For now, however, let us go to another example, also
involving galleys. It is 480 BC and we
once again visit the life and times of our friend Lysis, the Athenian. His galley had been destroyed in the battles
off Cape Artemisium, but the allied fleet still
maintains control of the straits. The Persian
fleet is manned by a combination of slave and free rowers, but for the most
part, they have been coerced into service, very much as in Ben Hur. The ships of the Athenians and their Greek
allies, on the other hand, are crewed by free men. They are paid, on average, one drachma a day,
which is the average working man's wage, and they carry their own oar and seat
cushion. They are free citizens of the
state, and professionals.
As the Greeks row into battle, their commanders speak to
them of their homeland, their way of life and the power that flows from
freedom. They challenge the oarsmen to
compete with one another, to perform for the glory of victory, and the
recognition that will follow. Victory
means freedom, defeat means slavery.
Although the Greeks will withdraw from Artemisium, they will eventually
meet the vastly numerically superior Persians a few weeks later off the island of Salamis.
It is there that the free men of the Greeks, valued by their leadership
and drawn together by even more powerful bonding mechanisms than hatred, will
defeat the slave powered ships of the Persian host.
Their leaders, their culture, and their way of life have
created an environment where each person is valued for what they can contribute
to the body politic as individuals. We
can see some of that also in Lysis' encounters in the previous chapter with
Xerxes, Demaratus, and Leonidas. When he
meets Xerxes, he experiences firsthand the power of a tyrant.
The King is above the law, because the King is the law. With the control of a dictator, the King is
able to create an environment of fear.
Within that environment, his minions exist to please the whims of the
master. Failure to please can bring a
swift and irrevocable penalty. The King
values his troops even less than his generals.
As we shall see, He will feed them into battle as he would meat to a
hungry animal. He cares little for their
fate. There are plenty where they have
come from. The King will merely get
more.
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