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AGIS, SON OF ARCHIDAMUS¹

[1] Once upon a time the Ephors said to Agis the son of Archidamus, Take the young men and march against the country of this man here. He will himself guide you to its citadel. And how, sirs, said Agis, is it right to entrust so many youths to a man who is betraying his own country?²

[2] Being asked what form of instruction was most in vogue in Sparta, he said, Knowledge of how to rule and to be ruled.³

[3] He said that the Spartans did not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they? ⁴

[4] When, at Mantineia, he was not permitted to risk a decisive battle with the enemy, who outnumbered his men, he said, He who would rule over many must fight with many.⁵

[5] When someone inquired how many Spartans there were, he said, Enough to keep all bad men away.⁶

[6] As he was going about among the walls of the Corinthians and observed that they were high and towering and vast in extent, he said, What women live in that place?⁷

[7] When a lecturer said, Speech is the most important thing of all, he retorted, Then if you are silent, you are of no worth at all!

[8] When the Argives, after their defeat, met him again with greater boldness, and he saw that his allies were greatly perturbed, he said, Do not be afraid, men; for when we who are victorious are frightened, what do you think those vanquished by us are doing?

[9] In answer to the ambassador from Abdera, who, after winding up a long discourse, asked him what report he should make to his people at home, he said, Report that during all the time you wanted to speak I listened in silence.⁸

[10] When some commended the people of Elis because they were very just in conducting the Olympic games, he said, What great or marvellous accomplishment is it if they practise justice on one day only in four years?⁹

[11] In answer to those who said that some members of the other royal house¹⁰ were jealous of him he said, So then, their own ill fortune will make them miserable and, besides that, the good fortune of myself and of my friends.

[12] When someone proffered the advice that they ought to give a passage-way to those of the enemy who were fleeing,¹¹ he said, And how, if we do not fight those who because of cowardice are fleeing, shall we fight those who because of bravery stand their ground?

[13] When someone brought forward a plan, for the freedom of the Greeks, which, while not lacking idealism, was difficult to put into practice, he said, Your words, my friend, need the backing of power and money.¹²

[14] When someone said that Philip would make Greece forbidden ground to them, he said, It is quite enough, my friend, for us to go and come within the confines of our own land.¹³

[15] An ambassador who had come from Perinthus to Sparta made a long harangue; and when he had stopped speaking and asked Agis what report he should make to the people of Perinthus, Agis said, What else except that it was hard for you to stop speaking, and that I said nothing?¹⁴

[16] He came alone on an embassy to Philip, and when Philip exclaimed, What is this? Have you come all alone?, he said, Yes, for I came to only one man.¹⁵

[17] When one of the elderly men said to him in his old age, inasmuch as he saw the good old customs falling into desuetude, and other mischievous prae tices creeping in, that for this reason everything was getting to be topsy-turvy in Sparta, Agis said humorously, Things are then but following a logical course if that is what is happening; for when I was a boy, I used to hear from my father that everything was topsy-turvy among them; and my father said that, when he was a boy, his father had said this to him; so nobody ought to be surprised if conditions later are worse than those earlier, but rather to wonder if they grow better or remain approximately the same.¹⁶

[18] Being asked how one could be a free man all his life, he said, By feeling contempt for death.¹⁷

Apophthegmata Laconica. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1931.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (2)

Ἀποφθέγματα Λακωνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).) — 5 focus

Ἀγίδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

[1] Ἆγις ὁ Ἀρχιδάμου, τῶν ἐφόρων ποτὲ εἰπόντων, βάδιζε τοὺς ἡβῶντας ἔχων ἐπὶ τὴν τούτου 215d πατρίδα· ἡγήσεται δέ σοι αὐτὸς οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ πῶς, εἶπε, καλῶς ἔχον ἐστίν, ὦ ἔφοροι, τοσούτους νέους πιστεύειν τῷ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα προδιδόντι;ν

[2] ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ τί μάλιστα μάθημα ἐν Σπάρτῃ ἀσκεῖται, τὸ γιγνώσκειν, εἶπεν, ἄρχειν τε καὶ ἄρχεσθαι.

