Apophthegmata Laconica

As he was consulting the oracle in Samothrace, the priest bade him tell what was the most lawless deed that had ever been committed by him in his lifetime. Lysander asked, Must I do this at your command or at the command of the gods? When the priest said, At the command of the gods, Lysander said, Then do you take yourself out of my way, and I will tell them in case they inquire. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 217 C (1), supra. )

When a Persian asked what kind of a government he commended most highly, he said, The government which duly awards what is fitting to both the brave and the cowardly.

In answer to a man who said that he commended him and was very fond of him, he said I have two oxen in a field, and although they

When someone was reviling him, he said, Talk right on, you miserable foreigner, talk, and don’t leave out anything if thus you may be able to empty your soul of the vicious notions with which you seem to be filled.

Some time after his death, when a dispute arose regarding a certain alliance, Agesilaus came to Lysander’s house to examine the documents in regard to this, for Lysander had kept these at his own house. Agesilaus found also a book written by Lysander in regard to the government, to this effect: that the citizens should take away the kingship from the Eurypontids and the Agiads [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 231 C (1), infra. ) and put it up for election, and make their choice from the best men, so that this high honour should belong not to those who were descended from Heracles, but to men like Heracles, who should be selected for their excellence; for it was because of such excellence that Heracles was exalted to divine honours. This document Agesilaus was bent upon publishing to the citizens, and demonstrating what kind of a citizen Lysander had been in secret, and with the purpose also of discrediting the friends of Lysander. But they say that Cratidas, who at that time was at the head of the Ephors, anxious lest, if the speech should be read, it might convert the people to this way of thinking, restrained Agesilaus and said that he ought not to disinter Lysander, but to inter the speech along with him, since it was composed with a vicious purpose and in a plausible vein. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 212 C (52), supra. )

The suitors of his daughters, when after his death he was found to be a poor man, renounced their obligations; but the Ephors punished them because when they thought he was rich they courted his favour, but when they found from his poverty that he was just and honest they disdained him. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lysander, chap. xxx. (451 A), and Aelian, Varia Historia, vi. 4, and x. 15.)

Namertes was sent as an ambassador, and when one of the people in that country congratulated him because he had many friends, he asked if this man had any sure means of testing the man of many friends; and when the other desired to learn, Namertes said, By means of misfortune. [*](Cf. John Heywood, Proverbs, part. i. chap. 11: But indeede a friend is never known till a man have neede. )

Nicander, when someone said that the Argives were speaking ill of him, said, Well then, they are paying the penalty for speaking ill of the good! [*](He was invading Argolis and laying waste the country; see Pausanias, iii. 7. 4.)

When someone inquired why the Spartans wore their hair long and cultivated beards, he said, Because for a man his own adornment is the very best and cheapest. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 189 F (3), supra. )

When one of the Athenians said, Nicander, you Spartans insist too much on your principle of doing no work, he said, Quite true; we do not make work of this thing or that thing in your haphazard fashion. [*](Cf.Moralia, 348 F and 710 F; Plato, Laws, 803 C-D. See also the note on Moralia, 221 C, supra. )

Panthoedas went on embassy to Asia and when they pointed out to him a very strong wall he said, By Heaven, strangers, fine quarters for women! [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 190 A, supra. )

When the philosophers in the Academy were conversing long and seriously, and afterwards some people asked Panthoidas how their conversation impressed him, he said, What else than serious? But there is no good in it unless you put it to use. [*](Cf.Moralia, 192 B, 220 D, and 1033 B-E.)

Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, at the time when the people of Delos were asserting their rightful claims to the island against the Athenians, and said that according to the law [*](The law seems to have been put into effect (426-425 B.C.) some years after the death of this Pausanias (468 B.C.).) which prevailed among them there were no births and no burials in the island, said, How can this be your native land in which no one of you has ever been born nor shall ever be hereafter? [*](Cf. Thucydides, iii. 104.)

When the exiles were inciting him to lead his army against the Athenians, and saying that, when his name was proclaimed at Olympia, they were the only people who hissed him, he said, What do you think that those who hissed when they were being well treated will do if they are treated ill ? [*](A similar remark is attributed to Philip of Macedon in Moralia, 143 F, 179 A, and 457 F.)

When someone inquired why the Spartans had

In answer to the man who was weak in body, but was urging that they risk a battle against the enemy by both land and sea, he said, Are you willing to strip yourself and show what kind of a man you are — you who advise us to fight?

When some people were amazed at the costliness of the raiment found among the spoils of the barbarians, he said that it would have been better for them to be themselves men of worth than to possess things of worth. [*](Cf. Plato, Laws, 870 B; Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum, vi. 1-3 (42-52). )

After the victory at Plataea over the Persians he ordered that the dinner which had been prepared for the Persians should be served to himself and his officers. As this had a wondrous sumptuousness, he said, By Heaven, the Persian was a greedy fellow who, when he had all this, came after our barley-cake. [*](Cf. Herodotus, ix. 82.)

Pausanias, the son of Pleistoanax, in answer to the question why it was not permitted to change any of the ancient laws in their country, said, Because the laws ought to have authority over the men, and not the men over the laws.

When, in Tegea, after he had been exiled, [*](In 394 B.C.) he commended the Spartans, someone said, Why did you not stay in Sparta instead of going into exile? And he said, Because physicians, too, are wont to spend their time, not among the healthy, but where the sick are. [*](Cf. the similar saying which is attributed to Aristippus in Diogenes Laertius, ii. 70.)