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VARIOUS SAYINGS OF SPARTANS TO FAME UNKNOWN

[1] When the ambassadors of the Samians spoke at great length, the Spartans said to them, We hae forgot the first part, and the later part we did na ken because we hae forgot the first.¹

[2] When a speaker extended his remarks to a great length, and then asked for answers to report to his citizens, they said, Report that you found it hard to stop speaking and we to listen.²

[3] In answer to the Thebans who were disputing with them over some matters, they said, You should have less pride or more power.³

[4] A Spartan, being asked why he wore his beard so very long, said, So that I may see my grey hairs and do nothing unworthy of them.

[5] Another, in answer to the inquiry, Why do you use short swords? said, So that we may get close to the enemy.

[6] When someone was praising the Argive warriors, a Spartan said, Yes, at Troy!⁴

[7] Another, being told that some people after dining are forced to drink,⁵ said, What, and are they forced to eat also?

[8] When Pindar wrote,⁶

Athens the mainstay of Greece,

a Spartan said that Greece was like to fall if it rested on any such mainstay as that!

[9] Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted being slain by Athenians, kept repeating, Brave, brave Athenians. A Spartan cut in with, Yes, in the picture!

[10] To a man who was listening avidly to some spitefully slanderous remarks a Spartan said, Stop being so generous with your ears against me! ⁷

[11] To a man who was being punished, and kept saying, I did wrong unwillingly, someone retorted, Then take your punishment unwillingly.

[12] Someone, seeing men seated on stools⁸ in a privy, said, God forbid that I should ever sit where it is not possible to rise and yield my place to an older man.⁹

[13] When some Chians, on a visit to Sparta, vomited after dinner in the hall of the Ephors, and befouled with ordure the very chairs in which the Ephors were wont to sit, the Spartans, first of all, instituted a vigorous investigation, lest possibly these might be citizens; but when they learned that they were, in fact, Chians, they caused public proclamation to be made that The Spartans grant permission to the Chians to be filthy.¹⁰

[14] When someone saw almonds of the hard sort¹¹ selling at double the price of others, he said, Are stones so scarce?

[15] A man plucked a nightingale and finding almost no meat, said, It’s all voice ye are, and nought else.¹²

[16] One of the Spartans saw Diogenes the Cynic holding his arms around a bronze statue in very cold weather,¹³ and asked Diogenes if he were cold; and when Diogenes said No, the other said, What great thing are you doing then?

[17] One of the people of Metapontum, being reproached for cowardice by a Spartan,¹⁴ said, But as a matter of fact we have not a little of the country of other states; whereupon the Spartan replied, Then you are not only cowardly, but also unjust.

[18] A man who was visiting Sparta stood for a long time upon one foot, and said to a Spartan, I do not think that you, sir, could stand upon one foot as long as that; and the other interrupting said, No, but there is not a single goose that could not do it.

[19] When a man boasted greatly of his art in speaking, a Spartan said, By Heaven, there is no art nor can there be an art without a firm hold on truth.¹⁵

[20] When an Argive said once upon a time, There are many tombs of Spartans in our country, a Spartan said, But there is not a single tomb of an Argive in our country, indicating by this that the Spartans had often set foot in Argos, but the Argives had never set foot in Sparta.¹⁶

[21] A Spartan having been taken prisoner in war and put up for sale, when the crier said, I offer a Spartan for sale, stopped his mouth, saying, Cry a prisoner of war.¹⁷

[22] One of the men serving in the army of Lysimachus, being asked by him whether he were not one of the Helots, said, Do you suppose that any Spartan would come to get the sixpence which you pay?

[23] At the time when Thebans had conquered the Spartans at Leuctra and advanced to the river Eurotas itself, one of them, boasting, said, Where are the Spartans now? A Spartan who had been captured by them said, They are not here; otherwise you would not have come thus far.

[24] At the time when the Athenians had surrendered their city,¹⁸ they declared it was only right that Samos should be left to them, but the Spartans said, Do you, at a time when you do not even own yourselves, seek to possess others? From this incident arose the proverb:¹⁹

Who does not own himself would Samos own.

[25] When the Spartans had taken by storm a certain city, the Ephors said, Gone is the wrestlingschool of our young men; they no longer will have competitors.²⁰

[26] When their king promised to wipe out completely another city which, as it happened, had given much trouble to the Spartans, they would not allow it, saying, You must not abolish nor remove the whetstone of our youth.

[27] They appointed no trainers to instruct in wrestling so that the rivalry might be not in skill, but in courage.²¹ This is the reason why Lysanoridas, when he was asked how Charon had conquered him, said, By his great resourcefulness.

[28] Philip wrote at the time when he entered their country, asking whether they wished that he should come as a friend or as a foe; and they made answer, Neither.

[29] They sent an ambassador to Antigonus, son of Demetrius, and, upon learning that the ambassador had addressed Antigonus as King, they fined him, although he had brought for each one of them a bushel and a half of wheat at a time when there was great scarcity of food.

[30] When Demetrius complained that they had sent only one ambassador to him, they replied, Is it not enough — one to one?²²

[31] When a bad man brought in a very good idea, they accepted it; but they took it away from him and bestowed the right of proposing it upon another man who had lived a virtuous life.²³

[32] When two brothers quarrelled with each other, the Spartans fined the father because he permitted his sons to quarrel.

[33] They fined a visiting harp-player because he played the harp with his fingers.²⁴

[34] Two boys were fighting, and one of them wounded the other mortally with the stroke of a sickle. The friends of the wounded boy, as they were about to separate, promised to avenge him and make away with the one who had struck him, but the boy said, In Heaven’s name do not, for it is not right; the fact is, I should have done that myself if I had been quick enough and brave enough.

[35] In the case of another boy, when the time had arrived during which it was the custom for the free boys to steal whatever they could, and it was a disgrace not to escape being found out, when the boys with him had stolen a young fox alive, and given it to him to keep, and those who had lost the fox came in search for it, the boy happened to have slipped the fox under his garment. The beast, however, became savage and ate through his side to the vitals; but the boy did not move or cry out, so as to avoid being exposed, and later, when they had departed, the boys saw what had happened, and blamed him, saying that it would have been better to let the fox be seen than to hide it even unto death; but the boy said, Not so, but better to die without yielding to the pain than through being detected because of weakness of spirit to gain a life to be lived in disgrace.²⁵

[36] Some people, encountering Spartans on the road, said, You are in luck, for robbers have just left this place, but they said, Egad, no, but it is they who are in luck for not encountering us.²⁶

[37] A Spartan being asked what he knew, said, How to be free.

[38] A Spartan boy, being taken captive by Antigonus the king and sold, was obedient in all else to the one who had bought him, that is, in everything which he thought fitting for a free person to do, but when his owner bade him bring a chamber-pot, he would not brook such treatment, saying, I will not be a slave; and when the other was insistent, he went up upon the roof, and saying, You will gain much by your bargain, he threw himself down and ended his life.²⁷

[39] Another one being sold, when someone said, If I buy you, will you be good and helpful? said, Yes, and if you do not buy me.²⁸

[40] Another captive being put up for sale, when the crier announced that he was offering a slave for sale, said, You damnable wretch, won’t you say a captive?²⁹

[41] A Spartan had as an emblem on his shield a fly, and that, too, no bigger than life-size. When some mockingly said that he had done this to escape being noticed, he said, Rather that I may be noticeable; for I come so close to the enemy that my emblem is seen by them in its true size.

[42] Another, when a lyre was brought in at an evening party, said, It is not Spartan to indulge in nonsense.³⁰

[43] A Spartan, being asked if the road into Sparta were safe, said, That depends on what kind of a mon ye are; for the lions gang about where they wull, but the hares we hunt over that land.

[44] In a clinch one wrestler, who had the other by the neck, overpowered him with little effort, and pulled him to the ground. Since the one who was down was at a disadvantage in using his body, he bit the arm that held him. His opponent said, Spartan, you bite like a woman. No, indeed, said he, but like a lion.³¹

[45] A lame man was going forth to war, and some persons followed after him laughing. He turned around and said, You vile noddles! A man does not need to run away when he fights the enemy, but to stay where he is and hold his ground.³²

[46] Another,³³ mortally wounded by an arrow, said, as his life was ebbing away, I am not troubled because I must die, but because my death comes at the hands of a womanish archer, and before I have accomplished anything.³⁴

[47] A man stopped at an inn and gave the innkeeper a piece of meat to prepare; and when the innkeeper asked for cheese and oil besides, the other said, If I had cheese, what need should I have of meat too?³⁵

[48] In answer to the man who called Lampis³⁶ of Aegina happy, because he seemed very rich in having many cargoes on the sea in ships, a Spartan said, I do not pay much attention to happiness that hangs by ropes! ³⁷

[49] When somebody told a Spartan that he was lying, the Spartan replied, Yea, we are free men; but ithers, if they dinna teli the truth, will rue it.³⁸

[50] When someone set himself to make a corpse stand upright, and, for all his efforts, was unable to do this, he said, Egad, there is need of something inside.

[51] Tynnichus, when his son Thrasybulus was slain, bore it sturdily; and this epigram³⁹ was written on him:

Lifeless to Pitane came, on his shield upborne, Thrasybulus; Seven the wounds he received, pierced by the Argive spears; All in the front did he show them; and him with his blood-stained body Tynnichus placed on the pyre, saying these words in his eld: Let the poor cowards be mourned, but with never a tear shall I bury You, my son, who are mine, yea, and are Sparta’s as well.

[52] When the keeper of a bath was pouring in a great quantity of water for Alcibiades, a Spartan⁴⁰ said, Why all this for him as if he were not clean? The fellow is pouring in extra water as if for a very dirty man.

[53] When Philip of Macedon sent some orders to the Spartans by letter, they wrote in reply, What you wrote about, No.⁴¹

When he invaded the Spartans’ country, and all thought that they should be destroyed, he said to one of the Spartans, What shall you do now, men of Sparta? And the other said, What else than die like men? For we alone of all the Greeks have learned to be free, and not to be subject to others.⁴²

[54] After the defeat of Agis,⁴³ Antipater demanded fifty boys as hostages, but Eteocles, who was Ephor, said they would not give boys, lest the boys should turn out to be uneducated through missing the traditional discipline; and they would not be fitted for citizenship either. But the Spartans would give, if he so desired, either old men or women to double the number. And when Antipater made dire threats if he should not get the boys, the Spartans made answer with one consent, If the orders you lay upon us are harsher than death, we shall find it easier to die.⁴⁴

[55] While the games were being held at Olympia, an old man was desirous of seeing them, but could find no seat. As he went to place after place, he met with insults and jeers, and nobody made room for him. But when he came opposite the Spartans, all the boys and many of the men arose and yielded their places. Whereupon the assembled multitude of Greeks expressed their approbation of the custom by applause, and commended the action beyond measure; but the old man, shaking

His head grey-haired and grey-bearded,⁴⁵

and with tears in his eyes, said, Alas for the evil days! Because all the Greeks know what is right and fair, but the Spartans alone practise it.

Some say that the same thing happened at Athens also. It was at the time of the Panathenaic festival, and the people of Attica were teasing an old man in an unseemly manner, calling him to them as if they were intending to make room for him, and not making room if he came to them. When he had passed through almost all the spectators and came opposite the delegates of the Spartans, they all arose from where they were sitting and gave him place. The crowd, delighted, applauded the action with great approval, and one of the Spartans said, Egad, the Athenians know what is right and fair, but do not do it.⁴⁶

[56] A beggar asked alms of a Spartan, who said, If I should give to you, you will be the more a beggar; and for this unseemly conduct of yours he who first gave to you is responsible, for he thus made you lazy.

[57] A Spartan, seeing a man taking up a collection for the gods, said that he did not think much of gods who were poorer than himself.

