Lysander
Lysander (Greek: Λύσανδρος; c. 454 BC – 395 BC) was a Spartan military commander and statesman who was one of the most important leaders of Sparta during the Peloponnesian War.
Quotes
[edit]- ᾿Απομνημονεύεται δὲ ὑπὸ ᾿Ανδροκλείδου λόγος πολλήν τινα κατηγορῶν τοῦ Λυσάνδρου περὶ τοὺς ὅρκους εὐχέρειαν. ἐκέλευε γάρ, ὥς φησι, τοὺς μὲν παῖδας ἀστραγάλοις, τοὺς δὲ ἄνδρας ὅρκοις ἐξαπατᾶν, ἀπομιμούμενος Πολυκράτη τὸν Σάμιον, οὐκ ὀρθῶς τύραννον στρατηγός, οὐδὲ Λακωνικὸν τὸ χρῆσθαι τοῖς θεοῖς ὥσπερ τοῖς πολεμίοις, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑβριστικώτερον. ὁ γὰρ ὅρκῳ παρα-κρουόμενος τὸν μὲν ἐχθρὸν ὁμολογεῖ δεδιέναι, τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ καταφρονεῖν.
- There is a saying of Lysander's, recorded by Androcleides, which makes him guilty of the greatest recklessness in the matter of oaths. It was his policy, according to this authority, "to cheat boys with knuckle-bones, but men with oaths," thus imitating Polycrates of Samos; not a proper attitude in a general towards a tyrant, nor yet a Laconian trait to treat the gods as one's enemies are treated, nay, more outrageously still; since he who overreaches his enemy by means of an oath, confesses that he fears that enemy, but despises God.
- Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Lysander", ch. 8, secs. 3–4, edited and translated by Bernadotte Perrin, The Parallel Lives, vol. 4 (London: William Heinemann, 1916) pp. 250–253
External links
[edit]
Encyclopedic article on Lysander on Wikipedia
