Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Plutarch

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

Brasidas caught a mouse among some dry figs, and, getting bitten, let it go. Then, turning to those who were present, he said, There is nothing so small that it cannot save its life, if it has the courage to defend itself against those who would lay hand on it. [*](Repeated in Moralia, 79 E and 219 C, and with some variation, 208 F.)