Apophthegmata Laconica

Cleomenes, the son of Cleombrotus, when someone offered him fighting cocks and said that they would die fighting for victory, said, Well then, give me some of those that kill them, for those are better than these. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 191 F, supra. )

Labotas, when someone spoke at very great length, said, Why, pray, such a big introduction to a small subject? For proportionate to the topic should be the words you use. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 208 C (3), supra. )

Leotychidas the First, when somebody remarked to him that he was very changeable, said, Yes, because of varying occasion; not like all you because of your baseness.

In answer to the man who asked how any man could best preserve his present state of good fortune, he said, By not trusting everything to chance.

Being asked what freeborn boys had best learn, he said, Those things which may help them when they become men. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 213 D (67), supra. )

When someone inquired for what reason the Spartans drank so little, he said,So that others may not deliberate over us, but we over others.

Leotychidas, the son of Ariston, in answer to a man who said that the sons of Demaratus were speaking ill of him, remarked, Egad, I don’t wonder; for not one of them could ever speak a good word. [*](The same story is found in Diogenes Laertius, ii. 35 (of Socrates), and in Stobaeus, Florilegium, xix. 5 (of Plato).)

When at the adjacent gate a snake had coiled around the key, and the soothsayers declared this to be a prodigy, he said, It doesn’t seem so to me, but if the key had coiled around the snake, that would be a prodigy! [*](The saying is attributed to the others also; Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, viii. 843 ed. Potter; or iii. 18, ed. Stahlin; Cicero, De divinatione, ii. 28 (62).)

This is his retort to Philip, the priest of the Orphic mysteries, who was in the direst straits of poverty, but used to assert that those who were initiated under his rites were happy after the conclusion of this life; to him Leotychidas said, You idiot! Why then don’t you die as speedily as possible so that you may with that cease from bewailing your unhappiness and poverty? [*](Cf. Diogenes Laertius, vi. 4, where the remark is attributed to Antisthenes.)

When someone inquired why they did not dedicate to the gods the arms taken from the enemy, he said that property wrested from its owners owing to cowardice it is not good either for the young men to see, or to dedicate to the gods. [*](Cf.Moralia, 224 B (18), supra. )

When Leo, the son of Eurycratidas, was asked what kind of a city one could live in so as to live most safely, he said, Where the inhabitants shall possess neither too much nor too little, and where right shall be strong and wrong shall be weak.

Seeing that the runners at Olympia were eager to gain some advantage in starting, he said, How much more eager are the runners for a quick start than for fair play!

When someone, at an inappropriate time, discoursed about some matters which were not unprofitable, he said, My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need! [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 216 F (2), supra. )

Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and the brother of Cleomenes, in answer to a man who remarked, Except for your being king, you are no different from the rest of us, said, But if I were no better than you others, I should not be king.

His wife Gorgo inquired, at the time when he was setting forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian, if he had any instructions to give her, and he said, To marry good men and bear good children. [*](Cf.Moralia, 240 E (6), infra, and 866 B.)

When the Ephors said that he was taking but few men to Thermopylae, he said, Too many for the enterprise on which we are going. [*](Ibid. Cf. also 225 B (8 and 9), infra, and 866 B.)

And when again they said, Hae ye decided to dae aught else save to keep the barbarians from gettin’ by? Nominally that, he said, but actually expecting to die for the Greeks.

When he had arrived at Thermopylae, he said to his comrades in arms, They say that the barbarian