Apophthegmata Laconica

Acrotatus, when his parents claimed it was his duty to co-operate with them in some unjust action, spoke in opposition up to a certain limit. But when they insisted, he said, While I was with you, I had not the slightest idea of justice; but since you have surrendered me to our country and its laws, and, besides, have had me instructed in justice and honourable conduct so far as lay in your power, I shall try to follow these rather than you. And since your wish is for me to do what is best, and since what is just is best both for a private citizen, and much more so for a ruler, I will do what you wish; but as for what you propose I shall beg to be excused. [*](Cf. a similar remark of Agesilaus, Moralia, 534 D.)

Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus, when somebody inquired how a man could best keep a kingdom secure, said, If he should not hold his own advantage too high.

When another person sought to know the reason why he did not accept gifts from the Messenians, he said, Because if I took the gifts, it would be impossible to maintain peace with impartial regard for the laws.

When someone said that he lived a straitened life while possessed of plenty of property, he said, Yes, for it is a noble thing for one who possesses much to live according to reason and not according to his desires.

Anaxandridas, the son of Leo. in answer to a man who took much to heart the sentence imposed upon him of exile from the country, said, My good sir, be not downcast at being an exile from your country but at being an exile from justice.

To a man who told the Ephors of things that were needful, but spoke at greater length than would have sufficed, he said, My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need! [*](Attributed to Leo, the father of Anaxandridas, in Moralia, 224 F (3), and to Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas, in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xx. (52 B).)

When someone inquired why they put their fields in the hands of the Helots, and did not take care of them themselves, he said, It was by not taking care of the fields, but of ourselves, that we acquired those fields.

When someone else said that high repute works injury to men and that he who is freed from this will be happy, he retorted, Then those who commit crimes would, according to your reasoning, be happy. For how could any man, in committing sacrilege or any other crime, be concerned over high repute?