e
him. She begged her mother might also have the favor to be admitted, and
he replied that nobody should hinder it. When they were entered, he
commanded the gate should again be locked, and Archidamia, the
grandmother, to be first introduced; she was now grown to be very old,
and had lived all her days in the highest repute among her fellows. As
soon as Amphares thought she was despatched, he told Agesistrata she
might now go in if she pleased. She entered; and beholding her son's
body stretched on the ground, and her mother's hanging by the neck, the
first thing she did was, with her own hand, to assist the officers in
taking down the body; then, covering it decently, she laid it out by her
son's, whom then embracing, and kissing his cheeks, 'O my son,' said
she, 'it was thy too great mercy and goodness which brought thee and us
to ruin.' Amphares, who stood watching behind the door, on hearing this,
broke in, and said angrily to her, 'Since you approve so well of your
son's actions, it is fit you should partake in his reward.' She, rising
up to offer herself to the noose, said only, 'I pray that it may redound
to the good of Sparta.'"

Thus was defeated the first effort for the reformation of Sparta. In the
city's long history, Agis was the first king who had been put to death
by the order of the ephors. When the bodies of the gentle king and his
noble mother and grandmother were exposed, the horror of the people knew
no bounds, and the aged Leonidas and Amphares became the objects of
public detestation.

The second attempt at the reformation of Sparta is also remarkable for
the unselfishness and nobility of the women who took part.

After the execution of King Agis, his wife, Agiatis, was compelled by
Leonidas to become the wife of his son Cleomenes, though the latter was
as yet too young to marry. As Agiatis was the heiress of the great
estate of her father, Gylippus, the old king was unwilling that she
should be the wife of anyone but his son. Agiatis was, says Plutarch,
"in person the most youthful and beautiful woman in all Greece, and
well-conducted in her habits of life." She resisted the union as long as
she could; but when forced to marry, she became to the youth a kind and
obliging wife. Cleomenes loved her very dearly, and often asked her
about the reforms of Agis; and she did not fail to inspire him with the
lofty ideals of her former gentle and high-minded husband. Cleomenes
himself, in consequence, fe