[3] οὐκ ἔφη δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐρωτᾶν πόσοι εἰσὶν οἱ πολέμιοι, ἀλλὰ ποῦ εἰσίν.

[4] ἐν δὲ Μαντινείᾳ κωλυόμενος διαμάχεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις πλείοσιν οὖσιν, εἶπεν, ἀνάγκη πολλοῖς μάχεσθαι τὸν ἄρχειν πολλῶν βουλόμενον.

[5] πυνθανομένου δέ τινος πόσοι εἰσὶν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, ὅσοι ἱκανοί, εἶπε, τοὺς κακοὺς ἀπερύκειν ἐν.

[6] διερχόμενος δὲ τὰ τῶν Κορινθίων τείχη καὶ θεασάμενος ὑψηλά τε καὶ ὀχυρὰ ἐπὶ πολὺ 215e τε παρατείνοντα, τίνες, εἶπεν, αἱ τὸν τόπον κατοικοῦσαι¹ γυναῖκες;ν

[7] σοφιστοῦ δέ τινος εἰπόντος, πάντων λόγος ἐστὶ κράτιστον, οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, σὺ ἐὰν σιωπᾷς οὐδενὸς ἄξιος εἶ.

[8] ὡς δὲ Ἀργεῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν ἀπήντων αὐτῷ πάλιν θρασύτερον, ταραττομένους ὁρῶν τοὺς συμμάχους, θαρρεῖτε, εἶπεν, ὦ ἄνδρες· ὅπου γὰρ ἡμεῖς οἱ νικῶντες ὀρρωδοῦμεν, τί δοκεῖτε ποιεῖν τοὺς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν νενικημένους;

[9] πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῶν Ἀβδήρων πρεσβευτήν, 215f ὅτε κατεπαύσατο πολλὰ εἰπών, ἐρωτῶντα τ ί τοῖς πολίταις ἀπαγγείλῃ, ὅτι, ἔφη, ὅσον σὺ χρόνον λέγειν ἔχρῃζες, τοσοῦτον ἐγὼ σιωπῶν ἤκουον.

[10] ἐπαινούντων δέ τινων Ἠλείους, ὅτι δικαιότατοί εἰσι περὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Ὀλυμπίων, καὶ τί μέγα, εἶπεν, ἢ θαυμαστὸν ποιοῦσιν, εἰ ἐν ἔτεσι πέντε μιᾷ μόνον ἡμέρᾳ δικαιοσύνῃ χρῶνται;ν

[11] πρὸς δὲ τοὺς φάσκοντας ὅτι φθονοῦσί τινες αὐτῷ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκίας, οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, τὰ ἴδια αὐτοὺς κακὰ λυπήσει, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τά τε ἐμὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐμῶν φίλων ἀγαθά.

[12] συμβουλεύοντος δέ τινος ὅτι δεῖ τοῖς φεύγουσι τῶν πολεμίων διδόναι δίοδον, καὶ πῶς, ἔφη, τοῖς διὰ δειλίαν φεύγουσι μὴ μαχόμενοι τοῖς διʼ ἀνδρείαν μένουσι μαχησόμεθα;

[13] 216a Προφερομένου² δέ τινος περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας οὐκ ἀγεννῆ μέν, δυσχερῆ δʼ ἐπιτελεσθῆναι, προσδέονταί σου, ὦ ξένε, ἔφη, οἱ λόγοι δυνάμεως καὶ χρημάτων.

[14] λέγοντος δέ τινος ὅτι Φίλιππος αὐτοῖς ἀνεπίβατον τὴν Ἑλλάδα ποιήσει, ἱκανὴ ἡμῖν, ἔφη, ὦ ξένε, ἡ ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἀναστροφή.

[15] πρεσβευτὴς ἐκ Περίνθου παραγενόμενος εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ἐμακρηγόρει· ὡς δὲ ἐπαύσατο λέγων καὶ ἠρώτα τὸν Ἆγιν τί δεῖ τοῖς Περινθίοις ἀπαγγεῖλαι, τί δʼ ἄλλο, ἔφη, ἢ ὅτι σὺ μὲν μόλις ἐπαύσω λέγων, ἐγὼ δʼ ἐσιώπων³;

[16] 216b πρεσβεύων δὲ μόνος ἧκε πρὸς Φίλιππον εἰπόντος δʼ ἐκείνου, τί τοῦτο; μόνος ἥκεις; ἔφη, καὶ γὰρ πρὸς ἕνα.

