CLEOMENES, SON OF CLEOMBROTUS
46.1
Cleomenes, the son of Cleombrotus, when someone offered him fighting cocks and said that they would die fighting for victory, said, Well then, give me some of those that kill them, for those are better than these. Cf. the note on Moralia, 191 F, supra.
LABOTAS An early king of Sparta.
47.1
Labotas, when someone spoke at very great length, said, Why, pray, such a big introduction to a small subject? For proportionate to the topic should be the words you use. Cf. the note on Moralia, 208 C (3), supra.
LEOTYCHIDAS King of Sparta in the seventh century B.C.
48.1
Leotychidas the First, when somebody remarked to him that he was very changeable, said, Yes, because of varying occasion; not like all you because of your baseness.
48.2
In answer to the man who asked how any man could best preserve his present state of good fortune, he said, By not trusting everything to chance.
48.3
Being asked what freeborn boys had best learn, he said, Those things which may help them when they become men. Cf. the note on Moralia, 213 D (67), supra.
48.4
When someone inquired for what reason the Spartans drank so little, he said,So that others may not deliberate over us, but we over others.
LEOTYCHIDAS, SON OF ARISTON Doubtless the son of Menares, Leotychidas II., king of Sparta, circa 491-469 B.C.
49.1
Leotychidas, the son of Ariston, in answer to a man who said that the sons of Demaratus were speaking ill of him, remarked, Egad, I don’t wonder; for not one of them could ever speak a good word. The same story is found in Diogenes Laertius, ii. 35 (of Socrates), and in Stobaeus, Florilegium, xix. 5 (of Plato).
49.2
When at the adjacent gate a snake had coiled around the key, and the soothsayers declared this to be a prodigy, he said, It doesn’t seem so to me, but if the key had coiled around the snake, that would be a prodigy! The saying is attributed to the others also; Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, viii. 843 ed. Potter; or iii. 18, ed. Stahlin; Cicero, De divinatione, ii. 28 (62).
