“These are the last tears of mine, my lord, that the sun will ever see.”
—Paraleia, a Spartan woman, in Gates of Fire
Let me tell you a writer’s story, about my own experience writing Gates of Fire, about the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae.
There’s a scene in the book, a fictional scene, that involves the women of Sparta. I’ve gotten more letters and e-mails about this scene than any other. Clearly it’s the single scene in the book that touches readers most. And I had no idea that it would evoke that response. Here’s the story behind it:
Gates of Fire was done. The text was locked. The book was ready to go to press. But I had two female editors, Kate Miciak and Nita Taublib. They called me into their office and begged me to give them one more scene. “The women of Sparta. There’s not enough about them. Everybody loves them. Please write one more scene that’s just about the women.”
I of course immediately rejected this. “The book is done, it’s fine the way it is, it’s too much work to come up with something new, I don’t wanna do it.”
But about a week later I had an idea for a scene. I’m a believer in the Muse. Sometimes stuff just “comes to you.” This was one of those times.
Here’s the scene:
In the book, the Spartan king Leonidas selects three hundred warriors, including himself, to march out to the narrow pass at Thermopylae and face the invading Persian army, according to Herodotus, of two million men. Leonidas picks the 300 … all fathers with living sons … because he knows none of them will return, himself included. Their role is to stand and die, to buy time for the other Greek states to rally and take on the Persians in strength.
But why did Leonidas pick that specific 300? To this day, historians don’t know. He had his royal bodyguard, the agema of the Knights. Their numbers were 300. (300 is a sacred number in ancient Greece, a number that stands in for the society as a whole). Leonidas could have picked those men, but he didn’t. He could have selected an “all-star team” of the greatest fighters he had. He didn’t. In fact, he chose, along with a number of great champions, a number of obscure and ordinary warriors, even rookies who had never seen combat before.
Why?
The scene I’m about to describe starts with one Spartan wife and mother named Paraleia. In the story, Leonidas chooses for the 300 Paraleia’s husband, a polemarch (or general) AND her young son who has never seen combat.
Paraleia is the only woman in Sparta who will thus lose not one loved one but two. She goes to Leonidas’ wife, the queen Gorgo, and asks for an audience with the king. This is granted at once. Paraleia makes her case to Leonidas, begging him not to visit upon her this “double portion of grief.” Here is how Leonidas answers her.
“The city speculates and guesses as to why I elected those I did for the Three Hundred. Was it for their prowess as individual men-at-arms? How could this be, when among champions such as Polynikes, Dienekes, Alpheus and Maron I nominated as well unblooded youths such as Ariston and your own Alexandros? Perhaps, the city supposes, I divined some subtle alchemy of this unique aggregation. Maybe I was bribed or paying back favors. I will never tell the city why I appointed these three hundred; I will never tell the Three Hundred themselves. But I now tell you
“I chose them not for their own valor, lady, but for that of their women.
“Greece stands now upon her most perilous hour. If she saves herself, it will not be at Thermopylae … death alone awaits us and our allies there … but later, in battles yet to come, on land and sea. Then Greece, if the gods will it, shall preserve herself. Do you understand this, my lady? Now listen.
“When the battle is over, when the Three Hundred have gone down to death, then will all Greece look to the Spartans to see how they bear this loss.
“But who, lady, will the Spartans look to? They will look to you. To you and the other wives and mothers, sisters and daughters of the fallen.
“If they behold your hearts riven and broken with grief, they too will break. And Greece will break with them. But if you bear up, dry-eyed, not alone enduring your loss but seizing it with contempt for its agony and embracing it as the honor that it is in truth, then Sparta will stand. And all Greece will stand behind her.
“Why have I nominated you, lady, to bear up beneath this most terrible of trials, you and your sisters of the Three Hundred? Because you can.”
At this the lady Paraleia breaks down in tears. Leonidas and the queen Gorgo move closer to comfort her. Leonidas repeats that this grief he is inflicting on Paraleia, he is also inflicting on his own wife, for he too will die leading the Three Hundred at Thermopylae.
“Now our queen’s role is yours as well, lady. No longer may you be wife to your husband and mother to your son, but you must serve as wife and mother to our nation. You and your sisters of the Three Hundred are the mothers now of all Greece, and of freedom itself. This is stern duty, Paraleia, to which I have called my own beloved wife, the mother of my children, and have now as well summoned you. Tell me, lady. Was I wrong?”
For a long moment, Paraleia struggles to regain control of her emotions. At last, she rises to her feet, stands before the king, and wipes her eyes.
