The Thespians at Thermopylae, by Norman Cameron, 1905-1953.

[overconvergent.livejournal.com]

The honours that the people give always
Pass to those use-besotted gentlemen
Whose numskull courage is a kind of fear,
A fear of thought and of the oafish mothers
('Or with your shield or on it') in their rear.
Spartans cannot retreat. Why, then, their praise
For going forward should be less than others'.

But we, actors and critics of one play,
Of sober-witted judgement, who could see
So many roads, and chose the Spartan way,
What has the popular report to say
Of us, the Thespians at Thermopylae?

***

Everyone knows that the Spartan King Leonidas died with his followers fighting the Persians at Thermopylae. Not many people know that the Thespians, who lived nearby, refused to leave Leonidas and died with him on the battlefield.