Apophthegmata Laconica

Bias, caught in an ambush by Iphicrates the Athenian general, and asked by his soldiers what was to be done, said, What else except for you to save your lives and for me to die fighting?

Brasidas caught a mouse among some figs, and, when he got bitten, let it go. Then, turning to those who were present, he said, There is nothing so small that it does not save its life if it has the courage to defend itself against those who would lay hand on it. [*](Ibid. (1).)

In a battle he was wounded by a spear which pierced his shield, and, pulling the weapon out of the wound, with this very spear he slew his foe. Asked how he got his wound, he said, ’Twas when my shield turned traitor. [*](Ibid. (2).)

As he was going forth to war he wrote to the Ephors, What I wull to dae I’ll dae as regairds the war or be a deid mon.

When it came to pass that he fell in trying to win independence for the Greeks who were living in the region of Thrace, the committee which was sent to Sparta waited upon his mother Argileonis. Her first question was whether Brasidas had come to his end honourably; and when the Thracians spoke of him in the highest terms, and said that there was no other like him, she said, You have no knowledge of that, sirs, being from abroad; for Brasidas was

Damonidas, being assigned to the last place in the chorus by the director, exclaimed, Good! You have discovered, sir, how this place which is without honour may be made a place of honour. [*](See the note on Moralia, 191 F, supra. )

Damis, with reference to the instructions sent from Alexander that they should pass a formal vote deifying him, said, We concede to Alexander that, if he so wishes, he may be called a god. [*](Cf. Aelian, Varia Historia, ii. 19.)

When Philip invaded the Peloponnesus, and someone said, There is danger that the Spartans may meet a dire fate if they do not make terms with the invader, Damindas exclaimed,You poor womanish thing! What dire fate could be ours if we have no fear of death?

Dercylidas, when Pyrrhus had his army near Sparta,[*](In 272 B.C.) was sent to him as ambassador; and when Pyrrhus stated that they must receive their king Cleonymus, or they would find out that they were no braver than any of the rest, Dercylidas interrupted to say, If this man is a god, we do not fear him, for we are guilty of no wrong; but if he is a man, he is surely not superior to us.

Demaratus, when Orontes had talked to him rather haughtily and someone remarked, Orontes has treated you haughtily, Demaratus, said, He has committed no fault against me; for it is those who talk to please that do harm, not those who talk with hatred at heart.

When someone asked why they visited disgrace upon those among them who lost their shields, but did not do the same thing to those who lost their helmets or their breastplates, he said, Because these they put on for their own sake, but the shield for the common good of the whole line.

As he was listening to a musician, he said, He seems to do his silly task fairly well. [*](Cf. the similar remarks in Moralia, 220 F (6) and 234 D (42), infra. )

In a council meeting he was asked whether it was due to foolishness or lack of words that he said nothing. But a fool, said he, would not be able to hold his tongue. [*](Cf. the similar remark of Bias in Moralia, 503 F, and of Solon in Stobaeus, Florilegium, xxxiv. 15.)

When someone inquired why he was an exile from Sparta, being a king, he said, Because her laws are more powerful than I am.

When one of the Persians, by unremitting bribery, had got away from him his beloved youth, and said to him, Ho, Spartan, I have captivated your beloved, he said, Not you, I swear, but you have bought and paid for him!

When one of the Persians deserted from the king and was persuaded by Demaratus to change

In answer to a man who was a parasite of the king and often jeered at him over his exile, he said, I have no quarrel with you, my friend; for I have squandered my position in life.

Ecprepes, an Ephor, cut out with an adze two of the nine strings of Phrynis the musician, saying, Do not murder music. [*](The story is repeated in Plutarch’s Life of Agis, chap. x. (799 F), and with variaions in Moralia, 84 A, 238 C (infra); Athenaeus 636 E; Boethius, De Musica, i. 1.)