[58] A man who caught another in adultery with an ugly woman said, Puir soul! what was yer muckle need?⁴⁷

[59] Another, listening to an orator rolling off long sentences, said, Egad, but the man has courage; he twists his tongue well about no subject at all.

[60] One man who came to Sparta, and observed the honour which the young render to the old, said, Only in Sparta does it pay to grow old.⁴⁸

[61] A Spartan, being asked what kind of a man Tyrtaeus the poet was, said, A good man to sharpen the spirit of youth.

[62] Another who had sore trouble with his eyes was going forth to war; and when some said to him, Where are you going in that state, or what do you purpose to do? he said, Even if I accomplish nothing else, I may at least blunt an enemy’s sword.

[63] Bulis and Sperchis of Sparta went as volunteers to Xerxes king of the Persians, to render satisfaction which Sparta owed according to an oracle, because the people had killed the heralds sent to them by the Persian. These men came before Xerxes and bade him make away with them in any manner he desired, as representing the Spartans. But when he, filled with admiration, let them go free, and was insistent that they remain with him, they said, And how should we be able to live here, abandoning our country and laws and those men in whose behalf we made such a long journey to die? And when Indarnes⁴⁹ the general besought them at greater length, and said that they would receive equal honour with the friends of the king who stood highest in advancement, they said, You seem to us not to know what is the meed of liberty, which no man of sense would exchange for the kingdom of the Persians.⁵⁰

[64] Because a friend with whom a Spartan was intending to stay dodged him on the first day, and on the next day, having borrowed bedding, received him sumptuously, the Spartan jumped on the bedding and trod it under foot, remarking that it was because of this that yesterday he had not had even straw to sleep on.

[65] Another, on going to Athens, saw that the Athenians were hawking salt fish and dainties, collecting taxes, keeping public brothels, and following other unseemly pursuits, and holding none of them to be shameful. When he returned to his own country, his fellow-citizens asked how things were in Athens, and he said, Everything fair and lovely, speaking sarcastically and conveying the idea that .among the Athenians everything is considered fair and lovely, and nothing shameful.

[66] Another, being asked a question, answered No. And when the questioner said, You lie, the other said, You see, then, that it is silly of you to ask questions to which you know the answer!

[67] Once upon a time, ambassadors from Sparta arrived at the court of Lygdamis the despot. But as he tried to put them off and repeatedly postponed the interview, and, to crown all, it was asserted that he was in a delicate condition, the Spartans said, Tell him, in God’s name, that we have not come to wrestle with him, but to have a talk with him.

[68] When someone, initiating a Spartan into the Mysteries, asked him what his conscience told him⁵¹ was the most unholy deed he had ever done, he said, The gods know. And when the other became even more insistent, and said, It is absolutely necessary that you tell, the Spartan asked in turn, To whom must I tell it? To you or to the god? And when the other said, To the god, the Spartan said, You go away then.⁵²

[69] Another, passing by a tomb at night, and imagining that he saw a ghost, ran at it with uplifted spear, and, as he thrust at it, he exclaimed, Where are you fleeing from me, you soul that shall die twice?

[70] Another, having vowed to throw himself from the Leucadian cliff, went up and came down again after seeing the height. Being jeered at for this, he said, I did na think my vow needed anither greater vow to dae it!

[71] Another, in the thick of the fight, was about to bring down his sword on an enemy when the recall sounded, and he checked the blow. When someone inquired why, when he had his enemy in his power, he did not kill him, he said, Because it is better to obey one’s commander than to slay an enemy.⁵³

[72] Someone said to a Spartan who was defeated at Olympia, Spartan, your opponent proved himself the better man. No, said he, not that, but more upsetting!⁵⁴

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).) — 69 focus

Διάφορα Τῶν ἐν Τοῖς Λάκωσιν Ἀδόξων Ἀποφθέγματα¹

[1] Σαμίων πρεσβευταῖς μακρολογοῦσιν ἔφασαν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται, τὰ μὲν πρᾶτα² ἐπιλελάσμεθα,³ τὰ δὲ ὕστερα οὐ συνήκαμες⁴ διὰ τὸ τὰ πρᾶτα ἐπιλελᾶσθαι.

[2] 232e ῥήτορος μακρὸν κατατείναντος λόγον καὶ τὰς ἀποκρίσεις αἰτοῦντος, ἵνα τοῖς πολίταις ἀπαγγείλῃ, ἀπάγγελλε τοίνυν, ἔφασαν, ὅτι μόλις μὲν σὺ ἐπαύσω λέγων, μόλις δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀκούοντες.

[3] πρὸς Θηβαίους περί τινων ἀντιλέγοντας ἢ φρονεῖν, εἶπον, δεῖ ἔλαττον ἢ δύνασθαι μεῖζον.

[4] Λάκων ἐρωτηθεὶς διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν τὰς τοῦ πώγωνος τρίχας ἐπὶ πολὺ κομώσας ἔχει, εἶπεν, ἵνα βλέπων τὰς πολιὰς μηδὲν ἀνάξιον αὐτῶν πράττω.

[5] ἄλλος πυθομένου τινός, διὰ τί ἐγχειριδίοις βραχέσι χρῆσθε; ἵνα πλησίον, εἶπε, τοῖς πολεμίοις εἰς χεῖρας ἵκωμες.

[6] ἐπαινοῦντός τινος τοὺς Ἀργείους⁵ μαχητάς, Λάκων εἶπεν, ἐν Τροίᾳ.

[7] ἕτερος ἀκούσας δειπνήσαντάς τινας βιάζεσθαι πίνειν, μὴ καὶ ἐσθίειν, εἶπε, βιάζονται;ν

[8] Πινδάρου γράψαντος,

Ἑλλάδος ἔρεισμα Ἀθῆναι,

Λάκων ἔφη καταπεσεῖν ἂν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὀχουμένην ἐρείσματι τοιούτῳ.

[9] 232f ἐπεὶ δὲ ἰδών τις ἐν πίνακι γραπτῷ Λάκωνας ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων σφαττομένους ἔλεγεν, ἀνδρεῖοὶ γʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, Λάκων ὑποτυχών, ἐν τῷ πίνακι, εἶπε.

[10] πρὸς δέ τινα προσιέμενον τὰς ἐκ διαβολῆς βλασφημίας Λάκων εἶπε, παῦσαι κατʼ ἐμοῦ τὰ ὦτα χορηγῶν.

[11] πρὸς δὲ τὸν κολαζόμενον καὶ λέγοντα, ἄκων ἥμαρτον, εἶπέ τις, ἄκων τοίνυν καὶ κολάζου.

[12] ἰδών τις ἐν ἀποχωρήσει θακοῦντας⁶ ἐπὶ δίφρων ἀνθρώπους, μὴ γένοιτο, εἶπεν, ἐνταῦθα καθίσαι ὅθεν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξαναστῆναι πρεσβυτέρῳ.

[13] Χίων ποτὲ κατʼ ἐπιδημίαν ἀπὸ δείπνου ἐμεσάντων ἐν τῷ ἐφορείῳ καὶ χεσάντων ἐπὶ τῶν 233a δίφρων, ἔνθα οἱ ἔφοροι ἐκάθηντο, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσχυρῶς ἀνεζήτουν τοὺς ποιήσαντας μὴ πολῖται τυγχάνωσιν· ὡς δʼ ᾔσθοντο ὅτι Χῖοι ἦσαν, ἐκήρυξαν, ʼ τοῖς Χίοις ἐφιᾶσιν ἀσελγαίνειν.ʼ

[14] ἐπεὶ δέ τις τὰς ἀμυγδαλᾶς τῶν σκληρῶν ἑώρα διπλασίου πωλουμένας, μὴ σπάνιοι, ἔφη, οἱ λίθοι;ν

[15] τίλας τις ἀηδόνα καὶ βραχεῖαν πάνυ σάρκα εὑρὼν, εἶπε, φωνὰ τύ τίς ἐσσι καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο.

[16] ἰδών τις τῶν Λακώνων Διογένη τὸν κύνα περιλαμβάνοντα ἀνδριάντα χάλκεον, ψύχους ὄντος σφοδροῦ, ἐπύθετο εἰ ῥιγῴη· ἀρνησαμένου δέ, τί οὖν, ἔφη, μέγα ποιεῖς;

[17] Ὀνειδισθείς τις τῶν Μεταποντίων εἰς δειλίαν 233b ὑπὸ Λάκωνος, ἀλλὰ μήν, ἔφη, οὐκ ὀλίγα τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἔχομεν ὁ δέ, οὐ μόνον ἄρα, ἔφη, δειλοὶ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄδικοί ἐστε.

[18] κατʼ ἐπιδημίαν τις ἐν Σπάρτῃ κρηπιδούμενος ὀρθὸς ἐπὶ θατέρου σκέλους εἶπε πρὸς Λάκωνα, οὐκ ἂν οἶμαί σε, ὦ Λάκων, τοσοῦτον χρόνον ἐπὶ τοῦ ποδὸς ὅσον ἐγὼ στῆναι. καὶ ὃς ὑπολαβών, οὐ γάρ, ἔφη, τῶν μέντοι χηνῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις οὔ.

[19] Μεγαλυνομένου τινὸς ἐπὶ τῇ ῥητορικῇ τέχνῃ, εἶπέ τις Λάκων, ἀλλὰ ναὶ⁷ τὼ σιὼ, τέχνη ἄνευ τοῦ ἀληθείας ἧφθαι οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτε μήποτε γένηται.

[20] 233c Ἀργείου ποτὲ εἰπόντος, πολλοὶ τάφοι παρʼ ἡμῖν εἰσὶ Σπαρτιατῶν, Λάκων εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ μὴν παρʼ ἡμῖν Ἀργείων οὐδὲ εἷς, ὡς αὐτῶν μὲν πολλάκις Ἄργους ἐπιβεβηκότων Ἀργείων δὲ τῆς Σπάρτης οὐδέποτε.

[21] Λάκων αἰχμαλωτισθεὶς καὶ πιπρασκόμενος, τοῦ κήρυκος λέγοντος, Λάκωνα πωλῶ, ἐπεστόμισεν εἰπών, αἰχμάλωτον κήρυσσε.

[22] τῶν παρὰ Λυσιμάχῳ στρατευομένων ἐρωτηθείς τις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, μή τις τῶν εἱλώτων ἐστί, σὺ δʼ οἴει, ἔφη, ἐπὶ τὸ παρὰ σοῦ τετρώβολον Λάκωνα ἥξειν;ν

[23] ὅτε Θηβαῖοι νικήσαντες τοὺς Λάκωνας ἐν Λεύκτροις πρὸς αὐτὸν παρῆσαν τὸν Εὐρώταν, καί τις μεγαλαυχῶν εἶπε, ποῦ νῦν εἰσὶν οἱ Λάκωνες; Σπαρτιάτης ληφθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν, οὐ πάρεισιν, 233d ἔφη, οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὑμεῖς δεῦρο ἤλθετε.

[24] Ἀθηναίων ἀξιούντων, ὅτε παρέδωκαν τὸ ἄστυ, Σάμον αὐτοῖς μόνον ἐᾶσαι, εἶπον, ὅταν αὑτῶν οὐκ ἦτε, τότε καὶ ἄλλους ἔχειν ζητεῖτε; ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ ἡ παροιμία

ὃς αὐτὸς αὑτὸν οὐκ ἔχει Σάμον θέλει.

[25] πόλιν τινὰ κατὰ κράτος ἑλόντων Λακεδαιμονίων, οἱ ἔφοροι εἶπον, οἴχεται τὸ πάλαισμα τῶν νέων οὐκέτι ἕξουσιν ἀνταγωνιστὰς οἱ νέοι.⁸

[26] ἄλλην πόλιν ὑπισχνουμένου τοῦ βασιλέως 233e αὐτῶν τέλεον ἀφανιεῖν ἣν συνεβεβήκει πράγματα πολλάκις παρεσχῆσθαι τοῖς Λάκωσιν, οὐκ ἐπέτρεψαν, φάμενοι, μηδαμῶς ἀφανίσῃς μηδʼ ἀνέλῃς τὴν ἀκόνην τῶν νέων.

