I'm reading this book, called the Greco-Persian Wars, and I don't think I've been so moved by a book in quite a while. I just read about the Battle of Marathon. There was nothing special about this books depiction of the battle. Fairly technical, not overly romanticized. And I've heard the story of that battle so many times before, without ever really being moved. But for some reason, reading it this time, knowing all the background, knowing the people involved, just made it so much more.

No matter how realistic you are, no matter how cynical you look at history, no one can deny the honor of that battle, the glory of it. This was a particularly moving passage for me: "The men of Marathon, the heavily-armed soliders who had saved Athens, alone and unaided except for one Plataean contingent, were all property-owning landowners or farmers." Think on that. The Athenian troops one because they were more highly trained. More skillfull than the mercenaries bought by the Persians. The FARMERS are more highly trained in battle than SOLIDERS whose sole job is to fight in wars. That's pretty sad. Honorable, but sad. Honorable because farmers were willing to fight to save their freedom. So many in Athens wanted to give over and accept Persian rule. So many other Greeks had done so already. Athens and Sparta were the only two places left that hadn't bowed down to Persian rule. Farmer's answered the call to fight. People like you and me. People who just wanted to support their family. To make sure there was food on the table. To send their kids to school. Regular people. And they risked everything, everything, to send the Persians back home. Yet how sad is it that they had to do that? That they had been trained to do that? That every man in Athens and Attica knew the art of the sword. How sad, that such things were necessary. No, this was no utopia. This was no wonderful world. This was farmers forced to fight, and not suprised by it. This was an age when warfare was an everyday thing, and the only change was who you considered your enemy. Quite a sad thing.

6400 Persians slaughtered by the Marshes. 192 Husbands and Fathers and Sons that didn't come home. 24 Mile March. Persian ships retreating.

For once, I think I got it. I think I understand.

Very few things move me this much. The creation of Narnia. The battle of Helms Deep. John Galt's speech. And now, the battle of Marathon.

{-+-}