I came to fight, not to carry messages.
The Spartans, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 15 (225e)
I came to fight, not to carry messages.
The Spartans, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 15 (225e)
The source
"I came to fight, not to carry messages." The Spartans said it in Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 15 (225e). Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
"οὐ κῆρυξ ἀλλὰ μαχητὰς ἀκολούθησα"Original Greek, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 15 (225e). Greek: Bernardakis 1889 (Teubner) via Perseus; One of the Three Hundred, refusing Leonidas' order to leave with dispatches.
Who said it
The Spartans (8th–4th century BC). Laconic sayings from Lycurgus, Leonidas, Dienekes and the mothers of Sparta, recorded by Herodotus and Plutarch.
Questions
- Who said "I came to fight, not to carry messages."?
- The Spartans (8th–4th century BC). Source: Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 15 (225e).
- What is the original Greek?
- οὐ κῆρυξ ἀλλὰ μαχητὰς ἀκολούθησα. Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
Filed under Laconic.
Wear the Spartans
Blot out the sun? Good. We'll fight in the shade.
Dienekes, Herodotus, Histories 7.226
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With it or on it.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women 241f
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Sword too short? Take one step closer.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 18 (241f)
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They're close? Then so are we.
Leonidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 7 (225b)
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More from The Spartans
- With it or on it.Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women 241f
- Come and take them.Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans 225c
- Blot out the sun? Good. We'll fight in the shade.Herodotus, Histories 7.226
- If.Plutarch, On Talkativeness 511a
- Fortify people, not walls.Epictetus, Fragment 45
- You gave me a violent young man. I give you back a good citizen.Epictetus, Fragment 67