[27] τοῖς παλαίουσι παιδοτρίβας οὐκ ἐφίστανον, ἵνα μὴ τέχνης ἀλλʼ ἀρετῆς ἡ φιλοτιμία γένηται. διὸ καὶ Λύσανορίδας⁹ ἐρωτώμενος, ὅπως ὁ Χάρων ἐνίκησεν αὐτόν, τᾷ πολυμηχανίᾳ εἶπε.

[28] Φιλίππου γράφοντος, ὅτε εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν παρεγένετο, πότερον βούλονται φίλιον ἐλθεῖν ἢ πολέμιον αὐτόν, ἀντεφώνησαν, οὐδέτερον.

[29] πρεσβευτήν τινα διαπεμψάμενοι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον τὸν Δημητρίου, πυθόμενοι ὅτι ἐκάλεσεν 233f αὐτὸν βασιλέα, ἐζημίωσαν, καίτοι μέδιμνον πυρῶν ἑκάστῳ παρʼ αὐτοῦ σιτοδείας οὔσης κομίζοντα.

[30] Δημητρίου ἐγκαλοῦντος ὅτι ἕνα πρεσβευτὴν ἔπεμψαν πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐχ ἱκανὸς οὖν, εἶπον, εἰ πρὸς ἕνα εἷς;

[31] ἐνέγκαντός τινος ἀρίστην γνώμην μοχθηροῦ, ταύτην μὲν ἀπεδέξαντο, περιελόμενοι δὲ τούτου περιέθηκαν ἑτέρῳ καλῶς βεβιωκότι.

[32] ἀδελφῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαφερομένων, τὸν πατέρα ἐζημίωσαν ὅτι τοὺς υἱεῖς στασιάζοντας περιορᾷ.

[33] ψάλτην ἐπιδημήσαντα ἐζημίωσαν ὅτι δακτύλοις κιθαρίζει.

[34] δύο παῖδες ἐμάχοντο, ἅτερος δὲ αὐτῶν τὸν ἕτερον ἔτρωσε δρεπάνῳ πληγῇ θανασίμῳ τῶν δὲ συνήθων παίδων, ἐπεὶ διαλύεσθαι ἔμελλον, ἐπαγγελλομένων ἀμυνεῖσθαι καὶ ἀναιρήσειν τὸν πλήξαντα, μηδαμῶς, εἶπε, πρὸς θεῶν, οὐ γὰρ 234a δίκαιον καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἐγὼ ἐποίησα τοῦτο, εἰ ἔφθασα καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἐγενόμην.

[35] ἕτερον παιδάριον, ἐπεὶ παρῆν ὁ καιρός, ἐν κλέπτειν νενόμιστο τοὺς ἐλευθέρους παῖδας ὅ τι τις δύναιτο καὶ μὴ λαθεῖν αἰσχρὸν ἦν, ὡς ο ξ σὺν αὐτῷ παῖδες ζῶν ἔκλεψαν ἀλωπέκιον καὶ ἔδοσαν αὐτῷ φυλάττειν, παραγενομένων τῶν ἀπολωλεκότων ἐπὶ ζήτησιν, ἔτυχε μὲν ὑποβαλὼν τὸ ἀλωπέκιον ὑπὸ τὸ αὑτοῦ ἱμάτιον, ἀγριαίνοντος δὲ τοῦ θηρίου καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν κατεσθίοντος μέχρι τῶν σπλάγχνων, ἠρέμει, ἵνα μὴ γένηται καταφανής. ὡς δὲ ὕστερον ἐκείνων ἀπελθόντων ἐθεάσαντο τὸ γεγονὸς οἱ παῖδες καὶ ἐμέμφοντο, λέγοντες ἄμεινον 234b εἶναι φανερὸν ποιῆσαι τὸ ἀλωπέκιον ἢ μέχρι θανάτου κρύπτειν, οὐ μὲν οὖν, εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ κρεῖττον ταῖς ἀλγηδόσι μὴ ἐνδόντα¹⁰ τελευτᾶν ἢ περίφωρον γενόμενον διὰ μαλακίαν τὸ ζῆν αἰσχρῶς περιποιής ασθαι.

[36] περιτυχόντες τινὲς Λάκωσι καθʼ ὁδὸν εἶπον, εὐτυχήκατε, ἀρτίως ἐντεῦθεν λῃστῶν ἀπιόντων. οἱ δὲ, οὐ μὰ τὸν Ἐνυάλιον, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνοι μὴ περιτυχόντες ἡμῖν.

[37] Λάκων ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἐπίσταται, εἶπεν, ἐλεύθερος εἶναι.

[38] παῖς Σπαρτιάτης αἰχμαλωτισθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου 234c τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πραθεὶς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα ὑπήκοος ἦν τῷ πριαμένῳ, ὅσα ᾤετο προσήκειν ἐλευθέρῳ ποιεῖν ὡς δὲ προσέταξεν ἀμίδα κομίζειν, οὐκ ἠνέσχετο εἰπών, οὐ δουλεύσω. ἐνισταμένου δὲ ἐκείνου, ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν κέραμον καὶ εἰπών, ὀνήσῃ¹¹ τῆς ὠνῆς, ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν κάτω καὶ ἐτελεύτα.

[39] ἕτερος πωλούμενος, εἰπόντος τινός, ἐὰν ἀγοράσω σε, χρήσιμος ἔσῃ; κἂν μὴ ἀγοράσῃς εἶπεν.

[40] ἄλλος αἰχμάλωτος πιπρασκόμενος, τοῦ κήρυκος ἐπιλέγοντος ἀνδράποδον πωλεῖν, κατάρατε, εἶπεν, οὐκ ἐρεῖς αἰχμάλωτον;ν

[41] Λάκων ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος μυῖαν ἔχων ἐπίσημον, καὶ ταύτην οὐ μείζω τῆς ἀληθινῆς, ὡς καταγελῶντές 234d τινες ἔλεγον ὅτι¹² ὑπὲρ τοῦ λανθάνειν τοῦτο πεποιήκει, ἵνα μὲν οὖν, εἶπε, φανερὸς ὦ· οὕτω γὰρ τοῖς πολεμίοις πλησίον προσέρχομαι, ὥστε τὸ ἐπίσημον ἡλίκον ἐστὶν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὁρᾶσθαι.

[42] ἕτερος, ἐν συμποσίῳ προσενεχθείσης λύρας, οὐ Λακωνικόν, εἶπε, τὸ φλυαρεῖν.

[43] Σπαρτιάτης ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ ἀσφαλὴς ἡ εἰς Σπάρτην ὁδὸς εἶπεν, ὁποῖος κά τις ᾖς¹³· οἱ μὲν γὰρ λέοντες βαδίζοντι ὅπα κα λέωντι,¹⁴ τὼς δὲ λαγὼς ἐπὶ τᾶς γᾶς κήνας¹⁵ θηρεύομες.

[44] ἐν χειραψίᾳ περικρούοντος τοῦ προστραχηλίζοντος 234e κενοσπούδως καὶ κατασπῶντος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἐπειδὴ τῷ σώματι ἐλείπετο ὁ προσπεσών, ἔδακε τὸν βραχίονα· καὶ ὁ ἕτερος εἶπε, δάκνεις, ὦ Λάκων, ὥσπερ αἱ γυναῖκες· οὐ μὲν οὖν, εἶπεν ἅτερος, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ λέοντες.

[45] χωλὸς ἐπὶ πόλεμον ἐξιών, ἐπακολουθούντων αὐτῷ τινων καὶ γελώντων, ἐπιστραφεὶς εἶπε, κακαὶ κεφαλαί, οὐ φεύγοντα δεῖ τοῖς πολεμίοις μάχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ μένοντα καὶ τὴν τάξιν φυλάττοντα.

[46] ἕτερος τοξευθεὶς καὶ τὸν βίον ἐκλείπων, ἔλεγεν, οὐ μέλει μοι τοῦτο ὅτι ἀποθανοῦμαι,¹⁶ ἀλλʼ ὅτι ὑπὸ γύννιδος τοξότου καὶ μηδὲν πράξας.

[47] εἰς πανδοκεῖόν τις καταλύσας καὶ δοὺς ὄψον τῷ πανδοκεῖ σκευάσαι, ὡς ἅτερος τυρὸν ᾔτει καὶ 234f ἔλαιον, τί, ἔφη, εἰ τυρὸν εἶχον, ἔτι ἂν ἐδεόμην ὄψου;

[48] πρὸς δὲ τὸν μακαρίζοντα Λάμπιν τὸν Αἰγινήτην, διότι ἐδόκει πλουσιώτατος εἶναι ναυκλήρια πολλὰ ἔχων, Λάκων εἶπεν, οὐ προσέχω εὐδαιμονίᾳ ἐκ σχοινίων ἀπηρτημένῃ.

[49] εἰπόντος δέ τινος Λάκωνι ὅτι ψεύδεται, ἀπεκρίνατο, ἐλεύθεροι γὰρ εἰμες οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι, αἴκα μὴ τἀληθῆ λέγωντι, οἰμώξονται.

[50] προθέμενός τις νεκρὸν στῆσαι ὀρθόν, ὡς πάντα ποιῶν οὐκ ἐδύνατο, νὴ Δία, εἶπεν, ἔνδον τι εἶναι δεῖ.

[51] Τύννιχος, Θρασυβούλου τοῦ παιδὸς ἀποθανόντος, εὐρώστως ἤνεγκε· καὶ ἐπίγραμμα εἰς τοῦτον ἐγένετο, 235a

τὰν Πιτάναν Θρασύβουλος ἐπʼ ἀσπίδος ἤλυθεν ἄπνους

ἑπτὰ πρὸς Ἀργείων τραύματα δεξάμενος,

δεικνὺς ἀντία πάντα· τὸν αἱματόεντα δʼ ὁ πρέσβυς

θεὶς ἐπὶ πυρκαϊὴν Τύννιχος τάδε,¹⁷

Δειλοὶ κλαιέσθωσαν· ἐγὼ δέ σε, τέκνον, ἄδακρυς

θάψω, τὸν καὶ ἐμὸν καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιον.

[52] Ἀλκιβιάδῃ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ βαλανέως ἐπὶ πλεῖστον παραχέοντος ὕδωρ, Λάκων εἶπε, τί τοῦτο¹⁸ ὡς οὐ καθαρῷ; σφόδρα δὲ ὠς ῥυπαρῷ πλεῖον παράχει.¹⁹

[53] Φιλίππου τοῦ Μακεδόνος προστάττοντός 235b τινα διʼ ἐπιστολῆς, ἀντέγραψαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ ὧν ἆμιν²⁰ ἔγραψας, Οὔ. ὅτε δὲ ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν καὶ ἐδόκουν ἅπαντες ἀπολεῖσθαι, εἶπε δὲ πρός τινα τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, τί νῦν ποιήσετε, ὦ Λάκωνες; τί γάρ, ἔφη, ἄλλο ἢ ἀνδρείως ἀποθανούμεθα; μόνοι γὰρ ἡμεῖς Ἑλλήνων ἐλεύθεροι εἶναι καὶ μὴ ὑπακούειν ἄλλοις ἐμάθομεν.

