Thereupon my "brother" conceived the design of freeing us from our chains, and, antagonized by the stubbornness of Lycurgus, he positively refused to sleep with him, and through this he was in a better position to carry out the plan which he had thought out.
When the entire household was buried in its first sleep, Ascyltos loaded our little packs upon his back and slipped out through a breach in the wall, which he had previously noted, arriving at the villa with the dawn.
He gained entrance without opposition and found his way to our room, which the guards had taken the precaution to bar.

It was easy to force an entrance, as the fastening was made of wood, which same he pried off with a piece of iron.

The fall of the lock roused us, for we were snoring away, in spite of our unfortunate situation.

On account of the long vigil, the guard was in such a deep sleep that we alone were wakened by the crashing fall of the lock, and Ascyltos, coming in, told us in a few words what he had done for us; but as far as that goes, not many were necessary.

We were hurriedly dressing, when I was seized with the notion of killing the guard and stripping the place.