Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

In answer to those who said that some members of the other royal house [*](The Spartans had wo kings and consequently two royal families.) were jealous of him he said, So then, their own ill fortune will make them miserable and, besides that, the good fortune of myself and of my friends.

When someone proffered the advice that they ought to give a passage-way to those of the enemy who were fleeing, [*](This was a part of the tactics of Agesilaus according to Polyaenus, Strategemata, ii. 1. 4. Cf. Xenophon, Hellenica, iv. 2. 22 and iv. 3. 19.) he said, And how, if we do not

fight those who because of cowardice are fleeing, shall we fight those who because of bravery stand their ground?

When someone brought forward a plan, for the freedom of the Greeks, which, while not lacking idealism, was difficult to put into practice, he said, Your words, my friend, need the backing of power and money. [*](The same idea which is expressed in Moralia, 212 E (56), supra. )