So strict in those times was the virtue of the women, and so far removed from the laxity of morals which later affected them, 1 that in the earlier days the idea of adultery among them was an incredible [p. 367] thing. There is still recalled a saying of a certain Geradatas, a Spartan of the very early times, who, on being asked by a foreigner what was done to adulterers in their country, since he saw that there had been no legislation by Lycurgus on that subject, said, ‘ Sir, there is never an adulterer in our country.’ But when the other retorted with, ‘Yes, but if there should be ?’ Geradatas said, ‘His penalty is to provide an enormous bull which by stretching his neck over Mount Taygetus can drink from the river Eurotas.’ And when the other in amazement said, ‘But how could there ever be a bull of that size ?’ Geradatas laughed and said, ‘But how could there ever be an adulterer in Sparta, in which wealth and luxury and adventitious aids to beauty are held in disesteem, and respect and good order and obedience to authority are given the highest place ?’ 2
1 Athenaeus, 142 F, quotes Phylarchus at some length regarding the degeneration of the Spartans.
2 In part this is in close agreement with Plutarch's Life of Lycurgus, chap. xv. (49 C), but the main point, which is lacking in the MSS., is usually inserted here by the editors from the Life, See the critical note 2.
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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