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Diomache
Suicide is a Scythian who served as Iatrokles’s and Dienekes’s squire and Xeo’s instructor. He fled to Sparta after committing a crime and tried to get others to kill him, to no avail, then was taken on as a squire and proved himself a “holy terror” on the battlefield. In time, he becomes deeply loyal to the Spartans. Though a man of few words, on the eve of battle he speaks movingly of the love that motivates brothers-in-arms to die for one another, helping Dienekes resolve his nagging question about fear and its opposite.
Antaurus (“Suicide”) Quotes in Gates of Fire
The Gates of Fire quotes below are all either spoken by Antaurus (“Suicide”) or refer to Antaurus (“Suicide”). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 30
Quotes
“When I first came to Lakedaemon and they called me ‘Suicide,’ I hated it. But in time I came to see its wisdom, unintentional as it was. For what can be more noble than to slay oneself? Not literally. Not with a blade in the guts. But to extinguish the selfish self within, that part which looks only to its own preservation, to save its own skin. That, I saw, was the victory you Spartans had gained over yourselves […] When a warrior fights not for himself, but for his brothers, when his most passionately sought goal is neither glory nor his own life’s preservation, but to spend his substance for them, his comrades, not to abandon them, not to prove unworthy of them, then his heart truly has achieved contempt for death, and with that he transcends himself and his actions touch the sublime.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Antaurus (“Suicide”) Quotes in Gates of Fire
The Gates of Fire quotes below are all either spoken by Antaurus (“Suicide”) or refer to Antaurus (“Suicide”). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 30
Quotes
“When I first came to Lakedaemon and they called me ‘Suicide,’ I hated it. But in time I came to see its wisdom, unintentional as it was. For what can be more noble than to slay oneself? Not literally. Not with a blade in the guts. But to extinguish the selfish self within, that part which looks only to its own preservation, to save its own skin. That, I saw, was the victory you Spartans had gained over yourselves […] When a warrior fights not for himself, but for his brothers, when his most passionately sought goal is neither glory nor his own life’s preservation, but to spend his substance for them, his comrades, not to abandon them, not to prove unworthy of them, then his heart truly has achieved contempt for death, and with that he transcends himself and his actions touch the sublime.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
