nvader and to save their temples and their idols from
desecration. A council, at which were present deputies from all the
Greek states, was held on the Isthmus of Corinth, and plans for defense
were considered.

There were two narrow passes through which Xerxes would have to come
before he should find himself in Greece proper, and it was evident that
it was at such places as these that the few Greeks could best withstand
the numerous Persians. To Tempe, therefore, the northernmost of these
passes, a body of troops was hastily despatched, but they soon returned
declaring that the defense of the pass was out of the question. All
agreed then that the best plan would be to guard Thermopylae, which led
from Thessaly into Locris. To-day a swampy plain almost three miles
broad lies between Mount Oeta and the Maliac Gulf, but in ancient
times there was but a stretch of sand not more than fifty feet wide at
its broadest part, and in some places so narrow that a single wagon
could scarce pass along it. The Greek fleet was posted off the coast to
prevent the Persians from landing men beyond the pass, and a company was
at once gathered for the defense of Thermopylae and put under the
command of Leonidas, King of Sparta.

"Now, the Greeks that abode the coming of the Persians in this place
were these--three hundred Spartans, heavy-armed men; and men of Tegea
and Matinea a thousand, from each five hundred, and from Orchomenus one
hundred and twenty, and from the rest of Arcadia a thousand. From
Corinth there came four hundred, and from Phlius two hundred, and from
Mycenae eighty. So many came from the Peloponnesus; of the Boeotians
there came seven hundred from Thespiae and four hundred from Thebes.
Besides these there had come at the summons the Locrians of Opus with
all the men that they had, and a thousand Phocians."

All of the Greeks knew that they were setting out on a dangerous
enterprise, but to the Spartans it meant more than that. Leonidas
himself felt that he was going to his death, for the oracle at Delphi
had foretold that Sparta should be saved if one of her kings should
perish, and Leonidas was more than willing to make this sacrifice for
his state. His three hundred followers, trained from childhood to look
upon death as infinitely preferable to defeat, had, with that courage
which has made their name an epithet indicating the highest sort of
bravery, celebrated their funeral games before setting out. When they
cam