[54] μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἄγιδος ἧτταν, ὁμήρους αἰτοῦντος Ἀντιπάτρου πεντήκοντα παῖδας, Ἐτεοκλῆς ἐφορεύων εἶπε παῖδας μὲν οὐ δώσειν, ἵνα μὴ ἀπαίδευτοι γένωνται, τῆς πατρίου ἀγωγῆς ἀτευκτήσαντες· οὐδὲ πολῖται γὰρ ἂν εἴησαν πρεσβύτας δʼ ἢ γυναῖκας, εἰ βούλοιτο, διπλασίους δώσειν. 235c ἀπειλοῦντος δʼ αὐτοῦ δεινά, εἰ μὴ λάβοι, ἀπεκρίναντο κοινῇ, ἐὰν χαλεπώτερα θανάτου ἐπιτάττῃς, εὐκολώτερον ἀποθανούμεθα.

[55] Πρεσβύτης ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ συντελουμένου τοῦ ἀγῶνος προθυμούμενος θεάσασθαι, καθέδρας ἠπόρει· πολλοὺς δʼ ἐπιπορευόμενος τόπους ὑβρίζετο καὶ ἐσκώπτετο, μηδενὸς αὐτὸν παραδεχομένου· ὡς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἧκεν, ἀνέστησαν πάντες οἱ παῖδες καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοῦ τόπου ἐκχωροῦντες· τῶν δὲ Πανελλήνων ἐπισημηναμένων²¹ κρότῳ τὸ ἔθος καὶ ὑπερεπαινούντων, ὁ πρεσβύτης κινήσας

πολιόν τε κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον

καὶ δακρύσας, οἴμοι τῶν κακῶν, φησίν, ὡς 235d ἅπαντες μὲν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐπίστανται τὰ καλά, χρῶνται δʼ αὐτοῖς μόνοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι. φασὶ δέ τινες ὅτι καὶ Ἀθήνησι τὸ αὐτὸ ἐγένετο· Παναθηναίων γὰρ ὄντων οἱ Ἀττικοὶ γέροντα προεπηλάκιζον, προσκαλούμενοι μὲν ὡς παραδεξόμενοι, εἰ δὲ παραγένοιτο, οὐ προσδεχόμενοι· ὡς δὲ διεξιὼν σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἐγένετο κατὰ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίων θεωρούς, ἅπαντες τῶν βάθρων ἀναστάντες τοῦ τόπου παρεχώρουν· ἀγασθεὶς δὲ ὁ ὄχλος ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι ἐκρότησε μετὰ πολλῆς 235e ἐπισημασίας, καί τις εἶπε τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν, ναὶ²² τὼ σιώ, ἴσασι μὲν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ καλά, οὐ πράσσουσι δέ.

[56] ἐπαίτης ᾔτησε Λάκωνα ἀλλὰ εἰ δοίην σοι, ἔφη, μᾶλλον πτωχεύσεις, τῆς δὲ ἀσχημοσύνης σου ταύτης ὁ πρῶτος μεταδοὺς αἴτιος, ἀργόν σε ποιήσας.

[57] Λάκων ἰδὼν ἀγείροντά τινα θεοῖς, οὐδὲν εἶπε φροντίζειν θεῶν πτωχοτέρων ἑαυτοῦ.

[58] λαβών τις μοιχὸν ἐπʼ αἰσχρᾷ γυναικί, ἄθλιε, εἶπε, τίς τοι ἀνάγκα;

[59] ἄλλος ἀκούων ῥήτορος μεγάλας στρέφοντος περιόδους, ἀλλὰ ναὶ τὼ σιώ, εἶπεν, ἀνδρεῖὸς γε ὁ ἄνθρωπος· πρὸς οὐδὲν ὑποκείμενον εὖ στροβιλοῖ²³ τὴν γλῶτταν.

[60] 235f εἰς Λακεδαίμονα παραγενόμενός τις καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πρεσβύτας τῶν νέων τιμὴν θεασάμενος, ἐν Σπάρτῃ μόνῃ, εἶπε, λυσιτελεῖ γηράσκειν.

[61] ἐρωτηθεὶς Λάκων ὁποῖός ἐστι Τυρταῖος ὁ ποιητής, ἀγαθός, εἶπε, κακκονῆν²⁴ νέων ψυχάς.

[62] ἕτερος ἀλγῶν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξῄει ἐπὶ πόλεμον· λεγόντων δὲ αὐτῷ τινων, ποῦ ἄπει οὕτως ἔχων ἢ τί ποιήσων; κἂν μηδὲν ἕτερον πράξω, ἔφη, πολεμίου γε μάχαιραν ἀμβλυνῶ.

[63] Βοῦλις καὶ Σπέρχις²⁵ Λακεδαιμόνιοι πορευθέντες ἐθελονταὶ πρὸς Ξέρξην τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ ἣν ὠφειλεν ἡ Λακεδαίμων κατὰ χρησμόν 236a , διότι κήρυκας πεμφθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ Πέρσου ὡς αὐτοὺς ἀπέκτειναν ἐλθόντες πρὸς τὸν Ξέρξην ἐκέλευον ᾧ βούλεται τρόπῳ διαχρήσασθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ Λακεδαιμονίων. ὡς δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἀγασθεὶς ἀπέλυσε τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ ἠξίου μένειν παρʼ αὐτῷ, καὶ πῶς ἄν, ἔφασαν, δυναίμεθα ζῆν ἐνταῦθα, πατρίδα καταλιπόντες καὶ νόμους καὶ τούτους τοὺς ἄνδρας, ὑπὲρ ὧν τοσαύτην ἤλθομεν ὁδὸν ἀποθανούμενοι; Ἰνδάρνου δὲ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ἐπὶ πλέον δεομένου καὶ λέγοντος τεύξεσθαι αὐτοὺς τῆς ἴσης τιμῆς τοῖς μάλιστα ἐν προαγωγῇ φίλοις τοῦ βασιλέως 236b , ἔφησαν, ἀγνοεῖν ἡμῖν δοκεῖς ἡλίκον ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, ἧς οὐκ ἂν ἀλλάξαιτό τις νοῦν ἔχων τὴν Περσῶν βασιλείαν.

[64] Λάκων, ἐπεὶ τῇ μὲν προτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ξένος αὐτὸν ἐξέκλινε, τῇ δʼ ἑξῆς στρώματα χρησάμενος δαψιλῶς ὑπεδέχετο, ἐπιβὰς τοῖς στρώμασι κατεπάτει, ἐπιλέγων διὰ ταῦτα ἐχθὲς οὐδʼ ἐπὶ ψιάθου ὑπνωκέναι.

[65] ἕτερος ἐλθὼν εἰς Ἀθήνας καὶ ὁρῶν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὸ τάριχος ἀποκηρύττοντας καὶ τὸ ὄψον, καὶ τελωνοῦντας καὶ πορνοβοσκοῦντας, καὶ ἕτερα ἔργα ἀσχήμονα πράττοντας, καὶ μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ἡγουμένους ὅτε ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, 236c τῶν πολιτῶν πυνθανομένων αὐτοῦ ποῖὰ τινά ἐστι τὰ ἐν Ἀθήναις, πάντα, εἶπε, καλά, νεἰρωνευόμενος καὶ παριστὰς ὅτι πάντα παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καλὰ νομίζεται, αἰσχρὸν δὲ οὐδέν.

[66] ἄλλος ἐρωτώμενος περί τινος ἀπεκρίνατο οὔ· ὡς δὲ ὁ ἐρωτήσας ἀπεκρίνατο ὅτι ψεύδῃ, ὁρᾷς οὖν, ἔφη, ὅτι μάταιος εἶ περὶ ὧν ἐπίστασαι ἐρωτῶν.

[67] ἧκόν ποτε κατὰ πρεσβείαν Λάκωνες πρὸς Λύγδαμιν τὸν τύραννον· ὡς δʼ ἐκεῖνος ὑπερτιθέμενος πολλάκις συντυχεῖν ἀνεβάλλετο, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι μαλακῶς ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἔφη τις, οἱ πρέσβεις, λέγε αὐτῷ, εἶπον, ὅτι μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς οὐ παλαισόμενοι 236d πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐληλύθαμεν, ἀλλὰ διαλεχθησόμενοι.

[68] Λάκωνά τινά τις μυσταγωγῶν ἠρώτα τί πράξας ἑαυτῷ σύνοιδεν ἀσεβέστατον, ὁ δέ, γιγνώσκουσιν οἱ θεοί, ἔφη· ἐπικειμένου δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ λέγοντος, πάντως σε δεῖ εἰπεῖν, ὁ Λάκων ἀντηρώτησε, τίνι με δεῖ εἰπεῖν, σοὶ ἢ τῷ θεῷ, τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος, τῷ θεῷ, σὺ τοίνυν, ἔφη, ἀποχώρησον.

[69] ἕτερος νυκτὸς μνῆμα παριὼν καὶ φαντασιωθεὶς δαιμόνιόν τι ἐπέδραμε τῇ λόγχῃ διαράμενος, καὶ ἐναπερείδων εἶπε, πῇ με φεύγεις, δὶς ἀποθανουμένη ψυχή;ν

[70] ἄλλος εὐξάμενος ἀπὸ τοῦ Λευκάτα ῥίπτειν ἑαυτὸν ἀνέβη καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν ἰδὼν τὸ ὕψος· ὀνειδιζόμενος 236e δὲ εἶπεν οὐκ ᾤμαν τὰν εὐχὰν ἄλλας μείζονος εὐχᾶς δεῖσθαι.

[71] ἄλλος ἐπὶ παρατάξεως τῷ πολεμίῳ τὸ ξίφος καταφέρειν μέλλων, ἐπεὶ τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν ἐσήμηνεν, οὐκέτι κατήνεγκε πυθομένου δέ τινος διὰ τί τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἔχων ὑποχείριον οὐκ ἀπέκτεινεν, ὅτι, ἔφη, βέλτιόν ἐστι τοῦ φονεύειν τὸ πείθεσθαι τῷ ἄρχοντι.

[72] Λάκωνί τινι ἡττωμένῳ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ εἶπέ τις ὁ ἀνταγωνιστής, ὦ Λάκων, ἐγένετό σου κρείττων οὐ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη, ἀλλὰ καββαλικώτερος.

Ἀποφθέγματα Λακωνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 69 focus

Διάφορα τῶν ἐν τοῖς Λάκωσιν ἀδόξων ἀποφθέγματα

[1] Σαμίων πρεσβευταῖς μακρολογοῦσιν ἔφασαν οἱ Σπαρτιᾶται τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ² ἐπιλελάθαμες, ³ τὰ δὲ ὕστερα οὐ συνείκαμες ⁴ διὰ τὸ τὰ πρῶτα ⁵ ἐπιλελᾶσθαι.

[2] 232e ῥήτορος μακρὸν κατατείναντος λόγον καὶ τὰς 5 ἀποκρίσεις αἰτοῦντος, ἵνα τοῖς πολίταις ἀπαγγείλῃ, ἀπάγγελλε τοίνυν ἔφασαν ὅτι μόλις μὲν σὺ ἐπαύσω λέγων, μόλις δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀκούοντες.

[3] πρὸς Θηβαίους περί τινων ἀντιλέγοντας ἢ φρονεῖν εἶπον δεῖ ἔλασσον ἢ δύνασθαι μεῖζον. 10

[4] Λάκων ἐρωτηθεὶς διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν τὰς τοῦ πώγωνος τρίχας ἐπὶ πολὺ κομᾷς; εἶπεν ἵνα βλέπων τὰς πολιὰς μηδὲν ἀνάξιον αὐτῶν πράττω.

[5] ἄλλος πυθομένου τινὸς διὰ τί ἐγχειριδίοις βραχέσι χρῆσθε; ἵνα πλησίον εἶπε τοῖς πολεμίοις 15 εἰς χεῖρας ἵκωμες.

[6] ἐπαινοῦντός τινος τοὺς ἀρίστους μαχητάς, Λάκων εἶπεν ἐν Τροίᾳ.

