Agis and Cleomenes (Agis.19.6-Agis.19.7)

This is a chamber of the prison in which they strangle those who are under sentence of death. But Damochares, when he saw that the officers did not dare to lay hands on Agis, and likewise that even the mercenaries who were there shrank from the deed and were loth to do it, feeling as they did that it was contrary to the laws of God and man to lay bands upon the person of a king, heaped threats and abuse upon them and himself dragged Agis into the chamber of death.

For already many people were aware of the arrest, and there was a noisy throng at the door and many torches, and the mother and grandmother of Agis were there, with cries and prayers that the king of the Spartans should have a hearing and a trial before the citizens. For this reason especially the ephors hastened on the king’s execution, believing that he would be taken out of their hands in the night if the concourse should increase.