Apophthegmata Laconica

Wishing to save the lives of the young men, and knowing full well that they would not submit to such treatment, he gave to each of them a secret dispatch, [*](The reference is to a well-known form of cipher message in use among the Spartans. A narrow leather thong was wrapped around a cylinder, and on the surface thus formed the message was written. When the thong was received it was applied to a duplicate cylinder kept by the recipient, and so the message was read.) and sent them to the Ephors. He conceived the desire to save also three of the grown men, but they fathomed his design, and would not submit to accepting the dispatches. [*](Cf.Moralia 866 B; and Herodotus, vii. 221, 229, 230.) One of them said,I carne with the army, not to carry messages, but to fight; and the second, I should be a better man if I stayed here; and the third, I will not be behind these, but first in the fight.