We have subdued a great part of Asia, driven out the barbarians,
and furnished Ionia with arms. But since you command me back, I
follow, nay almost come before this epistle; for I am not governor
for myself, but for the commonwealth. And then a king truly rules
according to justice, when he is governed by the laws, the Ephors, or
others that are in authority in the commonwealth.
Passing the Hellespont, he marched through Thrace, but made no
applications to any of the barbarians, only sending to know whether he
marched through the country of an enemy or a friend. All the others
received him as friends and guided him in his march; only the Troadians
(of whom, as story says, even Xerxes bought his passage) demanded
of Agesilaus a hundred talents of silver and as many women. But he
scoffingly replied, Why then do not you come presently to receive
what you demand? And leading on his army, he fought them; and having
destroyed a considerable number, he marched through. To the king of
Macedon he sent the same question; and he replying that he would
consider of it. Let him consider, saith he, and we will be marching
on. Upon which the king, surprised at his daring temper and afraid of
his force, admitted him as a friend. The Thessalians having assisted
his enemies, he wasted their country, and sent Xenocles and Scythes to
Larissa in order to make a treaty. These being seized and detained,
all others stomached it extremely, and were of opinion that Agesilaus
should besiege and storm Larissa. But he replying that he would not
give either of their lives for all Thessaly, he had them delivered
upon articles. Hearing of a battle fought near Corinth, in which very
few of the Spartans, but many of the Corinthians, Athenians, and their
allies were slain, he did not appear joyful, or puffed up with his
victory, but fetching a deep sigh cried out, Unhappy Greece, that hath
destroyed herself men enough to have conquered all the barbarians! The
Pharsalians pressing upon him and distressing his forces with five
hundred horse, he charged them, and after the rout raised a trophy at
the foot of Narthacium. And this victory pleased him more than all the
others he had won, because with his single cavalry he had beaten those
that vaunted themselves as the best horsemen in the world. Diphridas
bringing him commands immediately upon his march to make an inroad into
Boeotia,—though he designed the same thing in a short time, when he
should be better prepared,—he obeyed, and sending for twenty thousand
men from the camp at Corinth, marched into Boeotia; and at Coronea
joining battle with the Thebans, Athenians, Argives, Corinthians, and
Locrians altogether, he won, though desperately wounded himself, the
greatest battle (as Xenophon affirms) that was fought in his age. And
yet when he returned, after so much glory and so many victories, he
made no alteration in his course of life.
When he saw some of the citizens think themselves brave fellows for
breeding horses for the race, he persuaded his sister Cunisca to
get into a chariot and put in for the prize at the Olympian games,
intending by that way to convince the Greeks that it was no argument
of bravery, but of wealth and profuse expense. Having Xenophon the
philosopher at his house, and treating him with great consideration, he
urged him to send for his children and have them brought up in Sparta,
where they might learn the most excellent of arts, how to govern and
how to be governed. And at another time being asked by what means the
Lacedaemonians flourished above others, Because, says he, they are
more studious than others how to rule and how to obey. When Lysander
was dead, he found a strong faction, which Lysander upon his return
from Asia had associated against him, and was very eager to show the
people what manner of citizen Lysander was whilst he lived. And finding
among Lysander’s papers an oration composed by Cleon of Halicarnassus,
about new designs and changing the government, which Lysander was
to speak to the people, he resolved to publish it. But when an old
politician, perusing the discourse and fearing its effect upon the
people, advised him not to dig up Lysander but rather bury the speech
with him, he followed the advice, and made no more of it. Those of the
contrary faction he did not openly molest, but by cunning contrivance
he got some of them into office, and then showed them to be rascals
when in power. And then defending them or getting their pardon when
accused, he brought them over to his own side, so that he had no enemy
at last. To one desiring him to write to his acquaintance in Asia, that
he might have justice done him, he replied, My acquaintance will do
thee justice, though I do not write. One showed him the wall of a city
strongly built and well fortified, and asked him whether he did not
think it a fine thing. Yes, by heaven, he replied, for women, but not
for men to live in. To a Megarian talking great things of his city he
said, Youth, thy words want an army.
What he saw others admire he seemed not so much as to know; and when
Callipides, a man famous among the Greeks for acting tragedies and
caressed by all, met him and saluted him, and then impudently intruding
amongst his companions showed himself, supposing that Agesilaus
would take notice of him and begin some familiar discourse, and at
last asked, Doth not your majesty know me? Have not you heard who I
am?—he looked upon him and said, Art not thou Callipides, the Merry
Andrew?[178] (For that is the name the Lacedaemonians give an actor.)
Being once desired to hear a man imitate a nightingale, he refused,
saying, I have often heard the bird itself. Menecrates the physician,
for his good success in some desperate diseases, was called Jupiter;
and priding himself in the name, he presumed to write to Agesilaus
thus: Menecrates Jupiter to King Agesilaus wisheth good health.
Reading no more, he presently wrote back: King Agesilaus to Menecrates
wisheth a sound mind.
When Conon and Pharnabazus with the king’s navy were masters of
the sea and wasted the coasts of Laconia, and Athens—Pharnabazus
defraying the charges—was surrounded with a wall, the Lacedaemonians
made a peace with the Persian; and sending Antalcidas, one of their
citizens, to Tiribazus, they agreed to deliver into the King’s hands
all the Asiatic Greeks, for whose freedom Agesilaus fought. Upon
which account Agesilaus was not at all blemished by this dishonorable
treaty; for Antalcidas was his enemy, and clapped up a peace on purpose
because the war raised Agesilaus and got him glory. When one said,
The Lacedaemonians are becoming medized, he replied, Rather the Medes
are becoming laconized. And being asked which was the better virtue,
courage or justice, he said: Courage would be good for nothing, if
there were no justice; and if all men were just, there would be no
need of courage. The Asians being wont to style the king of Persia The
Great; How, said he, is he greater than I am, if he is not more just
or temperate? And he used to say, The Greeks in Asia are mean-spirited
freemen, but stout slaves. And being asked how one might get the
greatest reputation amongst men, he replied, By speaking the best
and doing the bravest things. And he had this saying commonly in his
mouth, A commander should be daring against his enemy, and kind and
good-natured to his own soldiers. When one asked him what boys should
learn; That, said he, which they shall use when men. When he sat judge
upon a cause, the accuser spake floridly and well; but the defendant
meanly and ever now and then repeated these words, Agesilaus, a king
should assist the laws. What, said he, dost thou think, if any one dug
down thy house or took away thy coat, a mason or a weaver would assist
thee?
A letter being brought him from the king of Persia by a Persian
that came with Callias the Spartan, after the peace was concluded,
offering him friendship and kind entertainment, he would not receive
it, bidding the messenger tell the king that there was no need to
send private letters to him; for if he was a friend to Sparta and
meant well to Greece, he would do his best to be his friend; but if he
designed upon their liberty, he might know that, though he received
a thousand letters from him, he would be his enemy. He was very fond
of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got
astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being
seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he
had children of his own. When he had fought often with the Thebans
and was wounded in the battle, Antalcidas, as it is reported, said to
him: Indeed, sir, you have received a very fair reward for instructing
the Thebans, whom, when ignorant and unwilling, you have forced to
learn the art of war. For story tells us, the Lacedaemonians at that
time by frequent skirmishes had made the Thebans better soldiers than
themselves. And therefore Lycurgus, the old lawgiver, forbade them to
fight often with the same nation, lest the enemy should learn their
discipline. When he understood that the allies took it very ill, that
in their frequent expeditions they, being great in number, followed
the Spartans that were but few; designing to show their mistake about
the number, he ordered all the allies to sit down in one body and the
Lacedaemonians in another by themselves. Then he made proclamation
that all the potters should rise first; and when they stood up, the
braziers next; then the carpenters, next the masons, and so all other
traders in order. Now almost all the allies stood up and not one of the
Spartans, for their law forbids them all mechanical employments. Then
said Agesilaus, with a smile, See now how many soldiers we provide more
than you. When at the battle of Leuctra many of the Spartans fled and
upon that account were obnoxious to the laws, the Ephors, seeing the
city had but few men and stood in great need of soldiers at that time,
would free them from the infamy and yet still keep the laws in force.
