29.2
Most of them, then, were fully persuaded that he was right, but Lysimachus was not pleased with the vision; he said he was afraid lest, as places smitten by thunderbolts are kept free from the tread of men, the Deity might be indicating in advance to Pyrrhus also that the city was not to be entered by him. But Pyrrhus declared that this was nonsense intended for the crowd, and great folly, and calling upon his hearers to take their arms in their hands and act upon the belief that One is the best of all omens, to fight in defence of Pyrrhus, An adaptation of Iliad, xii. 243, by substituting Pyrrhus for one’s country (Πύρρου for πάτρης). rose up, and at day-break led forth his army.
29.3
But the Lacedaemonians defended themselves with an alacrity and bravery beyond their strength; the women, too, were at hand, proffering missiles, distributing food and drink to those who needed them, and taking up the wounded. The Macedonians tried to fill up the trench, collecting and throwing into it great quantities of materials, beneath which the arms and dead bodies were hidden away.
