Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

When another person asked why the Spartans, in their wars, ventured boldly into danger, he said, Because we train ourselves to have regard for life and not, like others, to be timid about it.