When Demaratus heard this, he said, “O King, thou biddest me speak the truth, so that I may not be found hereafter to have lied unto thee. With us Greeks poverty is born and bred; and we have gotten for ourselves valor by help of wisdom and law, and by valor we keep ourselves both from poverty and from servitude. Now that which I am about to say regards the Spartans only, though indeed I honor all the Greeks that dwell in the Dorian country. Know then, in the first place, that the Spartans will receive no conditions from thee that shall bring slavery upon Greece; and in the second, that they will surely come forth to meet thee in battle, yea, though all the Greeks besides be on thy side. But as to their number there is no need to inquire; for if there be a thousand that shall march out to battle, or if there be more or less these will surely fight.”
When Xerxes heard this he laughed, and said, “What is this that thou hast said, Demaratus? Shall a thousand men fight with a whole army? Tell me now. Thou hast been, thou sayest, King of these Spartans. Wilt thou then forthwith fight singly with ten men? Yet if all thy nation be such as thou sayest, thou being their King shouldst, according to your custom, contend against as many again; so that if a common man be a match for ten men of my army thou shouldst be a match for twenty. But if they that so boast themselves are no bigger or stronger than the Greeks that I have seen, thyself, to wit, and others, then is this talk but empty words. Consider now the likelihood of the thing. How could a thousand, or ten thousand, or even fifty thousand, stand up against such an army, the more so if they be free and not under the rule of one man? For say that there be five thousand of them, yet shall we have more than a thousand to one. If, indeed, they were under the rule of one man after our fashion, then might they for fear of him be valiant even beyond their nature, and fight few against many, being driven thereto by the lash. But being free, and left to choose, they will do neither the one nor the other. I verily believe that Greeks could scarce stand up in battle against Persians, the number being equal. But as to this, that one man can fight