the line of shields,
in order that his corpse might not fall into the hands of the enemy.

XXIX. The battle ceased at night, and during his sleep Pyrrhus dreamed
a dream, that he cast thunderbolts upon Lacedaemon, set it all on fire,
and rejoiced at the sight. Being awakened by his delight at this
vision, he ordered his officers to hold the troops in readiness and
related the dream to his friends, auguring from it that he should take
the city by assault. They were all of them delighted at the vision,
and certain that it portended success, except one Lysimachus, who said
that he feared that, as places struck by thunderbolts may not be
walked over, Heaven might mean to signify to Pyrrhus by this that he
never should set foot in the city. Pyrrhus however answered that this
was mere empty gossip, and that they had better take their arms in
their hands and remember that

"The best of omens is King Pyrrhus's cause."[49]

He rose, and at daybreak led his troops again to the assault. The
Lacedaemonians defended themselves with a spirit and courage beyond
what could be expected from their small numbers. The women mingled in
the thick of the fight, supplying food, drink, and missile weapons
wherever they were needed, and carrying away the wounded. The
Macedonians endeavoured to fill up the ditch by flinging large
quantities of wood into it, covering the arms and dead bodies which
lay at the bottom. As the Lacedaemonians were resisting this attempt,
they saw Pyrrhus on horseback trying to cross the line of waggons and
the ditch, and force his way into the city. A shout was raised by the
garrison at the spot, and the women began to scream and run wildly
about. Pyrrhus had made his way through all obstacles and was about to
attack the nearest of those who disputed his passage, when his horse,
struck in the body by a Cretan javelin, reared in the death-agony, and
threw Pyrrhus to the ground. He fell on a steep bank, and his fall
caused such consternation among his followers that a timely charge of
the Spartans drove them back. Upon this he gave orders to put a stop
to the assault, for he imagined that the Lacedaemonians would soon
offer terms of surrender, as they were nearly all wounded, and had
lost many men. However, the good fortune of the city, which may have
wished to test the Spartan courage to the utmost, or to prove its own
power to save the city when all hope seemed lost, brought Ameinias the
Phokian, one of the ge