[7] ἕτερος ἀκούσας δειπνήσαντάς τινας βιάζεσθαι πίνειν μὴ καὶ ἐσθίειν εἶπε βιάζονται; 20

[8] Πινδάρου γράψαντος Ἑλλάδος ἔρεισμα Ἀθῆναι, Λάκων ἔφη καταπεσεῖν ἂν τὴν Ἑλλάδα ὀχουμένην ἐρείσματι τοιούτῳ.

[9] 232f ἐπεὶ δὲ ἰδών τις ἐν πίνακι γραπτῷ Λάκωνας ὑπὸ Ἀθηναίων σφαττομένους ἔλεγεν ἀνδρεῖοί γʼ Ἀθηναῖοι, Λάκων ὑποτυχών ἐν τῷ πίνακι εἶπε.

[10] πρὸς δέ τινα προσιέμενον τὰς ἐκ διαβολῆς βλασφημίας Λάκων εἶπε παῦσαι κατʼ ἐμοῦ τὰ ὦτα 5 χορηγῶν.

[11] πρὸς δὲ τὸν κολαζόμενον καὶ λέγοντα ἄκων ἥμαρτον εἶπέ τις ἄκων τοίνυν καὶ κολάζου.

[12] ἰδών τις ἐν ἀποχωρήσει θακέοντας ⁶ ἐπὶ δίφρων ἀνθρώπους μὴ γένοιτο εἶπεν ἐνταῦθα καθίσαι, 10 ὅθεν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐξαναστῆναι πρεσβυτέρῳ.

[13] Χίων ποτὲ κατʼ ἐπιδημίαν ἀπὸ δείπνου ἐμεσάντων ἐν τῷ ἐφορείῳ καὶ χεσάντων ἐπὶ τῶν 233a δίφρων, ἔνθα οἱ ἔφοροι ἐκάθηντο, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ἰσχυρῶς ἀνεζήτουν τοὺς ποιήσαντας μὴ πολῖται τυγχάνωσιν· 15 ὡς δὲ ᾔσθοντο ὅτι Χῖοι ἦσαν, ἐκήρυξαν τοῖς Χίοις ἐφιᾶσιν ἀσελγαίνειν.

[14] ἐπεὶ δέ τις τὰς ἀμυγδαλᾶς τῶν σκληρῶν ἑώρα διπλασίου πωλουμένας, μὴ σπάνιοι ἔφη οἱ λίθοι;

[15] τίλας τις ἀηδόνα καὶ βραχεῖαν πάνυ σάρκα 20 εὑρὼν εἶπε φωνὰ τὺ τίς ἐσσι καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο.

[16] ἰδών τις τῶν Λακώνων Διογένη τὸν κύνα περιλαμβάνοντα ἀνδριάντα χάλκεον, ψύχους ὄντος σφοδροῦ, ἐπύθετο εἰ ῥιγοῖ ἀρνησαμένου δέ, τί οὖν ἔφη μέγα ποιεῖς;

[17] 25 ὀνειδισθείς τις τῶν Μεταποντίων εἰς δειλίαν 233b ὑπὸ Λάκωνος, ἀλλὰ μήν ἔφη οὐκ ὀλίγα τῆς ἀλλοτρίας ἔχομεν· ὁ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἄρα ἔφη δειλοὶ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄδικοί ἐστε.

[18] κατʼ ἐπιδημίαν τις ἐν Σπάρτῃ κρηπιδούμενος ὀρθὸς ἐπὶ θατέρου σκέλους εἶπε πρὸς Λάκωνα οὐκ ἂν οἶμαί σε, ὦ Λάκων, τοσοῦτον χρόνον ἐπὶ τοῦ ποδὸς ὅσον ἐγὼ στῆναι καὶ ὃς ὑπολαβὼν οὐ 5 γάρ ἔφη· τῶν μέντοι χηνῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις οὔ.

[19] μεγαλυνομένου τινὸς ἐπὶ τῇ ῥητορικῇ τέχνῃ, εἶπέ τις Λάκων ἀλλὰ νὴ ⁷ τὼ σιὼ τέχνη ἄνευ τοῦ ἀληθείας ἧφθαι οὔτε ἐστὶν οὔτε μήποτε γένηται 10

[20] 233c Ἀργείου ποτὲ εἰπόντος πολλοὶ τάφοι παρʼ ἡμῖν εἰσὶ Σπαρτιατῶν Λάκων εἶπεν ἀλλὰ μὴν παρʼ ἡμῖν Ἀργείων οὐδὲ εἷς, ὡς αὐτῶν μὲν πολλάκις Ἄργους ἐπιβεβηκότων Ἀργείων δὲ τῆς Σπάρτης οὐδέποτε.

[21] 15 Λάκων αἰχμαλωτισθεὶς καὶ πιπρασκόμενος, τοῦ κήρυκος λέγοντος Λάκωνα πωλῶ, ἐπεστόμισεν εἰπών αἰχμάλωτον κήρυσσε.

[22] τῶν παρὰ Λυσιμάχῳ στρατευομένων ἐρωτηθεὶς τις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, μή τις τῶν εἱλώτων ἐστί, 20 σὺ δʼ οἴει ἔφη ἐπὶ τὸ παρὰ σοῦ τετρώβολον Λάκωνα ἥξειν;

[23] ὅτε Θηβαῖοι νικήσαντες τοὺς Λάκωνας ἐν Λεύκτροις πρὸς αὐτὸν παρῆσαν τὸν Εὐρώταν, καί τις μεγαλαυχῶν εἶπε ποῦ νῦν εἰσὶν οἱ Λάκωνες; Σπαρτιάτης 25 ληφθεὶς ὑπʼ αὐτῶν οὐ πάρεισιν ἔφη· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὑμεῖς δεῦρο ἤλθετε. 233d

[24] Ἀθηναίων ἀξιούντων, ὅτε παρέδωκαν τὸ ἄστυ, Σάμον αὐτοῖς μόνον ἐᾶσαι, εἶπον ὅταν αὑτῶν οὐκ ἦτε, τότε καὶ ἄλλους ἔχειν ζητεῖτε; ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ ἡ παροιμία

ὃς αὐτὸς αὑτὸν οὐκ ἔχει Σάμον θέλει.

⁸

[25] πόλιν τινὰ κατὰ κράτος ἑλόντων Λακεδαιμονίων, 5 οἱ ἔφοροι εἶπον οἴχεται τὸ πάλαισμα τῶν νέων οὐκέτι ἕξουσιν ἀνταγωνιστὰς οἱ νέοι.

[26] ἄλλην πόλιν ὑπισχνουμένου τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν 233e τέλεον ἀφανιεῖν ᾗ ⁹ συμβεβήκει πράγματα πολλάκις παρεσχῆσθαι τοῖς Λάκωσιν, οὐκ ἐπέτρεψαν, φάμενοι 10 μηδαμῶς ἀφανίσῃς μηδʼ ἀνέλῃς τὴν ἀκόνην τῶν νέων.

[27] τοῖς παλαίουσι παιδοτρίβας οὐκ ἐφίστανον, ἵνα μὴ τέχνης ἀλλʼ ἀρετῆς ἡ φιλοτιμία γένηται. διὸ καὶ Λύσανδρος ἐρωτώμενος, ὅπως ὁ Χάρων ἐνίκησεν αὐτόν, τᾷ πολυμηχανίᾳ εἶπε.

[28] 15 Φιλίππου γράφοντος, ὅτε εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν παρεγένετο, ¹⁰ πότερον βούλεται φίλιον ἐλθεῖν ἢ πολέμιον αὐτόν, ἀντεφώνησαν οὐδέτερον.

[29] πρεσβευτήν τινα διαπεμψάμενοι πρὸς Ἀντίγονον τὸν Δημητρίου, πυθόμενοι ὅτι ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸν 20 233f βασιλέα, ἐζημίωσαν, καίτοι μέδιμνον πυρῶν ἑκάστῳ παρʼ αὐτοῦ σιτοδείας οὔσης κομίζοντα.

[30] Δημητρίου ἐγκαλοῦντος ὅτι ἕνα πρεσβευτὴν ἔπεμψαν πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐχ ἱκανὸς οὖν εἶπον εἰ πρὸς ἕνα εἷς;

[31] 25 ἐνέγκαντός τινος ἀρίστην γνώμην μοχθηροῦ, ταύτην μὲν ἀπεδέξαντο, περιελόμενοι δὲ τούτου περιέθηκαν ἑτέρῳ καλῶς βεβιωκότι.

[32] ἀδελφῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαφερομένων τὸν πατέρα ἐζημίωσαν, ὅτι τοὺς υἱεῖς στασιάζοντας περιορᾷ.

[33] ψάλτην ἐπιδημήσαντα ἐζημίωσαν , ὅτι δακτύλοις 5 κιθαρίζει.

[34] δύο παῖδες ἐμάχοντο, ἅτερος δὲ αὐτῶν τὸν ἕτερον ἔτρωσε δρεπάνῳ πληγῇ θανασίμῳ· τῶν δὲ συνήθων παίδων, ἐπεὶ διαλύεσθαι ἔμελλον, ἐπαγγελλομένων ἀμυνεῖσθαι καὶ ἀναιρήσειν τὸν πλήξαντα, 10 234a μηδαμῶς εἶπε πρὸς θεῶν, οὐ γὰρ δίκαιον· καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἐγὼ ἐποίησα τοῦτο, εἰ ἔφθασα καὶ ἀγαθὸς ἐγενόμην.

[35] ἕτερον παιδάριον, ἐπεὶ παρῆν ὁ καιρός, ἐν ᾧ κλέπτειν νενόμιστο τοὺς ἐλευθέρους παῖδας ὅ τι 15 τις δύναιτο καὶ μὴ λαθεῖν αἰσχρὸν ἦν, ὡς οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ παῖδες ζῶν ἔκλεψαν ἀλωπέκιον καὶ ἔδοσαν αὐτῷ φυλάττειν, παραγενομένων τῶν ἀπολωλεκότων ἐπὶ ζήτησιν, ἔτυχε μὲν ὑποβαλὼν τὸ ἀλωπέκιον ὑπὸ τὸ αὑτοῦ ἱμάτιον, ἀγριαίνοντος δὲ τοῦ θηρίου καὶ τὴν 20 αὐτοῦ πλευρὰν κατεσθίοντος μέχρι τῶν σπλάγχνων, ἠρέμει, ἵνα μὴ γένηται καταφανής. ὡς δὲ ὕστερον ἐκείνων ἀπελθόντων ἐθεάσαντο τὸ γεγονὸς οἱ παῖδες 234b καὶ ἐμέμφοντο, λέγοντες ἄμεινον εἶναι φανερὸν ποιῆσαι τὸ ἀλωπέκιον ἢ μέχρι θανάτου κρύπτειν, 25 οὐ μὲν οὖν εἶπεν ἀλλὰ κρεῖττον ταῖς ἀλγηδόσι μὴ ἐνδόντα ¹¹ τελευτᾶν ἢ περίφωρον γενόμενον διὰ μαλακίαν τὸ ζῆν αἰσχρῶς περιποιήσασθαι.

[36] περιτυχόντες τινὲς Λάκωσι καθʼ ὁδὸν εἶπον εὐτυχήκατε, ἀρτίως ἐντεῦθεν λῃστῶν ἀπιόντων οἱ δὲ οὐ μὰ τὸν Ἐνυάλιον, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνοι μὴ περιτυχόντες ἡμῖν.

[37] Λάκων ἐρωτηθεὶς τί ἐπίσταται, εἶπεν ἐλεύθερος 5 εἶναι.

