12 The Hot Gates

Lesson Twelve The Hot Gates

William Golding

 Objectives

Students will be able to:

1. grasp the theme of the essay (Instead of a travel writing, the major concern of the essay is to honor the spirit of the dead Spartans, their soldierly courage and loyalty which epitomized values of Western civilization.)；

2. appreciate the major writing techniques employed in the essay such as the effective use of the contrast ( e.g. the tiny size of the Greek vs. the massive Persian army);

3. appreciate the richness of the language (e.g. rich and diversified terms used to describe the Persian army);

4. conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit.

 Time allotment: The teaching plan will be carried out within 8 periods.

About the author

William Golding's first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954), rapidly became a world success and has so remained. It has reached readers who can be numbered in tens of millions. The book became a bestseller, a status that usually only occurs with adventure stories, light reading and children's books. The same goes for several of his later novels, including Rites of Passage (1980).

The reason is simple. Golding's books are both entertaining and exciting. They can be read without the need to make much effort. Nevertheless, literary critics, scholars, writers and other interpreters have found deep strata of ambiguity and complication in Golding's works. William Golding can perhaps be compared to another Englishman, Jonathan Swift, who was a writer both for the learned and the general public, or, to the American, Herman Melville, whose works include oblique profundity as well as fascinating adventure. Golding has keen insight and a sharp pen when it comes to the power of evil and baseness in human beings--just like Jonathan Swift. Like Herman Melville, Golding often chooses his themes and the framework for his stories from the world of the sea. Both of them use challenging situations in which people must reach beyond their usual limits, thereby revealing their innermost selves. Golding's stories usually have a fairly schematic drama, almost an anecdote, as a skeleton framework. He then covers this with a rich variety of colorful characters and surprising events.

William Golding can be said to be a writer of myths. A very few basic experiences and basic conflicts of a deeply general nature underlie all his works. In one of his essays, Golding describes how, as a young man, he took an optimistic view of existence. He believed that humanity would be able to perfect itself by

improving society and eventually doing away with all social evil. His optimism was akin to that of other utopians, for instance, H. G. Wells.

The Second World War changed his outlook. He discovered the worst of what human beings are able to do to one another. Atrocities were committed with cold professional skill by well-educated and cultured people, including doctors, lawyers. He writes: \"I must say that anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.\"

Golding argues against those who think that it is the political or other systems that create evil. According to him, it is the wickedness in human beings that creates the evil systems, or, that changes what, from the beginning, is, or could be, good into something iniquitous and destructive,

Key to Appreciation

William Golding begins this piece of travel writing with a seemingly routine account of tourist concerns and activities: food and drink for a springtime lunch in a provincial Greek town. Only gradually does the reader realize that the writer is not there by accident. He has come to visit \"Thermopylae\" as the site of the battle in 480 B. C. between Greeks and Persians, which for generations has been held up to school children in the Western world as the defining example of courage and loyalty. Years earlier he read about this famous battle, and since that time he has even fought in a war himself. Now he finally has come to see the place for himself.

Gradually we understand that he has made a kind of pilgrimage to this place to honor the spirit of the dead Spartans. Among all the Greek city-states, the Spartans were the fiercest warriors, whose wives and children were hardened to strict discipline from an early age. In English their practices have given rise to the adjective \"Spartan\

The writer holds the attention of his reader by approaching the setting slowly, pondering how this narrow passage between the cliffs and the sea must have changed over the intervening two and a half millennia. Golding is very precise about the size of the Greek force that defended the pass, 7,000, but he does not specify the size of the Persian army the Emperor Xerxes arrayed against the Greek city-states. Modern estimates suggest about 200,000 to 400,000 men, drawn from all corners of what was then the greatest empire on earth, with its capital in what is known as Iran today, but covering vast territories in all directions. Golding celebrates the rich diversity of this massive army in Paragraphs 20--21 by naming some of the exotic lands from which soldiers came.

