Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
When it came to pass that he fell while trying
to win independence for the Greeks who were living within the borders of Thrace, and the envoys sent to Sparta approached his mother,[*](Argileonis (Moralia, 219 D, 270 C, infra). ) her first question was whether Brasidas had died honourably. And when the Thracians spoke of him in the highest terms, and said that there would never be another like him, she said, Ye ken naught aboot it, being from abraid; for Brasidas was e’en a guid mon, but Sparta has mony a better mon than him. [*](Repeated in Moralia, 219 D and 240 C, and in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xxv. (55 D).)Agis the king said that the Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy, but where are they. [*](Cf. Moralia, 215 D, infra.)
At Mantineia, when efforts were made to dissuade him from risking a battle with the enemy who outnumbered his own men, he said, He who would rule over many must fight with many. [*](Ibid.)
When the Eleans were commended for conducting the Olympic games honourably, he said, What wonderful feat is it if they practise justice on one day in four years ? And when these same persons were persistent in their commendation, he said, What wonder if they practise honourably an honourable thing, that is, justice ? [*](Ibid. 215 F, and Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 C).)
To a base man, who asked him many times who was the best of the Spartans, he replied, The one most unlike you. [*](Life of Lycurgus and Moralia, 216 C.)
When another man inquired about the number
of the Spartans, he said, Enough to keep away all bad men. [*](Cf. Moralia, 215 D; (5) infra; Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 D).)When another asked the same question, he said, You will think they are many, if you see them fight.
When Dionysius, the despot, sent garments of a very costly kind for Lysander’s daughters, Lysander would not accept them, saying that he was afraid that the girls would appear more ugly because of them. [*](Cf. Moralia, 141 D, 229 A, and Plutarch’s Life of Lysander, chap. ii. (434 C). The same story is told of Archidamus in Moralia, 218 E.),
To those who found fault with him for accomplishing most things through deception (a procedure which they asserted was unworthy of Heracles) he used to say in reply that where the lion’s skin does not reach it must be pieced out with the skin of the fox. [*](Cf. Moralia, 229 B; Plutarch’s Life of Lysander, chap. vii. (437 A), Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi Graeci, i. p. 30.)
When the Argives seemed to make out a better case than the Spartans about the territory in dispute, he drew his sword, and said to them, He who is master of this talks best about boundaries of land. [*](Cf. Moralia, 229 C; Life of Lysander, chap. xxii. (445 D).)
Seeing that the Spartans were reluctant to carry on the battle against the walls of the Corinthians, he said, as he saw a hare leap out of the moat, Are you afraid of such enemies as these, in whose walls hares go to sleep because of the men’s inaction ? [*](Cf. Moralia, 229 D; Life of Lysander, chap. xxii. (445 D).)
When a man from Megara used frank speech
towards him in the general council, he said, Your words need a country to back them. [*](Cf. Moralia, 71 E and 229 C; Life of Lysander, chap. xxii. (445 D). A similar remark is attributed to Agesilaus in Moralia, 212 E.)Agesilaus used to say that the inhabitants of Asia Minor were poor freemen, but good slaves. [*](Cf. Moralia, 213 C infra. The remark is attributed to Callicratidas, Moralia, 222 E, infra. Cf. also the similar sentiment recorded in Herodotus, iv. 142.)
Regarding their custom of calling the king of the Persians the Great King, he said, In what respect is he greater than I, unless he is more upright and self-restrained ? [*](Cf. Moralia, 78 D, 213 C, 545 A; Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xxiii. (608 F); also Xenophon, Agesilaus, 8. 4. A similar remark of Socrates is found in Plato, Gorgias, 470 E.)
When he was questioned about bravery and uprightness and asked which was the better, he said, We have no need of bravery if we are all upright. [*](Cf. Moralia, 213 C, infra, and Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xiii. (608 F).)
When he was about to break camp in haste by night to leave the enemy’s country, and saw his favourite youth, owing to illness, being left behind all in tears, he said, It is hard to be merciful and sensible at the same time. [*](Cf. Moralia, 209 F, infra, and Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xiii. (603 B).)
Menecrates the physician, who was addressed by the title of Zeus, wrote in a letter to him: Menecrates Zeus to King Agesilaus, health and happiness. Agesilaus wrote in reply: King Agesilaus to Menecrates, health and sanity! [*](The story is repeated in Moralia, 213 A, and in Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xxi. (607 E). Aelian, Varia Historia, xii. 51, and Athenaeus, 289 B, say that it was Philip of Macedon who thus replied to Menecrates.)
The Spartans won a victory over the Athenians and their allies at Corinth, [*](In 394 B.C.) and when he learned the number of the enemy ’s dead he exclaimed, Alas for Greece which by her ain hands has destroyed so mony men, in number eneuch to conquer all the barbarians ! [*](Cf. Moralia, 211 E, infra; Plutarch’s Life of Agesilaus, chap. xvi. (604 F); Cornelius Nepos, Agesilaus, 5. 2. The source is probably Xenophon, Agesilaus, 7. 4.)
He received an oracle from Zeus at Olympia such as he wished, and thereupon the Ephors commanded him to ask the Pythian god [*](Apollo, the son of Zeus.) about the same matter. So, when he arrived at Delphi, he asked the god if his opinion was the same as his father’s. [*](Cf. Moralia, 208 F, when the oracle at Dodona is mentioned instead of Olympia. It is probable that this story, which was related of Agesipolis by Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 7. 2, and by Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 23 (MSS. Hegisippus), has been transferred to Agesilaus.)