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When Xerxes had thus spoken, he proceeded to pass through the slain;
and finding the body of Leonidas, whom he knew to have been the
Lacedaemonian king and captain, he ordered that the head should be
struck off, and the trunk fastened to a cross. This proves to me most
clearly, what is plain also in many other ways - namely, that King
Xerxes was more angry with Leonidas, while he was still in life,
than with any other mortal. Certes, he would not else have used his
body so shamefully. For the Persians are wont to honour those who
show themselves valiant in fight more highly than any nation that I
know. They, however, to whom the orders were given, did according
to the commands of the king.
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