The story of the battle unfolds from Golding's narration as he dramatically re-creates what it must have been like to be there as a Greek. He evokes the uneasy coalition between soldiers from different Greek city-states who are unsure of the others' willingness to fight against the invaders, whom the Greeks literally called \"barbarianshat is, non-Greeks. Leonidas, the king of the Spartans, commands the 7,000 troops, but he can only be sure of the loyalty of his own 300 Lacedemonians.

Detailed study of the text

Part I (Paras.1--4)

Main idea of this part: This part describes the experience that the author had as a tourist in Lamia, a Greek provincial town. It gives the first indication that the author was not merely a tourist, but \"following the Persian invasion\".

Why does the author begin the essay with a detailed description of Greek food and drink?

What does he want to achieve?

The description of food and drink gives the readers an impression that it is a common tourist account. The more specific the description, the greater the local flavor. But the real purpose of the author is already indicated in the first paragraph. Throughout the essay, the reader will find a combination of the physical description of the place and the reconstruction of the battle of Thermopylae (the battle of the Hot Gates). He sets up a contrast between the ordinary, everyday details of the town today with the heroic, larger-than-life events of 2,500 years ago.

Para.1

1) Do most people stop at Lamia? Why (not)?

Most people, that is, most tourists, do not stop at Lamia because they are going to Athens, a great tourist resort. Lamia is not a tourist site.

2) Why did the author stop there?

The author was following the Persian invasion route and the Hot Gates, the site of the famous battle, is nearby.

Para.2

1. As Greek food goes, I was lucky.

The statement implies that Greek food, especially Greek food in a provincial town, is generally not good or tasty. But he was lucky enough to get something much better than usual.

2. So I ordered Easter lamb in the certainty of knowing what I would get; and it was so.

1) The tone of the statement is positive

2) I knew that Easter lamb was tasty so I asked for a portion and the roast lamb was really good.

3) Incidentally the Easter lamb identifies the season as spring time.

Para.3

They say you cannot drink Greek water without getting typhus, but I did.

People say that water in Greece is seriously contaminated and if you drink such water, you are most likely to get typhus. I drank Greek water but I did not get typhus

Part II (Paras.5--9)

This part brings out the real intention of the author in visiting the Hot Gates which is implied in Para5. The part also gives a glimpse of the author’s assessment of Greek culture in Western civilization.

Para.5

1 ....the road must crawl round the corner

\"Must\" here refers to the necessity that the road move aside to avoid the river that ahs changed the landscape since the events at Thermopylae.

2. Sitting beneath a tree, and drinking my Demestica, I thought about Athens and Persia, and the hot springs that bubble out of the cliff where the road is narrowest, --- and now faced with the duty and the necessity of trying to understand.

1) What did the author recall when he sat beneath a tree, drinking Demestica?

He recalled two things: one was the battle at the Hot Gates about 2,500 years before; the second was his lengthy preparations for the visit and the task of reconstruction of the battle and of understanding the significance of the battle.

2) What method does the author use in presenting these ideas?

He uses contrast to present the past and the present, the historical fact and the task he undertook.

3) Why is the place called the Hot Gates?

It is called the Hot Gates for two reasons: 1) there are many hot Springs there; 2) the road was at its narrowest point so it was ideal for guarding the entrance to Athens.

Para.6

1. What is the role of Paras.6 and 7?

In these two paragraphs the author discusses the role of Athens, both before and at the time when Xerxes of Persia attacked the city.

2. I had seen the valley of the Spercheios when I entered Lamia, had glimpsed the vast wall of rock five thousand feet high on the other side of the valley, which

lay between me and Athens.

1) What role does this sentence play?

It serves as a transition, linking Para.5 with Paras.6 and 7. The first part of the sentence echoes the road across the valley in Para. 5 and the end of the sentence 1eads to Athens.

2) What kind of image does \"vast wall of rock\" present?

It gives the image that the side of the cliff is an uninterrupted solid block of stone, very steep, nearly impossible to climb.

3. Athens was shining Athens, the Athens of history, shining in the mind.

1) Why was Athens shining?

