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LEONIDAS, SON OF ANAXANDRIDAS¹

[1] Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and the brother of Cleomenes, in answer to a man who remarked, Except for your being king, you are no different from the rest of us, said, But if I were no better than you others, I should not be king.

[2] His wife Gorgo inquired, at the time when he was setting forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian, if he had any instructions to give her, and he said, To marry good men and bear good children.²

[3] When the Ephors said that he was taking but few men to Thermopylae, he said, Too many for the enterprise on which we are going.³

[4] And when again they said, Hae ye decided to dae aught else save to keep the barbarians from gettin’ by? Nominally that, he said, but actually expecting to die for the Greeks.

[5] When he had arrived at Thermopylae, he said to his comrades in arms, They say that the barbarian has come near and is comin’ on while we are wastin’ time. Truth, soon we shall either kill the barbarians, or else we are bound to be killed oursel’s.

[6] When someone said, Because of the arrows of the barbarians it is impossible to see the sun, he said, Won’t it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them?⁴

[7] When someone else said, They are near to us, he said, Then we also are near to them.⁵

[8] When someone said, Leonidas, are you here to take such a hazardous risk with so few men against so many? he said, If you men think that I rely on numbers, then all Greece is not sufficient, for it is but a small fraction of their numbers; but if on men’s valour, then this number will do.

[9] When another man remarked the same thing he said, In truth I am taking many if they are all to be slain.⁶

[10] Xerxes wrote to him, It is possible for you, by not fighting against God but by ranging yourself on my side, to be the sole ruler of Greece. But he wrote in reply, If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life, you would refrain from coveting others’ possessions; but for me to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race.

[11] When Xerxes wrote again, Hand over your arms, he wrote in reply, Come and take them.

[12] He wished to engage the enemy at once, but the other commanders, in answer to his proposal, said that he must wait for the rest of the allies. Why, said he, are not all present who intend to fight?⁷ Or do you not realize that the only men who fight against the enemy are those who respect and revere their kings?

[13] He bade his soldiers eat their breakfast as if they were to eat their dinner in the other world.⁸

[14] Being asked why the best of men prefer a glorious death to an inglorious life, he said, Because they believe the one to be Nature’s gift but the other to be within their own control.

[15] Wishing to save the lives of the young men, and knowing full well that they would not submit to such treatment, he gave to each of them a secret dispatch,⁹ and sent them to the Ephors. He conceived the desire to save also three of the grown men, but they fathomed his design, and would not submit to accepting the dispatches.¹⁰ One of them said, I carne with the army, not to carry messages, but to fight; and the second, I should be a better man if I stayed here; and the third, I will not be behind these, but first in the fight.

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).) — 51 focus

Λεωνιδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

[1] Λεωνίδας ὁ Ἀναξανδρίδα, ἀδελφὸς δὲ Κλεο 225a μένους, πρός τινα εἰπόντα, πλὴν τοῦ βασιλεύειν ἡμῶν οὐδὲν διαφέρεις, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἄν, ἔφη, εἰ μὴ βελτίων ὑμῶν ἤμην, ἐβασίλευον.

[2] τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Γοργοῦς πυνθανομένης, ὅτε εἰς Θερμοπύλας ἐξῄει τῷ Πέρσῃ μαχούμενος, εἴ τι αὐτῇ ἐντέλλεται, ἔφη, ἀγαθοῖς γαμεῖσθαι καὶ ἀγαθὰ τίκτειν.

[3] λεγόντων δὲ τῶν ἐφόρων ὀλίγους ἄγειν αὐτὸν εἰς Θερμοπύλας, οὐκ ἀλλὰ πλέονας,¹ ἔφη, πρὸς ἣν βαδίζομεν πρᾶξιν.

[4] πάλιν δὲ αὐτῶν εἰπόντων, μή τι ἕτερον διέγνωκας ποιεῖν ἢ τὰς παρόδω τὼς βαρβάρως² κωλύειν; τῷ λόγῳ, ἔφη, τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ ἀποθανούμενος ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων.

[5] 225b γενόμενος δὲ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις πρὸς τοὺς συστρατιώτας εἶπε, λέγοντι τὸν βάρβαρον ἐγγὺς γενόμενον προΐμεν,³ ἆμε⁴ δὲ χρονοτριβέειν ἤδη γὰρ ἢ κανέομες⁵ τὼς βαρβάρως ἢ αὐτοὶ τεθνάμεν μέλλομες.

