Polymnia   

it to attack the Phocians, at the time when the Phocians fortified the
pass with a wall, and so put themselves under covert from danger.
And ever since, the path has always been put to an ill use by the
Malians.
The course which it takes is the following:- Beginning at the
Asopus, where that stream flows through the cleft in the hills, it
runs along the ridge of the mountain (which is called, like the
pathway over it, Anopaea), and ends at the city of Alpenus- the
first Locrian town as you come from Malis- by the stone called
Melampygus and the seats of the Cercopians. Here it is as narrow as at
any other point.
The Persians took this path, and, crossing the Asopus, continued
their march through the whole of the night, having the mountains of
Oeta on their right hand, and on their left those of Trachis. At
dawn of day they found themselves close to the summit. Now the hill
was guarded, as I have already said, by a thousand Phocian
men-at-arms, who were placed there to defend the pathway, and at the
same time to secure their own country. They had been given the guard
of the mountain path, while the other Greeks defended the pass
below, because they had volunteered for the service, and had pledged
themselves to Leonidas to maintain the post.
The ascent of the Persians became known to the Phocians in the
following manner:- During all the time that they were making their way
up, the Greeks remained unconscious of it, inasmuch as the whole
mountain was covered with groves of oak; but it happened that the
air was very still, and the leaves which the Persians stirred with
their feet made, as it was likely they would, a loud rustling,
whereupon the Phocians jumped up and flew to seize their arms. In a
moment the barbarians came in sight, and, perceiving men arming
themselves, were greatly amazed; for they had fallen in with an
enemy when they expected no opposition. Hydarnes, alarmed at the
sight, and fearing lest the Phocians might be Lacedaemonians, inquired
of Ephialtes to what nation these troops belonged. Ephialtes told
him the exact truth, whereupon he arrayed his Persians for battle. The
Phocians, galled by the showers of arrows to which they were
exposed, and imagining themselves the special object of the Persian
attack, fled hastily to the crest of the mountain, and there made
ready to meet death; but while their mistake continued, the
Persians, with Ephialtes and Hydarnes, not thinking it worth their
while to delay on account of Phocians, passed on and descended the
mountain with all possible speed.
The Greeks at Thermopylae received the first warning of the
destruction which the dawn would bring on them from the seer
Megistias, who read their fate in the victims as he was sacrificing.
After this deserters came in, and brought the news that the Persians
were marching round by the hills: it was still night when these men
arrived. Last of all, the scouts came running down from the heights,
and brought in the same accounts, when the day was just beginning to
break. Then the Greeks held a council to consider what they should do,
and here opinions were divided: some were strong against quitting
their post, while others contended to the contrary. So when the
council had broken up, part of the troops departed and went their ways
homeward to their several states; part however resolved to remain, and
to stand by Leonidas to the last.
It is said that Leonidas himself sent away the troops who
departed, because he tendered their safety, but thought it unseemly
that either he or his Spartans should quit the post which they had
been especially sent to guard. For my own part, I incline to think
that Leonidas gave the order, because he perceived the allies to be
out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own
mind was made up. He therefore commanded them to retreat, but said
that he himself could not draw back with honour; knowing that, if he
stayed, glory awaited him, and that Sparta in that case would not lose
her prosperity. For when the Spartans, at the very beginning of the