Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

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

Paedaretus, when someone said that the enemy were many in number, remarked,Then we shall be the more famous, for we shall kill more men.

Seeing a certain man who was effeminate by nature, but was commended by the citizens for his moderation, he said, People should not praise men who are like to women nor women who are like to men, unless some necessity overtake the woman.

When he was not chosen as one of the three hundred, [*](Cf. Herodotus, viii. 124; Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta, 4. 3.) which was rated as the highest honour in the State, he went away cheerful and smiling; but when the Ephors called him back, and asked why he was laughing, he said, Because I congratulate

the State for having three hundred citizens better than myself. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 191 F, supra. )