There is nothing to forgive, brave King. I know what I look like... You wear the crimson...

Ephialtes: There is nothing to forgive, brave King. I know what I look like... King Leonidas: [quietly] You wear the crimson of a Spartan. Ephialtes: My mother's love led my parents to flee Sparta... lest I be discarded... King Leonidas: Your shield and armor? Ephialtes: My father's, sir! [pause] Ephialtes: I beg you, bold King, to permit me to redeem my father's name by serving you in combat! [pause] Ephialtes: My father trained me to feel no fear to make spear and shield and sword as much a part of me as my own beating heart! [pause] Ephialtes: I will earn my father's armor, noble King, by serving you in the battle! King Leonidas: [Ephialtes shows King Leonidas his thrust; it's good and the King is surprisingly impressed] A fine thrust. Ephialtes: [smiles] I will kill *many* Persians! King Leonidas: Raise your shield. Ephialtes: Sire? King Leonidas: Raise your shield as high as you can. [Ephialtes tries to raise his shield; he cannot as his physical disability prevents it] King Leonidas: [calmly] Your father should have taught you how our phalanx works. We fight as a single, impenetrable unit. That is the source of our strength. Each Spartan protects the man to his left from thigh to neck with his shield. [Leonidas takes his sword and shield to demonstrate] King Leonidas: A single weak spot and the phalanx shatters. From thigh to neck, Ephialtes. [pause] King Leonidas: I am sorry, my friend; but not all of us were made to be soldiers. Ephialtes: [shocked] But, I-! King Leonidas: If you want to help in a Spartan victory, clear the battlefield of the dead, tend the wounded, bring them water. But as for the fight itself, I cannot use you.