The End of Sparta<\/em><\/a>\u00a0[2] comes out today. Now and then I will post excerpts from the novel. Today\u2019s is the Theban council before the battle of Leuktra. As the Thebans debate whether to meet the Spartans the next morning on the plain of Leuktra, N\u00eato the prophetess assures them that the omens are good \u2014 and the virgin ghosts about Leuktra will fly above protecting them, keeping the Boiotians safe from the Spartans and the dreaded daughters of night \u2014 the demon K\u00eares who swoop down and feast on the wounded and dying:<\/strong><\/p>\nEven the glum ones such as Philliadas were stunned silent once they heard that the violated virgin ghosts of Leuktra were to be in the skies floating above them in battle, tearing at the red-capes. They would keep away the winged demons of death from the Thebans. These were the K\u00eares, the blood- sucking goddesses who appeared, at one time or another, at all the battles of the Hellenes, drawn from afar by the shouts of battle and the smell of gore \u2014 with their craws full of man-flesh and sharp claws plucking up any who were tottering \u2014 assured that the life-threads of these victims were already spun by Kl\u00f4th\u00f4, measured by deathless Lach\u00easis, and then cut by their partner Atropos, and that all three of the divine Moirai had nodded to their flying henchwomen that the doomed could now be stripped, their carcasses feasted upon, their souls whisked off to Hades.<\/p>\n
In battle, the untouched hoplites saw none of the K\u00eares of this nether world. Only the blood- spattered and dying were given the sudden vision of these feathered vultures, who grew fat from the carnage. When sated, the women of the night landed in weariness among the flies and dung to walk off their meal, and vomit and crap out tooth and bone, and then fly up for more. They flapped off cackling and farted out the fumes of human blood. Yes, on oaks around the battlefield the K\u00eares perched and fouled the ground with their red pus dung. They stank, as they always dove back, eye- level over the battlefield, with their pale breasts, bloody tunics, and long white fangs \u2014 eyeing any falling hoplites that could be grabbed and torn apart before the souls went down into Hades. The foolish among the dying saw their female full-white breasts and long red nipples, and paused \u2014 only to find fangs in their necks and talons under their arms as they were snatched up.<\/p>\n
All these would fly above the battle tomorrow \u2014 and yet the hoplites were encouraged that perhaps the good ghosts of the virgins of Leuktra might keep the black daughters of night away from them.<\/p>\n
As the Spartan phalanx crumbles at Leuktra and King Kleombrotus falls, suddenly Lichas of legend appears to save his king and any left of his army:<\/strong><\/p>\nWrinkled almost beyond recognition of being a Spartan hoplite, scarred, and bald, this monster stormed into the final killing, scoffed at the spears tips bobbing in his face, and tried to save his dying lord whom he had ridiculed the last nine years. His huge son Antikrates followed him, eager to outdo the father, and himself prepared to carry out both their corpses, if need be\u2014 father and king one on each shoulder.<\/p>\n
Lichas and his son were frantic. \u201cSave the king! To the camp! All alive back to the camp!\u00a0Eis to stratopedon<\/em>. To me, rally to me!\u201d Neither cared anything for the collapse of the Spartan ranks, much less the truth that the day of his parochial state was over. No, it was enough this day that they were Spartans \u2014 now in the joy of battle, with their grip on shield and spear, whether that be here in the north or far to the east. Lichas\u2019s last son was with him. Good men lived \u2014 even if his other boy, Th\u00f4rax, was gasping now for breath, after Chi\u00f4n\u2019s spear had torn apart the sinews of his neck behind the ear.<\/p>\nWhether in the heyday of Spartan power or amid its twilight also counted for nothing. He was stalking proudly upright despite his age. If the Spartans were to lose, they would lose in the way of Le\u00f4nidas and Lysander \u2014 and Lichas \u2014 killing as they protected their king with all blows to their front. The stabbing in this last battle grew fiercer still. But Lichas laughed as he heard the dying around him in vain begging the K\u00eares to pass them by, the vultures of death back above M\u00ealon and Chi\u00f4n. The black deities kept their wide distance from Lichas \u2014 lest such a man strike even these deathless ones a fatal blow. No, Lichas laughed, even Nyx, queen of her dark brood, fears my smell.<\/p>\n
\n
\u00a92011 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Victor Davis Hanson PJ Media The End of Sparta\u00a0[2] comes out today. Now and then I will post excerpts from the novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[297],"tags":[598,106,1028,534,616,533],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-vm","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1651,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-sparta-an-excerpt-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1944,"position":0},"title":"The End of Sparta: An Excerpt","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Private Papers After the battle of Leuktra, and the defeat of Sparta, the Thebans parley with the Spartan general Lichas, who remains as defiant as ever: \u201cI\u00a0said hear your Lichas. You won a battle. A big one. But not this war. A bigger war \u2014\u00a0megas kindunos. That you will have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Literature","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6534,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-sparta-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":1944,"position":1},"title":"“The End of Sparta” — A Review","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A classicist's exemplary historical novel. by Albert Louis Zambone \/\/ BooksandCulture.com Classicists should infuriate other humanists, in the way that the handsome scholar-athlete who volunteers to help dyslexic children and is a genuinely nice guy should infuriate the guy who just made it onto the football team and has a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1304,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-novel-vdh\/","url_meta":{"origin":1944,"position":2},"title":"A Novel VDH","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Reliving the fall of Sparta: An interview. by Katheryn Jean Lopez National Review Online Victor Davis Hanson, known as VDH to his fans, has a new book out. This time, it\u2019s a novel,\u00a0The End of Sparta. He talked with\u00a0National Review Online\u2019s Kathryn Jean Lopez about the Greeks and the novel.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Greece"","block_context":{"text":"Greece","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/greece\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4507,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/idealism-and-its-discontents-thinking-on-the-neoconservative-slur\/","url_meta":{"origin":1944,"position":3},"title":"Idealism and Its Discontents: Thinking on the Neoconservative Slur","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online Neo- is a prefix that derives from the Greek adjective\u00a0veos\u00a0\u2014 \"new\" or \"fresh\" \u2014 and in theory it is used inexactly for those conservatives who once were not \u2014 or for those who have reinterpreted conservatism in terms of a more idealistic foreign\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "January 2005"","block_context":{"text":"January 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/january-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1647,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-ancient-world-as-it-was\/","url_meta":{"origin":1944,"position":4},"title":"The Ancient World As It Was","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Cody Carlson The Deseret News Review of\u00a0The End of Sparta\u00a0by Victor Davis Hanson, Bloomsbury Press, 2011 Having written extensively on the history of ancient Greece, it is no surprise that classics professor Victor Davis Hanson would set his first novel in that era. 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