!

Molon labe

(mo-lone lah-veh)

Two little words. With these two words, two concepts were verbalized that have lived for nearly two and a
half Millennia. They signify and characterize both the heart of the Warrior, and the indomitable spirit of
mankind.
In 480 B.C. the forces of the Persian Empire under King Xerxes, numbering, according to Herodotus, two
million men, bridged the Hellespont and marched in their myriads to invade and enslave Greece.
After days of fighting and having killed countless numbers of Xerxes' elite troops, they were finally overrun
after being betrayed by a traitor who showed the enemy another pass behind the defenders. King Leonidas,
his Spartans and their Thespian allies died to the last man. Xerxes marched on and destroyed Athens. The
standards of valor set by this sacrifice inspired the Greeks to rally and, in that fall and spring, defeat the
Persians at Salamis and Plataea and preserve the beginnings of Western democracy and freedom from
perishing in the cradle.
Two memorials remain today at Thermopylae. Upon the modern one, called the Leonidas Monument in
honor of the Spartan king who fell there, is engraved on a marble slab is his response to Xerxes' demand that
the Spartans lay down their arms. Leonidas' reply was two words: Come and get them.' "
Spartans, travelers passing by, that here, obedient
to their laws we lie."
The point of this true story is when anybody
demands you to give up your arms, tell them
"MOLON LABE".
These words live on today as the most notable
quote in military history. And so began the classic
example of courage and valor in its dismissal of
overwhelming superiority of numbers, wherein the
heart and spirit of brave men overcame insuperable
odds.
The second monument is a plaque dedicated to
those heroes at the site. It reads: "Go tell the
We have adopted this defiant utterance as a battle cry in our war against oppression because it says so clearly
and simply towards those who would take our arms.
It signifies our determination to not strike the first blow, but also to not stand mute and allow our loved ones,
and all that we believe in and stand for, to be trampled by men who would deprive us of our God-given or
natural, if you will rights, just to suit their own ends.