But a Delphian Cleomantis, learning of the oracle, secretly told the Athenians. Such, it
 seems, was the goodwill which our ancestors always inspired even among aliens. And when
 the Pelopannesians invaded Attica , what did our
 ancestors do, gentlemen of the jury? They did not desert their country and retire as
 Leocrates did, nor surrender to the enemy the land that reared them and its temples. No.
 Though they were few in number, shut inside the walls, they endured the hardships of a
 siege to preserve their country. And such was the nobility, gentlemen, of those kings of old that they preferred to die
 for the safety of their subjects rather than to purchase life by the adoption of another
 country. That at least is true of Codrus, who, they say, told the Athenians to note the
 time of his death and, taking a beggar’s clothes to deceive the enemy, slipped out by the
 gates and began to collect firewood in front of the town. When two men from the camp
 approached him and inquired about conditions in the city he killed one of them with a blow
 of his sickle. The survivor, it is said, enraged with Codrus and thinking him a beggar drew his sword
 and killed him. Then the Athenians sent a herald and asked to have their king given over
 for burial, telling the enemy the whole truth and the Peloponnesians restored the body but
 retreated, aware that it was no longer open to them to secure the country. To Cleomantis
 of Delphi the city made a grant of maintenance
 in the Prytaneum for himself and his descendants for ever. Is there any resemblance between Leocrates’ love for his country and the love of those
 ancient kings who preferred to die for her and outwit the foe, giving their own life in
 exchange for the people’s safety? It is for this reason that they and only they have given
 the land their name and received honors like the gods, as is their due. For they were
 entitled, even after death, to a share in the country which they so zealously preserved.
 But Leocrates, whether alive or dead, would have no claim to a portion in it; he of all
 men deserves to be cast out from the country which he abandoned to the enemy by his
 flight. For it is unfitting that the same ground should cover heroes and the most cowardly
 of mankind.