A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

(Βον͂λις)and SPE'RTHIAS (Σπερθίης), two Spartans of noble rank, voluntarily offered to go to Xerxes and offer themselves to punishment, when the hero Talythibius was enraged against the Spartans on account of their having murdered the heralds whom Dareius had sent to Sparta; but, upon their arrival at Susa, they were dismissed uninjured by the king. Their names are written somewhat differently by different authors. (Hdt. 7.134, &c.; Plut. Apophth. Lac. 60, p. 235f., Praec. Reipubl. Ger. 19, p. 815e.; Lucian, Dem. Enc. 32; Suidas, s.v. Stobaeus, Serm. vii. p. 93.) There was a mournful song upon this Sperthias or Sperchis, as he is called by Theocritus, which seems to have been composed when he and his companion left Sparta. (Theocr. Id. 15.98.)