[38] παῖς Σπαρτιάτης αἰχμαλωτισθεὶς ὑπʼ Ἀντιγόνου 234c τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πραθεὶς τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα ὑπήκοος ἦν τῷ πριαμένῳ, ὅσα ᾤετο προσήκειν ἐλευθέρῳ ποιεῖν ὡς δὲ προσέταξεν ἀμίδα κομίζειν, οὐκ 10 ἠνέσχετο εἰπὼν οὐ δουλεύσω. ἐνισταμένου δὲ ἐκείνου, ἀναβὰς ἐπὶ τὸν κέραμον καὶ εἰπών εἴσῃ ¹² τῆς ὠνῆς, ἔβαλεν ἑαυτὸν κάτω καὶ ἐτελεύτα.

[39] ἕτερος πωλούμενος, εἰπόντος τινὸς ἐὰν ἀγοράσω σε, χρήσιμος ἔσῃ; κἂν μὴ ἀγοράσῃς εἶπεν.

[40] 15 ἄλλος αἰχμάλωτος πιπρασκόμενος, τοῦ κήρυκος ἐπιλέγοντος ἀνδράποδον πωλεῖν, κατάρατε εἶπεν οὐκ ἐρεῖς αἰχμάλωτον.

[41] Λάκων ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος μυῖαν ἔχων ἐπίσημον, καὶ ταύτην οὐ μείζω τῆς ἀληθινῆς, ὡς καταγελῶντές 20 234d τινες ἔλεγον ὑπὲρ τοῦ λανθάνειν τοῦτο πεποιήκει, ἵνα μὲν οὖν εἶπε φανερὸς ὦ· οὕτω γὰρ τοῖς πολεμίοις πλησίον προσέρχομαι, ὥστε τὸ ἐπίσημον ἡλίκον ἐστὶν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ὁρᾶσθαι.

[42] ἕτερος, ἐν συμποσίῳ προσενεχθείσης λύρας, 25 οὐ Λακωνικόν εἶπε τὸ φλυαρεῖν.

[43] Σπαρτιάτης ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ ἀσφαλὴς ἡ εἰς Σπάρτην ὁδὸς εἶπεν ὁποῖος †καθίσῃς· οἱ μὲν γὰρ λέοντες βαδίζοντι ὅπα κα λέωντι, ¹³ τὼς δὲ λαγὼς ἐπὶ τᾷ σκηνᾷ ¹⁴ θηρεύομες.

[44] ἐν χειραψίᾳ περικρούοντος τοῦ προστραχηλίζοντος 234e κενοσπούδως καὶ κατασπῶντος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, 5 ἐπειδὴ τῷ σώματι ἐλείπετο ὁ προσπεσών, ἔδακε τὸν βραχίονα· καὶ ὁ ἕτερος εἶπε δάκνεις, ὦ Λάκων, ὥσπερ αἱ γυναῖκες· οὐ μὲν οὖν εἶπεν ἅτερος ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ λέοντες.

[45] χωλὸς ἐπὶ πόλεμον ἐξιών, ἐπακολουθούντων 10 αὐτῷ τινων καὶ γελώντων, ἐπιστραφεὶς εἶπε κακαὶ κεφαλαί, οὐ φεύγοντα δεῖ τοῖς πολεμίοις μάχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ μένοντα καὶ τὴν τάξιν φυλάττοντα.

[46] ἕτερος τοξευθεὶς καὶ ἐκλείπων τὸν βίον οὐχὶ τοῦτο ἔφησεν αὐτῷ μέλειν, ¹⁵ ὅτι ἀποθανεῖται, 15 ἀλλʼ ὅτι ὑπὸ γύννιδος τοξότου καὶ μηδὲν πράξας.

[47] εἰς πανδοκεῖόν τις καταλύσας καὶ δοὺς ὄψον τῷ πανδοκεῖ σκευάσαι, ὡς ἅτερος τυρὸν ᾔτει καὶ 234f ἔλαιον, εἶτʼ¹⁶ ἔφη εἰ τυρὸν εἶχον, ἔτι ἂν ἐδεόμην ὄψου; 20

[48] πρὸς δὲ τὸν μακαρίζοντα Λάμπιν τὸν Αἰγινήτην, διότι ἐδόκει πλουσιώτατος εἶναι ναυκλήρια πολλὰ ἔχων, Λάκων εἶπεν οὐ προσέχω εὐδαιμονίᾳ ἐκ σχοινίων ἀπηρτημένῃ.

[49] εἰπόντος δέ τινος Λάκωνι ὅτι ψεύδεται, 25 ἀπεκρίνατο ἐλεύθεροι γὰρ εἰμες· οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι, αἴκα μὴ τἀληθῆ λέγωντι, οἰμώξονται.

[50] προθέμενός τις νεκρὸν στῆσαι ὀρθόν, ὡς πάντα ποιῶν οὐκ ἐδύνατο, νὴ τὼ σιώ εἶπεν ἔνδον τι εἶναι δεῖ.

[51] Τύννιχος, Θρασυβούλου τοῦ παιδὸς ἀποθανόντος, εὐρώστως ἤνεγκε· καὶ ἐπίγραμμα εἰς τοῦτον 5 ἐγένετο 235a

τὰν Πιτάναν Θρασύβουλος ἐπʼ ἀσπίδος ἤλυθεν ἄπνους

ἑπτὰ πρὸς Ἀργείων τραύματα δεξάμενος,

δεικνὺς ἀντία πάντα· τὸν αἱματόεντα δʼ ὁ πρέσβυς 10

θεὶς ¹⁷ ἐπὶ πυρκαϊὴν Τύννιχος εἶπε τάδε,

δειλοὶ κλαιέσθωσαν ἐγὼ δέ σε τέκνον ἄδακρυς

θάψω, τὸν καὶ ἐμὸν καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιον.

[52] Ἀλκιβιάδῃ τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ βαλανέως ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ¹⁸ παραχέοντος ὕδωρ, Λάκων εἶπε τί τοῦτο ὡς 15 καθαρῷ; σφόδρα ¹⁹ δὲ ῥυπαρῷ πλεῖον παράχει.

[53] Φιλίππου τοῦ Μακεδόνος προστάσσοντός 235b τινα διʼ ἐπιστολῆς, ἀντέγραψαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι περὶ ὧν ἄμμιν ἔγραψας οὔ. ὅτε δὲ ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὴν Λακωνικὴν καὶ ἐδόκουν ἅπαντες ἀπολεῖσθαι, 20 εἶπε δὲ πρός τινα τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν τί νῦν ποιήσετε, ὦ Λάκωνες; τί γάρ ἔφη ἄλλο ἢ ἀνδρείως ἀποθανούμεθα; μόνοι γὰρ ἡμεῖς Ἑλλήνων ἐλεύθεροι εἶναι καὶ μὴ ὑπακούειν ἄλλοις ἐμάθομεν.

[54] μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἄγιδος ἧτταν, ὁμήρους αἰτοῦντος 25 Ἀντιπάτρου πεντήκοντα παῖδας, Ἐτεοκλῆς ἐφορεύων εἶπε παῖδας μὲν οὐ δώσειν, ἵνα μὴ ἀπαίδευτοι γένωνται, τῆς πατρίου ἀγωγῆς ἀτευκτήσαντες· οὐδὲ πολῖται γὰρ ἂν εἴησαν· πρεσβύτας δʼ ἢ γυναῖκας, εἰ βούλοιτο, διπλασίους δώσειν. ἀπειλοῦντος δʼ 235c αὐτοῦ δεινά, εἰ μὴ λάβοι, ἀπεκρίναντο κοινῇ ἐὰν 5 χαλεπώτερα θανάτου ἐπιτάττῃς, εὐκολώτερον ἀποθανούμεθα.

[55] πρεσβύτης ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ συντελουμένου τοῦ ἀγῶνος προθυμούμενος θεάσασθαι, καθέδρας ἠπόρει πολλοὺς δʼ ἐπιπορευόμενος τόπους ὑβρίζετο καὶ 10 ἐσκώπτετο, μηδενὸς αὐτὸν παραδεχομένου· ὡς δὲ κατὰ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίους ἧκεν, ἀνέστησαν πάντες οἱ παῖδες καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τοῦ τόπου ἐκχωροῦντες· τῶν δὲ Πανελλήνων ἐπισημηναμένων ²⁰ κρότῳ τὸ ἔθος καὶ ὑπερεπαινούντων, ὁ πρεσβύτης κινήσας 15

πολιόν τε κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον

²¹ 235d καὶ δακρύσας οἴμοι τῶν κακῶν φησὶν ὡς ἅπαντες μὲν οἱ Ἕλληνες ἐπίστανται τὰ καλά, χρῶνται δʼ αὐτοῖς μόνοι Λακεδαιμόνιοι φασὶ δέ τινες, ὅτι καὶ Ἀθήνησι τὸ αὐτὸ ἐγένετο· Παναθηναίων γὰρ ὄντων 20 οἱ Ἀττικοὶ γέροντα προεπηλάκιζον, προσκαλούμενοι μὲν ὡς παραδεξόμενοι, εἰ δὲ παραγένοιτο, οὐ προσδεχόμενοι· ὡς δὲ διεξιὼν σχεδὸν ἅπαντας ἐγένετο κατὰ τοὺς Λακεδαιμονίων θεωρούς, ἅπαντες τῶν βάθρων ἀναστάντες τοῦ τόπου παρεχώρουν ἀγασθεὶς δὲ ὁ 25 ὄχλος ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι ἐκρότησε μετὰ πολλῆς ἐπισημασίας, 235e καί τις εἶπε τῶν Σπαρτιατῶν νὴ ²² τὼ σιώ, ἴσασι μὲν οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι τὰ καλά, οὐ πράσσουσι δέ.

[56] ἐπαίτης ᾔτησε Λάκωνα· ἀλλὰ εἰ δοίην σοι ἔφη μᾶλλον πτωχεύσεις, τῆς δὲ ἀσχημοσύνης σου ταύτης ὁ πρῶτος μεταδοὺς αἴτιος, ἀργόν σε ποιήσας.

[57] Λάκων ἰδὼν ἀγείροντά τινα θεοῖς οὐδέν 5 εἶπε φροντίζειν θεῶν πτωχοτέρων ἑαυτοῦ.

[58] λαβών τις μοιχὸν ἐπʼ αἰσχρᾷ γυναικὶ ἄθλιε εἶπε τίς τοι ἀνάγκα;

[59] ἄλλος ἀκούων ῥήτορος μεγάλας στρέφοντος περιόδους, ἀλλὰ νὴ τὼ σιώ εἶπεν ἀνδρεῖός γε ὁ ἄνθρωπος, πρὸς οὐδὲν ὑποκείμενον εὖ στροβιλοῖ τὴν 10 γλῶσσαν. 235f

[60] εἰς Λακεδαίμονα παραγενόμενός τις καὶ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πρεσβύτας τῶν νέων τιμὴν θεασάμενος, ἐν Σπάρτῃ μόνῃ εἶπε λυσιτελεῖ γηράσκειν.

[61] ἐρωτηθεὶς Λάκων ὁποῖός ἐστι Τυρταῖος ὁ 15 ποιητής, ἀγαθός εἶπε κακκονῆν ²³ νέων ψυχάς.

[62] ἕτερος ἀλγῶν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξῄει ἐπὶ πόλεμον· λεγόντων δὲ αὐτῷ τινων ποῖ ²⁴ ἄπει οὕτως ἔχων ἢ τί ποιήσων; κἂν μηδὲν ἕτερον πράξω ἔφη πολεμίου γε μάχαιραν ἀμβλυνῶ.

