He didn't know, King Kleomenis, he didn't dare— <br />he just did not know how to tell his mother <br />a thing like this: that Ptolemy demanded, <br />to guarantee their treaty, that she too go to Egypt <br />and be held there as a hostage— <br />a very humiliating, indecorous thing. <br />And he would be about to speak yet always hesitate, <br />would start to tell her yet always stop. <br /> <br />But the magnificent woman understood him <br />(she had already heard some rumors about it) <br />and she encouraged him to come out with it clearly. <br />And she laughed, saying of course she would go, <br />indeed was happy that in her old age <br />she could be useful to Sparta still. <br /> <br />As for the humiliation—that didn't touch her at all. <br />Of course an upstart like the Lagid <br />couldn't possibly comprehend the Spartan spirit; <br />so his demand could not in fact humiliate <br />a Royal Lady like herself: <br />mother of a Spartan king.<br /><br />Constantine P. Cavafy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-sparta/
