Apophthegmata Laconica

It was because of this custom also that their first king Leotychidas, dining at somebody’s house [*](In Corinth, according to Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xiii. (47 C); Cf. also Moralia, 189 E, supra, and the note.) and observing the construction of the ceiling, which was expensive and embellished with panels, asked his host if timbers grew square in their country!

Being asked why he had prohibited frequent campaigns against the same foes, he said, So that they may not, by becoming accustomed to defending themselves frequently, become skilled in war. It was for this reason also that there appeared to be no slight ground for complaint against Agesilaus, who by his almost continual inroads and campaigns into Boeotia had rendered the Thebans a match for the Spartans. At any rate Antalcidas, when he saw him wounded, exclaimed, You have got a handsome reward as you deserve for your fostering care in teaching them to fight when they did not wish to fight and did not even know how. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xiii. (47 D), and Moralia, 189 D, supra, and the note.)

When someone else desired to know why he instituted strenuous exercise for the bodies of the maidens in races and wrestling and throwing the discus and javelin, he said, So that the implanted stock of their offspring, by getting a strong start in strong bodies, may attain a noble growth, and that they themselves may with vigour abide the birth of their children and readily and nobly resist the pains

When some persons expressed disapproval of the nudity of the maidens in the processions, and sought to know the reason for it, he said, So that they, by following the same practices as the men, may not be inferior to them either in bodily strength and health or in mental aspirations and qualities, and that they may despise the opinion of the crowd. Wherefore is recorded also in regard to Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, a saying to this effect: when some woman, a foreigner presumably, remarked to her, You Spartan women are the only women that lord it over your’men, she replied, Yes, for we are the only women that are mothers of men! [*](Cf.Moralia, 240 E (5) infra, and Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xiv. (47 E-48 B).)

By excluding the unmarried from looking on at the festival of the naked youth, and by laying upon them other additional disgrace, he created much concern about having children. He also deprived them of the honour and attention which the young bestowed on their elders. And nobody said a word against the remark which was made to Dercylidas, although he was a general and in high repute; for one of the younger men, as Dercylidas approached, did not rise to offer his seat, saying, No, for you are not the father of any son who will rise and offer his seat to me. [*](Ibid. chap. xv. (48 C); and Moralia, 223 A, supra. )

When someone inquired why he had made a law that girls should be given in marriage without any dowry, he said, So that some of them shall not be left unwedded because of lack of means, and some shall not be eagerly sought because of abundant wealth, but that each man, with an eye to the ways [*]( )

He set limits to the time of marriage for both men and women, and, in answer to the man who inquired about this, he said, So that the offspring may be sturdy by being sprung from mature parents. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xv. (48 D), and Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta, 1. 6.)

In answer to a man who expressed surprise because he debarred the husband from spending the nights with his wife, but ordained that he should be with his comrades most of the day and pass the whole night in their company, and visit his bride secretly and with great circumspection, he said, So that they may be strong of body and never become sated, and that they may be ever fresh in affection, and that the children which they bring into the world may be more sturdy. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xv. (48 E), and Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta, 1. 5.)

He banished perfume on the ground that it spoiled and ruined the olive oil, [*](Cf. Seneca, Quaestiones Naturales, iv. 13. 9. Perfumes in ancient times were made with a base of oil; Cf. Moralia, 127 B.) and also the dyer’s art on the ground that it was a flattery of the senses.

To all whose business was the enhancement of personal beauty he made Sparta forbidden ground, for the reason that they outraged the arts through the vileness of their art. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. ix. (p. 44 F).)

So strict in those times was the virtue of the women, and so far removed from the laxity of morals which later affected them, [*](Athenaeus, 142 F, quotes Phylarchus at some length regarding the degeneration of the Spartans.) that in the earlier days the idea of adultery among them was an incredible