Description of Greece

​To Cleomenes were born sons, the elder Acrotatus, and the younger Cleonymus. Now Acrotatus was overtaken by death first; and when Cleomenes died later, Areus, the son of Acrotatus, entered into a dispute over the rule, and Cleonymus, in whatever way he went about it, brought Pyrrhus into the country. For the Lacedaemonians, before the battle at Leuctra, no setback had occurred, so they would not even admit that they had ever been defeated in a land battle; for they asserted that when Leonidas was victorious, his followers were not sufficient for the complete destruction of the Medes, and that the achievement of the Athenians and Demosthenes at the island of Sphacteria was a theft of war and not a victory.

​But when their first disaster occurred among the Boeotians, they later met with a great setback against Antipater and the Macedonians; and thirdly, the war of Demetrius came to their land as an unexpected evil. And when Pyrrhus invaded, seeing then indeed a fourth hostile army, they themselves drew up for battle, as did the allies who came from Argos and Messene; and Pyrrhus, when he prevailed, came within a little of taking the city at the first cry, but having ravaged the land and driven off the booty, he rested for a short time. Meanwhile, they prepared themselves for a siege, since Sparta had even earlier, during the war against Demetrius, been fortified with deep trenches and strong palisades, and at the most assailable points even with buildings.

​About this time and during the delay of the Laconic war, Antigonus, having recovered the cities of the Macedonians, hastened to the Peloponnese, as he knew that Pyrrhus, if he subdued Lacedaemon and most of the Peloponnese, would come not to Epirus but against Macedonia again and the war there. And as Antigonus was about to lead his army from Argos into Laconia, Pyrrhus himself entered Argos. Prevailing even then, he rushed in with those fleeing into the city, and, as was to be expected, his formation was broken.

​And while they were already fighting near temples and houses and in the narrow streets and in various parts of the city, there Pyrrhus was isolated and wounded in the head. They say that Pyrrhus died when hit by a tile thrown by a woman; but the Argives say that it was not a woman who killed him, but Demeter in the likeness of a woman. These things the Argives themselves say concerning the death of Pyrrhus, and Lyceas, the guide of the local sights, has said so in verse; and they have a sanctuary of Demeter, built at the bidding of the god, where Pyrrhus died;

​and in it Pyrrhus himself is buried. I indeed find it a wonder that to three of those called Aeacidae, their death should have occurred in the same manner from the god, since Homer says that Achilles was destroyed by Alexander, the son of Priam, and Apollo, while the Pythia commanded the Delphians to kill Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, and to this descendant of Aeacus there happened such a death as the Argives say and Lyceas composed in verse. However, these things are different from what Hieronymus of Cardia wrote; for it is absolutely necessary for a man who associates with a king to write to please him. And if even Philistus has incurred just blame for hiding the most unholy deeds of Dionysius in hope of his return to Syracuse, surely there is great excuse for Hieronymus to write to please Antigonus.