Plutarch's essays and miscellanies, Vol. 1 · Plutarch
LACONIC APOPHTHEGMS; OR REMARKABLE SAYINGS OF THE SPARTANS.
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. THE REMARKABLE SPEECHES OF SOME OBSCURE MEN AMONGST THE SPARTANS.
When the Samian ambassadors had made a long harangue, the Spartans answered, We have forgot the first part, and so cannot understand the last. To the Thebans violently contesting with them about something they replied, Your spirit should be less, or your forces greater. A Lacedaemonian being asked why he kept his beard so long; That seeing my gray hairs, he replied, I may do nothing but what becomes them. One commending the best warriors, a Spartan that overheard said, At Troy. Another, hearing that some forced their guests to drink after supper, said, What! not to eat too? Pindar in his poems having called Athens the prop of Greece, a Spartan said, Greece would soon fall if it leaned on such a prop. When one, seeing the Athenians pictured killing the Spartans, said, The Athenians are stout fellows; Yes, subjoined a Spartan, in a picture. To one that was very attentive to a scandalous accusation a Spartan said, Pray, sir, be not prodigal of your ears against me. And to one under correction that cried out, I offend against my will, another said, Therefore suffer against thy will. One seeing some journeying in a chariot said, God forbid that I should sit where I cannot rise up to reverence my elders. Some Chian travellers vomiting after supper in the consistory, and dunging in the very seats of the Ephors, first they made strict inquiry whether the offenders were citizens or not; but finding they were Chians, they publicly proclaimed that they gave the Chians leave to be filthy and uncivil.
When one saw a merchant sell hard almonds at double the price that others were usually sold at, he said, Are stones scarce? Another pulling a nightingale, and finding but a very small body, said, Thou art voice and nothing else. Another Spartan, seeing Diogenes the Cynic in very cold weather embrace a brazen statue, asked whether he was not very cold; and he replying, No, he rejoined, What great matter then is it that you do? A Metapontine, being jeered by a Spartan for cowardice, replied, Nay, sir, we are masters of some of the territories of other states; Then, said the Spartan, you are not only cowards but unjust. A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, I do not believe you can do as much; True, said he, but every goose can. To one valuing himself upon his skill in oratory a Spartan said, By heaven, there never was and never can be any art without truth. An Argive saying, We have the tombs of many Spartans amongst us; a Spartan replied, But we cannot show the grave of one Argive; meaning that they had often invaded Argos, but the Argives never Sparta.
A Spartan that was taken captive and to be sold,—when the crier said, Here’s a Spartan to be sold,—stopped his mouth, saying, Cry a captive. One of the soldiers of Lysimachus, being asked by him whether he was a true Spartan or one of the Helot slaves, replied, Do you imagine a Lacedaemonian would serve you for a groat a day? The Thebans, having beaten the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra, marched to the river Eurotas itself, where one of them boasting said, Where are the Spartans now? To whom a captive replied, They are not at hand, sir, for if they had been, you had not come so far. The Athenians, having surrendered their own city to the Spartans, requested that they might be permitted to enjoy Samos only; upon which the Spartans said, When you are not at your own disposal, would you be lords of others? And hence came that proverb, He that is not master of himself begs Samos.
When the Lacedaemonians had taken a town by storm, the Ephors said, The exercise of our youth is lost, for now they will have none to contend with them. The Persian offering to raze a city that had frequent quarrels and skirmishes with the Spartans, they desired him to forbear and not take away the whetstone of their youth. They appointed no masters to instruct their boys in wrestling, that they might contend not in sleights of art and little tricks, but in strength and courage; and therefore Lysander, being asked by what means Charon was too hard for him, replied, By sleights and cunning. When Philip, having entered their territories, sent to know whether he should come as an enemy or a friend, the Spartans returned, Neither. Hearing that the ambassador they had sent to Antigonus the son of Demetrius had called him king, they fined him, though he had obtained of him in a time of scarcity a bushel of wheat for every person in the city. A vicious person giving excellent good counsel, they received it, but took it from him and attributed it to another, a man regular and of a good life. When some brothers differed, they fined the father for neglecting his sons and suffering them to be at strife.
They fined likewise a musician that came amongst them, for playing the harp with his fingers. Two boys fighting, one wounded the other mortally with a hook. And when his acquaintance, just as he was dying, vowed to revenge his death and have the blood of him that killed him; By no means, saith he, it is unjust, for I had done the same thing if I had been stout and more speedy in my stroke. Another boy, at the time when freemen’s sons are allowed to steal what they can and it is a disgrace to be discovered, when some of his companions had stolen a young fox and delivered it to him, and the owners came to search, hid it under his gown; and though the angry little beast bit through his side to his very guts, he endured it quietly, that he might not be discovered. When the searchers were gone and the boys saw what had happened, they chid him roundly, saying, It had been better to produce the fox, than thus to conceal him by losing your own life; No, no! he replied, it is much better to die in torments, than to let my softness betray me and suffer a life that had been scandalous.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.