Apophthegmata Laconica
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
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
thing. There is still recalled a saying of a certain Geradatas, a Spartan of the very early times, who, on being asked by a foreigner what was done to adulterers in their country, since he saw that there had been no legislation by Lycurgus on that subject, said, Sir, there is never an adulterer in our country. But when the other retorted with, Yes, but if there should be? Geradatas said, His penalty is to provide an enormous bull which by stretching his neck over Mount Taygetus can drink from the river Eurotas. And when the other in amazement said, But how could there ever be a bull of that size? Geradatas laughed and said, But how could there ever be an adulterer in Sparta, in which wealth and luxury and adventitious aids to beauty are held in disesteem, and respect and good order and obedience to authority are given the highest place? [*](In part this is in close agreement with Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xv. (49 C), but the main point, which is lacking in the MSS., is usually inserted here by the editors from the Life, See the critical note 2.)In answer to the man who was insistent that he establish a democracy in the State Lycurgus said, Do you first create a democracy in your own house. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 189 E (2), supra. )
When someone inquired why he ordained such small and inexpensive sacrifices to the gods, he said, So that we may honour the Divine powers without ceasing. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 172 B, supra. )
As he permitted the citizens to engage only in that kind of athletic contests in which the arm is not held up, [*](As a sign of defeat; Cf. E. Norman Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, (London, 1910), p. 415.) somebody inquired what was the reason.
He replied, So that no one of the citizens shall get the habit of crying quits in the midst of a hard struggle. [*](Cf. the note on 189 E (4), supra. )When someone asked why he ordered a frequent change of camping-place, he said,So that we may inflict greater injury upon our enemies. [*](Cf. Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta, 12. 5.)
When someone sought to know why he forbade assaults on walled places, he said, So that valiant men may not suffer death at the hands of a woman or a child or some such person. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Comparison of Lysander and Sulla, 477 D. As a matter of fact, the Spartans were quite without ability to attack a walled town, as is clear from Herodotus, ix. 70, and Thucydides, i. 102.)
When some of the Thebans advised with him in regard to the sacrifice and the lamentation which they perform in honour of Leucothea, he advised them that if they regarded her as a goddess they should not bewail her, but if they looked upon her as a woman they should not offer sacrifice to her as to a goddess. [*](This saying of Xenophanes seems to have been attributed by someone to Lycurgus. Cf. Moralia, 171 E, 379 B, and 763 C; also Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 23. 27.)
In answer to some of the citizens who desired to know, How can we keep off any invasion by enemies, he said, If you remain poor, and no one of you desires to be more important than another. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xix. (52 B).)
And at another time, when they raised a question about fortifications, he said that a city is not unfortified whose crowning glory is men and not bricks and stones. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 210 E (29), supra. )
The Spartans gave particular attention to their hair, recalling a saying of Lycurgus in reference to it,
that it made the handsome more comely and the ugly more frightful. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 189 E (1), supra. )He gave instructions that in war, when they had put the enemy to flight and had gained a victory, they should continue the pursuit only far enough to make their success assured, and then return immediately; for he said that it was neither a noble trait nor a Greek trait to slay those who had yielded, and this policy was not only honourable and magnanimous, but useful as well; for the opposing army, knowing that they customarily spared those who surrendered, but made away with those who resisted, would regard it as more profitable to flee than to stay. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xxii. (54 A); Thucydides, v. 73; Polyaenus, Strategemata, i. 16. 3.)
When somebody inquired why he forbade spoiling the enemy’s dead, he said, So that the soldiers may not, by looking about covertly for spoil, neglect their fighting, but also that they may keep to their poverty as well as to their post. [*](Cf.Moralia, 224 B (16), supra. )