Plato Men
Plato, Phaedo
Plato Phaedo
Plato, Phaedrus
Plato Phaed
Plato, Protagoras
Plato Prot
Plato, Symposium
Plato Symp
Plutarch, Amatorius
Plut Amat
Plutarch, Life of Agesilaus
Plut Age
Plutarch, Life of Agis
Plut Agi
Plutarch, Life of Alcibiades
Plut Alc
Plutarch, Life of Aristides
Plut Arist
Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes
Plut Art
Plutarch, Life of Camillus
Plut Cam
Plutarch, Life of Cimon
Plut Cim
Plutarch, Life of Demosthenes
Plut Dem
Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus
Plut Lyc
Plutarch, Life of Nicias
Plut Nic
Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas
Plut Pel
Plutarch, Life of Pericles
Plut Per
Plutarch, Life of Phocion
Plut Phoc
Plutarch, Life of Themistocles
Plut Them
Plutarch, Life of Theseus
Plut Thes
Plutarch, Lives of the Ten Orators
Plut Ten Or
Plutarch, Moralia
Plut Mor
Plutarch, Precepts
Plut Pre
Plutarch, Sayings of the Spartans
Plut Sayings Spartans
Poetae Comici Graeci,
ed. Rudolf Kassel and Stephan Schröder, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 1839–
PCG
Polyaenus, Strategemata
Pol
Polybius, Histories
Polyb
Pseudo-Lucian, Erotes
Luc
Simonides, Epigrams
Sim Ep
Sophocles, Antigone
Soph Ant
Themistius, Orations
Themist
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War
Thuc
Tyrtaeus, Fragments
Tyrt Frag
Tztetzes, John, Chiliades
Tzet
Xenophon, Anabasis
Xen Ana
Xenophon, Constitution of Sparta
Xen Lac
[Xenophon], Constitution of the Athenians
Xen Con
Xenophon, Hellenica
Xen Hell
Xenophon, Memorabilia
Xen Mem
Xenophon, Oeconomicus
Xen Oec
Xenophon, On Taxation (de Vectigalibus)
Xen Vect
Xenophon, Revenues (Poroi)
Xen Por
Zenobius, Proverbs
Zen
INTRODUCTION
He took a copy with him Plut Alex 26 1–2 5.
even a woman See Samuel Butler, Authoress of the Odyssey, 1897.
“His descent was like nightfall” Hom Il 1 47–53.
“unquenchable laughter” Hom Ody Il 1 599.
“an obstinate old sinner” Ibid., 8 360f.
“Put me on earth again” For this famous episode, see Hom Il 11 465–540.
“Let your motto be, I lead” Il., 6 207–8.
“donkey who gets the better” Ibid., 11 558ff.
“the daring of a fly” Ibid., 17 570–72.
“Weighed down by his helmet” Ibid., 8 306–8.
“bright eyes” Ibid., 16 645.
“How happy I should be” Ibid., 16 97–100.
“vanished like a wisp of smoke” Ibid., 23 100ff.
“What are you saying?” Ibid., 22 177–81.
“We men are wretched things” Ibid., 24 525–26.
“Men in their generations are like the leaves” Ibid., 6 146ff.
“all the best of the Trojans were dead” Ibid., 12 13ff
1. NATIONAL HERO
The main source throughout is Plutarch’s “biography” of Theseus.
“the eldest land of Ionia” Arist Con 5 2.
“the Athenians from their splendid” Hom Il 2 546–51. If these lines were not interpolated later by some Athenian patriot.
“looked for her high and low” Plut Thes 8 2–3.
“nicknamed the Sow” Ibid., 9 1.
“nice-looking” Paus 1 19 1.
collectors of human tribute arrived I follow the most common version of the famous story of Theseus and the Minotaur. There are variants (see Plut Thes 16–17).
Their queen, Hippolyta These are the Theseus and Hippolyta in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
down into the underworld Apol E 1 24.
“conceived a wonderful and far-reaching plan” Plut Thes, 24 1.
“founded a commonwealth” Ibid., 25 1.
“They are innovators” Thuc 1 70 2.
2. A STATE OF WAR
Plutarch’s life of Lycurgus is the main source, supported by his Moralia and Xenophon’s Constitution of Sparta. Swaddling was used for the ancient Olympic Games.
The Spartan boy was terrified This story is told in Plutarch’s Moralia 234a.
“not so high as to be a landmark” Paus 3 17 1.
There would be an impression Thuc 1 10 2.
“These are our walls!” Plut Mor 210c 29.
a young Spartan was brought up For the section on the upbringing of boys, see Plut Lyc 16 1–18 and Xen Lac 2 1–4.
“of no advantage” Plut Lyc 16 2.
“obey orders” Ibid., 16 6.
“any boy who is caught” Ibid., 17 4
fearsome rite of passage Xen Lac 2 9. Pausanias, writing much later, in the first century A.D., describes a practice of scourging boys so that their blood stains the altar of Artemis Orthia (Pau 3 16 7–11). We are not sure whether this is the same ritual to which Xenophon refers—or perhaps some corrupted version of it laid on for Roman tourists.
“All this education” Xen Lac 2 7.
“The Spartan youths drink” Ath 432f. The poet was Critias of Athens (c. 460–403 B.C.).
Three choirs would perform Plut Lyc 21 2.
“For a good man to die” Tyrt Poem 10.
“Knowing how to take orders” Plut Mor 212c.
about fifteen The exact number is uncertain.
“Come back with your shield” Plut Mor 241f. Literally and laconically or “Either with this or on this,” “this” being a shield and the command “come back” being understood.