nd mocked the counsel of the wise and the valor of the brave.
Then glory to his holy name from whom all glories are;
And glory to our sovereign lord, King Henry of Navarre.

THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

For some time the Greeks had known that danger was threatening them, and
in 480 B. C. they learned that it was well-nigh at their gates. Xerxes,
the "Great King," whose heralds when announcing a decree began with the
words, "All people and nations and languages," whose resources both of
men and of treasures were more than could be estimated, was gathering
his forces to proceed against Greece; and many were the rumors as to the
size of his army.

"There were twelve hundred and seven great ships; and in each ship there
were two hundred rowers and thirty fighting men. Also he had of smaller
ships, having fifty oars or under, three thousand, and in each of these,
taking one with another, there were eighty men. Therefore the whole
number of the men that served on the ships was five hundred and
seventeen thousand and six hundred. Of foot soldiers there were
seventeen hundred thousand, and of horsemen eighty thousand, and of
Arabs riding on camels and of Libyans that fought from chariots twenty
thousand. There were also one hundred and twenty ships of Greeks that
dwelt in Thrace and in the islands thereof, and in these twenty and four
thousand men. To these must be added foot soldiers of the Thracians, the
Paeonians, the Macedonians, and others. And the sum of the whole was two
million six hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred and ten. And of
all this great host there was none fitter to be the ruler for beauty and
great stature than King Xerxes himself. Of those that followed the camp,
and of the crews of the provision ships and other vessels of transport,
the number was more rather than less than the number of the fighting
men. As for the women that ground the corn, and others that came with
the army, and the horses and beasts of burden, and dogs, their number
can not be told."

What could the Greeks do against so many? And yet when the envoys of
King Xerxes came to the Greek states, demanding from each earth and
water, as a sign that Xerxes was lord of land and sea, all the states
but Thessaly, which Xerxes would enter first, refused. The Greek states
were not always on friendly terms one with another; but the great danger
that threatened them now united them in one common object--to repel the
Persian i