Lycurgus

Of their aversion to long speeches, the following apophthegms are proof. King Leonidas, when a certain one discoursed with him out of all season on matters of great concern, said: My friend, the matter urges, but not the time. Charilaüs, the nephew of Lycurgus, when asked why his uncle had made so few laws, answered: Men of few words need few laws.

Archidamidas, when certain ones found fault with Hecataeus the Sophist for saying nothing after being admitted to their public mess, answered: He who knows how, knows also when to speak. Instances of the pungent sayings not devoid of grace, of which I spoke,[*](Chapter xix. 1.) are the following. Demaratus, when a troublesome fellow was pestering him with ill-timed questions, and especially with the oft repeated query who was the best of the Spartans, answered at last: He who is least like thee.

And Agis, when certain ones were praising the Eleians for their just and honourable conduct of the Olympic games, said: And what great matter is it for the Eleians to practise righteousness one day in five years? And Theopompus, when a stranger kept saying, as he showed him kindness, that in his own city he was called a lover of Sparta, remarked: My good Sir, it were better for thee to be called a lover of thine own city.

And Pleistoanax, the son of Pausanias, when an Athenian orator declared that the Lacedaemonians had no learning, said: True, we are indeed the only Hellenes who have learned no evil from you. And Archidamus, when some one asked him how many Spartans there were, replied: Enough, good Sir, to keep evil men away.