[6] λέγοντος δέ τινος, ἀπὸ τῶν ὀιστευμάτων τῶν βαρβάρων οὐδὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἰδεῖν ἔστιν, οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, χάριεν, εἰ ὑπὸ σκιᾷ⁶ αὐτοῖς μαχεσόμεθα.

[7] ἄλλου δὲ εἰπόντος, πάρεισιν ἐγγὺς ἡμῶν, οὐκοῦν, ἔφη, καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτῶν ἐγγύς.

[8] εἰπόντος δέ τινος ὦ Λεωνίδα, πρὸς πολλοὺς μετʼ ὀλίγων διακινδυνεύσων οὕτω πάρει; εἰ μὲν οἴεσθέ με, ἔφη, τῷ πλήθει, οὐδὲ ἡ πᾶσα 225c Ἑλλὰς ἀρκεῖ· βραχεῖα γὰρ μοῖρα τοῦ ἐκείνων πλήθους ἐστὶν εἰ δὲ ταῖς ἀρετ αῖς, καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἱκανός.

[9] ἄλλου δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ λέγοντος, καὶ μήν, εἶπεν, πολλοὺς ἐπάγομαι ὡς ἀποθανουμένους.

[10] Ξέρξου δὲ γράψαντος αὐτῷ, ἔξεστί σοι μὴ θεομαχοῦντι, μετʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ ταττομένῳ, τῆς Ἑλλάδος μοναρχεῖν, ἀντέγραψεν, εἰ τὰ καλὰ τοῦ βίου ἐγίγωσκες,⁷ ἀπέστης ἂν τῆς τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμίας ἐμοὶ δὲ κρείττων ὁ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος θάνατος τοῦ μοναρχεῖν τῶν ὁμοφύλων.

[11] πάλιν δὲ τοῦ Ξέρξου γράψαντος, πέμψον 225d τὰ ὅπλα, ἀντέγραψε, μολὼν λαβέ.

[12] βουλομένου δʼ αὐτοῦ ἤδη τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπιτίθεσθαι, οἱ πολέμαρχοι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφασαν ὅτι δεῖ προσμένειν αὐτὸν τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους· οὐ γάρ, ἔφη, πάρεισιν οἱ μάχεσθαι μέλλοντες; ἢ οὐκ ἴστε ὅτι μόνοι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους μάχονται οἱ τοὺς βασιλέας αἰδούμενοι καὶ φοβούμενοι;ν

[13] τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις παρήγγειλεν ἀριστοποιεῖσθαι ὡς ἐν Ἅιδου δειπνοποιησομένους.

[14] ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ διὰ τί οἱ ἄριστοι τὸν ἔνδοξον θάνατον τῆς ἀδόξου προκρίνουσι ζωῆς, ὅτι, ἔφη, τὸ μὲν τῆς φύσεως ἴδιον, τὸ δὲ αὑτῶν εἶναι νομίζουσιν ἐν.

[15] 225e τοὺς δὲ ἠιθέους βουλόμενος σῷσαι καὶ ἐπιστάμενος ἄντικρυς οὐκ ἀνεξομένους, σκυτάλας δοὺς καθʼ ἕνα αὐτῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἐφόρους ἔπεμψε. καὶ τῶν τελείων δὲ τρεῖς ἐβουλήθη διασῷσαι· οἱ δὲ συννοήσαντες οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο λαβεῖν τὰς σκυτάλας· ὧν ὁ μὲν εἶπεν, οὐ κῆρυξ ἀλλὰ μαχητὰς ἀκολούθησα · ὁ δὲ δεύτερος, αὐτοῦ μένων κρέσσων ἂν εἴην · ὁ δὲ τρίτος, οὐχ ὕστερος τούτων, πρῶτος δὲ μαχήσομαι.

Ἀποφθέγματα Λακωνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 51 focus

Λεωνίδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

[1] Λεωνίδας ὁ Ἀναξανδρίδα, ἀδελφὸς δὲ Κλεομένους, 5 225a πρός τινα εἰπόντα πλὴν τοῦ βασιλεύειν ἡμῶν οὐδὲν διαφέρεις, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἄν ἔφη εἰ μὴ βελτίων ὑμῶν ἤμην, ἐβασίλευον.

[2] τῆς δὲ γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Γοργοῦς πυνθανομένης, ὅτε εἰς Θερμοπύλας ἐξῄει τῷ Πέρσῃ μαχούμενος, 10 εἴ τι αὐτῇ ἐντέλλεται, ἔφη ἀγαθοῖς γαμεῖσθαι καὶ ἀγαθά τίκτειν.