Upon that account they put the power of making laws into the hands of
Agesilaus; and he coming into the assembly said, I will make no new
laws, nor will I add any thing to those you already have, nor take
therefrom, nor change them in any wise; but I will order that the laws
you already have be in force from to-morrow.
Epaminondas rushing on with a torrent and tide of force, and the
Thebans and their allies being puffed up with this victory, though he
had but an inconsiderable number, Agesilaus repulsed them from the city
and forced them to retreat. In the battle at Mantinea, he advised the
Spartans to neglect the others and fight Epaminondas only, saying: The
wise alone is the stout man, and the cause of victory; and therefore
if we take him off, we shall quickly have the rest; for they are fools
and worth nothing. And it happened accordingly; for Epaminondas having
the better of the day and the Spartans being routed, as he turned about
and encouraged his soldiers to pursue, a Lacedaemonian gave him his
death-wound. He falling, the Spartans that fled with Agesilaus rallied
and turned the victory; the Thebans appearing to have much the worse,
and the Spartans the better of the day. When Sparta had a great many
hired soldiers in pay, and wanted money to carry on the war, Agesilaus,
upon the king of Egypt’s desire, went to serve him for money. But the
meanness of his habit brought him into contempt with the people of
that country; for they, according to their bad notions of princes,
expected that the king of Sparta should appear like the Persian,
gaudily attired. But in a little time he sufficiently convinced them
that majesty and glory were to be gotten by prudence and courage. When
he found his men discouraged at the number of the enemy (for they were
200,000) and their own fewness, just before the engagement, without any
man’s privity, he contrived how to encourage them: in the hollow of his
left hand he wrote VICTORY, and taking the liver from the priest, he
put it into that hand, and held it a pretty while, pretending he was
in doubt and perplexity at some appearance, till the characters were
imprinted on the flesh; and then he showed it to the soldiers, telling
them the Gods gave certain signs of victory by these characters. Upon
which, thinking they had sure evidence of good success, they marched
resolutely to the battle. When the enemy much exceeded them in number
and were making an entrenchment round his camp, and Nectabius, whom
then he assisted, urged him to fight; I would not, said he, hinder our
enemies from making their number as small as ours. And when the trench
was almost drawn round, ordering his army to the space between, and so
fighting upon equal terms, with those few soldiers he had he routed and
killed abundance of the enemy, and sent home a great treasure. Dying
on his voyage from Egypt, he commanded his attendants not to make any
figure or representation of his body; For, said he, if I have done any
brave action, that will preserve my memory; if not, neither will a
thousand statues, the works of base mechanics.
_Of Agesipolis the Son of Cleombrotus._
Agesipolis the son of Cleombrotus, when one told him that Philip had
razed Olynthus in a few days, said, Well, but he is not able to build
such another in twice that time. To one saying that whilst he was king
he himself was an hostage with some other youths, and not their wives
or children, he replied, Very good, for it is fit we ourselves should
suffer for our own faults. When he designed to send for some whelps
from home, and one said, Sir, none must be carried out of the country,
he replied, Nor men heretofore, but now they may.
_Of Agesipolis the Son of Pausanias._
Agesipolis the son of Pausanias, when the Athenians appealed to the
Megarians as arbitrators of the differences between them, said, It is
a shame, Athenians, that those who were once the lords of all Greece
should understand what is right and just less than the people of Megara.
_Of Agis the Son of Archidamus._
Agis the son of Archidamus, when the Ephors gave orders, Go take the
youth, and follow this man into his own country, and he shall guide
thee to the very citadel, said: How can it be prudent to trust so
many youths to the fidelity of him who betrays his own country? Being
asked what art was chiefly learned in Sparta, To know, he replied,
how to govern and to be governed. He used to say, The Spartans do
not enquire how many the enemy are, but where they are. At Mantinea,
being advised not to fight the enemy, who exceeded him in number, he
said, It is necessary for him to fight a great many that would rule
a great many. To one enquiring how many the Spartans were, Enough,
he replied, to keep rascals at a distance. Marching by the walls of
Corinth, and perceiving them to be high and strong and stretching out
to a great length, he said, What women live there? To an orator that
said speech was the best thing, he rejoined, You then, when you are
silent, are worth nothing. When the Argives, after they had been once
beaten, faced him more boldly than before; on seeing many of the allies
disheartened, he said, Courage, sirs! for when we conquerors shake,
what do you think is the condition of the conquered? To an ambassador
from the Abderites, after he had ended his long speech, enquiring what
answer he should carry to his city, he replied, This: As long as you
talked, so long I quietly heard. Some commending the Eleans for exact
justice in determining the prizes at the Olympian games, he said,
What great wonder is it, that in four years they can be just one day?
To some that told him he was envied by the heirs of the other royal
family, Well, said he, their own misfortunes will torment them, and my
own and my friends’ success besides. When one advised him to give the
flying enemy room to run, he said, How shall we fight those that stand
to it and resist, if we dare not engage those whom their cowardice
makes fly? When one proposed a way to free Greece, well contrived
indeed but hard to be brought about, he said, Friend, thy words want
an army and a treasure. To one saying, Philip won’t let you set foot
upon any other part of Greece, he returned, Sir, we have room enough
in our own country. An ambassador from Perinthus to Lacedaemon, after
a long tedious speech, asking what answer he should carry back to the
Perinthians, he said, What but this?—that thou couldst hardly find
an end to thy talk, and I kept silent. He went by himself ambassador
to Philip; and Philip saying, What! but one? he replied, I am an
ambassador but to one. An old man, observing that the ancient laws
were neglected and that new evil customs crept in, said to him, when
he was now grown old himself, All things here at Sparta are turned
topsy-turvy. He replied with a joke: If it is so, it is agreeable to
reason; for when I was a boy, I heard my father say that all things
were then topsy-turvy; and he heard his father say the same; and it is
no wonder if succeeding times are worse than the preceding; but it is
a wonder if they happen to be better, or but just as good. Being asked
how a man could be always free, he replied, If he contemns death.
_Of Agis the Younger._
Agis the Younger, when Demades said, The Spartans’ swords are so short
that our jugglers can easily swallow them, replied, Yet the Spartans
can reach their enemies with these swords. A base fellow often asking
who was the bravest of the Spartans, he said, He that is most unlike
thee.
_Of Agis the Last._
Agis, the last king of Lacedaemon, being taken and condemned by the
Ephors without hearing, as he was led to the gallows, saw one of the
officers weeping. Do not weep for me, he said, who, being so unjustly,
so barbarously condemned, am in a better condition than my murderers.
And having spoken thus, he quietly submitted himself to the halter.
_Of Acrotatus._
Acrotatus, when his parents commanded him to join in some unjust
action, refused for some time; but when they grew importunate, he said:
When I was under your power I had no notion of justice, but now you
have delivered me to my country and her laws, and to the best of your
power have taught me loyalty and justice, I shall endeavor to follow
these rather than you. And since you would have me to do that which is
best, and since just actions are best for a private man and much more
for a governor, I shall do what you would have me, and refuse what you
command.
