"Alexander son of Philip, and the Greeks except the Lacedaemonians--" <br /> <br />We can very well imagine <br />that they were utterly indifferent in Sparta <br />to this inscription. "Except the Lacedaemonians", <br />but naturally. The Spartans were not <br />to be led and ordered about <br />as precious servants. Besides <br />a panhellenic campaign without <br />a Spartan king as a leader <br />would not have appeared very important. <br />O, of course "except the Lacedaemonians." <br /> <br />This too is a stand. Understandable. <br /> <br />Thus, except the Lacedaemonians at Granicus; <br />and then at Issus; and in the final <br />battle, where the formidable army was swept away <br />that the Persians had massed at Arbela: <br />which had set out from Arbela for victory, and was swept away. <br /> <br />And out of the remarkable panhellenic campaign, <br />victorious, brilliant, <br />celebrated, glorious <br />as no other had ever been glorified, <br />the incomparable: we emerged; <br />a great new Greek world. <br /> <br />We; the Alexandrians, the Antiocheans, <br />the Seleucians, and the numerous <br />rest of the Greeks of Egypt and Syria, <br />and of Media, and Persia, and the many others. <br />With our extensive territories, <br />with the varied action of thoughtful adaptations. <br />And the Common Greek Language <br />we carried to the heart of Bactria, to the Indians. <br /> <br />As if we were to talk of Lacedaemonians now!<br /><br />Constantine P. Cavafy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-200-b-c/