[3] λεγόντων δὲ τῶν ἐφόρων ὀλίγους ἄγειν αὐτὸν εἰς Θερμοπύλας, οὐκ ἄλλας¹ ἔφη πρὸς ἣν βαδίζομεν πρᾶξιν. 15

[4] πάλιν δὲ αὐτῶν εἰπόντων μή τι ἕτερον διέγνωκας ποιεῖν ἢ τὰς παρόδους τῶν βαρβάρων ² κωλύειν;³ τῷ λόγῳ ἔφη τῷ δʼ ἔργῳ ἀποθανούμενος ⁴ ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἑλλήνων.

[5] 225b γενόμενος δὲ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις πρὸς τοὺς 20 συστρατιώτας εἶπε λέγοντι τὸν βάρβαρον ἐγγύθι γενόμενον ⁵ ἄμμε δὲ χρονοτριβέειν ἤδη γὰρ κτάμεν ⁶ τὼς βαρβάρως ἢ αὐτοὶ τεθνάμεν θέλομες.

[6] λέγοντος δέ τινος ἀπὸ τῶν ὀιστευμάτων τῶν βαρβάρων οὐδὲ τὸν ἥλιον ἰδεῖν ἔστιν, οὐκοῦν ἔφη χάριεν, εἰ ὑπὸ σκιὰν αὐτοῖς μαχεσόμεθα.

[7] ἄλλου δὲ εἰπόντος πάρεισιν ἐγγὺς ἡμῶν, οὐκοῦν ἔφη καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτῶν ἐγγύς.

[8] 5 εἰπόντος δέ τινος ὦ Λεωνίδα, πρὸς πολλοὺς μετʼ ὀλίγων διακινδυνεύσων οὕτω πάρει; εἰ μὲν οἴεσθέ με ἔφη τῷ πλήθει, οὐδὲ ἡ πᾶσα Ἑλλὰς 225c ἀρκεῖ· βραχεῖα γὰρ μοῖρα τοῦ ἐκείνων πλήθους ἐστίν· εἰ δὲ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἀριθμὸς ἱκανός.

[9] 10 ἄλλου δὲ τὰ αὐτὰ λέγοντος, καὶ μήν εἶπεν πολλοὺς ἐπάγομαι ὡς ἀποθανουμένους.

[10] Ξέρξου δὲ γράψαντος αὐτῷ ἔξεστί σοι μὴ θεομαχοῦντι, μετʼ ἐμοῦ δὲ τασσομένῳ τῆς Ἑλλάδος μοναρχεῖν· ἀντέγραψεν εἰ τὰ καλὰ τοῦ βίου γινώσκοις, 15 ἀπέστης ἂν τῆς τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμίας· ἐμοὶ δὲ κρείσσων ὁ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος θάνατος τοῦ μοναρχεῖν τῶν ὁμοφύλων.

[11] πάλιν δὲ τοῦ Ξέρξου γράψαντος πέμψον 225d τὰ ὅπλα, ἀντέγραψε μολὼν λαβέ.

[12] 20 βουλομένου δʼ αὐτοῦ ἤδη τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐπιτίθεσθαι, οἱ πολέμαρχοι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφασαν ὅτι δεῖ προσμένειν αὐτὸν τοὺς ἄλλους συμμάχους, οὐ γάρ ἔφη πάρεισιν οἱ μάχεσθαι μέλλοντες; ἢ οὐκ ἴστε, ὅτι μόνοι πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους μάχονται οἱ 25 τοὺς βασιλέας αἰδούμενοι καὶ φοβούμενοι

[13] τοῖς δὲ στρατιώταις παρήγγειλεν ἀριστοποιεῖσθαι ὡς ἐν ᾍδου δειπνοποιησομένους.

[14] ἐρωτηθεὶς δὲ διὰ τί οἱ ἄριστοι τὸν ἔνδοξον θάνατον τῆς ἀδόξου προκρίνουσι ζωῆς, ὅτι ἔφη τὸ μὲν τῆς φύσεως ἴδιον, τὸ δὲ αὑτῶν εἶναι νομίζουσιν.