_Of Alcamenes the Son of Teleclus._
Alcamenes the son of Teleclus, being asked how a ruler might best
secure his government, replied, By slighting gain. And to another
enquiring why he refused the presents the Messenians made him he said,
Because, if I had taken them, I and the laws could never have agreed.
When one said that though he had wealth enough he lived but meanly, he
replied, Well, it is a glory for one that hath abundance to live as
reason not as appetite directs.
_Of Alexandridas._
Alexandridas, the son of Leo, said to one that was much concerned at
his banishment from the city, Good sir, be not concerned that you must
leave the city, but that you have left justice. To one that talked to
the Ephors very pertinently but a great deal too much he said, Sir,
your discourse is very good, but ill-timed. And when one asked him why
they let their Helot slaves cultivate the fields, and did not take
care of them themselves, he replied, Because we acquired our land not
caring for it but for ourselves. Another saying, Desire of reputation
causes abundance of mischief, and those are happy that are free from
it; Then, he subjoined, it follows that villains are happy; for do you
think that he that commits sacrilege or doth an injury takes any care
for credit and reputation? Another asking why in a battle the Spartans
venture so boldly into danger, Because, said he, we train ourselves
to have a reverential regard for our lives, not, as others do, to
tremble for them. Another demanding why the judges took so many days
to pass sentence in a capital cause, and why he that was acquitted
still remained liable to be brought to trial, he replied: They consult
so long, because if they make a mistake in judgment and condemn a man
to death, they cannot correct their judgment; and the accused still
remains liable, because this provision might enable them to give even a
better judgment than before.
_Of Anaxander the Son of Eurycrates._
Anaxander, the son of Eurycrates, to one asking him why the Spartans
laid up no money in the exchequer, replied, that the keepers of it
might not be tempted to be knaves.
_Of Anaxilas._
Anaxilas, when one wondered for what reason the Ephors did not rise up
to the king, since the kings made them, said, It is for the same reason
for which they are appointed Ephors (or overseers).
_Of Androclidas._
Androclidas a Spartan, being maimed in his leg, enlisted in the army;
and when some refused him because he was maimed, he said, It must not
be those that can run away, but those that can stand to it, that must
fight the enemy.
_Of Antalcidas._
Antalcidas, when he was to be initiated in the Samothracian mysteries,
and was asked by the priest what great sin he had committed in all
his life, replied, If I have committed any, the Gods know it already.
To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians illiterate he said,
True; for we alone have learned no ill from you. Another Athenian
saying, We have often beat you back from the Cephissus, he subjoined,
But we never repulsed you from the Eurotas. To another demanding how
one might please most men, he replied, By speaking what delights,
and doing what profits them. A Sophist being about to read him an
encomium of Hercules, he said, Why, who has blamed him? To Agesilaus,
when he was wounded in a battle by the Thebans, he said, Sir, you
have a fine reward for forcing them to learn the art of war; for, by
the many skirmishes Agesilaus had with them, they learned discipline
and became good soldiers. He said, The youth are the walls of Sparta,
and the points of their spears its bounds. To one enquiring why the
Lacedaemonians fought with such short swords, he replied, We come up
close to our enemies.
_Of Antiochus._
Antiochus, one of the Ephors, when he heard Philip had bestowed some
lands on the Messenians, said, Well, but hath Philip also given them
forces, that they may be able to defend his gift?
_Of Aregeus._
Aregeus, when some praised not their own but other men’s wives, said:
Faith, about virtuous women there should be no common talk; and what
beauty they have none but their own husbands should understand. As he
was walking through Selinus, a city of Sicily, he saw this epitaph upon
a tomb,—
Those that extinguished the tyrannic flame,
Surprised by war and hasty fate,
Though they are still alive in lasting fame,
Lie buried near Selinus’ gate;—
and said: You died deservedly for quenching it when already in a flame;
for you should have hindered it from coming to a blaze.
_Of Ariston._
Ariston, when one commended the saying of Cleomenes,—who, being asked
what a good king should do, replied, Good turns to his friends, and
evil to his enemies,—said: How much better is it, sir, to do good to
our friends, and make our enemies our friends! Though upon all hands it
is agreed Socrates spoke this first, yet he hath the credit of it too.
To one asking how many the Spartans were in number he replied, Enough
to chase our enemies. An Athenian making a funeral oration in praise of
those that fell by the hand of the Lacedaemonians, he said, What brave
fellows then were ours, that conquered these!
_Of Archidamidas._
Archidamidas said to one commending Charilas for being kind to all
alike, How can he deserve commendation, that is gentle to the wicked
and unjust? When one was angry with Hecataeus the Sophist because when
admitted to the public entertainment he said nothing, he said, Sir, you
seem not to understand that he that knows how to speak knows also when
to speak.
_Of Archidamus the Son of Zeuxidamus._
Archidamus the son of Zeuxidamus, when one asked him who were governors
at Sparta, replied, The laws, and the magistrates according to those
laws. To one that praised a fiddler and admired his skill he said,
How must you prize brave men, when you can give a fiddler such a
commendation! When one recommending a musician to him said, This man
plays well upon the harp, he returned, And we have this man who makes
broth well;—as if it were no more to raise pleasure and tickle with
a sound than with meats and broths. To one that promised to make his
wine sweet he said, To what purpose? for we shall spend the more, and
ruin our public mess. When he besieged Corinth, seeing some hares
started under the very walls, he said to his soldiers, Our enemies may
be easily surprised. Two choosing him arbitrator, he brought them both
into the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House, and made them swear to
stand to his determination; and when they had both sworn, he said, I
determine that you shall not go out of this temple, till you have ended
all the differences between you. Dionysius the Sicilian tyrant sending
his daughters some very rich apparel, he refused it, saying, When this
is on, I am afraid they will look ugly and deformed. When he saw his
son rashly engaging the Athenians, he said, Pray get more strength or
less spirit.
_Of Archidamus the Son of Agesilaus._
Archidamus the son of Agesilaus, when Philip after the battle at
Chaeronea sent him a haughty letter, returned this answer, If you
measure your shadow, you will find it no greater than before the
victory. And being asked how much land the Spartans possessed, he
said, As much as their spears reach. Periander, a physician, being
well skilled in his profession and of good credit, but writing very
bad poems, he said to him, Why, Periander, instead of a good physician
are you eager to be called a bad poet? In the war with Philip, when
some advised him to fight at some distance from his own country, he
replied, Let us not mind that, but whether we shall fight bravely and
beat our enemies. To some who commended him for routing the Arcadians
he said, It had been better if we had been too hard for them in policy
rather than in strength. When he invaded Arcadia, understanding that
the Eleans were ready to oppose him, he wrote thus: Archidamus to the
Eleans; It is good to be quiet. The allies in the Peloponnesian war
consulting what treasure would be sufficient to carry on the war,
and desiring to set the tax, he said, War cannot be put on a certain
allowance. As soon as ever he saw a dart shot out of an engine brought
from Sicily, he cried out, Good God! true valor is gone for ever. When
the Greeks refused to obey him or to stand to those conditions which
he had made with Antigonus and Craterus the Macedonians, but would be
free, alleging that the Spartans would prove more rigorous lords than
the Macedonians, he said: A sheep always uses the same voice, but a man
various and many, till he hath perfected his designs.
_Of Astycratidas._
Astycratidas, after Agis the king was beaten by Antigonus at
Megalopolis, was asked, What will you Spartans do? will you serve the
Macedonians? He replied, Why so, can Antipater hinder us from dying in
the defence of Sparta?
_Of Bias._
Bias being surprised by an ambush that Iphicrates the Athenian general
had laid, and his soldiers demanding what must be done, he replied, You
must provide for your own safety, and I must fight manfully and die.
