Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

Thectamenes, when the Ephors condemned him to death, went away smiling. Someone among the bystanders asked him if he felt such contempt for the laws of Sparta. No, said he, but I rejoice to think that I must pay this penalty myself without begging or borrowing anything from anybody. [*](Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 42 (100).)