The author does not give an explanation because Greek culture is common knowledge. Most people in the West learn about Athens and Greek culture, which has played an important role in Western civilization.

2) Why does the author say “shining in the mind”?

The author is referring to the Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others.

3) I am referring to the role of Athens in history, the brilliant culture Athens stood for, and the great thinkers Athens produced.

4. Ls At the time she was little but a thorn in his side, a small city which had insisted on running her own affairs---and had odd knack of encouraging cities which ought to bow to the King of Kings to do the same.

1) What was Athens to King Xerxes? (To him, Athens was only a small troublesome city)

2) little but a thorn in his side: no more than sth which keeps troubling, vexing or irritating one like a constantly pricking thorn.

3) Why was Athens “a thorn in his side”?

Athens refused to surrender to the invading army and she set as example for other Greek city-states to follow.

4) ---had an odd knack---to do the same.

She had a clever and unusual way of persuading other city-states to follow her example and refuse to surrender to the advancing Persian army.

Para7

---and then she would shine as no city had shone before or has shone since.

For all her faults she would take humanity with her a long, long step—

This is the author’s assessment of the role of Greek culture. He thinks that Greek culture is unique. Its role is unsurpassable. As a result of the birth of Greek culture, humanity has witnessed immeasurable progress.

Para8

What would happen, according to the author, if one begins with ouzo and ends with Greek “Cognac”?

According to the author, if that happens, one would find a fire burning in one’s stomach. And the burning feeling would last a long time.

Para9.

1. S1 I had my “Cognac”, and being English(mad dogs and Englishmen), marched out into the midday sun while the rest of Greece went sensibly to sleep.

Here the author uses a contrast: contrasting “madness”(mad dogs and Englishmen) with “being sensible”, marching out into the midday sun with going to sleep.

“Mad dogs and Englishmen” is a phrase which is associated with the British Empire in tropical countries, as in Africa or South Asia, when the natives would

remark that only “mad dogs and Englishmen” would go out in the midday heat and sun.

2. In para9 there is another contrast: the problem faced by Xerxes and the problem faced by the author.

The problem faced by Xerxes was how to militarily take the last pass leading to Athens. The author’s problem was how to re-create Xerxes’ problem.

Part III (para10—14) This part tells how the author found the Hot Gates and a memorial.

Para11

1. S1-4 The Hot Gates were deserted. I came to an avenue and then to a group of mean-looking buildings------anyone who wanted a hot bath----was welcome to it.

1) Was there anyone at the Hot Gates? No, the place was deserted.

2) Why does the author say “but of course there was no one about”?

The author means that in the hot midday, it was only natural that there was no one there taking a hot sulphur bath. Hence “of course”.

2. Ls I sat in the car and considered that history has left not a trace of scar on

this landscape.

This sentence comes at the end of Para11, serving as a transition to the Persian invasion, which is the first sentence of the next Para.

Para12

1. S1 At the time of the Persian invasion, when the sea came close to these cliffs, the narrow track had held -----who watched one another as much as they watched the enemy.

1) The troops were not united. They were suspicious of each other and guarded against one another just as they guarded against the invading army. There was no mutual trust among the troops because they came from rival Greek city-states.

2) Does the statement tell us anything about the situation?

It tells us at least three things: 1) the number of troops sent to hold the pass was small, only 7,000 men; 2) they came from different city-states; 3) they did not trust each other.

2. The track that summer was thick with dusty messengers...

People carrying all kinds of messages were busy traveling from one city-state

to another. There were many messengers of this kind on the road as the Greeks attempted to work out a response to the invasion.

Para.13

. Why do you think the author describes the goatherd and his goats?

The description adds a local color. These are scenes that you would come across traveling in Greece. As is the description of Lamia, the banal, everyday trappings of modern Greece contrast with the heroic events of the past.

Para14

Sure enough, there was a memorial, level with the place where that mixed force had once stood in the pass, a nineteenth-century monument, grandiose and expensive.

The memorial was not built at the place where the Greek forces had once stationed. It was built at a place which was on the same horizontal plane as the original site. When the battle was fought, the land where the memorial stood did not exist.

