Evening star., 1902-01-18

terested. Confidence begets confidence
Presently he began to talk about himself"
'Oh! And what did he tell your
(To be continued).
A PILGRIMAGE TO THERMOPYLAE.
The Pass Not So ImpregnabIe as
HerOdOtus Represents.
Prof R. B. Richardson In the Independent
The next day we took Thermopylae at
our leisure, passing out from Lamia over
to Spercheios on the bridge of Alamona,
at which Diakos. famous in ballad. resisted
with small band a Turkish army. until
he was at last captured and taken to
Lamia to be impaled. Luckily this one
bridge over the Spercheios remains, and
Thessaly has a road open to the east
through Thermopylae and Atalante. The
day was perfect, day to make an old man
young. We were like boys at play, in spite
Of the overpowering associations of tho
place. We sat down in the sunlight and
dabbled with our feet in the hot sulphur
stream, which has given its name to the
place, Thermopylae meaning Hot Gates"
and when a serious shepherd came and
looked at US in wonderment we regarded
him as the "Old Man of Thermopylae'' in
that wonderful character sketch, There
was an old man of Thermopylae who never
did anything properly" We had him pho
tographed In that character and fancied
scene Of his excesses and to behave himself
properly" We then went through the
pass as far east as Molo, and after taking
luncheon there returned to the pass for
serious study. that is, for tracing as far as
possible the positions and movements Of
the antagonists in the great battle.
1t may be taken as well-known fact
that the Spercheios has since the time Of
Herodotus made so large an alluvial de-
posit around its mouth that If he himself
should return to earth he would hardly rec
ognize the spot which he has described SO
mtnutely. The western horn, which in his
time came down so near to the gulf as to
leave space for single carriage road only,
is now separated from it by more than
mile of plain. Each visit to Thermopylae
has, however. deepened my conviction that
Herodotus exaggerated the impregnability
of this pass. The mountain spur which
formed 1t did not rise so abruptly from the
sea as to form an impossible barrier to the
advance OF determined antagonist 1t Is
of course difficult ground to operate on, but
certainly not impossible.
The other narrow place nearly two miles
to the east of this is still more open, a
fact that is to be emphasized. because many
topographers, including Colonel Leake,
hold that the battle actually took place
there. as the great battle between the
Romans and Antiochos certainly did. This
eastern pass is no place where "a thousand
may Wen be stopped by three" and there
I cannot have taken place any great trans
formation here since classical times, mas
much as this region is practically out OF
reach Of the Spercheios, and the deposit
from The hot sulphur streams, which has
so broadened the theater-shaped area in
closed by the two horns, can hardly have
contributed to changing the shape of the
eastern horn itself Artificial fortffication
was always needed here; but it is very un-
certain whether any Of the stones that
still remain can be claimed as parts OF
such fertilization. 1t is a fine position for
an inferior force to choose for defense
against superior one; but while 1t can
not be declared with absolute certainty
that this is not the place where the fight
ing took place, yet the western pass fits
better the description of Herodotus. Be
sides this, II the western pass had been
abandoned to the Persians at the outset the
fact would have been worth mentioning
AS to the heroic deed itself, the view that
Leonidas threw away his own life and that
OF the 4,OOO. that it was magnificent but
not strategy, not war, does. not take into
account the fact that Sparta had for near
ly half century been looked to as the mil
itary leader of Greece. It was audacious
in the Athenians to fight the battle of
Marathon without them, and they did so
only because the Spartans did not come at
their call: Sparta had not come to Their
mopylae In force. it Is true; but her king
was there with 300 Of her best men Only
by staying and fighting could he show that
Sparta held by right the place she had
OF o sparta ha1 was not dTne nnftea the glory
Sparta shown the white feather here and
a retreat would have been interpreted as
showing the white feather. she would have
| lost prestige with the rest of the Greeks:
and in that case it is as good as certain
that Plataea would never have been
fought. But besides showing the hirh
statecraft which the occasion demanded.
Leonidas was performing the simple duty
of obedience to Spartan law, not to retreat
before an enemy. He had been sent tn
hold the post; and he stayed to the end;
and there is no more stirring clarion note
in all that high-pitched story of the Per
sian war In Herodotus than the epitaph in
scribed on the monument to the fallen
spartans, stranger. tell the Lacedemo-
mans that We lie here in obedience to their
laws" Whether Simonides felt the need
Of simplicity and brevfty, or whether Spar
tan taste prescribed it. 1t is at any rate
most fitting that boasting is omitted. The
deed was so great that one little note of
brag, or even some little simplifying and
embellishing, would have beiitfled it. IT is
stirring to read those other equally brief
and equally simple lines OF Simonides in
scribed on the monument erected for the
total number who fought and fen: -Four
thousand from Peloponnesus fought here
with three millions"
One may have read. and read often, the
description OF the battle in the school
room. but he reads 1t with different eyes
on the spot. when he can look up at the
barrack just inside tho western pass and
say to himself. Here on this hill thew
fought their last fight and fell to the last
man. Here once stood the monuments to
A<CoHiodSs " SA0 aOV 1uQ 10 lu0 4,0UU.'
The very monuments have crumbled to
dust. but the great deed lives on. We rode
back to Lamia under the spell of it. 1t
was, as IL we had been in church and been
held by great preacher who knows how to
touch the deepest chords of the heart.
Euboea was already dark blue. while the
sky above 1t was shaded from pink to pur-
pie. Tymphresros In the west was bathed
In the light OF the sun that had gone down
behind 1t. The whole surrounding was
most stirring. and there was ever sounding
Ia our hearts that deep bass note, What
| they did here" Even when we were after-
ward enjoying the great walls OF the Acrop-
oils OF Pharsalos and the Vale Of Tempe
we kept thinking of Thermopylae.
The Least Of HIS TreubIes.