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Aided now by the Arca'dians, Ar'gives, and E'leans, Epaminondas invaded Laconia, appearing before the gates of Sparta, where a hostile force had not been seen in five hundred years; but he made no attempt upon the city, and, after laying waste with fire and sword the valley of the Euro'tas, he retraced his steps to the frontiers of Arcadia.
Upon Euro'tas' bank, Where black Ta-yg'etus o'er cliff and peak Waves his dark pines, and spreads his glistening snows, On five low hills their city rose: no walls, No ramparts closed it round; its battlements And towers of strength were men high-minded men, Who heard the cry of danger with more joy Than softer natures listen to the voice Of pleasure; who, with unremitting toil In chase, in battle, or athletic course, To fierceness steeled their native hardihood; Who sunk in death as tranquil as in sleep, And, hemmed by hostile myriads, never turned To flight, but closer drew before their breasts The massy buckler, firmer fixed the foot, Bit the writhed lip, and, where they struggled, fell.
Through this valley flows the river Euro'tas, on whose banks, about twenty miles from the sea, stood the capital city, Lacedae'mon, or Sparta, which was unwalled and unfortified during its most flourishing period, as the Spartans held that the real defence of a town consists solely in the valor of its citizens.
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