The Savannah morning news., 1902-01-26
Ask your druggist for free Pe-u-na Almanac.

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 an
tagonists in the great battle.
1t NAV be taken as a well known
fact that the Spercheios has since the
time of Herodotus made so large on
alluvial deposit around it's mouth that
if he himself should return to earth
he would hardly recognize the spot
which he has described so infinitely.
The Western horn, which in his time
came down so near to the gulf as to
leave space for a 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 exag-
gerated the impregnability of this
pass. The mountain spur which
formed it did not rise so abruptly from
the sea as to form an impossible bar
rler to the advance of a 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 topora-
piers, including Col. Leake, hold that
the battle actually took place there.
as the great battle between the Ro-
mans and Antiochos certainly did.
This Eastern pass is no place where
a thousand may we'll be stopped by
three" and there cannot have taken
place any great transformation here
since classical times, inasmuch 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-s shaped area
inclosed by the two horns, can hardly
nave contributed to changing the shape
of the Eastern horn itself. Artificial
fortihcation was always needed here:
but 1T is very uncertain 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 a su-
perior one; but while it cannot be de-
clared with absolute certainty that
this is not the place where the fight
ing took place, yet the Western pass
nts better the description of Herodo-
tus. Besides this. if 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 Leonfdas threw away his own life
ana that of the 1000, that it was mag
nl1cent but not strategy, not war. does
not take into account the fact tbat
Sparta had for nearly half a century
been looked to as the military leader
or Greece. 1t was audacious in the
Athenians to fight the battle of Mara
thon without them and they did so
only because the Spartans did not come
to Thermopylae in force, it is true: but
her King was there with 300 of her
pest men. Only by staying and fight
ing could he show that Sparta held by
right the place she had won. 1t had to
be done. 80 the glory of Sparta was
not plotted out" Had Sparta shown
the white feather here. and a retreat
would have been interpreted as show
ing the white feather, she would have
lost prestige with the rest of the
creeks; and in that case it is as good
as certain that Plataea would never
nave been fought. But besides show
ing the high statecraft which the &C.
caslon demanded, Leonidas was per-
forming the simple duty of obedience
TO Spartan law, not to retreat before
an enemy. He had been sent to 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
Persian war in Herodotus than the ep-
ltaph inscribed on the monument to The
fallen Spartans, Stranger, tell the
Lacedemonians that we lie in obedience
totheir laws" Whether Simonides felt
the need of simplicity and brevity, or
whether Spartan taste prescribed it, 10
is at any rate most fitting that boast
ing is omitted. The deed was so great
that one little more of brag or even
some little simplifying and embellish-
ing, would have belittled it. 1t is stir
ring to read those other equally brief
and equally simple lines of Simonides
Inscribed on the monument erected for
the total number who fought and fell;
-Four thousand from Peloponnesus
fought here with three millions
One may have read, and read often,
the description Of the battle in the
schoolroom, but he reads 1t with diff
ferent eyes on the spot, when he can
look up at the hillock crowned with
ruined cavalry barrack just inside the
western pass and say to himself: Hers
on this hill they fought their last fight
and fell to the last man. Here once
stood the monuments to Leonidas, 10
the 300, and to the 1000"
The very monuments have crumbieu
to dust. but the great deed lives on.
We rode back to LAMA under the
spell OF It, II was as II 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 Il was shaded from pink to pur-
pie Tymphrestos I'm the west wa
bathed I'm the light of the sun that
had gone down behind II. The wholss
surrounding was most stirring anu
there was ever sounding In our hearts
that deep bass note. What they uls
here" Even when we were afterwaru
enjoying the great walls OF the Aero
polls OF Pharsalos and the vale OK
Tempe we kept thinking Of Thermopy-