Apophthegmata Laconica
Plutarch
Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).
When the ambassadors of the Samians spoke at great length, the Spartans said to them, We hae forgot the first part, and the later part we did na ken because we hae forgot the first.[*](Cf.Moralia, 216 A (15) supra. )
When a speaker extended his remarks to a great length, and then asked for answers to report to his citizens, they said, Report that you found it hard to stop speaking and we to listen. [*](Cf.Moralia, 216 A (15), supra. )
In answer to the Thebans who were disputing with them over some matters, they said, You should have less pride or more power. [*](Cf.Moralia, 218 E (8), supra. )
A Spartan, being asked why he wore his beard so very long, said, So that I may see my grey hairs and do nothing unworthy of them.
Another, in answer to the inquiry, Why do you use short swords? said, So that we may get close to the enemy.
When someone was praising the Argive warriors, a Spartan said, Yes, at Troy! [*](A thousand years before.)
Another, being told that some people after dining are forced to drink, [*](Perhaps because the reference is to the expression πρὸς βίαν πίνειν found in Alcaeus (No. 20 in Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 156), Sophocles (Frag. 669 Nauck) and Aristophanes (Acharnians, 73). Cf. also Menander, The Arbitrants, lines 4-5 (in L.C.L. p. 18) where the same words are used.) said, What, and are they forced to eat also?
When Pindar wrote, [*](Frag. No. 76 (ed. Christ).)
Athens the mainstay of Greece,a Spartan said that Greece was like to fall if it rested on any such mainstay as that!
Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted being slain by Athenians, kept repeating, Brave, brave Athenians. A Spartan cut in with, Yes, in the picture!
To a man who was listening avidly to some spitefully slanderous remarks a Spartan said, Stop being so generous with your ears against me! [*](Cf. the similar remark of Simonides quoted in Stobaeus, Florilegium, ii. 42.)
To a man who was being punished, and kept saying, I did wrong unwillingly, someone retorted, Then take your punishment unwillingly.