Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

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.