terror at the
advent of majesty, were carelessly diverting themselves by athletic games,
and by combing and adorning their hair, a fact which the "Lord Prexaspes"
at least comprehended to mean that Leonidas and his Spartans were
preparing for desperate battle. Nevertheless, it was hard to persuade the
king that at last he confronted men who would resist him to his face.
Glaucon said it. Demaratus, the outlawed Spartan, said it. Xerxes,
however, remained angry and incredulous. Four long days he and his army
sat before the pass, "because," announced his couriers, "he wishes in his
benignity to give these madmen a chance to flee away and shun
destruction;" "because," spoke those nearest to Mardonius, the brain of
the army, "there is hot fighting ahead, and the general is resolved to
bring up the picked troops in the rear before risking a battle."

Then on the fifth day either Xerxes's patience was exhausted or Mardonius
felt ready. Strong regiments of Median infantry were ordered to charge
Leonidas's position, Xerxes not failing to command that they slay as few
of the wretches as possible, but drag them prisoners before his outraged
presence.

A noble charge. A terrible repulse. For the first time those Asiatics who
had forgotten Marathon discovered the overwhelming superiority that the
sheathing of heavy armour gave the Greek hoplites over the lighter armed
Median spearmen. The short lances and wooden targets of the attackers were
pitifully futile against the long spears and brazen shields of the
Hellenes. In the narrow pass the vast numbers of Barbarians went for
nothing. They could not use their archers, they could not charge with
their magnificent cavalry. The dead lay in heaps. The Medes attacked again
and again. At last an end came to their courage. The captains laid the
lash over their mutinous troops. The men bore the whips in sullen silence.
They would not charge again upon those devouring spears.

White with anger, Xerxes turned to Hydarnes and his "Immortals," the
infantry of the Life Guard. The general needed no second bidding. The
charge was driven home with magnificent spirit. But what the vassal Medes
could not accomplish, neither could the lordly Persians. The repulse was
bloody. If once Leonidas's line broke and the Persians rushed on with
howls of triumph, it was only to see the Hellenes' files close in a
twinkling and return to the onset with their foes in confusion. Hydarnes
led back his men at last.