[63] 20 Βοῦλις ²⁵ καὶ Σπέρχις Λακεδαιμόνιοι πορευθέντες ἐθελονταὶ πρὸς Ξέρξην τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ ἣν ὦφλεν ἡ Λακεδαίμων κατὰ χρησμόν, 236a διότι κήρυκας πεμφθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ Πέρσου ὡς αὐτοὺς ἀπέκτειναν ἐλθόντες πρὸς τὸν Ξέρξην 25 ἐκέλευον ᾧ βούλεται τρόπῳ διαχρήσασθαι αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ Λακεδαιμονίων. ὡς δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἀγασθεὶς ἀπέλυσε τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ ἠξίου μένειν παρʼ αὐτῷ, καὶ πῶς ἄν ἔφασαν δυναίμεθα ζῆν ἐνταῦθα, πατρίδα καταλιπόντες καὶ νόμους καὶ τούτους τοὺς ἄνδρας, ὑπὲρ ὧν τοσαύτην ἤλθομεν ὁδὸν ἀποθανούμενοι 5 Ἰνδάρνου δὲ τοῦ στρατηγοῦ ἐπὶ πλέον δεομένου καὶ λέγοντος τεύξεσθαι αὐτοὺς τῆς ἴσης τιμῆς τοῖς μάλιστα ἐν προαγωγῇ φίλοις τοῦ βασιλέως, ἔφησαν 236b ἀγνοεῖν ἡμῖν δοκεῖς, ἡλίκον ἐστὶ τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας, ἧς οὐκ ἂν ἀλλάξαιτό τις νοῦν ἔχων τὴν Περσῶν 10 βασιλείαν.

[64] Λάκων, ἐπεὶ τῇ μὲν προτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ξένος αὐτὸν ἐξέκλινε, τῇ δʼ ἑξῆς στρώματα χρησάμενος δαψιλῶς ὑπεδέχετο, ἐπιβὰς τοῖς στρώμασι κατεπάτει, 15 ἐπιλέγων διὰ ταῦτα ἐχθὲς οὐδʼ ἐπὶ ψιάθου ὑπνωκέναι

[65] ἕτερος ἐλθὼν εἰς Ἀθήνας καὶ ὁρῶν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὸ τάριχος ἀποκηρύττοντας καὶ τὸ ὄψον καὶ τελωνοῦντας καὶ πορνοβοσκοῦντας, καὶ ἕτερα ἔργα ἀσχήμονα πράττοντας καὶ μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ἡγουμένους· 20 ὅτε ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα, τῶν πολιτῶν πυνθανομένων αὐτοῦ ποῖά τινά ἐστι τὰ ἐν 236c Ἀθήναις, πάντα εἶπε καλά, εἰρωνευόμενος καὶ παριστὰς ὅτι πάντα παρὰ τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις καλὰ νομίζεται, αἰσχρὸν δὲ οὐδέν. 25

[66] ἄλλος ἐρωτώμενος περί τινος ἀπεκρίνατο οὔ· ὡς δὲ ὁ ἐρωτήσας ἀπεκρίνατο ὅτι ψεύδῃ, ὁρᾷς οὖν ἔφη ὅτι μάταιος εἶ περὶ ὧν ἐπίστασαι ἐρωτῶν.

[67] ἧκόν ποτε κατὰ πρεσβείαν Λάκωνες πρὸς Λύγδαμιν τὸν τύραννον· ὡς δʼ ἐκεῖνος ὑπερτιθέμενος πολλάκις συντυχεῖν ἀνεβάλλετο, τὸ δʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι μαλακῶς ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἔφη τις, οἱ πρέσβεις λέγε αὐτῷ εἶπον ὅτι μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς οὐ παλαισόμενοι πρὸς 5 αὐτὸν ἐληλύθαμεν, ἀλλὰ διαλεχθησόμενοι. 236d

[68] Λάκωνά τινά τις μυσταγωγῶν ἠρώτα τί πράξας ἑαυτῷ σύνοιδεν ἀσεβέστατον, ὁ δὲ γινώσκουσιν οἱ θεοί ἔφη· ἐπικειμένου δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ λέγοντος πάντως σε δεῖ εἰπεῖν, ὁ Λάκων ἀντηρώτησε 10 τίνι με δεῖ εἰπεῖν, σοὶ ἢ τῷ θεῷ; τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος τῷ θεῷ, σὺ τοίνυν ἔφη ἀποχώρησον.

[69] ἕτερος νυκτὸς μνῆμα παριὼν καὶ φαντασιωθεὶς δαιμόνιόν τι ἐπέδραμε τῇ λόγχῃ διαράμενος, καὶ ἐναπερείδων εἶπε πῆ με φεύγεις, δὶς ἀποθανουμένη 15 ψυχή;

[71] 20 ἄλλος ἐπὶ παρατάξεως τῷ πολεμίῳ τὸ ξίφος καταφέρειν μέλλων, ἐπεὶ τὸ ἀνακλητικὸν ἐσήμηνεν, οὐκέτι κατήνεγκε· πυθομένου δέ τινος, διὰ τί τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἔχων ὑποχείριον οὐκ ἀπέκτεινεν; ὅτι ἔφη βέλτιόν ἐστι τοῦ φονεύειν πείθεσθαι τῷ ἄρχοντι.

[72] 25 τινι ἡττωμένῳ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ εἶπέ τις ὁ ἀνταγωνιστής, ὦ Λάκων, ἐγένετό σου κρείσσων· οὐ μὲν οὖν ἔφη ἀλλὰ καββαλικώτερος.

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.) — 69 focus

The remarkable speeches of some obscure men amongst the Spartans.

WHEN the Samian ambassadors had made a long harangue, the Spartans answered, We have forgot the first part, and so cannot understand the last. To the Thebans violently contesting with them about something they replied, Your spirit should be less, or your forces greater. A Lacedaemonian being asked why he kept his beard so long; That seeing my gray hairs, he replied, I may do nothing but what becomes them. One commending the best warriors, a Spartan that overheard said, At Troy. Another, hearing that some forced their guests to drink after supper, said, What! not to eat too? Pindar in his poems having called Athens the prop of Greece, a Spartan said, Greece would soon fall if it leaned on such a prop. When one, seeing the Athenians pictured killing the Spartans, said, The Athenians are stout fellows; Yes, subjoined a Spartan, in a picture. To one that was very attentive to a scandalous accusation a Spartan said, Pray, sir, be not prodigal of your ears against me. And to one under correction that cried out, I offend against my will, another said, Therefore suffer against thy will. One seeing some journeying in a chariot said, God forbid that I should sit where I cannot rise up to reverence my elders. Some Chian travellers vomiting after supper in the consistory, and dunging in the very seats of the Ephors, first they made strict inquiry whether the offenders were citizens or not; but finding they were Chians, they publicly proclaimed that they gave the Chians leave to be filthy and uncivil.

When one saw a merchant sell hard almonds at double the price that others were usually sold at, he said, Are stones scarce? Another pulling a nightingale, and finding but a very small body, said, Thou art voice and nothing else. Another Spartan, seeing Diogenes the Cynic in very cold weather embrace a brazen statue, asked whether he was not very cold; and he replying, No, he rejoined, What great matter then is it that you do? A Metapontine, being jeered by a Spartan for cowardice, replied, Nay, sir, we are masters of some of the territories of other states; Then, said the Spartan, you are not only cowards but unjust. A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, I do not believe you can do as much; True, said he, but every goose can. To one valuing himself upon his skill in oratory a Spartan said, By heaven, there never was and never can be any art without truth. An Argive saying, We have the tombs of many Spartans amongst us; a Spartan replied, But we cannot show the grave of one Argive; meaning that they had often invaded Argos, but the Argives never Sparta. A Spartan that was taken captive and to be sold, — when the crier said, Here’s a Spartan to be sold, — stopped his mouth, saying, Cry a captive. One of the soldiers of Lysimachus, being asked by him whether he was a true Spartanor one of the Helot slaves, replied, Do you imagine a Lacedaemonian would serve you for a groat a day? The Thebans, having beaten the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, marched to the river Eurotas itself, where one of them boasting said, Where are the Spartans now? To whom a captive replied, They are not at hand, sir, for if they had been, you had not come so far. The Athenians, having surrendered their own city to the Spartans, requested that they might be permitted to enjoy Samos only; upon which the Spartans said, When you are not at your own disposal, would you be lords of others? And hence came that proverb, He that is not master of himself begs Samos.

When the Lacedaemonians had taken a town by storm, the Ephors said, The exercise of our youth is lost, for now they will have none to contend with them. The Persian offering to raze a city that had frequent quarrels and skirmishes with the Spartans, they desired him to forbear and not take away the whetstone of their youth. They appointed no masters to instruct their boys in wrestling, that they might contend not in sleights of art and little tricks, but in strength and courage; and therefore Lysander, being asked by what means Charon was too hard for him, replied, By sleights and cunning. When Philip, having entered their territories, sent to know whether he should come as an enemy or a friend, the Spartans returned, Neither. Hearing that the ambassador they had sent to Antigonus the son of Demetrius had called him king, they fined him, though he had obtained of him in a time of scarcity a bushel of wheat for every person in the city. A vicious person giving excellent good counsel, they received it, but took it from him and attributed it to another, a man regular and of a good life. When some brothers differed, they fined the father for neglecting his sons and suffering them to be at strife. They fined likewise a musician that came amongst them, for playing the harp with his fingers. Two boys fighting, one wounded the other mortally with a hook. And when his acquaintance, just as he was dying, vowed to revenge his death and have the blood of him that killed him; By no means, saith he, it is unjust, for I had done the same thing if I had been stout and more speedy in my stroke. Another boy, at the time when freemen’s sons are allowed to steal what they can and it is a disgrace to be discovered, when some of his companions had stolen a young fox and delivered it to him, and the owners came to search, hid it under his gown; and though the angry little beast bit through his side to his very guts, he endured it quietly, that he might not be discovered. When the searchers were gone and the boys saw what had happened, they chid him roundly, saying, It had been better to produce the fox, than thus to conceal him by losing your own life; No, no! he replied, it is much better to die in torments, than to let my softness betray me and suffer a life thai had been scandalous. Some meeting certain Spartans upon the road said, Sirs, you have good luck, for the robbers are just gone. Faith, they replied, they have good luck that they did not meet with us. A Lacedaemonian, being asked what he knew, answered, To be free. A Spartan boy, being taken by Antigonus and sold, obeyed his master readily in every thing that he thought not below a freeman to do; but when he was commanded to bring a chamber-pot, unable to contain he said, I will not serve; but his master pressing him, he ran to the top of the house, and saying, You shall find what you have bought, threw himself down headlong and died. Another being to be sold, when the chapman asked him, Wilt thou be towardly if I buy thee? Yes, he returned, and if you do not buy me. Another captive, when the crier said, Here’s a slave to be sold, cried out, You villain, why not a captive? A Spartan, who had a fly engraven on his shield no bigger than Nature hath made that creature, when some jeered him as if he did it on purpose that he might not be taken notice of, replied: It is that I may be known; for I advance so near my enemies that they can well perceive my impress, as little as it is. Another, when at an entertainment a harp was brought in, said, It is not the custom of the Spartans to play the fool. A Spartan being asked whether the way to Sparta was safe or not, replied: That is according as you go down thither; for lions that approach rue their coming, and hares we hunt in their very coverts. A Spartan wrestling, when he could not make his adversary that had got the upper hand of him loose his hold, and was unable to avoid the fall, bit him by the arm; and the other saying, Spartan, thou bitest like a woman; No, said he, but like a lion. A lame man, marching out to war and being laughed at, said, There is no need of those that can run away, but of those that can stand to it and defend their post. Another being shot through said with his last breath: It doth not trouble me that I die, but that I should be killed by a woman before I had performed some notable exploit. One coming into an inn and giving the host a piece of meat to make ready for him, — when the host demanded some cheese and oil besides, — What! says the Spartan, if I had cheese should I want meat? When one called Lampis of Aegina happy, because he seemed a rich man, having many ships of his own at sea, a Spartan said, I do not like that happiness that hangs by a cord. One telling a Spartan that he lied, the Spartan returned: True, for we are free; but others, unless they speak truth, will suffer for it. When one had undertaken to make a carcass stand upright, and tried every way to no purpose; Faith, said he, there wants something within. Tynnichus bore his son Thrasybulus’s death very patiently. and there is this epigram made upon him: —

Stout Thrasybulus on his shield was brought

From bloody fields, where he had bravely fought;

The Argives beat, and as he stoutly prest,

Seven spears, and Death attending, pierced his breast.

