Xerxes' Invasion & The Battle of Thermopylae
Xerxes' invasion of Greece and the Battle of Thermopylae
Contents
Xerxes, the Nietzchean Yes-Sayer
The Size of Xerxes’ Army and Fake Modern Historians
To help put the Second Greco-Persian War into perspective, it is useful to understand just how large Xerxes’ army was:
During four full years from the conquest of Egypt he was preparing the army and the things that were of service for the army, and in the course of the fifth year he began his campaign with a host of great multitude. For of all the armies of which we have knowledge this proved to be by far the greatest; so that neither that led by Darius against the Scythians appears anything as compared with it, nor the Scythian host, when the Scythians pursuing the Cimmerians made invasion of the Median land and subdued and occupied nearly all the upper parts of Asia, for which invasion afterwards Darius attempted to take vengeance, nor that led by the sons of Atreus to Ilion, to judge by that which is reported of their expedition, nor that of the Mysians and Teucrians, before the Trojan war, who passed over into Europe by the Bosphorus and not only subdued all the Thracians, but came down also as far as the Ionian Sea and marched southwards to the river Peneios
All these expeditions put together, with others, if there be any, added to them, are not equal to this one alone. For what nation did Xerxes not lead out of Asia against Hellas? and what water was not exhausted, being drunk by his host, except only the great rivers? For some supplied ships, and others were appointed to serve in the land-army; to some it was appointed to furnish cavalry, and to others vessels to carry horses, while they served in the expedition themselves also; others were ordered to furnish ships of war for the bridges, and others again ships with provisions.
1,207 triremes, 1,700,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, and 20,000 camel riders and charioteers. Including the rowers of the ships and the naval marines, Herodotus tells us that 2,317,610 fighting men crossed into Europe and descended upon the Greeks. Many modern historians scoff at this number but pay no attention to them. The modern tarantulas infesting university history departments have the audacity to scoff at Herodotus but stay quiet when the BBC portrays Achilles as a bald African man. Look it up. These are not serious people.
Greek Excellence and that of Sparta In Particular
Demaratos was an exiled Spartan king. He got into trouble trying to stifle the ambitions of his co-king Kleomenes I, and there was also scandal around his birth and legitimate title to rule. He fled to Persia, and while he became a key advisor to Xerxes and offered him advice on how to defeat the Spartans, Xerxes would not listen to him. But more on that later.
In this part of the story, Xerxes has crossed into Europe and is marching through southern Thrace. When he reached the town of Doriskos he stopped to review his army and fleet. He summoned Demaratos and asked him if the Greeks would really stand up to such a grand army and oppose him. Upon hearing this, Demaratos said:
"O king, since thou biddest me by all means utter the truth, and so speak as one who shall not be afterwards convicted by thee of having spoken falsely, I say this: — with Hellas poverty is ever an inbred growth, while valour is one that has been brought in, being acquired by intelligence and the force of law; and of it Hellas makes use ever to avert from herself not only poverty but also servitude to a master.”
One of the obvious ways to view the Greco-Persians Wars is a battle between quantity and quality. The Persian Empire was huge, and Xerxes was able to muster both a grand army and navy. The Greeks were relatively few, and the largest city-states could only muster an army of about ten-thousand hoplites at most. The deciding factor was quality: Xerxes fielded a horde of conscripted slaves while the Greeks had more dignified and better equipped citizen-soldiers. Many times throughout western history, the noble few have triumphed against the bugman horde. You need to be cultivating excellence in yourself and a wise state would make it their primary concern to cultivate this excellence in as many of their citizens as possible. The English historian Montagu is correct when he says: “the spirit of liberty, when animated and conducted by public virtue, is invincible.”
Demaratos then turns to comment on the Lacedaemonians in particular:
“Now I commend all the Hellenes who are settled in those Dorian lands [the Peloponnese], but this which I am about to say has regard not to all, but to the Lacedemonians alone: of these I say, first that it is not possible that they will ever accept thy terms, which carry with them servitude for Hellas; and next I say that they will stand against thee in fight, even if all the other Hellenes shall be of thy party: and as for numbers, ask now how many they are, that they are able to do this; for whether it chances that a thousand of them have come out into the field, these will fight with thee, or if there be less than this, or again if there be more."
