De Heroditi malignate

Plutarch

Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. IV. Goodwin, William W., editor; A.G., translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.

Now that the Lacedaemonians might have no less share of his malice than the Athenians, behold how he bespatters Othryadas, the man most admired and honored by them. He only, says Herodotus, remaining alive of the three hundred, and ashamed to return to Sparta, his companions being lost, slew himself on the spot at Thyreae. [*](Herod. I. 82) For having before said the victory was doubtful on both sides, he here, by making Othryadas ashamed, witnesses that the Lacedaemonians were vanquished. For

it was shameful for him to survive, if conquered; but glorious, if conqueror.