Saving Western Civilization

We live in a period of general decline of social, cultural, educational, governmental and ecclesiastical institutions and organizations throughout the Western world. Yes, there is occasional hope for progress, reformation and restoration, and we must continue to fight for truth, beauty and goodness, justice and mercy, and one more seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. But our enemies are legion and, from a human perspective, the West is on its way out.

So, at such a time of decline, it's useful to be reminded of and encouraged by the heroic stories of our civilization's past. And what story of the West could be more past or more heroic than the story of the 300 Spartans who, along with a few thousand other Greek citizen soldiers, died to a man rather than surrender to the invading Persian army (which, incidentally, numbered at least two to three hundred thousand!).

To be sure, the Spartans were not really "Western" in any sense we'd recognize, what with their class-based, militaristic society in which the superior warrior class wasn't even permitted to engage in commerce. Plus all those slaves of one degree or another. The Spartans even had a legislative assembly of sorts where the outcome was decided not by logical debate but by seeing who could shout the loudest! (Or wait, maybe they were pretty Western after all . . . .)

The rest of the Greeks weren't that much better, in many respects. But these were the societies from which our Western world grew, with the healthy fertilizer of the Christian gospel coming in a few centuries later to shake everything up. And one can recognize hints of a Western mindset even at the time of Xerxes' invasion in 480 B.C. The Greek city-states, though they hardly ever got along, managed to cooperate to resist invasion by an alien culture and to preserve their "liberty" as, well, Greek city-states. Modern democracies or even idealized republics these weren't, but at least A FEW PEOPLE got to vote, and the outcome in their legislative assemblies, even the Spartan one, wasn't foreordained by an emperor-god.

In any case, one can hardly do better for an inspiring story of resistance at all costs to a foreign invader than the story of the 300. You know -- the story from last year's movie of the same name? To be sure, there was plenty of artistic license for the big screen version, but it's clear from Bradford's book that the essential dramatic elements of the story were drawn straight from real history. Even the most memorable lines from the film are quoted from ancient sources:

Big ugly Persian messenger with nasty piercings: "Our arrows will blot out the sun!"

Mostly naked Spartan (Dienekes): "So much the better, we shall fight in the shade!"


Different big ugly Persian with nasty piercings: "Spartans -- surrender your arms!"

Mostly naked (but now extremely well armed) Spartans: "Come and get them!"


Hoplite commander: "You can surrender, retreat, or die. You have no other choices."

Spartan King Leonidas: "Then the choice is easy, since Spartans neither surrender nor retreat!"

Yes, pretty much every sentence spoken by a Spartan ended with an exclamation point. After reading Bradford's book, I think that was real, too.

Some commentators (e.g., Victor David Hansen) have drawn a comparison between the invading Persians the Greeks defeated and the Islamicist threat we face today. It's painting with a broad brush to be sure, and I'd say our odds (at least in the case of North America) are better than those faced by our forbears at Thermopylae, but it's still a telling comparison that we should not overlook. But I'll leave that question for those better read than I.

So, watch "300" if you haven't already. And then read the book if you want to learn about the REALLY exciting parts of the story.