I don’t know as much as I ought to about the Greco-Persian wars, but the tiny nugget of understanding I have is as follows: The Greeks were a collection of squabbling city states all controlled independently. They spent most of their time farming and discussing philosophy; when they weren’t doing that, they were fighting each other. Persia was a rapidly growing empire controlled by one king and his appointed cronies, financed by treasure taken from conquered nations. The Persians, first under Darius, and then Xerxes, were trying to expand their empire by adding Greece. The Greeks didn’t realy care for this idea.
Xerxes, the Persian emperor, doesn’t really want to fight a long protracted battle to control the Greeks. He’d much rather have them submit to him like the rest of the peoples he’s had his army conquer. He sends out a bunch of messengers to Greeks, telling them they should surrender to him. “I’ll treat you well,” he says, “Just pay taxes to me and do whatever I say, and we’ll be good.” The Greeks, not really famous for their hospitality, respond by throwing the Persian messengers down a well.
Everything started to go pretty poorly for the greeks around this time; a variety of bad omens were observed. It was decided that maybe they shouldn’t have thrown those Persians down the well after all. The greeks figured they should offer some of their own men to make up for the Persians they killed. A call goes out for patriotic young men to sacrifice themselves for their country, and two guys step forward – Sperthias and Bulis. These aren’t just random joes; they’re from well off families. Think of two frat boys at Duke.
Sperthias and Bulis make their way to the persian capital. Everybody in Persia knows what these guys are doing, and they’re respected for it. A Persian Official, Hydarnes, gives them a place to stay. He’s impressed by their conviction and courage. He tries to convince them to join the Persians. “You guys are brave,” he says. “Xerxes knows how to reward brave guys. If you join him, you could be in charge of Greece.”
Their response to Hydarnes gives me shivers each time I read it:
“Hydames, you have not equally weighed each side in your advice to us. For you have tried the one which you advise, the other has remained untried by you. You know what it means to be a slave, but you have never yet tried freedom, to know whether it is sweet or not. For if you had tried it, you would have advised us to fight for it, not merely with spears, but also with axes.”
Can you imagine anyone with that attitude now? Recently, Iran (modern Persia) captured a bunch of British Marines. Instead of fighting to their deaths, the Marines simply acquiesed to the Iranians and went willingly as prisoners. They posed for a bunch of propoganda pictures, and were eventually released. Watching the whole episdoe disgusted. me I have nothing but contempt for those who would let themselves be used in such a way, for ‘men’ who value their wretched lives over all else. That seems to make me a minority.
Sperthias and Bulis argued that Hydarnes counciled against fighting for freedom because he didn’t understand what freedom was like. We live in a world freedom is the only thing many people have known, and for that reason, they don’t really value it. Like the Persian satrap Hydarnes, they argue against fighting for freedom. Not because they don’t know what it’s like to be free, but because they don’t know what it’s like to be a slave. They’d rather be alive than free. I think that’s a damn shame.