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Having heard this line used recently, I was wondering if anyone knew its origin.

I know it was used in the 300 movie, and possibly in the 300 comic, but its earliest usage that I know of was:

A berserk at the Stair of Grief, having been told that the hosts of the Soulless were so many that their spears would hide the sun, is said to have replied 'Then we shall fight them in the shade.'"

-Berserk Flavor Text, Myth TFL

Myth TFL was released in 1997, the 300 comic was published in 1998. Did Frank Miller take the line from Myth or is there an older usage?



Edit: Never-mind, found usages of the line attached to the Battle of Thermopylae that are much older.

Yes, I seem to remember that it's an actual line said by one of the Spartans, or at least he was said to have said it by a historian of the time, or something.

Gentlemen,

During the Battle of Thermopylae, who registered this famous phrase, was the historian Heródoto or a General Army, called Pausânias, the speech is attributed to King Leonidas or Dieneces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienekes

That's it

Julius Caesar,

Haha, yeah. I was taking a class on Ancient Greece in college and the prof told that story. I definitely had a stunned moment; I'd heard it in Myth first.

I'm pretty sure the part about the pre-death Myrmidons vainly combing their hair before a battle is also a reference to the Spartans.