Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

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!