Agis and Cleomenes

Then they proceeded to the citadel, purposing to break open the prison and avail themselves of the multitude of prisoners. But the guards were too quick for them and barred the way securely, so that Cleomenes, baffled in this attempt also, roamed up and down through the city, not a man joining with him but everybody filled with fear and flying from him.

So, then, he desisted from his attempt, and saying to his friends, It is no wonder, after all, that women rule over men who run away from freedom, he called upon them all to die in a manner worthy of their king and their past achievements. So Hippitas first, at his own request, was smitten down by one of the younger men, then each of the others calmly and cheerfully slew himself, except Panteus, the man who led the way in the capture of Megalopolis.[*](See chapter xxiii. 4. )

He had once been the king’s favourite, because in his youth he was most fair, and in his young manhood most amenable to the Spartan discipline; and now his orders were to wait until the king and the rest of the band were dead, and then to die himself. At last all the rest lay prostrate on the ground, and Panteus, going up to each one in turn and pricking him with his sword, sought to discover whether any spark of life remained. When he pricked Cleomenes in the ankle and saw that his face twitched, he kissed him, and then sat down by his side; at last the end came, and after embracing the king’s dead body, he slew himself upon it.

Such, then, was the end of Cleomenes who had been for sixteen years king of Sparta, and had shown himself the man whom I have described. The report of his death spread over the entire city, and Cratesicleia, although she was a woman of noble spirit, lost her composure in view of the magnitude of her misfortunes, and throwing her arms about the children of Cleomenes, wailed and lamented.