“These are the last tears of mine, my lord,” she says, “that the sun will ever see.”
When I wrote that scene I was thinking of certain wives and mothers that I know today, the spouses and daughters of Special Forces operators and Marines and other members of our military-and of other serving military women who have set themselves in harm’s way. They share this same sisterhood. They have their own language and their own code that exists between and among them alone. They understand. They are OUR Spartan women and they are the glue and spine of our American warrior culture.
I salute them.
“Because you can.” And it remains true today for the wives and mothers of our Marines and Soldiers who marched off to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other climes and places. S/f
Steve, you reminded me of this quote, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” -G.k. Chesterton, English philosopher known as the “prince of paradox”
Good stuff, S/F
I love that this scene was added at the encouragement (insistence?) of Kate and Nita, and it ends up being the scene many readers find most memorable.
This passage has a hidden subtlety: When Paraleia says, “These are the last tears that the sun will ever see.,” the subtext is that she will doing her grieving at night, alone. She understands that Leonides is *not* asking her not to grieve at all. That would not be human. He’s asking her to swallow her grief in public. I don’t know if the author intended that, but that’s how it reads to me. And it is an example of letting the reader extrapolate on his own from this brief exchange what is forthcoming to her, instead of having a line that later spells it all out, like “and then she sobbed her heart out at night.” This is a marvelous unspoken connection between Paraliea and Leonides, where she shows perfect understanding what he asks of her.
That’s it, Scott. That’s it exactly. The key part of the quote is “that the sun will ever see.” Thanks for getting it.
Wow…it says so much about mothers in general, how we keep all the plates spinning in midst of the chaos and fear that life throws our way while revealing the warrior mom within that moves forward in the uncertainty.
Empowering indeed is it to be invited into this your sharing of the “Warrior Archetype” video series and teachings of you, Steven Pressfield, in amongst the balance of this vlog team of co-witnesses and fellow Life and story voyagers.
Especially in this time of isolation caused by uninvited frightening Covid-19 invaders, to share this kindred exploration into the history of how woman and mankind gathered enough courageous camaraderie to face their enemies—both physical and Spiritual—is a gift SO damn-sure much appreciated!!!
And both a filmmaker and film professor [and a confessed creative-ADD easily distracted person}, I also much admire how you present your video series and even ‘Writings Wednesdays’ in singular tangible chapters of wisdom. Not only does your teaching strategy make your given material possible to absorb from beginning to end [to which I am able to reach : ) ], but it also helps bake in each lesson so that it still reverberates throughout the day and week.
Thank you so very much for sharing this episode! I really like it! I like history and write a lot in the academic field (find additional info here assignmenthelp4aussies.com) You are a very good story-teller!
Steve,
I just watched this again, and damn if it doesn’t hit me in the solar plexus with the same power as the time I read it. Same tears. Same nodding of head.
I’ve generally thought of my own wife in this passage, but tonight I remembered a present day Paraleia who lives outside of Joint Base Lewis McCord.
BLUF: Lisa Hallett’s husband John was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, 17 days after Lisa gave birth to their daughter Heidi. In short, Lisa, and the other women of 1/17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, ran through their grief.
Below is Lisa’s TEDx Tacoma talk, and a link to the organization she created to help people deal with loss and grief. It is truly an amazing story, and a present day example of a woman who personifies the Warrior Archetype.
TEDx Tacoma:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9v3TMrsbdg
wear blue; run to remember:https://www.wearblueruntoremember.org
Lisa’s story in her own words as one of President Bush’s “Presidential Leadership Scholar”: https://www.presidentialleadershipscholars.org/running-to-remember-lisas-story/
I know Lisa. I’ve learned more about leadership from women like Lisa and my wife than I ever learned in OCS.
This maybe in the top 1000 words Steven Pressfield has ever written. Thank God you had two women editors!
bsn
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In the enigmatic selection of the 300 warriors for the fateful stand at Thermopylae, King Leonidas may have looked beyond individual bravery, choosing instead for the collective strength of Spartan women. Imagined in Steven Pressfield’s “Gates of Fire,” Leonidas might have envisioned his warriors as embodiments of the indomitable spirit of their female counterparts. This perspective aligns with the deeply ingrained ethos of Spartan society, where the courage and resilience of the women were seen as integral to the endurance of the warrior culture. The intricate interplay between the valor of Spartan men and the steadfastness of their women, as depicted in Pressfield’s work, sheds light on the multifaceted motivations that shaped this historic decision. (Note: Nations of Darkness, by StarFortune)
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