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Plutarch · Sayings of the Spartan Women §3.1-3.2

Gyrtias on the Wounding and Death of Acrotatus

Passage 3 of 6 · Greek

Summary

Gyrtias rebukes her weeping relatives when her grandson Acrotatus is carried home severely wounded from a boys' fight, and later, upon hearing of his death in Crete, she remarks that a glorious death is far better than a lifetime of cowardice.

§3.1Γυρτιάς, Ἀκροτάτου ποτὲ τοῦ θυγατριδοῦ αὐτῆς ἔκ τινος τῶν παίδων μάχης πολλὰς πληγὰς λαβόντος καὶ ἀπενεχθέντος οἴκαδε ὡς τεθνηκότος, κλαιόντων τῶν οἰκείων τε καὶ γνωρίμων, οὐ σιωπήσετε; ἔφη· ἔδειξε γὰρ οἵου αἵματος ἦν · καὶ οὐκ ἔφη δεῖν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς βοᾶν ἀλλʼ ἰατρεύεσθαι.
Gyrtias, when once her grandson Acrotatus had received many wounds from some fight among the boys and was carried home as if dead, while his relatives and acquaintances were weeping, said, "Will you not be silent?" "For he showed of what blood he was." And she said that brave men ought not to cry out, but to be cured.
§3.2ὅτε ἄγγελος ἦλθεν ἐκ Κρήτης τὸν Ἀκροτάτου θάνατον ἀπαγγέλλων, οὐκ ἔμελλεν, ἔφη, πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους ἥκων ἢ αὐτὸς ὑπʼ ἐκείνων ἀποθανεῖσθαι ἢ κατακανεῖν ἐκείνους; ἥδιον δʼ ἀκούειν ὅτι ἀπέθανε καὶ ἑαυτῆς καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀξίως καὶ τῶν προγόνων, ἢ εἰ ἔζη τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον κακὸς ὤν.
When a messenger came from Crete announcing the death of Acrotatus, she said, "Was he not bound, when he went against the enemy, either to die himself at their hands or to slay them?" "It is more pleasant to hear that he died in a manner worthy both of myself and of the city and of his ancestors, than if he had lived all his time being a coward."

Notes

  1. 3.1οὐ σιωπήσετε; — The future indicative second person plural used with a question mark to express a strong command ("Will you not be silent?").
  2. 3.2ἑαυτῆς — The third-person singular feminine reflexive genitive. It refers to the speaker Gyrtias herself (a woman), not to the deceased Acrotatus (a man), meaning "worthy of myself".
  3. 3.2ἥδιον δʼ ἀκούειν ... ἢ εἰ ἔζη — A comparative construction introduced by the comparative adjective ἥδιον. The first part is an infinitive phrase (ἀκούειν ὅτι...), while the second part after the comparative particle ἢ is an unreal conditional clause (εἰ ἔζη), creating an asymmetrical comparison.

Cite this passage

Plutarch, Sayings of the Spartan Women §3.1-3.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg082b.humanitext-grc3:3.1-3.2

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