Kratisklia didn't allow
the people to see her weeping and grieving:
she walked in dignified silence.
Her calm face
betrayed nothing of her sorrow, her agony....

"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."...

—Constantine Cavafy (1863–1933), translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard in C.V. Cavafy: Collected Poems (1975). Kratiskleia was the mother of Cleomenes, the last king of Sparta (Lacedaemonia). He was defeated by Ptolemy III of Egypt and forced to send his mother and son to Egypt as hostages, where they were later killed. According to Plutarch, she was wise and brave.

Δεν καταδέχονταν η Κρατησίκλεια
ο κόσμος να την δει να κλαίει και να θρηνεί.
και μεγαλοπρεπής εβάδιζε και σιωπηλή.
Τίποτε δεν απόδειχνε η ατάραχη μορφή της
απ’ τον καϋμό και τα τυράννια της....

...«Άγε, ω βασιλεύ
Λακεδαιμονίων, όπως, επάν έξω
γενώμεθα, μηδείς ίδη δακρύοντας
ημάς μηδέ ανάξιόν τι της Σπάρτης
ποιούντας. Τούτο γαρ εφ’ ημίν μόνον·
αι τύχαι δε, όπως αν ο δαίμων διδώ, πάρεισι.»

...