The father took the corpse, and as he bled,

He laid it on the funeral pile, and said:

Be cowards mourned, I’ll spend no tear nor groan,

Whilst thus I burn a Spartan and my son.

The keeper of the bath allowing more water than ordinary to Alcibiades the Athenian, a Spartan said, What! is he more foul, that he wants more than others? Philip making an inroad upon Sparta, and all the Spartans expecting to be cut off, he said to one of them, Now what will you Spartans do? And he replied: What, but to die bravely? for only we of all the Greeks have learned to be free and not endure a yoke. When Agis was beaten and Antipater demanded fifty boys for hostages, Eteocles, one of the then Ephors, answered: Boys we will not give, lest swerving from the customs of their country they prove slothful and untoward, and so incapable of the privilege of citizens; but of women and old men you shall have twice as many. And when upon refusal he threatened some sharp afflictions, he returned: If you lay upon us somewhat worse than death, we shall die the more readily. An old man in the Olympic games being desirous to see the sport, and unprovided of a seat, went about from place to place, was laughed and jeered at, but none offered him the civility; but when he came to the Spartans’ quarter, all the boys and some of the men rose from their seats, and made him room. At this, all the Greeks clapped and praised their behavior; upon which the good old man shaking his hoary hairs, with tears in his eyes, said: Good God! how well all the Greeks know what is good, and yet only the Lacedaemonians practise it! And some say the same thing was done at Athens. For at the great solemnity of the Athenians, the Panathenaic festival, the Attics abused an old man, calling him as if they designed to make room for him, and when he came putting him off again; and when after this manner he had passed through almost all, he came to that quarter where the Spartan spectators sat, and all of them presently rose up and gave him place; the whole multitude, extremely taken with this action, clapped and shouted; upon which one of the Spartans said: By Heaven, these Athenians know what should be done, but are not much for doing it. A beggar asking an alms of a Lacedaemonian, he said: Well, should I give thee any thing, thou wilt be the greater beggar, for he that first gave thee money made thee idle, and is the cause of this base and dishonorable way of living. Another Spartan, seeing a fellow gathering charity for the Gods’ sake, said, I will never regard those as Gods that are poorer than myself. Another, having taken one in adultery with an ugly whore, cried out, Poor man, how great was thy necessity! Another, hearing an orator very lofty and swelling in his speech, said, Faith, this is a brave man, how excellently he rolls his tongue about nothing! A stranger being at Sparta, and observing how much the young men reverenced the old, said, At Sparta alone it is desirable to be old. A Lacedaemonian, being asked what manner of poet Tyrtaeus was, replied, Excellent to whet the courage of our youth. Another that had very sore eyes listed himself a soldier; when some said to him, Poor man, whither in that condition, and what wilt thou do in a fight? He returned, If I can do nothing else, I shall blunt the enemies’ sword. Buris and Spertis, two Lacedaemonians, going voluntarily to Xerxes the Persian to suffer that punishment which the oracle had adjudged due to Sparta for killing those ambassadors the King had sent, as soon as they care desired Xerxes to put them to death as he pleased, that they might make satisfaction for the Spartans. But he, surprised at this gallantry, forgave the men and desired their service in his court; to which they replied, How can we stay here, and leave our country, our laws, and those men for whom we came so far to die? Indarnes the general pressing them to make peace, and promising them equal honors with the King’s greatest favorites, they returned, Sir, you seem to be ignorant of the value of liberty, which no man in his wits would change for the Persian empire. A Spartan in a journey, when a friend of his had purposely avoided him the day before, and the next day, having obtained very rich furniture, splendidly received him, trampled on his tapestry saying, This was the cause why I had not so much as a mat to sleep upon last night. Another coming to Athens, and seeing the Athenians crying salt-fish and dainties to sell up and down the streets, others gathering taxes, keeping stews, and busied about a thousand such dishonest trades, and looking on nothing as base and unbecoming; after his return, when his acquaintance enquired how things were at Athens, he replied, All well; intimating by this irony that all things there were esteemed good and commendable, and nothing base. Another, being questioned about something, denied it; and the enquirer rejoining, Thou liest, he replied: And art not thou a fool to ask me what you know yourself very well? Some Lacedaemonians being sent ambassadors to the tyrant Lygdamis, pretending sickness he deferred their audience a long time. They said to one of his officers, Pray, sir, assure him that we did not come to wrestle but to treat with him. A priest initiating a Spartan in holy mysteries asked him what was the greatest wickedness he was ever guilty of. And he replying, The Gods know very well, and the priest pressing him the more and saying he must needs discover, the Spartan asked, To whom? to thee or the God? And the priest saying, To the God, he rejoined, Then do you withdraw. Another at night passing by a tomb and imagining he saw a ghost, made towards it with his spear, and striking it through cried out, Whither dost thou fly, poor twice dead ghost? Another having vowed to throw himself headlong from the Leucadian rock, when he came to the top and saw the vast precipice, he went down again; upon which being jeered by an acquaintance, he said, I did not imagine that one vow needed another that was greater. Another in a battle had his sword lifted up to kill his enemy, but the retreat being sounded, he did not let the blow fall; and when one asked him why, when his enemy was at his mercy, he did not use the advantage, Because, said he, it is better to obey my leader than kill my enemy. One saying to a Spartan that was worsted in the Olympic games, Spartan, thy adversary was the better man; No, he replied, but the better tripper.

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Spartans

1. Cf. Moralia, 216 A (15) supra.

2. Cf. Moralia, 216 A (15), supra.

3. Cf. Moralia, 218 E (8), supra.

4. A thousand years before.

5. Perhaps because the reference is to the expression πρὸς βίαν πίνειν found in Alcaeus (No. 20 in Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 156), Sophocles ( Frag. 669 Nauck) and Aristophanes ( Acharnians, 73). Cf. also Menander, The Arbitrants, lines 4-5 (in L.C.L. p. 18) where the same words are used.

6. Frag. No. 76 (ed. Christ).

7. Cf. the similar remark of Simonides quoted in Stobaeus, Florilegium, ii. 42.

8. Not in Sparta, of course.

9. As in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 F).

10. A similar story is told of Clazomenians by Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 15.

11. Cf., for example, Athenaeus, 53 A.

12. Vox et praeterea nihil.

13. A part ofh is self-imposed training to inure himself to cold, as in the summer he used to roll in the hot sand to inure himself to heat, according to Diogenes Laertius, vi. 23.

14. Possibly Cleonymus (Diodorus, xx. 104).

15. In almost the same words in Plato, Phaedrus, 260 E.

16. Cf. Plutarch, Life of Agesilaus, chap. xxxi. (613 D).

17. Cf. Moralia, 234 C (40), infra.

18. At the close of the Peloponnesian war, 404 B.C. Samos had been the naval base for the Athenians during the preceding years.

19. Cf. Dio Chrysostom, Oration, lxxiv. (637 M., 395 R.); Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, i. p. 292 (Diogenianus, vii. 34), and ii. p. 571 (Apostol. xiii. 5).

20. The last clause looks like an explanatory comment. Pantazides would omit it.

21. Cf. Moralia, 639 F, and Plutarch’s Life of Pelopidas, chap. vii. (281 B).

22. Cf. Moralia, 216 B (16), supra.

23. Cf. Moralia, 41 B, and 801 B; Aeschines, Against Timarchus, 180-181; Philo Judaeus, The Worse Plotting against the Better, 195 B; Aulus Gellius, xviii. 3.

24. Thus making the music pleasanter to hear than if he had used the plectrum. Cf. Moralia, 802 F.

25. The story is told more briefly in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xviii. (51 B).

26. Cf. the note on Moralia, 194 D (3), supra.

27. Cf. Moralia, 242 D (30), infra. This story is repeated by Philo Judaeus, Every Virtuous Man is Free, chap. xvii. (882 C); Seneca, Epistulae Moral. no. 77 (x. 1. 14), and is referred to by Epictetus, i. 2.

28. Cf. Moralia, 242 C (29), infra.

29. Cf. Moralia, 233 C (21), supra.

30. Cf. Moralia, 220 A (3). For the expression of similar sentiments see Plutarch’s Life of Themistocles, chap. ii. (112 C); Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 2 (4).

31. The same story is told of Alcibiades in Moralia, 186 D (1), and in Plutarch’s Life of Alcibiades, chap. i. (192 C).

32. Cf. Moralia, 210 F (34), and 217 C; Valerius Maximus, iii. 7, ext. 8.

33. Callicrates at the battle of Plataea (Herodotus, ix. 72).

34. Repeated by Plutarch, Life of Aristeides, chap. xvii. (329 C).

35. Repeated in Moralia, 995 B, where the meat is fish. Cf. also Aelian, Varia Historia, 787 A; Demosthenes, Or. xxiii. 211 (691).

36. Lampis was famous for his ships and his wealth. Cf., for example, Moralia, 787 A; Demosthenes, Or. xxiii. 211 (691).

37. Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, v. 14 (40).

38. Cf. Moralia, 229 A (2).

39. Attributed to Dioscorides in the Palatine Anthology, vii. 229 ( The Greek Anthology in the L.C.L., ii. p. 130).

40. The Spartans were not enthusiastic bathers ( Cf. Moralia 237 B).

41. The story is told with slightly more detail in Moralia, 513 A.

42. Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, v. 14 (42).

43. Agis III., in 331 B.C.

44. A different version of the Spartans’ reply is given in Moralia, 64 D.

45. Homer, Il. xxii. 74, and xxiv. 516.

46. Cf. Cicero, De senectute, 18 (63-64); Valerius Maximus, iv. 5, ext. 2.

47. In Moralia, 525 D, the same saying is attributed to a man of Byzantium.

48. A similar sentiment is attributed to Lysander by Cicero, De senectute, 18 (63).

49. Hydarnes in Herodotus, vii. 135.

50. Cf. Moralia, 815 E; Dio Chrysostom, Or. lxxvi. ad fin.; Stobaeus, Florilegium, vii. 70, and xxix. 27 (quoting Serenus). The ultimate source is probably Herodotus, vii. 134-136.

51.

52. A similar story is told of Antalcidas, Moralia, 217 C (1), and of Lysander, Moralia, 229 D (10), supra.

53. Cf. Moralia, 273 F; Plutarch’s Comparison of Pelopidas and Marcellus, chap. iii. (317 D); Epictetus, ii. 6. The source is doubtless Xenophon, Cyropaedia, iv. 1. 3, and Chrysantas is the man’s name.

54. For a similar sentiment, see Moralia, 233 E (27), supra.

Plutarch Apophthegmata Laconica 69

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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VARIOUS SAYINGS OF SPARTANS TO FAME UNKNOWN

Current edition Perseus

Διάφορα Τῶν ἐν Τοῖς Λάκωσιν Ἀδόξων Ἀποφθέγματα¹

Διάφορα τῶν ἐν τοῖς Λάκωσιν ἀδόξων ἀποφθέγματα

The remarkable speeches of some obscure men amongst the Spartans.

Notes on the current edition

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Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

VARIOUS SAYINGS OF SPARTANS TO FAME UNKNOWN

Current edition Perseus

Διάφορα Τῶν ἐν Τοῖς Λάκωσιν Ἀδόξων Ἀποφθέγματα 1

Διάφορα τῶν ἐν τοῖς Λάκωσιν ἀδόξων ἀποφθέγματα

The remarkable speeches of some obscure men amongst the Spartans.

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Διάφορα Τῶν ἐν Τοῖς Λάκωσιν Ἀδόξων Ἀποφθέγματα¹