Spartans did not ask ‘how many are the enemy,’ but ‘where are they?’
In regards to degeneracy amongst the youth and new society — “wonder if they grow better or remain approximately the same.â€
The younger Agis, when Demades said that the jugglers who swallow swords use the Spartan swords because of their shortness, retorted, “But all the same the Spartans reach their enemies with their swords.”
In answer to a base man who asked repeatedly who was the best Spartan, he said, “The one most unlike you.”