Of Antalcidas. Antalcidas, when he was to be initiated in the Samothracian mysteries, and was asked by the priest what great sin he had committed in all his life, replied, If I have committed any, the Gods know it already. To an Athenian that called the Lacedaemonians illiterate he said, True; for we alone have learned no ill from you. Another Athenian saying, We have often beat you back from the Cephissus, he subjoined, Butwe never repulsed you from the Eurotas. To another demanding how one might please most men, he replied, By speaking what delights, and doing what profits them. A Sophist being about to read him an encomium of Hercules, he said, Why, who has blamed him? To Agesilaus, when he was wounded in a battle by the Thebans, he said, Sir, you have a fine reward for forcing them to learn the art of war; for, by the many skirmishes Agesilaus had with them, they learned discipline and became good soldiers. He said, The youth are the walls of Sparta, and the points of their spears its bounds. To one enquiring why the Lacedaemonians fought with such short swords, he replied, We come up close to our enemies.