[17] φήσαντος δέ τινος τῶν πρεσβυτέρων πρὸς αὐτὸν γηραιὸν ὄντα, ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἀρχαῖα νόμιμα ἐκλυόμενα ἑώρα ἄλλα δὲ παρεισδυόμενα μοχθηρά, διότι τὰ ἄνω κάτω ἤδη γίγνεται ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ, παίζων εἶπε, κατὰ λόγον οὕτω προβαίνει τὰ πράγματα, εἰ τοῦτο γίνεται· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ παῖς ὢν ἤκουον παρὰ τοῦ πατρός, ὅτι τὰ ἄνω κάτω γέγονε παρʼ αὐτοῖς· ἔφη δὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτῷ παιδὶ ὄντι τοῦτο εἰρηκέναι· ὥστε οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν, εἰ 216c χείρω τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα τῶν προτέρων, ἀλλʼ εἴ που βελτίω καὶ παραπλήσια γένοιτο.

[18] ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ πῶς ἄν τις ἐλεύθερος διαμένοι, θανάτου καταφρονῶν, ἔφη.

Ἀποφθέγματα Λακωνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 5 focus

Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

[1] Ἆγις ὁ Ἀρχιδάμου, τῶν ἐφόρων ποτὲ εἰπόντων βάδιζε τοὺς ἡβῶντας ἔχων ἐπὶ τὴν τούτου 20 215d πατρίδα· ἡγήσεται δέ σοι αὐτὸς οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν, καὶ πῶς εἶπε καλῶς ἔχον ἐστίν, ὦ ἔφοροι, τοσούτους νέους πιστεύειν τῷ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πατρίδα προδιδόντι

[2] ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ τί μάλιστα μάθημα ἐν Σπάρτῃ ἀσκεῖται τὸ γινώσκειν εἶπεν ἄρχειν τε καὶ ἄρχεσθαι.

[3] οὐκ ἔφη δὲ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἐρωτᾶν 5 πόσοι εἰσὶν οἱ πολέμιοι, ἀλλὰ ποῦ εἰσίν.

[4] 5 ἐν δὲ Μαντινείᾳ κωλυόμενος διαμάχεσθαι τοῖς πολεμίοις πλείοσιν οὖσιν, εἶπεν ἀνάγκη πολλοῖς μάχεσθαι τὸν ἄρχειν πολλῶν βουλόμενον.

[5] πυνθανομένου δέ τινος πόσοι εἰσὶν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, 10 ὅσοι ἱκανοί εἶπε τοὺς κακοὺς ἀπερύκειν.

[6] διερχόμενος δὲ τὰ τῶν Κορινθίων τείχη καὶ θεασάμενος ὑψηλά τε καὶ ὀχυρὰ ἐπὶ πολύ τε παρατείνοντα, 215e τίνες εἶπεν αἳ τὸν τόπον κατοικοῦσι 15 γυναῖκες;

[7] σοφιστοῦ δέ τινος εἰπόντος πάντων λόγος ἐστὶ κράτιστον , οὐκοῦν ἔφη σὺ ἐὰν σιωπᾷς οὐδενὸς ἄξιος εἶ.

[8] ὡς δὲ Ἀργεῖοι μετὰ τὴν ἧτταν ἀπήντων αὐτῷ 20 πάλιν θρασύτερον, ταρασσομένους ὁρῶν τοὺς συμμάχους θαρρεῖτε εἶπεν ὦ ἄνδρες· ὅπου γὰρ ἡμεῖς οἱ νικῶντες ὀρρωδοῦμεν, τί δοκεῖτε ποιεῖν τοὺς ὑφʼ ἡμῶν νενικημένους;

[9] πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῶν Ἀβδήρων πρεσβευτήν, 25 215f ὅτε κατεπαύσατο πολλὰ εἰπών, ἐρωτῶντα τί τοῖς πολίταις ἀπαγγείλῃ, ὅτι ἔφη ὅσον σὺ χρόνον λέγειν ἔχρῃζες, τοσοῦτον ἐγὼ σιωπῶν ἤκουον.

