Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

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.

Androcleidas the Spartan, who had a crippled leg, enrolled himself among the fighting-men. And when some persons were insistent that he be not accepted because he was crippled, he said, But I do not have to run away, but to stay where I am when I fight the opposing foe. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 210 F (34), supra. )