_Of Brasidas._
Brasidas catching a mouse amongst some dry figs, the mouse bit him;
upon which he let her go, and said to his companions, There is nothing
so little but it may preserve itself, if it dares resist the invaders.
In a battle, being shot through the shield into the body, he drew the
dart out and with it killed the enemy. And one asking how his wound
came, he replied, By the treachery of my shield. As he was leading
forth his army, he wrote to the Ephors, I will accomplish what I
wish in this war, or I will die for it. Being killed as he fought to
free the Greeks in Thrace, the ambassadors that were sent to Sparta
to condole his loss made a visit to his mother Argileonis. And the
first question she asked was, whether Brasidas died bravely. And the
Thracians extolling him and saying there was no such man in the world;
You mistake, sir, said she, it is true, Brasidas was a good man, but
Sparta can show many who are better.
_Of Damonidas._
Damonidas, when the master of the festival set him in the lowest place
in the choral dance, said, Well, sir, you have found a way to make this
place, which was infamous before, noble and honorable.
_Of Damis._
Damis to some letters that were sent to him by Alexander, intimating
that he should vote Alexander a God, returned this answer: We are
content that Alexander (if he will) be called a God.
_Of Damindas._
Damindas, when Philip invaded Peloponnesus, and one said that the
Spartans would suffer great mischiefs unless they accepted his
proposals, said, Thou woman-man, what misery can we suffer that despise
death?
_Of Dercyllidas._
Dercyllidas, being sent ambassador to Pyrrhus,—who was then with his
army on the borders of Sparta, and required them either to receive
their king Cleonymus, or he would make them know they were no better
than other men,—replied, If he is a God, we do not fear him, for we
have committed no fault; if a man, we are as good as he.
_Of Demaratus._
Demaratus,—when Orontes talked very roughly to him, and one said,
Demaratus, Orontes uses you very roughly,—replied, I have no reason
to be angry, for those that speak to please do the mischief, not those
that talk out of malice. To one enquiring why they disgrace those
that lose their shields in a battle and not those that lose their
head-pieces or breastplates, he answered, Because these serve for
their private safety only, but their shield for the common defence and
strength of the whole army. Hearing one play upon the harp, he said,
The man seems to play the fool well. In a certain assembly, when he
was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want
of words, he replied, A fool cannot hold his tongue. When one asked
him why being king he fled Sparta, he answered, Because the laws rule
there. A Persian having by many presents enticed the boy that he loved
from him, and saying, Spartan, I have caught your love; No, faith, he
answered, but you have bought him. One having revolted from the king of
Persia, and by Demaratus’s persuasion returning again to his obedience,
and the king designing his death, Demaratus said: It is dishonorable,
O king, whilst he was an enemy not to be able to punish him for his
revolt, and to kill him now he is a friend. To a parasite of the king
that often jeered him about his exile he said: Sir, I will not fight
you, for you have lost your post in life.[179]
_Of Emprepes._
Emprepes, one of the Ephors, cut out two of the nine strings of Phrynis
the musician’s harp with a hatchet, saying, Do not abuse music.
_Of Epaenetus._
Epaenetus said that liars were the cause of all villanies and injustice
in the world.
_Of Euboidas._
Euboidas, hearing some commend another man’s wife, disliked it and
said, Strangers who are not of the house should never speak of the
manner of any woman.
_Of Eudamidas the Son of Archidamus._
Eudamidas, the son of Archidamus and brother of Agis, seeing
Xenocrates, now grown old, philosophizing in the Academy with some of
his acquaintance, asked what old man that was. And it being answered,
He is a wise man, and one of those that seek after virtue; he replied,
When will he use it, if he is seeking of it now? Another time, when
he heard a philosopher discoursing that none but a learned man could
be a good general, he said, Indeed the discourse is admirable, but
he that makes it is of no credit in this matter, for he hath never
heard a trumpet sound. Just as Xenocrates had finished his discourse,
Eudamidas came into his school, and when one of his companions said,
As soon as we came he ended; So he ought, he replied, if he had spoken
all that was needful on the subject. And the other saying, Yet it were
a pleasant thing to hear him, he replied, If we visited one that had
supped already, should we desire him to sit down again? When one asked
him why, when all the citizens voted a war with the Macedonians, he
appeared for peace, he answered, Because I have no mind to convince
them of their mistake. And when another encouraged them to this war,
mentioning their various victories over the Persians, he said, Sir, you
appear not to see that this would be as absurd as to set upon fifty
wolves because you have beaten a thousand sheep. A musician playing
very well, some asked him what manner of man he was in his opinion, and
he answered, A great seducer in a small matter. Hearing one commending
Athens, he said, Who could have reason to praise that city which no
man ever loved because he had been made better in it? An Argive saying
that the Spartans being taken from their own customs grew worse by
travel, he replied, But you, when you come into Sparta, do not return
worse, but much better. When Alexander ordered by public proclamation
in the Olympic games, that all exiles whatever, except the Thebans,
had free liberty to return to their own country, Eudamidas said: This
is a woful proclamation to you Thebans, but yet honorable; for of all
the Grecians Alexander fears only you. Being asked why before a battle
they sacrificed to the Muses, he replied, That our brave actions may be
worthily recorded.
_Of Eurycratidas the Son of Anaxandridas._
Eurycratidas the son of Anaxandridas, when one asked him why the Ephor
sat every day to determine causes about contracts, replied, That we may
learn to keep our word even with our enemies.
_Of Zeuxidamus._
Zeuxidamus, when one asked him why they did not set down all their
laws concerning bravery and courage in writing and let the young men
read them, answered, Because they should be accustomed to mind valiant
actions, rather than books and writings. An Aetolian saying that war
was better than peace for those that would be brave men, No, faith,
said he, but death is better than life.
_Of Herondas._
Herondas, when one at Athens was condemned for idleness, being informed
of it desired one to show him the man that had been convicted of so
gentlemanly an offence.
_Of Thearidas._
Thearidas whetting his sword, being asked, Is it sharp, Thearidas?
replied, Yes, sharper than a slander.
_Of Themisteas._
Themisteas the prophet foretold to King Leonidas his own and his
soldiers’ destruction at Thermopylae, and being commanded by Leonidas
to return to Sparta, under pretence of informing the state how affairs
stood, but really that he might not perish with the rest, he refused,
saying, I was sent as a soldier, not as a courier to carry news.
_Of Theopompus._
Theopompus, when one asked him how a monarch may be safe, replied, If
he will give his friends just freedom to speak the truth, and to the
best of his power not allow his subjects to be oppressed. To a guest of
his that said, In my own country I am called a lover of the Spartans,
he replied, It would be more honorable for you to be called a lover of
your citizens than a lover of the Spartans. An ambassador from Elis
saying that his city sent him because he was the only man amongst
them that admired and followed the Spartan way of living, Theopompus
asked, And pray, sir, which way is best, yours or the other citizens?
And the ambassador replying, Mine; he subjoined, How then can that
city stand, in which amongst so many inhabitants there is but one good
man? When one said that Sparta was preserved because the kings knew
how to govern; No, he replied, but because the citizens know how to be
governed. The Pylians voting him greater honors, he wrote to them thus,
Moderate honors time augments, but it defaces the immoderate.
_Of Thorycion._
Thorycion on his return from Delphi, seeing Philip’s army possessed of
the narrow passage at the Isthmus, said, Peloponnesus hath very bad
porters in you Corinthians.
_Of Thectamenes._
Thectamenes, when the Ephors condemned him to die, went away smiling;
and one of the company asked him whether he despised the judicial
proceedings of Sparta. No, said he, but I am glad that I am ordered to
pay a fine which I can pay out of my own stock, without being beholden
to any man or taking up money upon interest.
