54.7
Seeing that the Boeotians were wavering at the time when he was about to pass through their country he sent to them to inquire whether he should march through their land with spears at rest or ready for action. Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lysander, chap. xxii. (445 D).
54.8
When a Megarian in the common council used plain words to him, he said, My friend, your words need a city to back them. Cf. the note on Moralia, 190 F (5), supra.
54.9
When the Corinthians had revolted and he was going through their country along by the walls and saw that the Spartans were reluctant to attack, a hare was seen leaping across the ditch, whereupon he said, Are you not ashamed, men of Sparta, to be afraid of such enemies as these, who are so slack that hares sleep in the walls of their city? Cf. the note on Moralia, 190 E (4), supra.
54.10
As he was consulting the oracle in Samothrace, the priest bade him tell what was the most lawless deed that had ever been committed by him in his lifetime. Lysander asked, Must I do this at your command or at the command of the gods? When the priest said, At the command of the gods, Lysander said, Then do you take yourself out of my way, and I will tell them in case they inquire. Cf. the note on Moralia, 217 C (1), supra.
54.11
When a Persian asked what kind of a government he commended most highly, he said, The government which duly awards what is fitting to both the brave and the cowardly.
54.12
In answer to a man who said that he commended him and was very fond of him, he said I have two oxen in a field, and although they both may utter no sound, I know perfectly well which one is lazy and which one is the worker.
54.13
When someone was reviling him, he said, Talk right on, you miserable foreigner, talk, and don’t leave out anything if thus you may be able to empty your soul of the vicious notions with which you seem to be filled.