There are many ways to differentiate the Spartans from the other Greeks, but the quality of their citizens is the most important in my mind. The martial spirit and virtue of the individual citizen were unparalleled, and this came only as a result of the communal solidarity that their education and laws cultivated:
“So the Lacedemonians are not inferior to any men when fighting one by one, and they are the best of all men when fighting in a body: for though free, yet they are not free in all things, for over them is set Law as a master, whom they fear much more even than thy people fear thee. It is certain at least that they do whatsoever that master commands; and he commands ever the same thing, that is to say, he bids them not flee out of battle from any multitude of men, but stay in their post and win the victory or lose their life.”
The Spartan Perspective and Pathos of Distance
When Xerxes crossed into Europe, he sent heralds to all the Greek city-states asking for earth and water except for Athens and Sparta. Ten years earlier before the first Persian invasion, Athens and Sparta famously committed a great sacrilege by killing the heralds sent by Darius. To atone for this crime, the Spartans sent two volunteers to Persia to face death or whatever punishment Xerxes deemed appropriate. The citizens who volunteered were Sperthias son of Aneristos and Boulis son of Nikolaos who were both Spartans of noble birth. These men departed from Sparta and began their journey to the Persian capital on foot.
And not only the courage then shown by these men is worthy of admiration, but also the following sayings in addition: for as they were on their way to Susa they came to Hydarnes (now Hydarnes was a Persian by race and commander of those who dwelt on the sea coasts of Asia), and he offered them hospitality and entertained them; and while they were his guests he asked them as follows:
"Lacedemonians, why is it that ye flee from becoming friends to the king? for ye may see that the king knows how to honour good men, when ye look at me and at my fortunes. So also ye, Lacedemonians, if ye gave yourselves to the king, since ye have the reputation with him already of being good men, would have rule each one of you over Hellenic land by the gift of the king."
To this they made answer thus: "Hydarnes, thy counsel with regard to us is not equally balanced, for thou givest counsel having made trial indeed of the one thing, but being without experience of the other: thou knowest well what it is to be a slave, but thou hast never yet made trial of freedom, whether it is pleasant to the taste or no; for if thou shouldest make trial of it, thou wouldest then counsel us to fight for it not with spears only but also with axes."
Modern readers possessed by ideological egalitarianism will gnash their teeth, but this story is about showing how some people have a better perspective than others. There is much distance between a Persian subject and a Spartan citizen. All the Persian subject knows is slavery, and his perspective is that of a bug — low and in the dirt. All the Spartan citizen knows is freedom, so he has an eagle’s perspective — high and soaring above. The vast distance in these perspectives makes it difficult for Hydarnes and the Spartans to communicate on questions of moral values.
From Hydarnes’ lower perspective, the moral valuations of the Spartan seem like oxymorons. “How can these ‘noble’ Spartans declare themselves happy and free when they seem so enslaved to their laws? Why did they volunteer for this? Do they not care about their own self-interest? This honor is suicidal! Why do they not appear saddened by all of this? Why don’t these people see the clear advantages siding with Xerxes will bring to them? Look how wealthy I have become! They bring so much hardship onto themselves. These Spartans are not superior… they are mad!”
Hydarnes’ cannot understand the perspective of higher men, and oxymorons are just a way for these smaller men to cope with the pathos of distance. Understanding a superior moral perspective can expose inferior moral perspectives; therefore, to protect egos, the inferior will invent an oxymoron to convince themselves that they in fact have the correct logical view of the world. Rousseau has a good saying: “I feel that it is not for slaves to argue about liberty.”
Strong Argument that Athens Saved Greece
Herodotus is often accused of having a pro-Athenian bias; however, I have pointed to several places in my commentary thus far where Herodotus tells stories that seem to undermine the argument for democracy and the leading Alkmeonid family. But despite these things, the valor and success of the Athenians during the Greco-Persian Wars is undeniable. Here Herodotus presents a strong case for declaring the Athenians the saviors of Greece:
And here I am compelled by necessity to declare an opinion which in the eyes of most men would seem to be invidious, but nevertheless I will not abstain from saying that which I see evidently to be the truth. If the Athenians had been seized with fear of the danger which threatened them and had left their land, or again, without leaving their land, had stayed and given themselves up to Xerxes, none would have made any attempt by sea to oppose the king.
If then none had opposed Xerxes by sea, it would have happened on the land somewhat thus: — even if many tunics of walls had been thrown across the Isthmus by the Peloponnesians, the Lacedemonians would have been deserted by their allies, not voluntarily but of necessity, since these would have been conquered city after city by the naval force of the Barbarian, and so they would have been left alone: and having been left alone and having displayed great deeds of valour, they would have met their death nobly.
