Originally Posted by Plutarch
He now marched away directly for Lacedaemon, and being advised by
Cleonymus to give the assault as soon as he arrived, fearing, as it
is said, lest the soldiers, entering by night, should plunder the
city, he answered, they might do it as well next morning, because
there were but few soldiers in town, and those unprovided against
his sudden approach, as Areus was not there in person, but gone to
aid the Gortynians in Crete. And it was this alone that saved the
town, because he despised it as not tenable, and so imagining no defence
would be made, he sat down before it that night. Cleonymus's friends,
and the Helots, his domestic servants, had made great preparation
at his house, as expecting Pyrrhus there at supper. In the night the
Lacedaemonians held a consultation to ship over all the women into
Crete, but they unanimously refused, and Archidamia came into the
senate with a sword in her hand, in the name of them all, asking if
the men expected the women to survive the ruins of Sparta. It was
next resolved to draw a trench in a line directly over against the
enemy's camp, and, here and there in it, to sink wagons in the ground,
as deep as the naves of the wheel, that, so being firmly fixed, they
might obstruct the passage of the elephants. When they had just begun
the work, both maids and women came to them, the married women with
their robes tied like girdles round their underfrocks, and the unmarried
girls in their single frocks only, to assist the elder men at the
work. As for the youth that were next day to engage, they left them
to their rest, and undertaking their proportion, they themselves finished
a third part of the trench which was in breadth six cubits, four in
depth, and eight hundred feet long, as Phylarchus says; Hieronymus
makes it somewhat less. The enemy beginning to move by break of day,
they brought their arms to the young men, and giving them also in
charge the trench, exhorted them to defend and keep it bravely, as
it would be happy for them to conquer in the view of their whole country,
and glorious to die in the arms of their mothers and wives, falling
as became Spartans. As for Chilonis, she retired with a halter about
her neck, resolving to die so rather than fall into the hands Cleonymus,
if the city were taken.
Pyrrhus himself, in person, advanced with his foot to force through
the shields of the Spartans ranged against him, and to get over the
trench, which was scarce passable, because the looseness of the fresh
earth afforded no firm footing for the soldiers. Ptolemy, his son,
with two thousand Gauls, and some choice men of the Chaonians, went
around the trench, and endeavoured to get over where the wagons were.
But they, being so deep in the ground, and placed close together,
not only made his passage, but also the defence of the Lacedaemonians,
very troublesome. Yet now the Gauls had got the wheels out of the
ground, and were drawing off the wagons toward the river, when young
Acrotatus, seeing the danger, passing through the town with three
hundred men, surrounded Ptolemy undiscerned, taking the advantage
of some slopes of the ground, until he fell upon his rear, and forced
him to wheel about. And thrusting one another into the ditch, and
falling among the wagons, at last with much loss, not without difficulty,
they withdrew. The elderly men and all the women saw this brave action
of Acrotatus, and when be returned back into the town to his first
post, all covered with blood and fierce and elate with victory, he
seemed to the Spartan women to have become taller and more beautiful
than before, and they envied Chilonis so worthy a lover. And some
of the old men followed him, crying aloud, "Go on, Acrotatus, be happy
with Chilonis, and beget brave sons for Sparta." Where Pyrrhus himself
fought was the hottest of the action and many of the Spartans did
gallantly, but in particular one Phyllius signalized himself, made
the best resistance, and killed most assailants; and when he found
himself ready to sink with the many wounds he had received, retiring
a little out of his place behind another, he fell down among his fellow-soldiers,
that the enemy might not carry off his body. The fight ended with
the day, and Pyrrhus, in his sleep, dreamed that he drew thunderbolts
upon Lacedaemon, and set it all on fire, and rejoiced at the sight;
and waking, in this transport of joy, he commanded his officers to
get all things ready for a second assault, and relating his dream
among his friends, supposing it to mean that he should take the town
by storm, the rest assented to it with admiration, but Lysimachus
was not pleased with the dream, and told him he feared lest as places
struck with lightning are held sacred, and not to be trodden upon,
so the gods might by this let him know the city should not be taken.
Pyrrhus replied, that all these things were but idle talk, full of
uncertainty, and only fit to amuse the vulgar; their thought, with
their swords in their hands, should always be-
"The one good omen is King Pyrrhus's cause," and so got up, and drew
out his army to the walls by break of day. The Lacedaemonians, in
resolution and courage, made a defence even beyond their power; the
women were all by, helping them to arms, and bringing bread and drink
to those that desired it, and taking care of the wounded. The Macedonians
attempted to fill up the trench, bringing huge quantities of materials
and throwing them upon the arms and dead bodies, that lay there and
were covered over. While the Lacedaemonians opposed this with all
their force, Pyrrhus, in person, appeared on their side of the trench
and wagons, pressing on horseback toward the city, at which the men
who had that post calling out, and the women shrieking and running
about, while Pyrrhus violently pushed on, and beat down all that disputed
his way, his horse received a shot in the belly from a Cretan arrow,
and, in his convulsions as he died, threw off Pyrrhus on slippery
and steep ground. And all about him being in confusion at this, the
Spartans came boldly up, and making good use of their missiles, forced
them off again. After this Pyrrhus, in other quarters also, put an
end to the combat, imagining the Lacedaemonians would be inclined
to yield, as almost all of them were wounded, and very great numbers
killed outright; but the good fortune of the city, either satisfied
with the experiment upon the bravery of the citizens, or willing to
prove how much even in the last extremities such interposition may
effect, brought, when the Lacedaemonians had now but very slender
hopes left, Aminias, the Phocian, one of Antigonus's commanders, from
Corinth to their assistance, with a force of mercenaries; and they
were no sooner received into the town, but Areus, their king, arrived
there himself, too, from Crete, with two thousand men more. The women
upon this went all home to their houses, finding it no longer necessary
for them to meddle with the business of the war; and they also were
sent back, who, though not of military age, were by necessity forced
to take arms, while the rest prepared to fight Pyrrhus.
