Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

When someone expressed surprise to Agasicles, king of the Spartans, because, although he was very fond of reading and lectures, yet he would not admit to his presence Philophanes, a learned man, he said, I want to be a pupil of those whose son I should like to be as well.

In answer to a man who raised the question how anyone could possibly rule in safety without the protection of a bodyguard, he said, If one rules his subjects as fathers rule their sons. [*](Cf. Homer, Od. ii. 47.)