Either they would have suffered this fate, or before this, seeing the other Hellenes also taking the side of the Medes, they would have made an agreement with Xerxes; and thus in either case Hellas would have come to be under the rule of the Persians: for as to the good to be got from the walls thrown across the Isthmus, I am unable to discover what it would have been, when the king had command of the sea.
As it is however, if a man should say that the Athenians proved to be the saviors of Hellas, he would not fail to hit the truth; for to whichever side these turned, to that the balance was likely to incline: and these were they who, preferring that Hellas should continue to exist in freedom, roused up all of Hellas which remained, so much, that is, as had not gone over to the Medes, and (after the gods at least) these were they who repelled the king. Nor did fearful oracles, which came from Delphi and cast them into dread, induce them to leave Hellas, but they stayed behind and endured to receive the invader of their land.
If Athens had surrendered or was decisively defeated, the argument is that while the Peloponnesians may have been able to defend the isthmus into their territory against Persian land forces, the entire Peloponnesian coastline would be unguarded, and Xerxes’ fleet would have been able to raid and capture their cities. But if the later Peloponnesian War tells us anything, this strategy of raiding the Peloponnesian coast did not prove decisive. In addition, Sparta only had maybe 2,000-3,000 citizen hoplites during the Peloponnesian War but could field near 10,000 during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. This would be in addition to tens of thousands of other soldiers that could have been supplied by other Greek cities in the Peloponnese, southern Italy, and even Sicily. I think it still would have proved very difficult for the Persians to defeat the Peloponnesians in their own territory.
The Greatness of Themistokles as a Statesman
Themistokles, in my mind, was the greatest Athenian. If Herodotus says Athens proved to be the saviors of Greece, Themistokles was the man responsible for preparing his countrymen for this great trial. Three years before Xerxes’ invasion, there had been a boon in the Laureion silver mines just outside Athens. The assembly of Athenian citizens wanted to disburse the extra silver directly to themselves, but Themistokles somehow persuaded them to build and maintain a fleet of two hundred triremes.
In a democracy, especially a vital and young democracy that had just been founded, people cannot simply act tyrannically and impose their will arbitrarily on each other. This is because true equality exists to some extent. Each citizen zealously guards their own liberty, and it would be an affront to their honor and dignity if they were to yield to the caprice of a strong man. In a popular state where the spirit of the citizenry is intense, tyrants get put in their place and are squashed. Since Themistokles was in no position to impose upon his equals, he had to persuade them.
Quickly fast-forward to 330 BC, when Demosthenes could not persuade the Athenian people to forego the funding of their immediate pleasures and invest in a proper defense against the Macedonians. They were easily conquered and enslaved in turn. However, in 483 BC, Themistokles was able to convince his fellow citizens to invest in their defense because the people were fresh — the democracy was brand new and many of the citizens had just fought in defense of their country several years prior at Marathon. The citizens were not yet degenerate drones! The true national interest was still alive in their heart, and visions of greatness and glory were still burning in their eyes. So this could be appealed to by great statesmen like Themistokles.
At any rate, when Xerxes crossed over into Europe, the Athenians rushed heralds to Delphi to figure out what they were going to do. The Pythia said that Athens would find deliverance by retreating to their “walls made of wood.” The assembly of citizens initially believed that the wooden walls referred to the ancient wall of the Acropolis, but Themistokles persuaded his peers that the oracle referred to the fleet:
Now there was one man of the Athenians who had lately been coming forward to take a place among the first, whose name was Themistokles, called son of Neokles. This man said that the interpreters of oracles did not make right conjecture of the whole, and he spoke as follows, saying that if these words that had been uttered referred really to the Athenians, he did not think it would have been so mildly expressed in the oracle, but rather thus, "Salamis, thou the merciless," instead of "Salamis, thou the divine," at least if its settlers were destined to perish round about it: but in truth the oracle had been spoken by the god with reference to the enemy, if one understood it rightly, and not to the Athenians: therefore he counselled them to get ready to fight a battle by sea, for in this was their bulwark of wood.
When Themistokles declared his opinion thus, the Athenians judged that this was to be preferred by them rather than the advice of the interpreters of oracles, who bade them not make ready for a sea-fight, nor in short raise their hands at all in opposition, but leave the land of Attica and settle in some other.
