Quote Originally Posted by A Very Super Market View Post
I think you may have gotten it mixed with the Romans, hoplites were fairly well-to-do so they had a reason to fight to the death like that.
Very true. Our word "hoi polloi"
Quote Originally Posted by Wikipedia
Hoi polloi (Ancient Greek: οἱ πολλοί), an expression meaning "the many" in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include "...commoners, great unwashed, minions, multitude, plebeians, proletariat, rabble, rank and file, riffraff, the common people, the herd, the many, the masses, the peons, the sardines, the working class".[1]
is where the word "hoplite" comes from.

However, as we know, those who formed the ranks of the hoplitai had to provide their own weapons / armor etc, and thus had to be much more well to do than the rabble that comes to mind when we say that word.