Ἐοίκασι τοῖς ἐκ Πύλου ληφθεῖσι τοῖς Λακωνικοῖς

A saying in reference to those who are looking pale and wasted. Pylos↗ [is] a place in Lakonike, where Kleon served as general and took the prisoners from Sphakteria.¹ So it is likely that these men, because of the fear resulting from their captivity, and because, first, they had been besieged for many days on a deserted island -- one, indeed, from which it was impossible to get any of the things they needed -- and, second, they had been shut up for a long period after their capture and been shackled in wood,² would have become pale and wasted and unsightly.