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LEO, SON OF EURYCRATIDAS 1

When Leo, the son of Eurycratidas, was asked what kind of a city one could live in so as to live most safely, he said, ‘Where the inhabitants shall possess neither too much nor too little, and where right shall be strong and wrong shall be weak.’ [p. 347]

Seeing that the runners at Olympia were eager to gain some advantage in starting, he said, ‘How much more eager are the runners for a quick start than for fair play !’

When someone, at an inappropriate time, discoursed about some matters which were not unprofitable, he said, ‘My friend, in needless time you dwell upon the need !’ 2

1 King of Sparta in the first half of the seventh century B.C.

2 Cf. the note on Moralia, 216 F (2), supra.

Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.

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