The restless, ambitious, insatiable Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, laid
siege to Lacedæmon. He arrived in the evening, with all his army, and
only postponed the attack till the next day;--this delay saved Sparta.
As soon as night came, the Lacedæmonians met to deliberate upon the
propriety of sending their wives and daughters to the island of Crete;
but the women strongly opposed such a determination. One of them,
named Archidamia, entered the senate, sword in hand, and addressing
the assembly in the name of all the rest, she proudly demanded why the
senators had so bad an opinion of her and her companions, as to imagine
they could love or endure life after the ruin of their country.
It was resolved that they should not leave the city. As the men were
employed, with vigour and celerity, in digging a trench parallel with
the camp of the enemy, to enable them to dispute the approach to the
city, the women and girls came to join them, and after having exhorted
those who would have to fight, to take repose during the night, they
measured the length of the trench, and undertook, as their share, a
third part of it, which they finished in the course of the day. This
trench was nine feet wide, six deep, and nine hundred long. In all the
attacks which took place till Pyrrhus was constrained to raise the
siege, these courageous women conducted themselves in a manner worthy
of the reputation of their mothers of former days.