Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

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).)