Apophthegmata Laconica

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

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.)

Theopompus, in answer to a man who asked how anyone could keep a kingdom most securely, said, If he concede to his friends their just share of frank speech, and, so far as lies in his power, do not suffer any of his subjects to be wronged.

In answer to a man from abroad who said that among his own citizens he was called a lover of Sparta, he said, It would be better to be called a lover of your own country than a lover of Sparta.

When the ambassador from Elis said that his citizens had sent him for the especial reason that he alone emulated the Spartan way of living, Theopompus said, Is your way of living or that of the other citizens better? And when the man said that his own was, Theopompus said, How, then, can that State be saved in which, among many citizens, only one is a good man?

When someone said that Sparta was saved through its kings, because they were competent to rule, he said, Not so, but through its citizens, because they are obedient to the rulers. [*](Cf.Moralia, 816 E, and Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xxx. (58 D).)