He was represented as a victim self-immolated on the altar of his country’s weal. The oracle had said that the king must die for his people. And he did die, but a victim to the dishonour of a country which left him and the brave men with him to their fate. After the departure of the Peloponnesian allies, the last scene in the tragedy began. ◆H. vii. 223.◆ Herodotus describes it in the simple but beautiful language of a master-artist who seeks to do justice to the grandest story of his time. Xerxes after making libation at sunrise, waited until the time when the Agora is wont to fill, and then began the attack; such being the instructions of Epialtes.[122] “For the descent from the mountain is quicker and the distance much shorter, than the way round the hills.”[123] [Illustration: COAST AT MIDDLE GATE OF THERMOPYLÆ IN 480. Scale 8″ to 1 mile. 1, 2, 3, mark the three positions of the defenders of the Pass. [_To face page_ 310. ] [Illustration: THERMOPYLÆ.] [Illustration: THERMOPYLÆ: THE MIDDLE GATE. 1. The 1st Mound. 2. Upper Mill. 3. Modern Baths. 4. Great Ravine. [_To face page_ 311. ] #THE LAST FIGHT.# “So the barbarians under Xerxes advanced; and the Greeks with Leonidas, as though going to meet their death, came out much more into the wider part of the pass than they had done hitherto”[124] “Up to this time they had held their station within the wall, and from this had gone out to fight where the path was narrowest.”[125] “On this occasion, however, the battle took place outside the narrows, and numbers of the Persians fell. For the commanders standing behind the companies with whips in their hands lashed on every man, continually urging them forward. Many of them fell into the sea and were drowned, and a still larger number were trampled to death; but no one heeded the dying. For as the Greeks knew the fate which awaited them at the hands of those who were making the circuit of the mountain, they displayed with recklessness and fury the most desperate valour against the barbarians.”[126] “By that time the spears of most of them were broken, but they slaughtered the Persians with their swords. In this _melée_ fell Leonidas, the bravest of men, and other famous Spartans with him, whose names I found out, for they deserved record; in fact, I discovered the names of all the three hundred.”[127] The losses of the Persians were not confined to the rank and file of the army. Many of their prominent men fell, among others two sons of Darius.