Freedom vs. Opression

Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

I feel like this quote really sums up the difference between the Greeks and the Persians and why it was that the Greeks were able to beat them every time. The Greek people wanted to find a solution to protect their freedom, but the the Persians had nothing to lose in losing the battle because they had no freedom to begin with. They had nothing to fight for, other than fear of death and punishment. After years of that though, they begin to stop caring and that is why all oppressive dictators are doomed to fail.