This is what Lampon,
thinking to please, said. Pausanias, however,
answered him as follows: “Aeginetan, I thank you
for your goodwill and forethought, but you have missed the mark of right
judgment. First you exalt me and my fatherland and my deeds, yet next you
cast me down to mere nothingness when you advise me to insult the dead, and
say that I shall win more praise if I do so. That would be an act more
proper for barbarians than for Greeks and one
that we consider worthy of censure even in barbarians.
No, as for myself, I would prefer to find no favor either with the people of
+Aegina [23.433,37.75]
(inhabited place), Aegina, Attica, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece,
Europe Aegina or anyone else who is pleased by such acts.
It is enough for me if I please the Spartans by
righteous deeds and speech. As for Leonidas, whom
you would have me avenge, I think that he has received a full measure of
vengeance; the uncounted souls of these that you see have done honor to him
and the rest of those who died at +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus)
Thermopylae. But to you this is my warning: do not come
again to me with words like these nor give me such counsel. Be thankful now
that you go unpunished.”