History Corner

This is an excerpt from Herodotus' book 7 and recounts a conversation between two Spartans and the Persian Satrap Hydarnes.

On their road to Susa they presented themselves before Hydarnes. This Hydarnes was a Persian by birth, and had the command of all the nations that dwelt along the sea-coast of Asia. He accordingly showed them hospitality, and invited them to a banquet, where, as the feasted, he said to them:
"Men of Lacedaemon, why will you not consent to be friends with the king? You have but to look at me and my fortune to see that the king knows well how to honor merit. In like manner you yourselves, were you to make your submission to him, would receive at his hands, seeing that he deems you men of merit, some government in Greece."
"Hydarnes," they answered, "you are a one-sided counsellor. You have experience of half the matter; but the other half is beyond your knowledge. A slave's life you understand; but, never having tasted liberty, you cannot tell whether it be sweet or no. Ah! had you known what freedom is, you would have bidden us fight for it, not with the spear only, but with the battle-axe."
So they answered Hydarnes.
note1: The battle axe was a typical Persian weapon
note2: Years later, Hydarnes was the commander of the elite Persian guard that surrounded and destroyed the Spartan led army at Thermopylae.