appointed them so trifling and of so little value, "That we might never
be in want," said he, "of something to offer him." Once more, when they
inquired of him, what sort of martial exercises he allowed of, he
answered, "All, except those in which you stretch out your hands."
Several such like replies of his are said to be taken from the letters
which he wrote to his countrymen: as to their question, "How shall we
best guard against the invasion of an enemy?"--"By continuing poor, and
not desiring in your possessions to be one above another." And to the
question, whether they should enclose Sparta with walls, "That city is
well fortified, which has a wall of men instead of brick." Whether these
and some other letters ascribed to him are genuine or not, is no easy
matter to determine. However, that they hated long speeches, the
following apophthegms are a farther proof. King Leonidas said to one
who discoursed at an improper time about affairs of some concern, "My
friend, you should not talk so much to the purpose, of what it is not to
the purpose to talk of." Charilaus, the nephew of Lycurgus, being asked
why his uncle had made so few laws, answered, "To men of few words, few
laws are sufficient." Some people finding fault with Hecataeus the
sophist, because, when admitted to one of the public repasts, he said
nothing all the time, Archidamidas replied, "He that knows how to speak,
knows also when to speak."

The manner of their repartees, which, as I said, were seasoned with
humour, may be gathered from these instances. When a troublesome fellow
was pestering Demaratus with impertinent questions, and this in
particular several times repeated, "Who is the best man in Sparta?" He
answered, "He that is least like you." To some who were commending the
Eleans for managing the Olympic games with so much justice and
propriety, Agis said, "What great matter is it, if the Eleans do justice
once in five years?" When a stranger was professing his regard for
Theopompus, and saying that his own countrymen called him Philolacon (a
lover of the Lacedaemonians), the king answered him, "My good friend, it
were much better, if they called you Philopolites" (a lover of your own
countrymen). Plistonax, the son of Pausanias, replied to an orator of
Athens, who said the Lacedaemonians had no learning. "True, for we are
the only people of Greece that have learned no ill of you." To one who
asked what number of men there was in Sparta, Archi