_Of Hippodamus._
Hippodamus, when Agis was joined in command with Archidamus, being sent
with Agis to Sparta to look after affairs there, said, But shall I not
die a more glorious death fighting valiantly in defence of Sparta? He
was above fourscore years of age, yet he put on his armor, fought on
the right hand of the king, and died bravely.
_Of Hippocratidas._
Hippocratidas, when the governor of Caria sent him word that he had
a Spartan in his hands who concealed a conspiracy that he was privy
to, and asked how he should deal with him, returned this answer: If
you have done him any great kindness, kill him; if not, banish him as
a base fellow, too mean-spirited to be good. A youth whom his lover
followed meeting him and blushing at the encounter, he said: You should
keep such company that, whoever sees you, you will have no reason to
change color.
_Of Callicratidas._
Callicratidas the admiral, when some of Lysander’s friends desired him
to permit them to kill one of the enemy, and offered fifty talents
for the favor, though he wanted money extremely to buy provision for
his soldiers, refused; and when Cleander urged him, and said, Sir, I
would have taken the money if I were you, he replied, So would I, were
I Cleander. When he came to Sardis to Cyrus the Younger, who was then
an ally of the Lacedaemonians, about a sum of money to equip his navy,
on the first day he ordered his officers to tell Cyrus that he desired
audience; but being told that he was drinking, Well, said he, I shall
stay till he hath done. But understanding that he could not be admitted
that day, he presently left the court, and thereupon was thought a
rude and uncivil fellow. On the next day, when he received the same
answer and could not be admitted, he said, I must not be so eager for
money as to do any thing unbecoming Sparta. And presently he returned
to Ephesus, cursing those who had first endured the insolence of the
barbarians, and had taught them to rely upon their wealth and abuse
others; and he swore to his companions that as soon as ever he came to
Sparta, he would do all that lay in his power to reconcile the Greek
states, that they might be more dreadful to the barbarians, and not
forced to seek assistance from them to ruin one another. Being asked
what manner of men the Ionians were, he replied, Bad freemen, but good
slaves. When Cyrus sent his soldiers their pay, and some particular
presents to himself, he received the pay, but sent back the presents,
saying that there was no need of any private friendship between them,
for the common league with the Lacedaemonians included him. Designing
to engage near Arginusae, when Hermon the pilot said, It is advisable
to tack about, for the Athenians exceed us in number; he exclaimed:
What then! it is base and dishonorable to Sparta to fly, but to stand
to it and die or conquer is brave and noble. As he was sacrificing
before the battle, when he heard the priest presaging that the army
would conquer but the captain fall, undauntedly he said: Sparta doth
not depend on one man; my country will receive no great loss by my
death, but a considerable one by my yielding to the enemy. And ordering
Cleander to succeed as admiral, he readily engaged, and died in the
battle.
_Of Cleombrotus the Son of Pausanias._
Cleombrotus, the son of Pausanias, when a friend of his contended with
his father which was the best man, said, Sir, my father must be better
than you, till you get a son as well as he.
_Of Cleomenes the Son of Anaxandridas._
Cleomenes, the son of Anaxandridas, was wont to say that Homer was the
poet of the Lacedaemonians, Hesiod of the Helots; for one taught the
art of war, and the other husbandry. Having made a truce for seven
days with the Argives, he watched his opportunity the third night,
and perceiving them secure and negligent by reason of the truce, he
fell upon them whilst they were asleep, killed some, and took others
prisoners. Upon this being upbraided for breach of articles, he said
that his oath did not extend to night as well as day, and to hurt a
man’s enemies any way, both before God and man, was much better than to
be just. It happened that he missed taking Argos, in hopes of which he
broke his oath; for the women taking the old arms out of the temples
defended the city. And afterwards running stark mad, he seized a knife,
and ripped himself up from the very ankles to the vital parts, and
thus died grinning and laughing. The priest advising him not to march
to Argos,—for he would be forced to a dishonorable retreat,—when he
came near the city and saw the gates shut and the women upon the walls,
he said: What, sir priests, will this be a dishonorable retreat, when,
the men being all lost, the women have shut the gates? When some of the
Argives railed at him as an impious and forsworn wretch, he said, Well,
it is in your power to rail at me, and in mine to mischief you. The
Samian ambassadors urging him to make war on the tyrant Polycrates, and
making long harangues on that account, he said: The beginning of your
speech I don’t remember, and therefore I cannot understand the middle,
and the last I don’t like. A pirate spoiling the country, and when he
was taken saying, I had no provision for my soldiers, and therefore
went to those who had store and would not give it willingly, to force
it from them; Cleomenes said, True villainy goes the shortest way to
work. A base fellow railing at him, he said, Well, I think thou railest
at everybody, that being employed to defend ourselves, we may have no
time to speak of thy baseness.
One of the citizens saying that a good king should be always mild
and gracious, True, said he, as long as he doth not make himself
contemptible. Being tormented with a long disease, he consulted the
priests and expiators, to whom he formerly gave no credit; and when a
friend of his wondered at the action, Why dost thou wonder, said he,
for I am not the same man I was then; and since I am not the same,
I do not approve the same things. A Sophist discoursing of courage,
he laughed exceedingly; and the Sophist saying, Why do you laugh,
Cleomenes, when you hear one treat of courage, especially since you are
a king? Because, sir, said he, if a swallow should discourse of it, I
should laugh; but if an eagle, I should hearken attentively.
When the Argives boasted that they would retrieve their defeat by a
new battle, he said, I wonder if the addition of two syllables[180]
has made you braver than you were before. When one railed at him, and
said, Thou art luxurious, Cleomenes; Well, he replied, that is better
than to be unjust; but thou art covetous, although thou art master of
abundance of superfluities. A friend willing to recommend a musician to
him, besides other large commendations, said he was the best musician
in all Greece. Cleomenes, pointing to one that stood by, said, Faith,
sir, that fellow is my best cook. Maeander the Samian tyrant, flying
to Sparta upon the invasion of the Persian, discovering what treasure
he had brought, and offering Cleomenes as much as he would have,
Cleomenes refused, and beside took care that he should not give any
of the citizens a farthing; but going to the Ephors, told them that
it would be good for Sparta to send that Samian guest of his out of
Peloponnesus, lest he should persuade any of the Lacedaemonians to be
a knave. And they taking his advice ordered Maeander to be gone that
very day. One asking why, since they had beaten the Argives so often,
they did not totally destroy them, he replied, That we may have some to
exercise our youth. One demanding why the Spartans did not dedicate
the spoils of their enemies to the Gods, Because, said he, they are
taken from cowards; and such things as are betrayed to us by the
cowardice of the possessors are fit neither for our youth to see, nor
to be dedicated to the Gods.
_Of Cleomenes the Son of Cleombrotus._
Cleomenes, the son of Cleombrotus, to one that presented him some
game-cocks, and said, Sir, these will die before they run, returned:
Pray let me have some of that breed which will kill these, for
certainly they are the better of the two.
_Of Labotus._
Labotus said to one that made a long discourse: Why such great
preambles to so small a matter? A speech should be no bigger than the
subject.
_Of Leotychidas._
Leotychidas the First, when one said he was very inconstant, replied,
My inconstancy proceeds from the variety of times, and not as yours
from innate baseness. And to another asking him what was the best
way to secure his present happiness, he answered, Not to trust all
to Fortune. And to another enquiring what free-born boys should
principally learn, That, said he, which will profit them when they
are grown men. And to another asking why the Spartans drink little,
he replied, That we may consult concerning others, and not others
concerning us.