Part IV (paras15-17)

This part is a transition from the description of the place to the description of

the battle. The author first points out that the place is not striking, therefore people would not associate it with the great battle. He then mentions gullies and describes how at the mouth of one of these gullies he came across the mound next to which the Greek forces had held the pass. Then the author goes on to describe Leonidas and the battle which will be dealt with in the following part.

Para.15

1. Nature has not done her best here for the story of that battle.

Why does the author say \"Nature has not done her best here for the story of that battle? What does he mean?

The sentence serves two purposes. One is transition, linking up history with the physical description of the setting. The other is, although the battle is famous in history and has far-reaching significance, the place is not at all imposing. The setting of the site and the significance of the battle do not match.

2. If you go to the Hot Gates, take some historical knowledge and your imagination with you.

1) When you visit the Hot Gates, the place does not appear imposing or dramatic and it does not seem to be a likely site for such a historic event. Therefore, in order to reconstruct the scene of 2,500 years ago, you need to have some knowledge of history and imagination.

2) Why does the author say so?

It is a summing-up of his previous description of the place. It is also an echo of the first sentence of the paragraph. Since nature has not given the place an imposing look, the visitor needs to have knowledge and imagination to recreate the scene.

Para.16

The author came across a mound at the mouth of one of the gullies. What does the mound look like? Why is the mound mentioned?

The mound does not look imposing. It is planted with laurels but the laurels look sheepish and a bit scruffy.

The mound is important because it was here that the Greek force led by Leonidas defended the pass.

Para17

1. In what kind of surroundings did the author think of Leonidas?

It was a hot April afternoon. It was very quiet and the only sound came from the clatter of laurel leaves in a gust of wind. There was no one to be seen. The place was deserted. The author stood by the dusty mound.

Hot, quiet, deserted and dusty are the adjectives the author uses to describe the setting.

2. What was the author thinking about when he stood by the mound?

He was wondering how Leonidas analyzed the situation. The Persian army was coming down from the North. The troops under his command were small in number. The only thing that was certain was that the defending force was united.

Part V (Paras.18-26)

This part describes the numerical strength of the Persian army and the courage and heroism of the Greek army.

Para.18

1.---who had to do as they were told but knew better than their leaders---

These soldiers had to carry out orders of their leaders although they were wise enough to know that these orders should not be carried out. It was typical of Greek democracies that citizens often challenged the authority of their leaders.

2. ---the cynical laughter of men who had no faith in anything because Greece behind the wall---was at war not only with Persian but with itself.

Why were these men cynical?

They were cynical because the city-states in Greece, in the face of Persian invasion, were still fighting against one another. They knew they were fighting a hopeless war.

3. Then there had come a flash and glitter from the flank of the mountain across the valley.

The statement means that then suddenly the Persian army emerged. The \"flash and glitter” stands for the weapons in the hands of the invading army. This is called metonymy, that is, a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole.

Para.19

Why, according to the author, did Leonidas decide to stay there and hold the pass?

The author first points out that Leonidas decided to hold the pass not because he wanted Athens to flourish and shine. On the one hand, he could not have known that thirty years later Athens would flourish. On the other hand, he, as a Spartan, did not think highly of Athens. The only possible reason why Leonidas decided to hold the pass was his strong love for honor as a soldier, the highest value in Sparta, though not in Athens.

Para.20

1. How does the author describe the vast Persian army?

He begins with a general statement: No man had ever seen anything like this army before. Then he describes the routes of the advance of the army. This is followed by the metaphors: \"lengthening rivers of men\" and \"in a flood\". Finally the author says even if each of the seven thousand Greeks could kill ten enemy soldiers, there would still be more than enough left to press forward and these were only the first troops to move forward. This is how the author tries to create an image of the advance of a huge army.

2. Soon there was nothing to see but rising clouds of white dust, pierced and speckled with the flicker of steel.

1) “rising clouds of white dust” gives the picture of long columns of marching soldiers because when a vast number of people march on the dusty roads there would be rising cloud of white dust.

