110 LYCURGUS.

discourse to be current which did not contain in few words a great deal of useful and curious sense ; children in Sparta, by a habit of long silence, came to give just and sententious answers ; for, indeed, as loose and incon- tinent livers ai'e seldom fathers of many children, so loose and incontinent talkers seldom originate manv sen- sible words. King Agis, when some Athenian laughed at their short swords, and said that the jugglers on the stage swallowed them with ease, answered him, " We find them long enotigh to reach our enemies with ; " and as their swords were short and sharp, so, it seems to me, were their sayings. They reach the jooint and arrest the atten- tion of the hearers better than an}-. Lycurgus himself seems to have been short and sententious, if we may trust the anecdotes of him ; as appears by his answer to one who by all means would set up democracy in Lace- dajmon. " Begin, friend," said he, " and set it up in your family." Another asked him why he allowed of such mean and trivial sacrifices to the gods. He replied, " That we may always have something to offer to them." Being asked what sort of martial exercises or combats he ap- proved of, he answered, "AH sorts, except that in which you stretch out your hands." * Similar answers, addressed to his countrymen by letter, are ascribed to him ; as, being consulted how they might best oppose an invasion of their enemies, he returned this answer, " By continuing poor, and not coveting each man to be greater than his fellow." Being consulted again whether it were requi- site to enclose the city with a wall, he sent them word, " The city is well fortified which hath a wall of men in- stead of brick." But whether these letters are counterfeit or not is not easy to determine. Of their dislike to talkativeness, the following apo-

• The form of crying quarter among the ancient j.