Cleomenes' superior numbers forced the defenders to retreat, but their rearguard action allowed most of the population to escapeonly 1,000 were captured.
Parkinson claimed that the criticism was a rearguard action by the establishment against the perceived desecration of an institution by an outsider.
Yet much of the book is a foot-dragging rearguard action which subtlely attempts to undermine the established hypothesis.
Rather, the past two centuries have been a perpetual rearguard action against the modernising forces at the gates of both palace and temple.
Their criticisms amount to a kind of cultural protectionism, the rearguard action of outmoded gatekeepers protesting the rise of new mediators.
In fact, the triumph of the dean and chapter was only achieved through a highly effective rearguard action to defeat a major threat to its authority.
We want to shape the future, and shaping the future does not mean fighting a rearguard action or useless protectionism, but accompanying change.
The second rearguard action which has to be fought is on the question of affinity.