2) The cloud of white dust covered such a wide area that no other thing could be seen. It reinforces the idea of the breadth and width of the marching army.

3) But people could still detect the weapons carried by the soldiers because they could see the flicker of steel in the dust.

3. If each of the seven thousand Greeks should kill his ten men, there would be more than enough to press forward--and this was only the vanguard.

1) In this statement the author resorts to mathematical calculation to bring out the vastness of the Persian army. If each of the seven thousand Greek defenders should kill ten enemy soldiers, that is, if they should kill seventy thousand men, there would still be enough Persians to press forward. The readers could easily work out that there must have been more than a hundred thousand soldiers. But that is not the end of the story. This number constituted only the vanguard. So the reader can use his imagination to work out how many more would be in the main body.

2) The last part of this statement is important because (a) it surprises the reader and leads the reader to imagine how many soldiers had been amassed by the Persian King and to wonder how the relatively small troops of the Greeks could possibly repulse such an army; (b) it leads to the next few paragraphs which deal with the main body of the army.

Para.21

1. chariot: a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, used in ancient warfare

2. How does the author describe the main body of the army? What does he call the army?

He calls the Persian army \"the war machine\meaning the soldiers were fighting automatons, fighting without thinking.

In describing the vastness of the army, the author uses three methods. First he gives the readers a picture of how far the columns of the army stretched. Then he mentions the great diversity of the composition of the army. The army consisted of soldiers coming from a large number of countries under the rule of the Persian King. Finally, the author gives a figure: Mounted bowmen and lancers alone amounted to 80,000 and the chariots were too many to count.

Para.22

1. When that assembly of nations heaved itself off the earth and marched, the ground shuddered---- along the bank to drink, the waters shrank to a few pools of mud.

1) What are the analogies used by the author to describe the vast army?

He uses two analogies. One is related to sound, that is, when the army marched, the ground vibrated like the beating of a drum. The sound went on continuously and persistently. The other analogy is related to water. When the army stopped to drink, the swift flow of water in a river was reduced to a few pools of mud.

The two analogies are expressed in a parallel structure.

When that assembly of nations.., the ground shuddered

When that assembly.., the waters shrank

2) assembly of nations: the gathering together of many nations. This phrase is used to echo the description of the diversity of the composition of the army in Para. 21.

2. This was the army that seeped and flooded into the valley all day, and halted under its own dust before the narrow entrance of the Hot Gates.

This is a summing-up of the previous three paragraphs describing the size of the army.

Paragraph 20 begins with this statement. No man had ever seen anything like this army before. The author now ends with: This was the army that seeped and flooded into the valley all day, thus completing the cycle of description.

Para.23

How does the author describe the Greeks who were sent to hold the pass?

The author follows the strand in earlier descriptions of mutual distrust and uncertainty. The Greek soldiers at the Hot Gates were not sure whether the Greek city-states meant to fight. Even if the Greek states were united and determined to fight, they could not possibly stop such a vast army. Only the 300 Spartans knew what they would do. They were born and trained soldiers and they would fight and

die like soldiers in defending a hopeless cause

Para.24:

They were bathing in the sulphur springs and combing their hair.

Why did the Spartans comb their hair?

According to the Greek historian Herodotus (484--425 B. C.), the Spartans always paid special attention to their hair in preparing for a difficult battle.

Para.25

1. Xerxes waited for four days---and nothing happened.

Why did Xerxes wait for four days? What did he expect to happen?

Maybe Xerxes expected the Greek defenders to give in, to flee, in face of such a huge army. It was a foregone conclusion that the tiny army of the Greeks would be routed and killed if they chose to fight.

2. The men in the pass would not recognize the obvious.

The Greek soldiers refused to admit defeat despite the vast number facing them.

3. How does the author describe the fighting?

He describes the fighting in a matter-of-fact manner, without emotion. But from the description, the readers still can imagine how fierce the fighting was and how courageously the Greeks fought. Xerxes had to dispatch his bodyguards into battle but they were also beaten back.