_Of Leotychidas the Son of Aristo._
Leotychidas the son of Aristo, when one told him that Demaratus’s sons
spake ill of him, replied, Faith, no wonder, for not one of them can
speak well. A serpent twisting about the key of his inmost door, and
the priests declaring it a prodigy; I cannot think it so, said he, but
it had been one if the key had twisted round the serpent. To Philip, a
priest of Orpheus’s mysteries, in extreme poverty, saying that those
whom he initiated were very happy after death, he said, Why then, you
sot, don’t you die quickly, and bewail your poverty and misery no more?
_Of Leo the Son of Eucratidas._
Leo the son of Eucratidas, being asked in what city a man might live
with the greatest safety, replied, In that where the inhabitants
have neither too much nor too little; where justice is strong and
injustice weak. Seeing the racers in the Olympian games very solicitous
at starting to get some advantage of one another, he said, How much
more careful are these racers to be counted swift than just! To one
discoursing of some profitable matters out of due season he said, Sir,
you do a very good thing at a very bad time.
_Of Leonidas the Son of Anaxandridas._
Leonidas, the son of Anaxandridas and brother to Cleomenes, when one
said to him, Abating that you are king, you are no better than we,
replied, But unless I had been better than you, I had not been king.
His wife Gorgo, when he went forth to Thermopylae to fight the Persian,
asked him what command he left with her; and he replied, Marry brave
men, and bear them brave children. The Ephors saying, You lead but few
to Thermopylae; They are many, said he, considering on what design we
go. And when they again asked him whether he had any other enterprise
in his thought, he replied, I pretend to go to hinder the barbarians’
passage, but really to die fighting for the Greeks. When he was at
Thermopylae, he said to his soldiers: They report the enemy is at
hand, and we lose time; for we must either beat the barbarian or die
ourselves. And to another saying, What, the flights of the Persian
arrows will darken the very sun, he said, Therefore it will be pleasant
for us to fight in the shade. And another saying, What, Leonidas, do
you come to fight so great a number with so few?—he returned: If you
esteem number, all Greece is not able to match a small part of that
army; if courage, this number is sufficient. And to another discoursing
after the same manner he said, I have enough, since they are to be
killed. When Xerxes wrote to him thus, Sir, you may forbear to fight
against the Gods, but may follow my interest and be lord of all Greece,
he answered: If you understood wherein consisted the happiness of life,
you would not covet other men’s; but know that I would rather die for
the liberty of Greece than be a monarch over my countrymen. And Xerxes
writing to him again thus, Send me thy arms, he returned, Come and take
them. When he resolved to fall upon the enemy, and his captains of the
war told him he must stay till the forces of the allies had joined
him, he said: Do you think all those that intend to fight are not here
already? Or do you not understand that those only fight who fear and
reverence their kings? And he ordered his soldiers so to dine, as if
they were to sup in another world. And being asked why the bravest
men prefer an honorable death before an inglorious life, he replied,
Because they believe one is the gift of Nature, while the other is
peculiarly their own. Being desirous to save the striplings that were
with him, and knowing very well that if he dealt openly with them none
would accept his kindness, he gave each of them privately letters to
carry to the Ephors. He desired likewise to save three of those that
were grown men; but they having some notice of his design refused the
letters. And one of them said, I came, sir, to be a soldier, and not a
courier; and the second, I shall be a better man if here than if away;
and the third, I will not be behind these, but the first in the fight.
_Of Lochagus._
Lochagus the father of Polyaenides and Siron, when one told him one of
his sons was dead, said, I knew long ago that he must die.
_Of Lycurgus the Lawgiver._
Lycurgus the lawgiver, designing to reclaim his citizens from their
former luxury and bring them to a more sober course of life and make
them brave men (for they were then loose and delicate), bred up two
whelps of the same litter; one he kept at home, bred him tenderly, and
fed him well; but the other he taught to hunt, and used him to the
chase. Both these dogs he brought out into the public assembly, and
setting down some scraps of meat and letting go a hare at the same
time, each of the dogs ran greedily to what they had been accustomed.
And the hunter catching the hare, Lycurgus said: See, countrymen, how
these two, though of the same litter, by my breeding them are become
very different; and that custom and exercise conduces more than Nature
to make things brave and excellent. Some say that he did not bring
out two whelps of the same kind, but one a house dog and the other a
hunter; the former of which (though the baser kind) he had accustomed
to the woods, and the other (though more noble) kept lazily at home;
and when in public, each of them pursuing his usual delight, he had
given a clear evidence that education is of considerable force in
raising bad or good inclinations, he said: Therefore, countrymen, our
honorable extraction, that idol of the crowd, though from Hercules
himself, profits us little, unless we learn and exercise all our life
in such famous exploits as made him accounted the most noble and the
most glorious in the world.
When he made a division of the land, giving each man an equal portion,
it is reported that some while after, in his return from a journey, as
he past through the country in harvest time and saw the cocks of wheat
all equal and lying promiscuously, he was extremely pleased, and with
a smile said to his companions, All Sparta looks like the possession
of many loving brothers who have lately divided their estate. Having
discharged every man from his debts, he endeavored likewise to divide
all movables equally amongst all, that he might have no inequality in
his commonwealth. But seeing that the rich men would hardly endure this
open and apparent spoil, he cried down all gold and silver coin, and
ordered nothing but iron to be current; and rated every man’s estate
and defined how much it was worth upon exchange for that money. By
this means all injustice was banished Sparta; for none would steal,
none take bribes, none cheat or rob any man of that which he could
not conceal, which none would envy, which could not be used without
discovery, or carried into other countries with advantage. Besides,
this contrivance freed them from all superfluous arts; for no merchant,
Sophist, fortune-teller, or mountebank would live amongst them; no
carver, no contriver ever troubled Sparta; because he cried down all
money that was advantageous to them, and permitted none but this iron
coin, each piece of which was an Aegina pound in weight, and less
than a penny in value.[181] Designing farther to check all luxury and
greediness after wealth, he instituted public meals, where all the
citizens were obliged to eat. And when some of his friends demanded
what he designed by this institution and why he divided the citizens,
when in arms, into small companies, he replied: That they may more
easily hear the word of command; and if there are any designs against
the state, the conspiracy may join but few; and besides, that there may
be an equality in the provision, and that neither in meat nor drink,
seats, tables, or any furniture, the rich may be better provided than
the poor. When he had by this contrivance made wealth less desirable,
it being unfit both for use and show, he said to his familiars, What
a brave thing is it, my friends, by our actions to make Plutus appear
(as he is indeed) blind! He took care that none should sup at home and
afterwards, when they were full of other victuals, come to the public
entertainments; for all the rest reproached him that did not feed
with them as a glutton and of too delicate a palate for the public
provision; and when he was discovered, he was severely punished. And
therefore Agis the king, when after a long absence he returned from the
camp (the Athenians were beaten in the expedition), willing to sup at
home with his wife once, sent a servant for his allowance; the officers
refused, and the next day the Ephors fined him for the fault.
The wealthy citizens being offended at these constitutions made a
mutiny against him, abused, threw stones, and designed to kill him.
