his laconic way, "And yet we can reach our enemies' hearts with them."
Indeed, to me there seems to be something in this concise manner of
speaking which immediately reaches the object aimed at, and forcibly
strikes the mind of the hearer. Lycurgus himself was short and
sententious in his discourse, if we may judge by some of his answers
which are recorded; that, for instance, concerning the constitution.
When one advised him to establish a popular government in Lacedæmon,
"Go," said he, "and first make a trial of it in thy own family." That
again, concerning sacrifices to the Deity, when he was asked why he
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 Hecatæus 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."