[15] 225e τοὺς δὲ ἠιθέους βουλόμενος σῷσαι καὶ 5 ἐπιστάμενος ἄντικρυς οὐκ ἀνεξομένους, σκυτάλας δοὺς καθʼ ἕνα αὐτῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἐφόρους ἔπεμψε. καὶ τῶν τελείων δὲ τρεῖς ἐβουλήθη διασῷσαι· οἱ δὲ συννοήσαντες οὐκ ἠνέσχοντο λαβεῖν τὰς σκυτάλας ὧν ὁ μὲν εἶπεν οὐ κῆρυξ ἀλλὰ μαχητὰς ἀκολούθησα· 10 ὁ δὲ δεύτερος αὐτοῦ μένων κρέσσων ἂν εἴην ὁ δὲ τρίτος οὐχ ὕστερος τούτων, πρῶτος δὲ μαχήσομαι.

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.) — 51 focus

Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas.

Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and brother to Cleomenes, when one said to him, Abating that you are king, you are no better than we, replied, But unless I had been better than you, I had not been king. His wife Gorgo, when he went forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian, asked him what command he left with her; and he replied, Marry brave men, and bear them brave children. The Ephors saying, You lead but few to Thermopylae; They are many, said he, considering on what design we go. And when they again asked him whether he had any other enterprise in his thought, he replied, I pretend to go to hinder the barbarians’ passage, but really to die fighting for the Greeks. When he was at Thermopylae, he said to his soldiers: They report the enemy is at hand, and we lose time; for we must either beat the barbarian or die ourselves. And to another saying, What, the flights of the Persian arrows will darken the very sun, he said, Therefore it will be pleasant for us to fight in the shade. And another saying, What, Leonidas, do you come to fight so great a number with so few? — he returned: If you esteem number, all Greece is not able to match a small part of that army; if courage, this number is sufficient. And to another discoursing after the same manner he said, I have enough, since they are to be killed. When Xerxes wrote to him thus, Sir, you may forbear to fight against the Gods, but may follow my interest and be lord of all Greece, he answered: If you understood wherein consisted the happiness of life, you would not covet other men’s; but know that I would rather die for the liberty of Greece than be a monarch over my countrymen. And Xerxes writing to him again thus, Send me thy arms, he returned, Come and take them. When he resolved to fall upon the enemy, and his captains of the war told him he must stay till the forces of the allies had joined him, he said: Do you think all those that intend to fight are not here already? Or do you not understand that those only fight who fear and reverence their kings? And he ordered his soldiers so to dine, as if they were to sup in another world. And being asked why the bravest men prefer an honorable death before an inglorious life, he replied, Because they believe one is the gift of Nature, while the other is peculiarly their own. Being desirous to save the striplings that were with him, and knowing very well that if he dealt openly with them none would accept his kindness, he gave each of them privately letters to carry to the Ephors. He desired likewise to save three of those that were grown men; but they having some notice of his design refused the letters. And one of them said, I came, sir, to be a soldier, and not a courier; and the second, I shall be a better man if here than if away; and the third, I will not be behind these, but the first in the fight.

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Spartans

1. The hero of Thermopylae. These sayings were doubtless incorporated, or meant to be incorporated, in Plutarch’s Life of Leonidas, according to what he says in Moralia, 866 B; and some of them may be found in Moralia, 854 E-874 D ( De Herodoti malignitate).

2. Cf. Moralia, 240 E (6), infra, and 866 B.

3. Ibid. Cf. also 225 B (8 and 9), infra, and 866 B.

4. The remark is attributed to Dieneces by Herodotus, vii. 226. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, vii. 46; Valerius Maximus, iii. 7, ext. 8; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 42 (101).

5. Cf. Moralia, 194 D, supra, and 234 B.

6. Cf. Moralia, 225 A (3), supra, and 866 B.

7. Cf. Moralia, 185 F, supra.

8. Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 42 (101); Valerius Maximus, iii. 2, ext. 3.

9. The reference is to a well-known form of cipher message in use among the Spartans. A narrow leather thong was wrapped around a cylinder, and on the surface thus formed the message was written. When the thong was received it was applied to a duplicate cylinder kept by the recipient, and so the message was read.

10. Cf. Moralia 866 B; and Herodotus, vii. 221, 229, 230.

Plutarch Apophthegmata Laconica 51

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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LEONIDAS, SON OF ANAXANDRIDAS¹

Current edition Perseus

Λεωνιδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

Λεωνίδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

LEONIDAS, SON OF ANAXANDRIDAS 1

Current edition Perseus

Λεωνιδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

Λεωνίδου τοῦ Ἀναξανδρίδα

Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

LEONIDAS, SON OF ANAXANDRIDAS¹