Pay homage to Thermopylae
[Ancient Greece] Simonides
Traveler, please bring a message to the Spartans,
We sleep here, obeying their orders.
(Selected from "Dictionary of Appreciation of World Famous Poems")
Appreciation
In 480 BC, the Persians made their second During the invasion of Greece, King Leonidas of Sparta personally put on his military uniform and led 300 warriors to Thermopylae to meet the invading enemy. A powerful enemy was in front of them, and death was clinging behind them like a shadow. Faced with such a situation, none of the Spartan heroes surrendered or fled. They fought bloody battles one by one, and finally all died for their country.
It is conceivable that this thrilling and evocative event will undoubtedly arouse a high degree of passion for the poet Simonides (556-468 BC) who came to pay his respects afterwards. and rich imagination. But in the end, what this clever poet left us was only a short two lines of poems, and there was no arrangement of magnificent scenes and no depiction of heroic characters. In this poem, what the poet does is to substitute himself as a symbol among the 300 warriors, and as the immortal soul and faithful mouthpiece of the warriors, he announces the warriors to all tourists who come to Hot Spring Pass to pay their respects. The only wish is, "Please take a message to tell the Spartans, / We sleep here and obey their orders."
The Greek nation is a brave and sturdy nation, and it is also a nation that attaches great importance to national integrity and has a high sense of responsibility. The success of this poem by Simonides is that it truly captures the noble personality of Sparta. Just two lines of poetry are worth tens of thousands of words, and have the power to shock ancient and modern times.
(Ren Wu)