the year 700 B. C., the Spartans called upon Athens for a commander to
lead them to the second Messenian war, and the Athenians sent them
Tyrtaeus, their martial poet. The Spartans were displeased at his youth
and gentle bearing; but when the battle was joined, his chanting of his
own war-songs so animated the troops that they won against heavy odds. The
following is a fragment translated from one of his lyrics:

"But be it ours to guard the hallowed spot,
To shield the tender offspring and the wife;
Here steadily await our destined lot,
And, for their sakes, resign the gift of life."

Aeschylus, poet and soldier, writing a hundred and fifty years later, in
his "Seven Against Thebes," puts into the mouth of the chieftain Eteocles
this address to the women:

"It is not to be borne, ye wayward race;
Is this your best, is this the aid you lend
The state, the fortitude with which you steel
The souls of the besieged, thus falling down
Before the images to wail, and shriek
With lamentations loud? Wisdom abhors you.
Nor in misfortune, nor in dear success,
Be woman my associate. If her power
Bears sway, her insolence exceeds all bounds;
But if she fears, woe to that house and city.
And now by holding counsel with weak fear,
You magnify the foe, and turn our men
To flight. Thus are we ruined by ourselves.
This ever will arise from suffering women