Apophthegmata Laconica

An ambassador who had come from Perinthus to Sparta made a long harangue; and when he had stopped speaking and asked Agis what report he should make to the people of Perinthus, Agis said, What else except that it was hard for you to stop speaking, and that I said nothing? [*](Cf.Moralia, 232 E (2), infra. )

He came alone on an embassy to Philip, and when Philip exclaimed, What is this? Have you come all alone?, he said, Yes, for I came to only one man. [*](This remark also must be assigned to the younger Agis, Cf. Moralia, 233 (29), infra, and 511 A, where an unnamed Spartan makes this retort to Demetrius.)

When one of the elderly men said to him in his old age, inasmuch as he saw the good old customs falling into desuetude, and other mischievous prae tices creeping in, that for this reason everything was getting to be topsy-turvy in Sparta, Agis said humorously, Things are then but following a logical course if that is what is happening; for when I was a boy, I used to hear from my father that everything was topsy-turvy among them; and my father said that,

Being asked how one could be a free man all his life, he said, By feeling contempt for death. [*](Cf.Moralia, 210 F (35), supra. )

The younger Agis, when Demades said that the jugglers who swallow swords use the Spartan swords because of their shortness, retorted, But all the same the Spartans reach their enemies with their swords. [*](Cf. the note on 191 E (1).)

In answer to a base man who asked repeatedly who was the best Spartan, he said, The one most unlike you. [*](Cf. the note on 190 D (4).)

Agis, the last of the kings of Sparta, was arrested as the result of treachery and condemned by the Ephors without a trial. As he was being led away to the halter he saw one of the officers weeping, and said, Stop your weeping for me, man. For in spite of my being put to death in such defiance of law and justice, I am superior to those who are taking my life. With these words he willingly offered his neck for the noose. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Agis, chaps. xix.-xx. (p. 803 C).)

Acrotatus, when his parents claimed it was his duty to co-operate with them in some unjust action, spoke in opposition up to a certain limit. But when they insisted, he said, While I was with you, I had not the slightest idea of justice; but since you have surrendered me to our country and its laws, and, besides, have had me instructed in justice and honourable conduct so far as lay in your power, I shall try to follow these rather than you. And since your wish is for me to do what is best, and since what is just is best both for a private citizen, and much more so for a ruler, I will do what you wish; but as for what you propose I shall beg to be excused. [*](Cf. a similar remark of Agesilaus, Moralia, 534 D.)

Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus, when somebody inquired how a man could best keep a kingdom secure, said, If he should not hold his own advantage too high.

When another person sought to know the reason why he did not accept gifts from the Messenians, he said, Because if I took the gifts, it would be impossible to maintain peace with impartial regard for the laws.

When someone said that he lived a straitened life while possessed of plenty of property, he said, Yes, for it is a noble thing for one who possesses much to live according to reason and not according to his desires.

Anaxandridas, the son of Leo. in answer to a man who took much to heart the sentence imposed upon him of exile from the country, said, My good sir, be not downcast at being an exile from your country but at being an exile from justice.

To a man who told the Ephors of things that were needful, but spoke at greater length than would have sufficed, he said, My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need! [*](Attributed to Leo, the father of Anaxandridas, in Moralia, 224 F (3), and to Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas, in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 B).)

When someone inquired why they put their fields in the hands of the Helots, and did not take care of them themselves, he said, It was by not taking care of the fields, but of ourselves, that we acquired those fields.

When someone else said that high repute works injury to men and that he who is freed from this will be happy, he retorted, Then those who commit crimes would, according to your reasoning, be happy. For how could any man, in committing sacrilege or any other crime, be concerned over high repute?

When another person asked why the Spartans, in their wars, ventured boldly into danger, he said, Because we train ourselves to have regard for life and not, like others, to be timid about it.

When someone asked him why the elders continue the trials of capital cases over several days, and why, even if the defendant is acquitted, he is none the less still under indictment, he said, They take many days to decide, because, if they make an error in a capital case, there can be no reversal of

Anaxander, the son of Eurycrates, when someone inquired why the Spartans did not amass money in the public treasury, said, So that those made the guardians of it may not become corrupt.