Come, O King Of The Lacedaimonians

Kratisiklia didn't deign to allow the people to see her weeping and grieving: she walked in dignity and in silence. Her calm face betrayed nothing of her sorrow and her agony. But even so, for a moment she couldn't hold back: before she went aboard the detestable ship for Alexandria she took her son to Poseidon's temple, and once they were alone she embraced him tenderly and kissed him (he was "in great distress," says Plutarch, "badly shaken"). But her strong character struggled through; regaining her poise, the magnificent woman said to Kleomenis: "Come, O King of the Lacedaimonians, when we go outside let no one see us weeping or behaving in any way unworthy of Sparta. At least this is still in our power; what lies ahead is in the hands of the gods." And she boarded the ship, going toward whatever lay "in the hands of the gods."