In describing the fighting, the author uses four examples. First Xerxes sent forward a troop but it was a pushover for the Greek defenders. Then came a number of attacks but every time the Persians thrust the Greeks back, the Greeks plugged the pass more completely. Xerxes then dispatched his best troops into battle but they met the same fate. Finally, the author sums up by stating \"For two days the Persians attacked, and the Greeks held them.\"

Para.26

1. It is said that Xerxes leaped from his throne three times in terror for his whole army.

The story goes that Xerxes was so worried about the stability and morale of his army that he jumped up from his chair three times in fear.

2. Modern historians have found this incredible, but I can not see why?

Modern historians do not think it is credible because Xerxes had such a huge

army under his command. The failure of taking the pass in two days could not have made the Persian King so worried.

The author thinks that it is credible for two reasons. One is communication at that time was very backward and communication between troops from different nations would be difficult because of different languages. The other is the soldiers under Xerxes came from many nations and they were compelled to serve in the army. So they could easily be scared by rumors and take to their heels.

Part VI (Paras.27--36)

This part tells of the final scene of the Battle of Hot Gates: the work of a traitor, the final decision of Leonidas, the significance of the decision.

The whole part is the description of the author's following the tracks of the Persian army guided by the Greek traitor interwoven with Leonidas' final decision and the author's interpretation of the decision. It is a combination of the present and the past, reality and imagination. The experience of climbing and the environment itself deepen the author's understanding of the battle.

His reconstruction and the actual current scene are fused into one.

Para.27

Ls But that summer the roads were thick with messengers.

\"But\" is used here to show that messengers from Leonidas were not the only ones and there were many conflicting demands, so his demand fell on deaf ears.

Para.28

And then, of course, the inevitable traitor appeared from the wings.

1) This one sentence paragraph serves as a transition, leading to the traitor and final battle.

2) Why are \"of course\" and \"inevitable\" used here?

The author uses these words to show that in many historical stories, real or fictional, you would often come across traitors, whose betrayals lead to the death of heroes. This has become more or less a pattern. Hence \"of course\" and \"inevitable\".

Para.29

Ls If I could climb cliffs less easily now, it was possible that I could understand war better.

I was no longer so young and energetic as I had been twenty years ago so I might not be able to climb cliffs easily. But I might have an advantage which I could not have had twenty years ago. That is, I took part in WWII and I knew what

war was like and what war meant. My understanding of the war 2,500 years ago might be deeper.

Para.30

1) The cliffs had a brutal grandeur.

The cliffs gave an impression of rough and coarse splendor

2.... sudden wafts of spice that took the back of the nostrils in a sneeze grip.

Waves of pungent smell were suddenly inhaled and made me sneeze continuously

Para32

I smiled wryly to myself. So much for the map, pored over in the lamplight of an English winter.

Why did the author smile wryly to himself?

The experience he mentions in Para.31 was not revealed in the study of the map. He had spent much time studying the map. The actual topography, however, was so different that he realized it had been a waste of time for him to study the map. That was why he smiled ironically to himself.

Para.33

1. In this paragraph the author brings the readers back to the battle. The word he uses to link the place up with the story is \"clinging\". In the previous paragraph he writes, \"I stayed there, clinging to a rock until the fierce hardness of its surface close to my eye had become familiar.\" In this paragraph he writes, \"I was clinging to Greece herself.\" In this way the scene and the story are fused.

2. Suddenly, the years and the reading fused with the thing.

Suddenly, history, my knowledge and my thoughts merged with the physical environment of the place. The whole thing became an entity, vivid and alive.

Para34

1. S1 It was then---that the brooding and desperate thinking of Leonidas crystallized into one clear idea.

1) It was then that Leonidas knew what he would do. Before that, he was worried about the situation. He felt reckless. He had not made up his mind. Now that the pass was lost he was clear that there was one thing he could do.

2).How does the author know Leonidas' thinking?

