ANTALCIDAS ¹

[1] Antalcidas, retorting to the Athenian who called the Spartans unlearned, said, At any rate, we alone have learned no evil from you Athenians.²

[2] When another Athenian said to him, You cannot deny that we have many a time put you to rout from the Cephisus, he said, But we have never put you to rout from the Eurotas !³

[3] When a lecturer was about to read a laudatory essay on Heracles, he said, Why, who says anything against him ?⁴

Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1931.

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Current edition Perseus

Sayings of Kings and Commanders (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).)

Editions (2)

Ἀποφθέγματα βασιλέων καὶ στρατηγῶν Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).) — 70 focus

Ἀνταλκίδου

[1] Ἀνταλκίδας πρὸς τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἀμαθεῖς ἀποκαλοῦντα τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους, μόνοι γοῦν, εἶπεν, ἡμεῖς οὐδὲν μεμαθήκαμεν κακὸν παρʼ ὑμῶν.

[2] 192c ἑτέρου δὲ Ἀθηναίου πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντος, ἀλλὰ μὴν ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Κηφισοῦ πολλάκις ὑμᾶς ἐδιώξαμεν, ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐδέποτε, εἶπεν, ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐρώτα.

[3] σοφιστοῦ δὲ μέλλοντος ἀναγινώσκειν ἐγκώμιον Ἡρακλέους, ἔφη, τίς γὰρ αὐτὸν ψέγει;

Ἀποφθέγματα βασιλέων καὶ στρατηγῶν Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 70 focus

Ἀνταλκίδου

[1] Ἀνταλκίδας πρὸς τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἀμαθεῖς ἀποκαλοῦντα τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους μόνοι γοῦν εἶπεν ἡμεῖς οὐδὲν μεμαθήκαμεν κακὸν παρʼ ὑμῶν. 192c

[2] ἑτέρου δὲ Ἀθηναίου πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντος 15 ἀλλὰ μὴν ἡμεῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ Κηφισοῦ πολλάκις ὑμᾶς ἐδιώξαμεν , ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐδέποτε εἶπεν ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐρώτα.

[3] σοφιστοῦ δὲ μέλλοντος ἀναγινώσκειν ἐγκώμιον Ἡρακλέους, ἔφη τίς γὰρ αὐτὸν ψέγει;

Translations (1)

The apophthegms or remarkable sayings of kings and great commanders. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hinton, Edward, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 70 focus

[70] ANTALCIDAS. To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians unlearned, Therefore we alone, said Antalcidas, have learned no mischief of you. To another Athenian that told him, Indeed, we have often driven you from the Cephissus, he replied, But we never drove you from the Eurotas. When a Sophist was beginning to recite the praise of Hercules; And who, said he, ever spoke against him?

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Kings and Commanders

1. Spartan admiral and politician who negotiated the Peace of Antalcidas between Persia and Greece, 387 B.C.

2. Cf. Moralia, 217 D. The saying is attributed to Pleistoanax in Moralia, 231 D, and in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 D).

3. Cf. Moralia, 217 D and 810 F, Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xxxi. (613 D). The Cephisus was a river near Athens, and the Eurotas a river near Sparta.

4. Cf. Moralia, 217 D.

Plutarch Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata 70

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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ANTALCIDAS ¹

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ANTALCIDAS 1

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ANTALCIDAS ¹