater multitudes by their own troops, to whom in the midst of this blind confusion they were not distinguishable from enemies: for, as night took away the power of discerning truly, and the To conclude, the fall of Leonidas and his brave tumult was spread universally over the camp, a companions, so meritorious to their country, and prodigious slaughter must naturally ensue. so glorious to themselves, hath obtained such a want of command, of a watch-word, and of confi- high degree of veneration and applause from passed dence in themselves, reduced the Persians to such ages, that few among the ancient compilers of hisa state of confusion, that they destroyed each other tory have been silent on this amazing instance of without distinction. Had Xerxes continued in the magnanimity, and zeal for liberty; and many are royal pavilion, the Grecians without difficulty might the epigrams and inscriptions now extant, some on have brought the war to a speedy conclusion by his the whole body, others on particulars, who died at death; but he at the beginning of the tumult be- Thermopylæ, still preserving their memory in every took himself to flight with the utmost precipita- nation conversant with learning, and at this distion; when the Grecians, rushing into the tent, puttance of time still rendering their virtue the object to the sword most of those who were left behind: then, while night lasted, they ranged through the I shall now detain the reader no longer, than to whole camp in diligent search of the tyrant. When take this public occasion of expressing my sincere morning appeared, the Persians, perceiving the regard for the lord viscount Cobham, and the sense true state of things, held the inconsiderable num- of my obligations for the early honour of his friendber of their enemies in contempt; yet were so ter- ship; to him I inscribe the following poem; and rified at their valour, that they avoided a near en- herein I should be justified, independent of all pergagement; but enclosing the Grecians on every sonal motives, from his lordship's public conduct, side, showered their darts and arrows upon them so highly distinguished by his disinterested zeal, at a distance, and in the end destroyed their whole and unshaken fidelity to his country, not less in body. In this manner fell the Grecians, who under civil life than in the field: to him therefore a the conduct of Leonidas defended the pass of Ther-poem, founded on a character eminent for military mopylæ. All must admire the virtue of these glory, and love of liberty, is due from the nature men, who with one consent, maintaining the post of the subject. allotted by their country, cheerfully renounced their lives for the common safety of Greece, and esteemed a glorious death more eligible than to live with dishonour. Nor is the consternation of the Persians incredible. Who among those barbarians could have conjectured such an event? Who could have expected, that five hundred men would have dared to attack a million? Wherefore

The

of admiration and of praise.

LEONIDAS.
BOOK I.

THE ARGUMENT.

Xerxes, king of Persia, having drawn together the whole force of his empire, and passed over the Hellespont into Thrace with a design to conquer Greece; the deputies from the several states of that country, who had some time before assembled themselves at the isthmus of Corinth to deliberate on proper measures for resisting the invader, were no sooner apprised of his march into Thrace, than they determined without further delay to dispute his passage at the straits of Thermopyla, the most accessible part of Greece on the side of Thrace and Thessaly. Alpheus, one of the deputies from Sparta, repairs to that city, and communicates this resolution to his countrymen; who chanced that day to be assembled in expectation of receiving an answer from Apollo, to whom they had sent a messenLeuger to consult about the event of the war. tychides, one of their two kings, counsels the people to advance no further than the isthmus of Corinth, which separates the Peloponnesus, where Lacedæmon was situated, from the rest of Greece; but Leonidas, the other king, dissuades them from it. Agis, the messenger, who had been deputed to Delphi, and brother to the queen of Leonidas, returns with the oracle; which denounces ruin to the Lacedæmonians, unless one of their kings lays down his life for the public. Leonidas offers himself for the victim. Three hundred more are appointed, all citizens of Sparta, and heads of families, to accompany and die with him at Thermopylæ. Alpheus returns to the isthmus. Leonidas, after an interview with his queen, departs from Lacedæmon. At the end of six days he encamps near the isthmus, when he is joined by Alpheus; who describes the auxiliaries then waiting at the isthmus, those who are already possessed of Thermopyla, as also the pass itself; and concludes with relating the captivity of his brother Polydorus in Persia.

THE virtuous Spartan, who resign'd his life
To save his country at th' CEtæan straits,
Thermopylæ, when all the peopled east
In arms with Xerxes fill'd the Grecian plains,
O Muse, record. The Hellespont they pass'd,
O'erpow'ring Thrace. The dreadful tidings swift
To Corinth flew. Her isthmus was the seat
Of Grecian council. Alpheus thence returns
To Lacedæmon. In assembly full
He finds the Spartan people with their kings;
Their kings, who boast an origin divine,
From Hercules descended. They, the sons
Of Lacedæmon, had conven'd to learn
The sacred mandates of th' immortal gods,
That morn expected from the Delphian dome,
But Alpheus sudden their attention drew,

And thus address'd them. "For immediate war,
My countrymen, prepare. Barbarian tents
Already fill the trembling bounds of Thrace.