Popular forms of government require the best people to step up and be heard. Their love of country and visions of greatness must find expression. How many powerful and capable people in our society do we have that just stay quiet and go with the flow? Themistokles was not afraid to speak up and lead the Athenians to pursue the correct course. He convinced them to abandon their city, let the enemy raise it to the ground, evacuate all the citizens to an island, and go all-in on a naval battle against the largest fleet ever fielded in ancient history. I think it fitting to borrow a quote from Montagu and apply it to Themistokles:
[The example of Themistokles instructs us] that the most depressed, and most abject State may be extricated from calamities, and raised to superior dignity and lustre by a very small number of virtuous patriots, whilst the spirit of liberty yet remains, and the people second the efforts of their leaders with unanimity and vigor.
The Spartans Reject Syracusan Aid
Sparta sent envoys to the Greeks in Sicily who had established a successful colony called Syracuse. Syracuse was ruled by the tyrant Gelon who was prepared to provide a miraculous boon to the Greek war effort: 200 triremes, 20,000 hoplites, 2,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers, 2,000 slingers, and 2,000 lightly armed troops. Gelon’s only condition was that he be made supreme commander of all Greek forces against the Persian menace. The Spartan envoy named Syagros could not bear to hear this and replied:
"Deeply, I trow, would Agamemnon son of Pelops lament, if he heard that the Spartans had had the leadership taken away from them by Gelon and by the Syracusans. Nay, but make thou no further mention of this condition, namely that we should deliver the leadership to thee; but if thou art desirous to come to the assistance of Hellas, know that thou wilt be under the command of the Lacedemonians; and if thou dost indeed claim not to be under command, come not thou to our help at all."
The Spartans had common sense and honor. Syagros was not naive to the fact that Gelon had much experience subduing a people and establishing himself as a tyrant. Bringing Gelon to Greece and putting him in command of a massive army posed an enormous risk. Secondly, the honor of commanding the Greeks belonged to Sparta. Morally, the Spartans simply could not subordinate themselves to the command of others.
The Battle of Thermopylae: A Clash of “Madness”
As Xerxes’ and his titanic army approached the mountain pass at Thermopylae, the Greeks stationed there deliberated on whether they should stay or withdraw to the Isthmus of Corinth to protect the Peloponnese. Leonidas shut the debate down and voted to defend the pass. Xerxes was baffled that this small force was resolved to stand against him:
Hearing this Xerxes was not able to conjecture the truth about the matter, namely that they were preparing themselves to die and to deal death to the enemy so far as they might; but it seemed to him that they were acting in a manner merely ridiculous; and therefore he sent for Demaratos the son of Ariston, who was in his camp, and when he came, Xerxes asked him of these things, desiring to discover what this was which the Lacedemonians were doing: and Demaratos said:
"Thou didst hear from my mouth at a former time, when we were setting forth to go against Hellas, the things concerning these men; and having heard them thou made me an object of laughter, because I told thee of these things which I perceived would come to pass; for to me it is the greatest of all ends to speak the truth continually before thee, O king.
Hear then now also: these men have come to fight with us for the passage, and this is it that they are preparing to do; for they have a custom which is as follows: — whenever they are about to put their lives in peril, then they attend to the arrangement of their hair. Be assured however, that if thou shalt subdue these and the rest of them which remain behind in Sparta, there is no other race of men which will await thy onset, O king, or will raise hands against thee: for now thou art about to fight against the noblest kingdom of all the Hellenes, and the best men."
To Xerxes that which was said seemed to be utterly incredible, and he asked again a second time in what manner being so few they would fight with his host. He said; "O king, deal with me as with a liar, if thou find not that these things come to pass as I say."
While I want to reflect on something else in this passage, I must mention this wonderful epithet given by Demaratos to the Spartans, “the most noble kingdom of all the Hellenes, and the best of men.” To really digest what this means, I might need to dedicate a longer article in the future.
But this is the main question I want to ask here: why is Xerxes perplexed by the Spartans? I think he simply does not understand them the same way many of us do not understand Xerxes. Earlier in Book VII, Xerxes’ invasion of Greece seemed like complete and utter madness. How was he going to pull this off? A combined land and sea assault against capable Greeks on their home turf? The logistics of maintaining such a large force alone would have been enough to dissuade any sound commander. But now that Xerxes has made his way across the Hellespont and down through northern Greece with relative ease, he finds the Spartans defending this small pass and calls them crazy! Thermopylae was a clash of madness! From different perspectives, Xerxes was both the Nietzschean yes-sayer and an arrogant king, while the Spartans were both the most foolish and the most noble of men.