Thus pursued, he ran through the market-place towards the temple of
Minerva of the Brazen House, and reached it before any of the others;
only Alcander pursuing close struck him as he turned about, and beat
out one eye. Afterward the commonwealth delivered up this Alcander to
his mercy; but he neither inflicted any punishment nor gave him an
ill word, but kindly entertained him at his own house, and brought
him to be his friend, an admirer of his course of life, and very well
affected to all his laws. Yet he built a monument of this sad disaster
in the temple of Minerva, naming it Optiletis,—for the Dorians in that
country call eyes _optiloi_. Being asked why he used no written laws,
he replied, Because those that are well instructed are able to suit
matters to the present occasion. And another time, when some enquired
why he had ordained that the timber which roofed the houses should
be wrought with the axe only, and the doors with no other instrument
but the saw, he answered: That my citizens might be moderate in every
thing which they bring into their houses, and possess nothing which
others so much prize and value. And hence it is reported that King
Leotychides the First, supping with a friend and seeing the roof
curiously arched and richly wrought, asked him whether in that country
the trees grew square. And some demanding why he forbade them to war
often with the same nation, he replied, Lest being often forced to
stand on their defence, they should get experience and be masters of
our art. And therefore it was a great fault in Agesilaus, that by his
frequent incursions into Boeotia he made the Thebans a match for the
Lacedaemonians. And another asking why he exercised the virgins’ bodies
with racing, wrestling, throwing the bar, and the like, he answered:
That the first rooting of the children being strong and firm, their
growth might be proportionable; and that the women might have strength
to bear and more easily undergo the pains of travail, or, if necessity
should require, be able to fight for themselves, their country, and
their children. Some being displeased that the virgins went about naked
at certain solemnities, and demanding the reason of that custom, he
replied: That using the same exercises with men, they might equal them
in strength and health of body and in courage and bravery of mind, and
be above that mean opinion which the vulgar had of them. And hence goes
the story of Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, that when a stranger, a friend of
hers, said, You Spartan women alone rule men, she replied, Good reason,
for we alone bear men. By ordering that no bachelor should be admitted
a spectator of these naked solemnities and fixing some other disgrace
on them, he made them all eager to be married and get children;
besides, he deprived them of that honor and observance which the young
men were bound to pay their elders. And upon that account none can
blame what was said to Dercyllidas, though a brave captain; for as he
approached, one of the young men refused to rise up and give him place,
saying, You have not begotten any to give place to me.
When one asked him why he allowed no dowry to be given with a maid,
he answered, that none might be slighted for their poverty or courted
for their wealth, but that every one, considering the manners of the
maid, might choose for the sake of virtue. And for the same reason he
forbade all painting of the face and curiousness in dress and ornament.
To one that asked him why he made a law that before such an age neither
sex should marry, he answered, that the children might be lusty, being
born of persons of full age. And to one wondering why he would not
suffer the husband to lie all night with his wife, but commanded them
to be most of the day and all the night with their fellows, and creep
to their wives cautiously and by stealth, he said: I do it that they
may be strong in body, having never been satiated and surfeited with
pleasure; that they may be always fresh in love, and their children
more strong and lusty. He forbade all perfumes, as nothing but good
oil corrupted, and the dyer’s art, as a flatterer and enticer of the
sense; and he ejected all skilled in ornament and dressing, as those
who by their lewd devices corrupt the true arts of decency and living
well. At that time the women were so chaste and such strangers to that
lightness to which they were afterwards addicted, that adultery was
incredible; and there goes a saying of Geradatas, one of the ancient
Spartans, who being asked by a stranger what punishment the Spartans
appointed for adulterers (for Lycurgus mentioned none), he said, Sir,
we have no adulterers amongst us. And he replying, But suppose there
should be? Geradatas made the same reply; For how (said he) could there
be an adulterer in Sparta, where wealth, delicacy, and all ornaments
are disesteemed, and modesty, neatness, and obedience to the governors
only are in request? When one desired him to establish a democracy in
Sparta, he said, Pray, sir, do you first set up that form in your own
family. And to another demanding why he ordered such mean sacrifices he
answered, That we may always be able to honor the Gods. He permitted
the citizens those exercises only in which the hand is not stretched
out; and one demanding his reason, he replied, That none in any labor
may be accustomed to be weary. And another enquiring why he ordered
that in a war the camp should be often changed, he answered, That we
may damage our enemies the more. Another demanding why he forbade to
storm a castle, he said, Lest my brave men should be killed by a woman,
a boy, or some man of as mean courage.
When the Thebans asked his advice about the sacrifices and lamentation
which they instituted in honor of Leucothea, he gave them this: If you
think her a Goddess, do not lament; if a woman, do not sacrifice to her
as a Goddess. To some of the citizens enquiring, How shall we avoid
the invasions of enemies, he replied, If you are poor, and one covets
no more than another. And to others demanding why he did not wall his
city he said, That city is not unwalled which is encompassed with men
and not brick. The Spartans are curious in their hair, and tell us
that Lycurgus said, It makes the handsome more amiable, and the ugly
more terrible. He ordered that in a war they should pursue the routed
enemy so far as to secure the victory, and then retreat, saying, it was
unbecoming the Grecian bravery to butcher those that fled; and beside,
it was useful, for their enemies, knowing that they spared all that
yielded and cut in pieces the opposers, would easily conclude that it
was safer to fly than to stand stoutly to it and resist. When one asked
him why he charged his soldiers not to meddle with the spoil of their
slain enemies, he replied, Lest while they are eager on their prey they
neglect their fighting, but also that they may keep their order and
their poverty together.
_Of Lysander._
Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which
he would to carry to his daughter, said, She can choose best; and so
took both away with him. This Lysander being a very crafty fellow,
frequently using subtle tricks and notable deceits, placing all
justice and honesty in profit and advantage, would confess that truth
indeed was better than a lie, but the worth and dignity of either was
to be defined by their usefulness to our affairs. And to some that
were bitter upon him for these deceitful practices, as unworthy of
Hercules’s family, and owing his success to little mean tricks and
not plain force and open dealing, he answered with a smile, When the
lion’s skin cannot prevail, a little of the fox’s must be used. And
to others that upbraided him for breaking his oaths made at Miletus
he said, Boys must be cheated with cockal-bones, and men with oaths.
Having surprised the Athenians by an ambush near the Goat Rivers and
routed them, and afterwards by famine forced the city to surrender,
he wrote to the Ephors, Athens is taken. When the Argives were in a
debate with the Lacedaemonians about their confines and seemed to have
the better reasons on their side, drawing his sword, he said, He that
hath this is the best pleader about confines. Leading his army through
Boeotia, and finding that state wavering and not fixed on either party,
he sent to know whether he should march through their country with his
spears up or down. At an assembly of the states of Greece, when a
Megarian talked saucily to him, he said, Sir, your words want a city.
The Corinthians revolting, and he approaching to the walls that he saw
the Spartans not eager to storm, while at the same time hares were
skipping over the trenches of the town; Are not you ashamed (said he)
to be afraid of those enemies whose slothfulness suffers even hares
to sleep upon their walls? At Samothrace, as he was consulting the
oracle, the priests ordered him to confess the greatest crime he had
been guilty of in his whole life. What, said he, is this your own,
or the God’s command? And the priests replying, The God’s; said he,
Do you withdraw, and I will tell them, if they make any such demand.
A Persian asking him what polity he liked, That, he replied, which
assigns stout men and cowards suitable rewards. To one that said, Sir,
I always commend you and speak in your behalf,—Well, said he, I have
two oxen in the field, and though neither says one word, I know very
well which is the laborious and which the lazy. To one that railed at
him he said, Speak, sir, let us have it all fast, if thou canst empty
thy soul of those wicked thoughts which thou seemest full of. Some time
after his death, there happening a difference between the Spartans and
their allies, Agesilaus went to Lysander’s house to inspect some papers
that lay in his custody relating to that matter; and there found an
oration composed for Lysander concerning the government, setting forth
that it was expedient to set aside the families of the Europrotidae
and Agidae, to admit all to an equal claim, and choose their king out
of the worthiest men, that the crown might be the reward not of those
that shared in the blood of Hercules, but of those who were like him
for virtue and courage, that virtue that exalted him into a God. This
oration Agesilaus was resolved to publish, to show the Spartans how
much they were mistaken in Lysander and to discredit his friends; but
they say, Cratidas the president of the Ephors fearing this oration,
if published, would prevail upon the people, advised Agesilaus to be
quiet, telling him that he should not dig up Lysander, but rather bury
that oration with him, being so cunningly contrived, so powerful to
persuade. Those that courted his daughters, and when at his death he
appeared to be poor forsook them, the Ephors fined, because whilst they
thought him rich they caressed him, but scorned him when by his poverty
they knew him to be just and honest.