[10] ἐπαινούντων δέ τινων Ἠλείους, ὅτι δικαιότατοί εἰσι περὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν Ὀλυμπίων, καὶ τί μέγα εἶπεν ἢ θαυμαστὸν ποιοῦσιν, εἰ ἐν ἔτεσι πέντε μιᾷ μόνον ἡμέρᾳ δικαιοσύνῃ χρῶνται;

[11] πρὸς δὲ τοὺς φάσκοντας ὅτι φθονοῦσί τινες αὐτῷ τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἑτέρας οἰκίας, οὐκοῦν ἔφη τὰ 5 ἴδια αὐτοὺς κακὰ λυπήσει, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τά τε ἐμὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐμῶν φίλων ἀγαθά.

[12] συμβουλεύοντος δέ τινος ὅτι δεῖ τοῖς φεύγουσι τῶν πολεμίων διδόναι δίοδον, καὶ πῶς ἔφη τοῖς διὰ δειλίαν φεύγουσι μὴ μαχόμενοι τοῖς διʼ 10 ἀνδρείαν μένουσι μαχεσόμεθα.

[13] 216a προφερομένου ¹ δέ τινος περὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας οὐκ ἀγεννῆ μέν, δυσχερῆ δὲ ἐπιτελεσθῆναι, προσδέονταί σου ὦ ξένε ἔφη οἱ λόγοι δυνάμεως καὶ χρημάτων. 15

[14] λέγοντος δέ τινος ὅτι Φίλιππος αὐτοῖς ἀνεπίβατον τὴν Ἑλλάδα ποιήσει, ἱκανὴ ἡμῖν ἔφη ὦ ξένε ἡ ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ ἀναστροφή.

[15] πρεσβευτὴς ἐκ Περίνθου παραγενόμενος εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ἐμακρηγόρει· ὡς δὲ ἐπαύσατο λέγων 20 καὶ ἠρώτα τὸν Ἆγιν τί δεῖ τοῖς Περινθίοις ἀπαγγεῖλαι, τί δʼ ἄλλο ἔφη ἢ ὅτι σὺ μὲν μόλις ἐπαύσω λέγων, ἐγὼ δὲ σιωπῶν;²

[16] πρεσβεύων δὲ μόνος ἧκε πρὸς Φίλιππον· 216b εἰπόντος δʼ ἐκείνου τί τοῦτο; μόνος ἥκεις; ἔφη 25 καὶ γὰρ πρὸς ἕνα.

[17] φήσαντος δέ τινος τῶν πρεσβυτέρων πρὸς αὐτὸν γηραιὸν ὄντα, ἐπειδὴ τὰ ἀρχαῖα νόμιμα ἐκλυόμενα ἑώρα ἄλλα δὲ παρεισδυόμενα μοχθηρά, διότι τὰ ἄνω κάτω ἤδη γίνεται ἐν τῇ Σπάρτῃ, παίζων εἶπε κατὰ λόγον οὕτω προβαίνει τὰ πράγματα, εἰ τοῦτο γίνεται· καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ παῖς ὢν ἤκουον παρὰ τοῦ 5 πατρός, ὅτι τὰ ἄνω κάτω γέγονε παρʼ αὐτοῖς· ἔφη δὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα αὐτῷ παιδὶ ὄντι τοῦτο εἰρηκέναι· ὥστε οὐ χρὴ θαυμάζειν, εἰ χείρω τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα 216c τῶν προτέρων, ἀλλʼ εἴ που βελτίω καὶ παραπλήσια γένοιτο.

[18] 10 ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ πῶς ἄν τις ἐλεύθερος διαμένοι, θανάτου καταφρονῶν ἔφη.

Translations (1)

Laconic Apophthegms; or Remarkable Sayings of the Spartans. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; unknown, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 5 focus

Of Agis the Son of Archidamus.