“Human beings are many, but men are few”
After waiting four days for the Greeks to abandon the pass at Thermopylae, Xerxes could not sit idle any longer and ordered an all-out attack:
Then when the Medes moved forward and attacked the Hellenes, there fell many of them, and others kept coming up continually, and they were not driven back, though suffering great loss: and they made it evident to every man, and to the king himself not least of all, that human beings are many, but men are few. This combat went on all day.
As mentioned before, one theme running throughout Western civilization is quantity v quality. The Spartans represent how the excellence, courage, and superiority of a few can take on the world and win everlasting glory:
And when the Medes were being roughly handled, then these retired from the battle, and the Persians, those namely whom the king called "Immortals," of whom Hydarnes was commander, took their place and came to the attack, supposing that they at least would easily overcome the enemy. When however these also engaged in combat with the Hellenes, they gained no more success than the Median troops but the same as they, seeing that they were fighting in a place with a narrow passage, using shorter spears than the Hellenes, and not being able to take advantage of their superior numbers.
Even the best Persian troops, the Immortals, were nothing in comparison to the Spartans:
The Lacedemonians meanwhile were fighting in a memorable fashion, and besides other things of which they made display, being men perfectly skilled in fighting opposed to men who were unskilled, they would turn their backs to the enemy and make a pretence of taking to flight; and the Barbarians, seeing them thus taking a flight, would follow after them with shouting and clashing of arms: then the Lacedemonians, when they were being caught up, turned and faced the Barbarians; and thus turning round they would slay innumerable multitudes of the Persians; and there fell also at these times a few of the Spartans themselves. So, as the Persians were not able to obtain any success by making trial of the entrance and attacking it by divisions and every way, they retired back.
Sparta’s Genius: Altering the Homeric Hero Ethic
The Spartans held off the entire Persian army for three days. After the second day, the Persians exploited a trail that put them in a position to decisively flank and obliterate the Spartans holding the pass. When Leonidas learned of this, he sent his allies away but decided to remain with his Spartans:
I am inclined rather to be of this latter opinion, namely that because Leonidas perceived that the allies were out of heart and did not desire to face the danger with him to the end, he ordered them to depart, but held that for himself to go away was not honourable, whereas if he remained, a great fame of him would be left behind, and the prosperity of Sparta would not be blotted out: for an oracle had been given by the Pythian prophetess to the Spartans, when they consulted about this war at the time when it was being first set on foot, to the effect that either Lacedaemon must be destroyed by the Barbarians, or their king must lose his life. This reply the prophetess gave them in hexameter verses, and it ran thus:
"But as for you, ye men who in wide-spaced Sparta inhabit,
Either your glorious city is sacked by the children of
Perses,
Or, if it be not so, then a king of the stock Heracleian
Dead shall be mourned for by all in the boundaries of
broad Lacedaemon.
Him nor the might of bulls nor the raging of lions shall
hinder;
For he hath might as of Zeus; and I say he shall not be
restrained,
Till one of the other of these he have utterly torn and
divided."
One of the keys to the greatness of the Spartans was their ability to alter the Homeric hero ethic. Dr. Paul Rahe has many good books on Sparta and his analysis of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus makes this point clear as day. While Homer praised individual exploits, Tyrtaeus only praised the glories of the citizen fighting alongside his companions in the city’s hoplite phalanx. For the Spartans, glory was not to be found in the individual but in the citizenry as a whole. As a result, the city Sparta would go on to become as famous as the individual Achilles. The citizens of a city achieved the kind of glory that was previously reserved only for demigods and mythical individuals.
Education, in the fullest sense of the word, prepared the Spartans for this moment and this destiny. The choice offered by the priestess would have been easy for a Spartan to make. As a people, the Spartans conquered their fear of death by means of nobility, honor, and civic courage.
The Inscriptions Left at Thermopylae
Before the final Persian assault and the heroic Spartan last stand, Leonidas had two inscriptions erected on the battlefield:
The men were buried were they fell; and for these, as well as for those who were slain before being sent away by Leonidas, there is an inscription which runs thus:
“Here once, facing in fight three million foes, Four thousand did contend, men of the Peloponnese.”
This is the inscription for the whole body; and for the Spartans separately there is this:
“Stranger, report this word to the Spartans: It is here that we lie, Their laws we obey.
To conquer or die — Spartan law defined and constituted them together as a people. Obedience to this law was the source of their greatness and renown as “the most noble kingdom of all the Hellenes, and the best of men.”
