Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Of Mice and Men
Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans: "Agesilaus," 9 (= Moralia 208 F; tr. Frank Cole Babbitt):
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At another time he saw a mouse being dragged from a hole by a boy who had hold of him, and the mouse turned and bit the hand that held him and escaped; whereupon Agesilaus called the attention of the bystanders to this, and said, "When the smallest animal thus defends itself against those who do it wrong, consider what it becomes men to do."
Ἄλλοτε ἰδὼν μῦν ἑλκόμενον ἐκ θυρίδος ὑπὸ παιδαρίου κρατοῦντος, ἐπεὶ ὁ μῦς ἐπιστραφεὶς ἔδακε τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ κρατοῦντος καὶ ἔφυγεν, ἐπιδείξας τοῖς παροῦσιν εἶπεν, "ὅταν τὸ ἐλάχιστον ζῷον οὕτως ἀμύνηται τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας, τί τοὺς ἄνδρας προσήκει ποιεῖν λογίζεσθε."
