Passage 4.21.9
καὶ οἳ μὲν ἀναπαυόμενοί τε καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος μαχόμενοι μᾶλλον ἀντήρκουν, τοῖς δὲ Μεσσηνίοις πανταχόθεν παρίστατο ἀπορία· μεθʼ ἡμέραν γὰρ ἀεὶ καὶ νύκτα συνεχῶς οἱ αὐτοὶ τρίτην ἠμύνοντο. ἤδη τε ἡμέρα ἦν καὶ ἥ τε ἀυπνία καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ τε καὶ ῥῖγος ἐπίεζε σφᾶς, ὅ τε λιμὸς καὶ ἡ δίψα ἐπέκειτο· μάλιστα δὲ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀηθείᾳ τε πολέμου καὶ τῇ συνεχείᾳ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας ἀπειρήκεσαν.
While the Lacedaemonians, taking their rest and fighting by turns, were making a stronger resistance, difficulty beset the Messenians on every side; for the very same men continued to fight constantly through the day and every night, and were now defending themselves for the third consecutive day. Daylight had already come, and sleeplessness along with the rain and cold from the sky oppressed them, and hunger and thirst assailed them as well. Most of all, the women, unaccustomed to warfare and overwhelmed by constant suffering, had reached the limits of endurance.