Agis and Cleomenes

So he admitted both the women, and after ordering the door of the prison to be locked again, delivered Archidamia first to the executioners. She was now a very aged woman, and had lived all her days in very high repute among her countrywomen. After she had been put to death, Amphares ordered Agesistrata to enter the chamber of execution.

So she went in, and when she saw her son lying dead upon the ground, and her mother’s dead body still hanging in the noose, with her own hands she helped the officers to take her down, laid her body out by the side of Agis, and composed and covered it. Then, embracing her son and kissing his face, she said: My son, it was thy too great regard for others, and thy gentleness and humanity, which has brought thee to ruin, and us as well.

Then Amphares, who stood at the door and saw and heard what she did and said, came in and said angrily to her: If, then, thou hast been of the same mind as thy son, thou shalt also suffer the same fate. And Agesistrata, as she rose to present her neck to the noose, said: My only prayer is that this may bring good to Sparta.