GYRTIAS

[1] Gyrtias, when on a time Acrotatus, her grandson, in a fight with other boys received many blows, and was brought home for dead, and the family and friends were all wailing, said, Will you not stop your noise ? He has shown from what blood he was sprung. And she said that people who were good for anything should not scream, but should try to find some remedy.¹

[2] When a messenger came from Crete bringing the news of the death of Acrotatus,² she said, When he had come to the enemy, was he not bound either to be slain by them or to slay them ? It is more pleasing to hear that he died in a manner worthy of myself, his country, and his ancestors than if he had lived for all time a coward.³

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

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Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (2)

Λακαινῶν ἀποφθάγματα Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).) — 3 focus

Γυρτιάδος

[1] Γυρτιάς, Ἀκροτάτου ποτὲ τοῦ θυγατριδοῦ αὐτῆς ἔκ τινος τῶν παίδων μάχης πολλὰς πληγὰς λαβόντος καὶ ἀπενεχθέντος οἴκαδε ὡς τεθνηκότος, κλαιόντων τῶν οἰκείων τε καὶ γνωρίμων, οὐ σιωπήσετε; 240f ἔφη· ἔδειξε γὰρ οἵου αἵματος ἦν· καὶ οὐκ ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς βοᾶν ἀλλʼ ἰατρεύεσθαι.

[2] ὅτε ἄγγελος ἦλθεν ἐκ Κρήτης τὸν Ἀκροτάτου θάνατον ἀπαγγέλλων, οὐκ ἔμελλεν, ἔφη, πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἥκων ἢ αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἐκείνων ἀποθανεῖσθαι ἢ κατακανεῖν¹ ἐκείνους; ἥδιον δʼ ἀκούειν ὅτι ἀπέθανε καὶ ἑαυτῆς καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίως καὶ τῶν προγόνων, ἢ εἰ ἔζη τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον κακὸς ὤν.

Λακαινῶν ἀποφθάγματα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 3 focus

Γυρτιάδος

[1] Γυρτιάς, Ἀκροτάτου ποτὲ τοῦ θυγατριδοῦ αὐτῆς ἔκ τινος τῶν παίδων μάχης πολλὰς πληγὰς λαβόντος καὶ ἀπενεχθέντος οἴκαδε ὡς τεθνηκότος, 20 κλαιόντων τῶν οἰκείων τε καὶ γνωρίμων, οὐ σιωπήσετε; 240f ἔφη· ἔδειξε γὰρ οἵου αἵματος ἦν, καὶ οὐκ ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς βοᾶν ἀλλʼ ἰατρεύεσθαι .

[2] ὅτε ἄγγελος ἦλθεν ἐκ Κρήτης τὸν Ἀκροτάτου θάνατον ἀπαγγέλλων, οὐκ ἔμελλεν ἔφη πρὸς τοὺς 25 πολεμίους ἥκων ἢ αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἐκείνων ἀποθανεῖσθαι ἢ κατακανεῖν ¹ ἐκείνους; ἥδιον δʼ ἀκούειν ὅτι ἀπέθανε καὶ ἑαυτῆς καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίως καὶ τῶν προγόνων, ἢ εἰ ἔζη τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον κακὸς ὤν.

Notes on the current edition

Sayings of Spartan Women

1. The last sentence is borrowed from Plato, Republic, 604 c.

2. Son of Areus I., king of Sparta. He fell in battle at Megalopolis in 265 bc., but the fact that hsi father Areus had been fighting in Crete may account for the intrusion of Crete here. Pausanias (viii. 27. 11) makes a more serious error in confusing this Acrotatus with his grandfather of the same name.

3. Cf. the similar saying of a Spartan woman, quoted by Teles in Stobaeus, Florilegium, cviii. 83.

Plutarch Lacaenarum Apophthegmata 3

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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