"A traitor is an enemy who used to be us" exposes what the category is actually doing underneath the battlefield drama. The hoplites were punished for proving the line was drawn in the wrong place, that belonging was never really about blood or homeland at all, just about which story someone happened to be standing inside when the trumpets sounded. Killing them wasn't really about betrayal. It was about not letting that inconvenient proof survive to be examined too closely.
Yes! Their attack against Alexander’s story was far more dangerous than any real military damage they could do. That’s why they got even less mercy than their worst enemies.
"A traitor is an enemy who used to be us" exposes what the category is actually doing underneath the battlefield drama. The hoplites were punished for proving the line was drawn in the wrong place, that belonging was never really about blood or homeland at all, just about which story someone happened to be standing inside when the trumpets sounded. Killing them wasn't really about betrayal. It was about not letting that inconvenient proof survive to be examined too closely.
Yes! Their attack against Alexander’s story was far more dangerous than any real military damage they could do. That’s why they got even less mercy than their worst enemies.