The isthmian council hath decreed to guard
Thermopyla, the Locrian gate of Greece."
Here Alpheus paus'd. Leutychides, who shar'd
With great Leonidas the sway, uprose
And spake.
"Ye citizens of Sparta, hear.
Why from her bosom should Laconia send
Her valiant race to wage a distant war
Beyond the isthmus? There the gods have plac'd
Our native barrier. In this favour'd land,
Which Pelops govern'd, us of Doric blood
That isthmus inaccessible secures.
There let our standards rest. Your solid strength
If once you scatter in defence of states
Remote and feeble, you betray your own,
And merit Jove's derision." With assent
The Spartans heard. Leonidas reply'd.

"O most ungen'rous counsel! Most unwise!
Shall we, confining to that isthmian fence
Our efforts, leave beyond it ev'ry state
Disown'd, expos'd? Shall Athens, while her fleets
Unceasing watch th' innumerable foes,
And trust th' impending dangers of the field
To Sparta's well-known valour, shall she hear,
That to barbarian violence we leave
Her unprotected walls? Her hoary sires,
Her helpless matrons, and their infant race
To servitude and shame? Her guardian gods
Will yet preserve them. Neptune o'er his main
With Pallas, pow'r of wisdom, at their helms
Will soon transport them to a happier clime,
Safe from insulting foes, from false allies,
And eleutherian Jove will bless their flight.
Then shall we feel the unresisted force
Of Persia's navy, deluging our plains
With inexhausted numbers. Half the Greeks,
By us betray'd to bondage, will support
A Persian lord, and lift th' avenging spear
For our destruction. But, my friends, reject
Such mean, such dang'rous counsels, which would
blast
Your long-establish'd honours, and assist
The proud invader. O eternal king
Of gods and mortals, elevate our minds!
Each low and partial passion thence expe!!
Greece is our gen'ral mother. All must join
In her defence, or sep'rate each must fall."

This said, authority and shame controll'd
The mute assembly. Agis too appear'd.
He from the Delphian cavern was return'd,
Where, taught by Phoebus on Parnassian cliffs,
The Pythian maid unfolded Heav'n's decrees.
He came; but discontent and grief o'ercast
His anxious brow. Reluctant was his tongue,
Yet seem'd full charg'd to speak. Religious dread
Each heart relax'd. On every visage hung
Sad expectation. Not a whisper told
The silent fear. Intensely all were fix'd,
All still, as death, to hear the solemn tale.
As o'er the western waves, when ev'ry storm
Is hush'd within its cavern, and a breeze,
Soft-breathing, lightly with its wings along
The slacken'd cordage glides, the sailor's ear
Perceives no sound throughout the vast expanse;.
None, but the murmurs of the sliding prow,
Which slowly parts the smooth and yielding main:
So through the wide aud list'ning crowd no sound,
No voice, but thine, O Agis, broke the air;
While thus the issue of thy awful charge
Thy lips deliver'd. "Spartans, in your name

I went to Delphi. I inquir'd the doom

Forgive the brother of thy queen. Her grief
Detain'd me from thee. O unequall'd man!
Though Lacedæmon call thy prime regard,
Forget not her, sole victim of distress
Amid the gen'ral safety. To assuage
Such pain fraternal tenderness is weak."

How strong a parent's feelings, till this hour;
Nor was she once insensible to thee

In all her fervour to assert my fame.

How had the honours of my name been stain'd

By hesitation? Shameful life preferr'd
By an inglorious colleague would have left

The king embrac'd him, and reply'd. "O best, No choice, but what were infamy to shun,

O dearest man, conceive not, but my soul
To her is fondly bound, from whom my days
Their largest share of happiness deriv'd.
Can I, who yield my breath, lest others mourn,
Lest thousands should be wretched, when she pines,
More lov'd than any, though less dear than all,
Can I neglect her griefs? In future days,
If thou with grateful memory record
My name and fate, O Sparta, pass not this
Unheeded by. The life, for thee resign'd,
Knew not a painful hour to tire my soul,
Nor were they common joys I left behind."

