I'll do what I set out to do, or die.
Brasidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 3 (219d)
I'll do what I set out to do, or die.
Brasidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 3 (219d)
The source
"I'll do what I set out to do, or die." Brasidas said it in Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 3 (219d). Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
"ἅσσα δηλῶμαι πράξω κατὰ πόλεμον ἢ τεθναξοῦμαι."Original Greek, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 3 (219d). Greek: Bernardakis 1889 (Teubner) via Perseus; Letter to the ephors.
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'll do what I set out to do, or die."?
- Brasidas (8th–4th century BC). Source: Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Brasidas 3 (219d).
- What is the original Greek?
- ἅσσα δηλῶμαι πράξω κατὰ πόλεμον ἢ τεθναξοῦμαι. Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
Filed under Laconic.
Wear Brasidas
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