,
though, for the rest, success or failure depends on the gods." So she
sailed away, and Cleomenes went back to do his part. The Achaians had
not only given Antigonus the title of Head of the League, but had set up
his statues, and were giving him the divine honours that had been granted
to Alexander and to Demetrius the City-taker.

The only part of the Peloponnesus that still held out was Laconia.
Cleomenes guarded all the passes, though the struggle was almost without
hope, for little help came from Egypt, only a letter from brave old
Cratesiclea, begging that whatever was best for the country might be done
without regard to an old woman or a child. Cleomenes then let the slaves
buy their freedom, and made 2000 soldiers from among them, and marching
out with these he surprised and took the Achaian city of Megalopolis.
One small party of citizens, under a brave young man named Philopoemen,
fought, while the rest had time to escape to Messene. Cleomenes offered
to give them back the place if they would join with Sparta, but they
refused, and he had the whole town plundered and burnt as a warning to
the other Peloponnesians, and the next year he ravaged Argolis, and beat
down the standing corn with great wooden swords.

But Antigonus had collected a vast force to subdue the Peloponnesus, and
Cleomenes prepared for his last battle at Sellasia, a place between two
hills. On one named Evas he placed his brother Euclidas, on the other
named Olympus he posted himself, with his cavalry in the middle. He had
but 20,000 men, and Antigonus three times as many, with all the Achaians
among them. Euclidas did not, as his brother had intended, charge down
the hill, but was driven backwards over the precipices that lay behind
him. The cavalry were beaten by Philopoemen, who fought all day, though
a javelin had pierced both his legs; and Cleomenes found it quite
impossible to break the Macedonian phalanx, and out of his 6000 Spartans
found himself at the end of the day with only 200.

With these he rode back to Sparta, where he stopped in the market-place
to tell his people that all was lost, and they had better make what terms
they could. They should decide whether his life or death were best for
him, and while they deliberated, he turned towards his own empty house,
but he could not bear to enter it. A slave girl taken from Megalopolis
ran out to bring him food and drink, but he would taste nothing, only
being tired out