7.225.3
In that place they defended themselves with swords, if they still had them, and with hands and teeth. The barbarians buried them with missiles, some attacking from the front and throwing down the defensive wall, others surrounding them on all sides.
ch. 226
7.226.1
This then is how the Lacedaemonians and Thespians conducted themselves, but the Spartan Dieneces is said to have exhibited the greatest courage of all. They say that he made the following speech before they joined battle with the Medes: he had learned from a Trachinian that there were so many of the barbarians that when they shot their missiles, the sun was hidden by the multitude of their arrows.
7.226.2
He was not at all disturbed by this and made light of the multitude of the Medes, saying that their Trachinian foreigner brought them good news. If the Medes hid the sun, they could fight them in the shade instead of in the sun. This saying and others like it, they claim, Dieneces the Lacedaemonian left behind as a memorial.
ch. 227
7.227.1
Next after him two Lacedaemonian brothers, Alpheus and Maron, sons of Orsiphantus, are said to have been most courageous. The Thespian who gained most renown was one whose name was Dithyrambus son of Harmatides.
ch. 228
7.228.1
There is an inscription written over these men, who were buried where they fell, and over those who died before the others went away, dismissed by Leonidas. It reads as follows:
Here four thousand from the Peloponnese once fought three million.
7.228.2
That inscription is for them all, but the Spartans have their own:
Foreigner, go tell the Spartans that we lie here obedient to their commands.
7.228.3
That one is to the Lacedaemonians, this one to the seer:
This is a monument to the renowned Megistias,
Slain by the Medes who crossed the Spercheius river.
The seer knew well his coming doom,
But endured not to abandon the leaders of Sparta.
7.228.4
Except for the seer's inscription, the Amphictyons are the ones who honored them by erecting inscriptions and pillars. That of the seer Megistias was inscribed by Simonides son of Leoprepes because of his tie of guest-friendship with the man. note
ch. 229
7.229.1
It is said that two of these three hundred, Eurytus and Aristodemus, could have agreed with each other either to come home safely together to Sparta, since Leonidas had dismissed them from the camp and they were lying at Alpeni very sick of ophthalmia, or to die with the others, if they were unwilling to return home. They could have done either of these things, but they could not agree and had different intentions. When Eurytus learned of the Persians circuit, he demanded his armor and put it on, bidding his helot to lead him to the fighting. The helot led him there and fled, but he rushed into the fray and was killed. Aristodemus, however, lost his strength and stayed behind.
7.229.2
Now if Aristodemus alone had been sick and returned to Sparta, or if they had both made the trip, I think the Spartans would not have been angry with them. When, however, one of them died, and the other had the same excuse but was unwilling to die, the Spartans had no choice but to display great anger towards Aristodemus.
ch. 230
7.230.1
Some say that Aristodemus came home safely to Sparta in this way and by this excuse. Others say that he had been sent out of the camp as a messenger and could have gotten back in time for the battle but chose not to, staying behind on the road and so surviving, while his fellow-messenger arrived at the battle and was killed.
ch. 231