So spake the patriot, and his heart o'erflow'd
In tend'rest passion. Then in eager haste
The faithful partner of his bed he sought.
Amid her weeping children sat the queen
Immoveable and mute. Her swimming eyes
Bent to the earth. Her arms were folded o'er
Her lab'ring bosom, blotted with her tears.
As, when a dusky mist involves the sky,
The Moon through all the dreary vapours spreads
The radiant vesture of her silver light
O'er the dull face of Nature; so the queen,
Divinely graceful shining through her grief,
Brighten'd the cloud of woe. Her lord approach'd.
Soon, as in gentlest phrase his well-known voice
Awak'd her drooping spirit, for a time
Care was appeas'd. She lifts her languid head.
She gives this utt'rance to her tender thoughts.
"O thou, whose presence is my sole delight;
If thus, Leonidas, thy looks and words
Can check the rapid current of distress,
How am I mark'd for misery! How long!
When of life's journey less than half is pass'd,
And I must hear those calming sounds no more,
Nor see that face, which makes affliction smile."
This said, returning grief o'erwhelms her breast.
Her orphan children, her devoted lord,
Pale, bleeding, breathless on the field of death,
Her ever-during solitude of woe,
All rise in mingled horrour to her sight,
When thus in bitt'rest agony she spake.

"O whither art thou going from my arms!
Shall I no more behold thee! Oh! no more,
In conquest clad, o'erspread with glorious dust,
Wilt thou return to greet thy native soil,
And find thy dwelling joyful! Ah! too brave,
Why wouldst thou hurry to the dreary gates
Of death, uncall'd—Another might have bled,
Like thee a victim of Alcides' race,
Less dear to all, and Sparta been secure.
Now ev'ry eye with mine is drown'd in tears.
All with these babes lament a father lost.
Alas! how heavy is our lot of pain!
Our sighs must last, when ev'ry other breast
Exults in safety, purchas'd by our loss.

Thou didst not heed our anguish-didst not seek
One pause for my instruction how to bear
Thy endless absence, or like thee to die."
Unutterable sorrow here confin'd
Her voice. These words Leonidas return'd.
"I see, I share thy agony. My soul
Ne'er knew, how warm the prevalence of love,

Not virtue to accept. Then deem no more,
That of thy love regardless, or thy tears,

I rush, uncall'd, to death. The voice of Fate,
The gods, my fame, my country press my doom.
Oh! thou dear mourner! Wherefore swells afresh
That tide of woe? Leonidas must fall.
Alas! far heavier misery impends
O'er thee and these, if, soften'd by thy tears,
I shamefully refuse to yield that breath,
Which justice, glory, liberty, and Heav'n
Claim for my country, for my sons, and thee.
Think on my long unalter'd love. Reflect
On my paternal fondness. Hath my heart
E'er known a pause in love, or pious care?
Now shall that care, that tenderness, be shown
Most warm, most faithful. When thy husband dies
For Lacedæmon's safety, thou wilt share,
Thou and thy children, the diffusive good.
I am selected by th' immortal gods
To save a people. Should my timid heart
That sacred charge abandon, I should plunge
Thee too in shame, in sorrow. Thou wouldst mourn
With Lacedæmon; wouldst with her sustain
Thy painful portion of oppression's weight.
Behold thy sons now worthy of their name, [pine
Their Spartan birth. Their growing bloom would
Depress'd, dishonour'd, and their youthful hearts
Beat at the sound of liberty no more.

On their own merit, on their father's fame,
When he the Spartan freedom hath confirm'd,
Before the world illustrious will they rise
Their country's bulwark, and their mother's joy."
Here paus'd the patriot. In religious awe
Grief heard the voice of Virtue. No complaint
The solemn silence broke. Tears ceas'd to flow;
Ceas'd for a moment soon again to stream.
Behold, in arms before the palace drawn,
His brave companions of the war demand
Their leader's presence. Then her griefs renew'd,
Surpassing utt'rance, intercept her sighs.
Each accent freezes on her falt'ring tongue.
In speechless anguish on the hero's breast
She sinks. On ev'ry side his children press,
Hang on his knees, and kiss his honour'd hand.
His soul no longer struggles to confine
Her agitation. Down the hero's cheek,
Down flows the manly sorrow. Great in woe
Amid his children, who enclose him round,
He stands, indulging tenderness and love
In graceful tears, when thus with lifted eyes
Address'd to Heav'n. "Thou ever-living pow'r,
Look down propitious, sire of gods and men !
O to this faithful woman, whose desert
May claim thy favour, grant the hours of peace!
And thou, my bright forefather, seed of Jove,
O Hercules, neglect not these thy race!
But since that spirit I from thee derive
Transports me from them to resistless fate,
Be thou their guardian! Teach them like thyself
By glorious labours to embellish life,

And from their father let them learn to die."

Here ending, forth he issues, and assumes Before the ranks his station of command.