Sayings of Spartan Women

Of the Sayings of Spartan Women the same may be said as of the Sayings of Spartans. It truly represents the work of Plutarch, and many of the sayings are repeated elsewhere in his writings; others perhaps in his writings that are now lost. Whether the sayings were collected in this form by Plutarch or by someone else is a matter of minor importance.

ARGILEONIS

Argileonis, the mother of Brasidas, when her son had met his death,At the battle of Amphipolis, 422 b.c. and some of the citizens of Amphipolis arrived at Sparta and came to her, asked if her son had met his death honourably and in a manner worthy of Sparta. And when th ey proceeded to tell of his greatness, and declared that he was the best of all the Spartans in such enterprises, she said, Sirs, my son was a gude and honourable mon, but Sparta has mony a mon better than him.Cf. the note on Moralia, 190 b, supra.

GORGOGorgo later became the wife of Leonidas.

Gorgo, daughter of king Cleomenes, when Aristagoras of Miletus was urging her father to enter upon the war against the Persian king in behalf of the Ionians, promising a vast sum of money, and, in answer to Cleomenes’ objections, making the amount larger and larger, said, Father, the miserable foreigner will be your ruin if you don’t get him out of the house pretty soon!Cf. Herodotus, v. 48-51.

Once when her father told her to give some grain to a man by way of remuneration, and added, It is because he showed me how to make the wine taste good, she said, Then, father, there will be more wine drunk, and the drinkers will become more intemperate and depraved.Cf. the note on Moralia, 218 d (4), where the same idea is attributed to Archidamus.

When she had watched Aristagoras having his shoes put on and laced by one of the servants, she said, Father, the foreigner hasn’t any hands!Cf. Diogenes Laertius, vi. 44, where Diogenes the cynic goes Gorgo one better.

When a foreigner made advances in a mild and leisurely way, she pushed him aside, saying, Get away from here, you who cannot play a woman’s part either!

Being asked by a woman from Attica, Why is it that you Spartan women are the only women that lord it over your men, she said, Because we are the only women that are mothers of men.Cf.Moralia, 227 e, supra, and the note.

As she was encouraging her husband Leonidas, when he was about to set out for Thermopylae, to show himself worthy of Sparta, she asked what she should do; and he said, Marry a good man, and bear good children.Cf.Moralia, 225 a (2), supra.

GYRTIAS

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

When a messenger came from Crete bringing the news of the death of Acrotatus,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. 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.Cf. the similar saying of a Spartan woman, quoted by Teles in Stobaeus, Florilegium, cviii. 83.

DAMATRIA

Damatria heard that her son had been a coward and unworthy of her, and when he arrived, she made away with him. This is the epigramCf. the Palatine Anthology, vii. no. 433, or W. R. Paton, The Greek Anthology (in L.C.L.), ii. p. 238. referring to her: Sinner against our laws, Damatrius, slain by his mother, Was of the Spartan youth; she was of Sparta too.