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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



and tenderness were required. She left her hus- 

 band and tended her father in distress, relieving 

 his wants, soothing his troubles, snd supplicating 

 the victorious party in his behalf. At length 

 the wheel of fortune turned round. Leonidas 

 became master of the situation. Agis and 

 Clcombrotus were in his hands. Chelonis at 

 once fled from her father and took her place 

 beside her husband. In the wretched robes 

 which she had worn when pleading for her fa- 

 ther, she pleaded for her husband. After much 

 entreaty she prevailed, and the life of her hus- 

 band was spared, but he was condemned to exile. 

 Chelonis had again to make her choice. Her 

 father urged her to stay with him, reminding her 

 of the kindness he showed her in sparing her 

 husband, and promising every comfort. But 

 Chelonis did not hesitatg. As Cleombrotus rose 

 to go, she gave him one of her children, and, 

 taking the other in her arms and kissing the 

 altar of the goddess, she walked out with him to 

 degradation and poverty. Justly does Plutarch 

 add the remark that, if Cleombrotus had not 

 been entirely corrupted by vainglory, he would 

 have deemed exile with such a woman a greater 

 blessing than any kingdom. The fate of pure- 

 minded Agis was worse than that of Cleombro- 

 tus. No mercy was shown him, and he was put 

 to death by strangulation. His mother, Agesis- 

 trata, waited to hear what was to become of him. 

 The officer, who knew that Agis was dead, de- 

 lusively told her that no violence would be done 

 him. She wished to see him, and take her old 

 mother with her. Permission was granted. The 

 two women entered the prison. The doors were 

 shut. The grandmother was requested to go 

 into the chamber where Agis was. She went in 

 and was strangled. Then Agesistrata entered, 

 and saw her son lying on the ground and her 

 mother hanging by a rope. She calmly helped 

 to take the dead body down, and, stretching her 

 alongside of Agis, laid both the bodies out and 

 covered them ; and, falling upon her son and 

 kissing him, she said, " my son, it is your 

 gentleness and goodness that have ruined you." 

 " If that is your opinion," said the officer, " you 

 had better go the same way." She bravely held 

 out her neck, and said, " May this turn out for 

 the good of Sparta ! " And thus was stamped 

 out the first effort for the reformation of Sparta. 

 The second is also remarkable for the nobility 

 of the women who aided it. Cleomenes, a man 

 of great vigor and capacity, the son of Leonidas 

 mentioned above, came to the throne. His fa- 

 ther had compelled him to marry Agiatis, the 



widow of Agis ; but he soon began to lore the 

 noble and gentle lady. They talked much to- 

 gether about Agis and his projects, and Cleo- 

 menes at length resolved to carry out the pro- 

 jected reforms. Again the young prince was 

 helped most effectively by his mother, Cratesi- 

 cleia, who supplied him with resources, and even 

 married again for his sake, for she thereby se- 

 cured the support of one of the most influen- 

 tial men in Sparta. But again Destiny was too 

 powerful for the reformer. He did, indeed, suc- 

 ceed in introducing his reforms into Sparta, and 

 in again giving her the foremost place in Pelo- 

 ponnesus. But he awoke the jealousy of Aratus, 

 the head of the Achaean League, the Macedonian 

 stranger 1vas called in, and, after a fatal battle, 

 Cleomenes had to flee. During the course of his 

 struggles his noble wife Agiatis died, and was 

 bitterly lamented. His mother, Cratesicleia, was 

 always ready to help him, and stood by him to 

 the last. At one time he required the alliance 

 of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, but Ptolemy would 

 not agree to it unless the Spartan king sent his 

 mother and child as hostages. Cleomenes did 

 not venture to mention this proposal to his 

 mother, but the mother's keen eye observed that 

 he was keeping some secret from her. At last 

 she prevailed on him to disclose it, and, on hear- 

 ing it, she laughed loudly, and said, " Will you 

 not send immediately this body where it is likely 

 to be most useful to Sparta, before it is dissolved 

 by old age ? " After she had gone to Egypt she 

 heard that Cleomenes was afraid to take certain 

 measures because Ptolemy held his mother and 

 child as hostages, and she at once wrote to him, 

 " Do what is proper, and never mind what be- 

 comes of an old woman and a little child." 



The fate of Cleomenes was as tragic as that 

 of Agis. He had sought shelter in Egypt, but 

 found a prison there instead of a home. He and 

 his companions determined to overpower the 

 sentinels, break through the place of confine- 

 ment, and rouse the inhabitants to assert their 

 liberty. They easily broke through their place 

 of confinement, but they could not rouse the in- 

 habitants, and so they resolved to die. Each one 

 killed himself except Panteus, the youngest and 

 most beautiful among them. He had been or- 

 dered by the king to wait till all had killed them- 

 selves. And so he did. He went round all the 

 bodies to see that they were dead, and then, kiss- 

 ing Cleomenes and throwing his arms around 

 him, he also killed himself. The Egyptian king 

 ordered the execution of all the women connect- 

 ed with the Spartans. The mother was brought 



