Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

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

has come near and is comin’ on while we are wastin’ time. Truth, soon we shall either kill the barbarians, or else we are bound to be killed oursel’s.