Apophthegmata Laconica

When someone said, Because of the arrows of the barbarians it is impossible to see the sun, he said, Won’t it be nice, then, if we shall have shade in which to fight them? [*](The remark is attributed to Dieneces by Herodotus, vii. 226. Cf. Stobaeus, Florilegium, vii. 46; Valerius Maximus, iii. 7, ext. 8; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 42 (101).)

When someone else said, They are near to us, he said, Then we also are near to them. [*](Cf.Moralia, 194 D, supra, and 234 B.)

When someone said, Leonidas, are you here to take such a hazardous risk with so few men against so many? he said, If you men think that I rely on numbers, then all Greece is not sufficient, for it is but a small fraction of their numbers; but if on men’s valour, then this number will do.

When another man remarked the same thing he said, In truth I am taking many if they are all to be slain. [*](Cf.Moralia, 225 A (3), supra, and 866 B.)

Xerxes wrote to him, It is possible for you, by not fighting against God but by ranging yourself on my side, to be the sole ruler of Greece. But he wrote in reply, If you had any knowledge of the noble things of life, you would refrain from coveting others’ possessions; but for me to die for Greece is better than to be the sole ruler over the people of my race.

When Xerxes wrote again, Hand over your arms, he wrote in reply, Come and take them.

He wished to engage the enemy at once, but the other commanders, in answer to his proposal, said that he must wait for the rest of the allies. Why, said he, are not all present who intend to fight? [*](Cf.Moralia, 185 F, supra. ) Or do you not realize that the only men who fight against the enemy are those who respect and revere their kings?

He bade his soldiers eat their breakfast as if they were to eat their dinner in the other world. [*](Cf. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 42 (101); Valerius Maximus, iii. 2, ext. 3.)

Being asked why the best of men prefer a glorious death to an inglorious life, he said, Because they believe the one to be Nature’s gift but the other to be within their own control.

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.

Lochagus, the father of Polyaenides and Seiron, when word was brought to him that one of his sons was dead, said, I have known this long while that he was fated to die.

Lycurgus, the lawgiver, wishing to recall the citizens from the mode of living then existent, and to lead them to a more sober and temperate order of life, and to render them good and honourable men (for they were living a soft life), reared two puppies of the same litter; and one he accustomed to dainty food, and allowed it to stay in the house; the other he took afield and trained in hunting. Later he brought them into the public assembly and put down some bones and dainty food and let loose a hare. Each of the dogs made for that to which it was accustomed, and, when the one of them had overpowered the hare, he said, You see, fellow-citizens, that these dogs belong to the same stock, but by virtue of the discipline to which they have been subjected they have turned out utterly different from each other, and you also see that training is more effective than Nature for good. [*](As in Moralia, 3 A.)

But some say that he did not bring in dogs which were of the same stock, but that one was of the breed of house dogs and the other of hunting dogs; then he trained the one of inferior stock for hunting, and the one of better stock he accustomed to dainty food. And afterwards, as each made for that to which it had become accustomed, he made it clear how much instruction contributes for better or worse, saying, So also in our case, fellow-citizens, noble birth, so admired of the multitude, and our being descended from Heracles does not bestow any advantage, unless we do the sort of things for which he was manifestly the most glorious and most noble of all mankind, and

He made a redistribution of the land, and assigned an equal share to all the citizens; and it is said that a while later, on returning from abroad, as he passed through the country, where the harvesting had just been finished, and saw the cocks of grain standing near together in even lines, he was much pleased, and said with a smile to those who were with him that it looked as if all the Spartan land belonged to many brothers who had recently divided it. [*](Related with more detail by Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus, chap. viii. (44 A).)

Having introduced the abolition of debts, he next undertook to divide equally all household furnishings, so as to do away completely with all inequality and disparity. But when he saw that the people were likely to demur about assenting to this outright spoliation, he decreed that gold and silver coin should in future have no value, and ordained that the people should use iron money only. He also limited the time within which it was lawful to exchange their present holdings for this money. When this had been done, all wrongdoing was banished from Sparta. For nobody was able to steal or to accept a bribe or to defraud or rob any more, when the result was something of which concealment was not possible, nor was its acquisition envied, nor its use without risk, nor its exportation or importation safe. As an added measure, he brought about the banishment from Sparta of everything not absolutely necessary. And, by reason of this, no merchant, no public lecturer, no soothsayer or mendicant priest, no maker of fancy articles ever made his way into

Having determined to make an attack upon the prevailing luxury, and to do away with the rivalry for riches, he instituted the common meals. And in answer to those who sought to know why he had established these, and had divided the citizens, when under arms, into small companies, he said, So that they may get their orders promptly, and, in case they cherish any radical designs, the offence may be confined to a small number; also that there may be for all an equal portion of food and drink, and so that not only in drink or food, but in bedding or furniture or anything else whatsoever, the rich man may have no advantage at all over the poor man. [*](Plutarch amplifies this account in his Life of Lycurgus, chap. x. (45 B). )

Having made wealth unenviable, since nobody could make any use or show of it, he said to his intimate friends, What a good thing it is, my friends, to show in actual practice the true characteristic of wealth, that it is blind! [*](Ibid. (45 C).)

He took good care that none should be allowed to dine at home and then come to the common meal stuffed with other kinds of food and drink. The rest of the company used to berate the man who did not drink or eat with them, because they felt that he was lacking in self-control, and was too soft for the common way of living.

The well-to-do citizens resented legislation of this type, and, banding together, they denounced him and pelted him, wishing to stone him to death. As he was being pursued, he rushed through the market-place; and he out-distanced almost all his pursuers, and gained refuge in the shrine of Athena of the Brazen House; only, as he turned around, Alcander, who was pursuing him, put out one of his eyes by a stroke of his staff. But when, later, Lycurgus received Alcander, who was handed over to him for punishment by vote of the people, he did not treat him ill nor blame him, but, by compelling him to live under the same roof with him, he brought it to pass that Alcander had only commendation for Lycurgus and for the manner of living which he had found there, and was altogether enamoured of this discipline. Lycurgus dedicated a memorial of his unhappy experience in the shrine of Athena of the Brazen House, and gave to her the added epithet of Optilletis; for the Dorians in this part of the world call the eyes optics (optilloi). [*](Plutarch tells the story more fully in his Life of Lycurgus, chap. xi. (45 D-46 A); Cf. also Aelian, Varia Historia, xiii. 23, and Stobaeus, Florilegium, xix. 13.)