Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

Eurycratidas, the son of Anaxandridas, when someone inquired why the Ephors try cases involving contracts [*](Cf. Aristotle, Politics, iii. 1, 10 (1275 b).) each day, said, So that also amid our enemies we may trust one another.

When someone inquired why they kept the laws in regard to bravery unwritten, and did not have

them written down and thus give them to the young men to read, Zeuxidamus said, Because the young ought to accustom themselves to deeds of manly valour, a better thing than to apply their mind to writings.

When a certain Aetolian asserted that, for those who are able to play the part of real men, war is better than peace, Zeuxidamus said, By Heaven, no; but for such men death is better than life.

Herondas was at Athens when a man there was found guilty on a charge of not having any occupation, [*](On the subject see Busolt, Griechische Staatskunde (Munich, 1926), p. 815.) and, when he heard of this, he bade them point out to him the man who had been convicted of the freeman’s crime! [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xxiv. (54 E). The free population of Sparta did no labour.)

Thearidas, as he was whetting his sword, was asked if it was sharp, and he replied, Sharper than slander.

Themisteas foretold to Leonidas, the king, the coming destruction both of himself and of his fellowsoldiers at Thermopylae, for he was a prophet. He was sent away by Leonidas to Sparta, on the pretext of announcing there what would come to pass, but in reality so that he should not suffer death with the rest. He, however, would not brook this, but said, I was sent out to fight, not to carry messages. [*](A somewhat different version is to be found in Moralia, 866 C. The original is in Herodotus, vii. 221, where the seer’s name is given as Megistias.)