Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

When someone asked him why the elders continue the trials of capital cases over several days, and why, even if the defendant is acquitted, he is none the less still under indictment, he said, They take many days to decide, because, if they make an error in a capital case, there can be no reversal of

the judgement; and the accused continues, perforce, to be under indictment of the law, because, under this law, it may be possible, by deliberation, to arrive at a better decision. [*](For the fact Cf. Plato, Apology, chap. xxvii. (37 A); Thucydides, i. 132.)

Anaxander, the son of Eurycrates, when someone inquired why the Spartans did not amass money in the public treasury, said, So that those made the guardians of it may not become corrupt.

Anaxilas, in answer to the man who wondered why the Ephors did not rise and offer their places to the kings,d and this, too, although they were appointed to their position by the kings, [*](Cf. Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta, 15. 6; and Nicolaus quoted by Stobaeus, Florilegium, xliv. 41 ad fin. )said, For the very same reason that they hold the office of Ephor.