Agis the son of Archidamus, when the Ephors gave orders, Go take the youth, and follow this man into his own country, and he shall guide thee to the very citadel, said: How can it be prudent to trust so many youths to the fidelity of him who betrays his own country? Being asked what art was chiefly learned in Sparta, To know, he replied, how to govern and to be governed, he used to say, The Spartans do not enquire how many the enemy are, but where they are. At Mantinea, being advised not to fight the enemy, who exceeded him in number, he said, It is necessary for him to fight a great many that would rule a great many. To one enquiring how many the Spartans were, Enough, he replied, to keep rascals at a distance. Marching by the walls of Corinth, and perceiving them to be high and strong and stretching out to a great length, he said, What women live there? To an orator that said speech was the best thing, he rejoined, You then, when you are silent, are worth nothing. When the Argives, after they had been once beaten, faced him more boldly than before; on seeing many of the allies disheartened, he said, Courage, sirs! for when we conquerors shake, what do you think is the condition of the conquered? To an ambassador from the Abderites, after he had ended his long speech, enquiring what answer he should carry to his city, he replied, This: As long as you talked, so long I quietly heard. Some commending the Eleans for exact justice in determining the prizes at the Olympian games, he said, What great wonder is it, that in four years they can be just one day? To some that told him he was envied by the heirs of the other royal family, Well, said he, their own misfortunes will torment them, and my own and my friends’ success besides. When one advised him to give the flying enemy room to run, he said, How shall we fight those that stand to it and resist, if we dare not engage those whom their cowardice makes fly? When one proposed a way to free Greece, well contrived indeed but hard to be brought about, he said, Friend, thy words want an army and a treasure. To one saying, Philip won’t let you set foot upon any other part of Greece, he returned, Sir, we have room enough in our own country. An ambassador from Perinthus to Lacedaemon, after a long tedious speech, asking what answer he should carry back to the Perinthians, he said, What but this? — that thou couldst hardly find an end to thy talk, and I kept silent. He went by himself ambassador to Philip; and Philip saying, What! but one? he replied, I am an ambassador but to one. An old man, observing that the ancient laws were neglected and that new evil customs crept in, said to him, when he was now grown old himself, All things here at Sparta are turned topsy-turvy. He replied with a joke: If it is so, it is agreeable to reason; for when I was a boy, I heard my father say that all things were then topsy-turvy; and he heard his father say the same; and it is no wonder if succeeding times are worse than the preceding; but it is a wonder if they happen to be better, or but just as good. Being asked how a man could be always free, he replied, If he contemns death.

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Spartans

1. Agis II., king of Sparta, 427-401 B.C. Some of the sayings attributed to him here should doubtless be assigned to the younger Agis (Agis III.).

2. See the note on Moralia, 191 E (2), supra, where the saying is attributed to the younger Agis.

3. Cf. the note on 212 C (51), supra.

4. Cf. the note on 190 C (1), supra.

5. Cf. the note on 190 C (2), supra.

6. Cf. the note on 190 D (5), supra.

7. Cf. the note on 190 A, supra.

8. Cf. Moralia, 232 E (2), infra.

9. Cf. the note on 190 C (3), supra.

10. The Spartans had wo kings and consequently two royal families.

11. This was a part of the tactics of Agesilaus according to Polyaenus, Strategemata, ii. 1. 4. Cf. Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 2. 22 and iv. 3. 19.

12. The same idea which is expressed in Moralia, 212 E (56), supra.

13. This remark must have been made by the younger Agis (Agis III.)

14. Cf. Moralia, 232 E (2), infra.

15. This remark also must be assigned to the younger Agis, Cf. Moralia, 233 (29), infra, and 511 A, where an unnamed Spartan makes this retort to Demetrius.

16. The latter part of this has been suspected on account of the length. For the sentiment Cf. Homer, Od. 276-277; Horace, Odes, iii. 6. 46; Aratus, Phaenomena, 123-127.

17. Cf. Moralia, 210 F (35), supra.

Plutarch Apophthegmata Laconica 5

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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AGIS, SON OF ARCHIDAMUS¹

Current edition Perseus

Ἀγίδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

Of Agis the Son of Archidamus.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

AGIS, SON OF ARCHIDAMUS 1

Current edition Perseus

Ἀγίδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

Ἄγιδος τοῦ Ἀρχιδάμου

Of Agis the Son of Archidamus.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

AGIS, SON OF ARCHIDAMUS¹