The author writes \"by the double power of imagination and the touch of rock,

I was certain of it\". In the previous paragraph he writes, \"Suddenly, the years and the reading fused with the thing.\" This shows that his knowledge of history, his imagination and the actual site of the historical event convinced him that Leonidas' thinking must have been so.

2. What was the last plea made by Leonidas? Why did he decide to make such a desperate plea?

Leonidas sent away soldiers coming from other city-states and kept with him the three hundred Spartans. He moved his soldiers into the open, where they could die properly.

The author gives one reason for Leonidas' decision, that by such a dramatic self-sacrifice, the Greek city-states would be shamed into collaborating to defend themselves against the Persians. The author finds confirmation in the coordinated action of the Greeks in the following year in defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea (Para. 35). (Note: This explanation differs from the one given by Herodotus, whose history of the Persian Wars provides most of what we know about this conflict. Herodotus says that Leonidas was motivated by a prophecy from the Oracle (at Delphi) that foretold one of two possible outcomes to the battle against the Persians: Either Sparta would be destroyed or its king would die. Herodotus believes Leonidas chose the second outcome in order to prevent the first. )

3. Why did Leonidas think that the Spartans were suitable to play the role of

the last stand?

Because the Spartans were born and trained as soldiers. They were courageous and loyal. They were soldiers you could trust and they would fight to the last man.

4. What does the author mean by \"where they could die properly and in due form\"?

In the open, the Spartans could fight in full military armor and could die in engaging the enemy in combat.

Para.35

1. What is this paragraph about?

This paragraph deals with the consequences of the battle. Firstly, the Greek states were shamed into coordination and defeated the Persian Army in Plataea. Secondly, as a result of the Battle of the Hot Gates, 30 years were won for Athens to prosper and develop and for Greek culture to blossom.

2. --- time was won for shining Athens and all Greece and all humanity.

For the last several centuries Western historians have cited Athens as the most worthy antecedent in such fields as philosophy, science, arts and politics

(“democracy”). The warrior Spartans have a less lofty reputation, but the author credits them with the sacrifice necessary to getting the Greek city-states to unite long enough to defeat the Persian invasion. Athens, then, epitomizes the glory of Greece as one of the sources of Western civilization.

Para.36

1. The column of dust diminished.

What does the statement mean?

It means that the fighting ended and pass was taken. \"The column of dust\" is used as a metaphor, standing for the fighting.

2. The huge army shrugged itself upright---

What does this part of the statement show?

It shows that the majority of the army did not take part in the fighting. They were resting and watching indifferently. Now the order was given and they got themselves ready to march on.

Part VII (Paras.37--39)

Golding ends his essay with a paraphrase of the epitaph. The dying message of the Spartans, known in Greek as the Laeedemonians, echoes its laconic heroism

down the centuries.

The epitaph might be translated poetically as:

\"Tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,

That here obedient to their laws we lie\";

Or, more prosaically, as \"Stranger, go tell the Spartans that here we are buried, obedient to their orders.\"

Golding paraphrases it in a somewhat more romantic fashion.

Para.37

1. S1 I came to myself in a great stillness, to find I was standing by the little mound.

1) What does the statement mean?

He was lost in thought, thinking of the heroic sacrifice of the Spartans. Now he was back to reality, from history back to the present site. The place was very quiet and there was nothing to disturb the silence.

2). Standing by the mound, what did the author come to realize?

He came to realize that something had happened there. It was not just a kind of emotional response to a heroic story. The heroic sacrifice was related with the present, with the life of the author because he thought that the Spartans had sacrificed their lives for the progress of humanity. Golding considered them to be a driving force of history, resulting in freedoms humanity can now enjoy.

2. ---way back and at the hundredth remove, that company stood in the right line of history.

Long, long ago, those Spartan soldiers stood for the right direction of the development of history.

3. A little of Leonidas lies in the fact that I can go where I like and write what I like. He contributed to set us free.

What does the author mean?

The author believes that the freedoms enjoyed in England and other Western countries might not have developed if the Persians had won, thereby subjecting Greece to the domination of a large despotic empire.