The Spartan Perspective Breaks Weak Minds
Before the last stand occurred, two Spartans were blinded in the fighting and were ordered to return home. Eurytos refused and died fighting blindly while Aristodemos returned to Sparta:
When Aristodemos, I say, had returned home to Lacedaemon, he had reproach and dishonor; and that which he suffered by way of dishonor was this, — no one of the Spartans would either give him light for a fire or speak with him, and he had reproach in that he was called Aristodemos the coward. He however in the battle at Plataea repaired all the guilt that was charged against him.
When I first read Herodotus in high school, I had a hard time understanding why the Spartans were so harsh to Aristodemos. You would think that a city would welcome home their wounded and honor them — especially if they were ordered by the king to return home. From a practical standpoint, you would want as many warriors as possible for the continued struggle ahead. From the modern perspective, it makes no sense for the Spartans to be so cruel to Aristodemos. But what does it mean for a people to actually believe in something? The Spartans were noble because they lived out their law: to conquer or to die. No nuance. No excuses. No “reasoning” your way out of it.
Sparta v Persia: The Big Lesson
After the battle, Xerxes was understandably frustrated:
Xerxes passed in review the bodies of the dead; and as for Leonidas, hearing that he had been the king and commander of the Lacedemonians he bade them cut off his head and crucify him. And it has been made plain to me by many proofs besides, but by none more strongly than by this, that king Xerxes was enraged with Leonidas while alive more than with any other man on earth; for otherwise he would never have done this outrage to his corpse; since of all the men whom I know, the Persians are accustomed most to honour those who are good men in war.
Herodotus tells us Xerxes felt great animosity towards Leonidas but does not explain why. On the surface, the reasoning is simple: Leonidas and his Spartans frustrated the Persian advance and showed that the Greeks were superior men. But I believe there is a more significant explanation to be uncovered.
Xerxes’ was furious because Leonidas stole the glory away from him. I fully explain this in Aphorism 60, but the whole expedition was an attempt for Xerxes to win glory and continue the destiny of the Persian Empire. The battle of Thermopylae marked an inflection point where archetypal energy swung away from the Persians and into the hands of the Greeks. Through Xerxes’ great striving and failure, he opened the door for the Greeks to become great and let loose upon the world in turn. I think Xerxes understood this and it caused him much anger and despair.
Furthermore, I think the Battle of Thermopylae and the superiority of the Spartans as men was a harsh judgment against Xerxes. Greatness for the Persians belonged to Xerxes alone because everyone else in the Persian empire was his slave and inferior. The brilliance of the Spartans was that they were able to figure out how to disburse greatness across the citizenry. In Persia, one man is said to be great, but in Sparta, the citizens are said to be great. How do you think Xerxes felt when he saw waves of his men being cut down by the Spartans? Do you think Xerxes felt proud that all he had to command were lowly slaves while Leonidas commanded the finest men in all of Greece? Conquerors and kings like Xerxes can only exhaust men and use them like pawns on a chessboard for their own great ends. In contrast, the lawgiver can elevate men and breathe fire into their spirit — constituting them in such a way to form a noble people capable of being great. Rousseau helps us see how the lawgiver is the pinnacle of human excellence:
The lawgiver’s great soul is the true miracle which must vindicate his mission. Any man can carve tablets of stone, or bribe an oracle, claim a secret intercourse with some divinity, train a bird to whisper in his ear, or discover some other vulgar means of imposing himself on the people. A man who can do such things may conceivably bring together a company of fools, but he will never establish an empire, and his bizarre creation will perish with him. Worthless tricks may set up transitory bonds, but only wisdom makes lasting ones.
The Law of the Hebrews, which still lives, and that of the child of Ishmael which has ruled half the world for ten centuries, still proclaim today the greatness of the men who first enunciated them; and even though proud philosophy and the blind spirit of faction may regard them as nothing but lucky impostors, the true statesman sees, and admires in their institutions, the hand of that great and powerful genius which lies behind all lasting things.
Upon realizing all of this, it makes sense why Xerxes mutilated the corpse of Leonidas. Xerxes was a great man, but he still had greater heights to climb. He was neither capable of being a lawgiver himself nor the beneficiary of one as Leonidas had been. Xerxes could exhaust an army of slaves but nothing more. He would never command an army of free men. He would never create the distance the Spartans were able to create from all other men. He felt ashamed by this truth and lashed out.