_Of Namertes._
Namertes being on an embassy, when one of that country told him he was
a happy man in having so many friends, asked him if he knew any certain
way to try whether a man had many friends or not; and the other being
earnest to be told, Namertes replied, Adversity.
_Of Nicander._
Nicander, when one told him that the Argives spake very ill of him,
said, Well, they suffer for speaking ill of good men. And to one
that enquired why they wore long hair and long beards, he answered,
Because man’s natural ornaments are the handsomest and the cheapest.
An Athenian saying, Nicander, you Spartans are extremely idle; You
say true, he answered, but we do not busy ourselves like you in every
trifle.
_Of Panthoidas._
When Panthoidas was ambassador in Asia and some showed him a strong
fortification, Faith, said he, it is a fine cloister for women. In the
Academy, when the philosophers had made a great many and excellent
discourses, and asked Panthoidas how he liked them; Indeed, said he, I
think them very good, but of no profit at all, since you yourselves do
not use them.
_Of Pausanias the Son of Cleombrotus._
Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus, when the Delians pleaded their
title to the island against the Athenians, and urged that according
to their law no women were ever brought to bed or any carcass buried
in the isle, said, How then can that be your country, in which not
one of you was born or shall ever lie? The exiles urging him to march
against the Athenians, and saying that, when he was proclaimed victor
in the Olympic games, these alone hissed; How, says he, since they
hissed whilst we did them good, what do you think they will do when
abused? When one asked him why they made Tyrtaeus the poet a citizen,
he answered, That no foreigner should be our captain. A man of a weak
and puny body advising to fight the enemy both by sea and land; Pray,
sir, says he, will you strip and show what a man you are who advise
to engage? When some amongst the spoils of the barbarians admired the
richness of their clothes; It had been better, he said, that they had
been men of worth themselves than that they should possess things
of worth. After the victory over the Medes at Plataea, he commanded
his officers to set before him the Persian banquet that was already
dressed; which appearing very sumptuous, By heaven, quoth he, the
Persian is an abominable glutton, who, when he hath such delicacies at
home, comes to eat our barley-cakes.
_Of Pausanias the Son of Plistoanax._
Pausanias the son of Plistoanax replied to one that asked him why it
was not lawful for the Spartans to abrogate any of their old laws,
Because men ought to be subject to laws, and not the laws to men. When
banished and at Tegea, he commended the Lacedaemonians. One said to
him, Why then did you not stay at Sparta? And he returned, Physicians
are conversant not amongst the healthy, but the diseased. To one
asking him how they should conquer the Thracians, he replied, If we
make the best man our captain. A physician, after he had felt his
pulse and considered his constitution, saying, He ails nothing; It
is because, sir, he replied, I use none of your physic. When one of
his friends blamed him for giving a physician an ill character, since
he had no experience of his skill nor received any injury from him;
No, faith, said he, for had I tried him, I had not lived to give this
character. And when the physician said, Sir, you are an old man; That
happens, he replied, because you were never my doctor. And he was used
to say, that he was the best physician, who did not let his patients
rot above ground, but quickly buried them.
_Of Paedaretus._
Paedaretus, when one told him the enemies were numerous, said,
Therefore we shall get the greater reputation, for we shall kill
the more. Seeing a man soft by nature and a coward commended by the
citizens for his lenity and good disposition, he said, We should not
praise men that are like women, nor women that are like men, unless
some extremity forceth a woman to stand upon her guard. When he was
not chosen into the three hundred (the chief order in the city), he
went away laughing and very jocund; and the Ephors calling him back and
asking why he laughed, Why, said he, I congratulate the happiness of
the city, that enjoys three hundred citizens better than myself.
_Of Plistarchus._
Plistarchus the son of Leonidas, to one asking him why they did not
take their names from the first kings, replied, Because the former were
rather captains than kings, but the later otherwise. A certain advocate
using a thousand little jests in his pleading; Sir, said he, you do not
consider that, as those that often wrestle are wrestlers at last, so
you by often exciting laughter will become ridiculous yourself. When
one told him that an notorious railer spoke well of him; I’ll lay my
life, said he, somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well
of no man living.
_Of Plistoanax._
Plistoanax the son of Pausanias, when an Athenian orator called the
Lacedaemonians unlearned fellows, said, ’Tis true, for we alone of all
the Greeks have not learned any ill from you.
_Of Polydorus._
Polydorus the son of Alcamenes, when one often threatened his enemies,
said to him, Do not you perceive, sir, that you waste a great part of
your revenge? As he marched his army against Messene, a friend asked
him if he would fight against his brothers? No, said he, but I put in
for an estate to which none, as yet, hath any good title. The Argives
after the fight of the three hundred being totally routed in a set
battle, the allies urged him not to let the opportunity slip, but storm
and take the city of the enemy; for it would be very easy, now all
the men were destroyed and none but women left. He replied: I love to
vanquish my enemies when I fight on equal terms; nor do I think it just
in him who was commissioned to contest about the confines of the two
states, to desire to be master of the city; for I came only to recover
our own territories and not to seize theirs. Being asked once why the
Spartans ventured so bravely in battle; Because, said he, we have
learned to reverence and not fear our leaders.
_Of Polycratidas._
Polycratidas being joined with others in an embassy to the lieutenants
of the king, being asked whether they came as private or public
persons, returned, If we obtain our demands, as public; if not, as
private.
_Of Phoebidas._
Phoebidas, just before the battle at Leuctra, when some said, This day
will show who is a brave man, replied, ’Tis a fine day indeed that can
show a brave man alive.
_Of Soos._
It is reported of Soos that, when his army was shut up by the
Clitorians in a disadvantageous strait and wanted water, he agreed to
restore all the places he had taken, if all his men should drink of the
neighboring fountain. Now the enemy had secured the spring and guarded
it. These articles being sworn to, he convened his soldiers, and
promised to give him the kingdom who would forbear drinking; but none
accepting it, he went to the water, sprinkled himself, and so departed,
whilst the enemies looked on; and he therefore refused to restore the
places, because he himself had not drunk.
_Of Telecrus._
Telecrus, to one reporting that his father spake ill of him, replied,
He would not speak so unless he had reason for it. When his brother
said, The citizens have not that kindness for me they have for you, but
use me more coarsely, though born of the same parents, he replied, You
do not know how to bear an injury, and I do. Being asked what was the
reason of that custom among the Spartans for the younger to rise up
in reverence to the elder, Because, said he, by this behavior towards
those to whom they have no relation, they may learn to reverence their
parents more. To one enquiring what wealth he had, he returned, No more
than enough.
_Of Charillus._
Charillus being asked why Lycurgus made so few laws; Because, he
replied, those whose words are few need but few laws. Another enquiring
why their virgins appear in public unveiled, and their wives veiled;
Because, said he, virgins ought to find husbands, married women keep
those they have. To a slave saucily opposing him he said, I would kill
thee if I were not angry. And being asked what polity he thought best;
That, said he, in which most of the citizens without any disturbance
contend about virtue. And to a friend enquiring why amongst them all
the images of the Gods were armed he replied, That those reproaches we
cast upon men for their cowardice may not reflect upon the Gods, and
that our youth may not supplicate the Deities unarmed.