Apophthegmata Laconica

Themisteas foretold to Leonidas, the king, the coming destruction both of himself and of his fellowsoldiers at Thermopylae, for he was a prophet. He was sent away by Leonidas to Sparta, on the pretext of announcing there what would come to pass, but in reality so that he should not suffer death with the rest. He, however, would not brook this, but said, I was sent out to fight, not to carry messages. [*](A somewhat different version is to be found in Moralia, 866 C. The original is in Herodotus, vii. 221, where the seer’s name is given as Megistias.)