A laconic phrase or laconism is a concision or statement, especially a and rejoinder.[ Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Synonyms, 1984, s.v. 'concise' p. 172.][Henry Percy Smith, Synonyms Discriminated (1904) p. 541.] It is named after Laconia, the region of Greece including the city of Sparta, whose ancient inhabitants had a reputation for verbal austerity and were famous for their often remarks.
Uses
A laconic phrase may be used for efficiency (as during military training and operations), for emphasis, for philosophical reasons (especially among thinkers who believe in minimalism, such as
Stoicism), or to deflate a pompous speaker.
A prominent example of a laconism involving Philip II of Macedon was reported by the historian Plutarch. After invading southern Greece and receiving the submission of other key , Philip turned his attention to Sparta and asked menacingly whether he should come as friend or foe. The reply was "Neither."[Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica, 233e 1 2.]
Losing patience, he sent the message:
If I invade Laconia, I shall turn you out.
The Spartan again replied with a single word:
If.[Plutarch, De garrulitate, 17 1 2 or 3.]
Philip proceeded to invade Laconia, devastate much of it, and eject the Spartans from various parts.
In humor
The Spartans were especially famous for their dry, understated wit
which is now known as "laconic humor". This can be contrasted with the "
Attic Greek salt" or "Attic wit" the refined, poignant, delicate humour of Sparta's chief rival,
Classical Athens.
Various groups in more recent history also have a reputation for laconic humor: Icelanders in the Icelandic Sagas,[Peter Hallberg, The Icelandic Saga, p. 115.] and, in the Anglophone world, Australians ( cf. Australian humor),
History
Spartans paid less attention than other
ancient Greeks to the development of education, arts, and literature.
[Plato, Hippias Major 285b–d.] Some view this as having contributed to the characteristically blunt Laconian speech. However,
Socrates, in
Plato's dialogue
Protagoras, appears to reject the idea that Spartans' economy with words was simply a consequence of poor literary education: "... they conceal their wisdom, and pretend to be blockheads, so that they may seem to be superior only because of their
Spartan army ... This is how you may know that I am speaking the truth and that the Spartans are the best educated in philosophy and
rhetoric: if you talk to any ordinary Spartan, he seems to be stupid, but eventually, like an expert marksman, he shoots in some brief remark that proves you to be only a child".
[ Protagoras 342b, d–e, from the translation given at the end of the section on Lycurgus in e-classics.com.] Socrates was known to have admired Spartan laws,
[Plato, Crito 52e.] as did many other Athenians,
[Plato, Republic 544c.] but modern scholars have doubted the seriousness of his attribution of a secret love of philosophy to Spartans.
[Taylor, A.E., Plato: The Man and His Work, Meridian Books, 6th ed., 1949; on p. 255 Taylor suggests Socrates is mocking, in jest, other Greeks who affect a Spartan lifestyle as the epitome of rugged manliness for not realizing their models are closet intellectuals.][Taylor, C.C.W., Plato: Protagoras, Oxford University Press, , 2009; pp. 43, 83.][Beresford, A., Plato: Protagoras and Meno, Penguin Books 2005, p. 151.; see commentary (click on "61" link).] Still, the Spartans Myson of Chenae and Chilon of Sparta have traditionally been counted among the Seven Sages of Greece; both were famous for many laconic sayings.
In general, however, Spartans were expected to be men of few words, to hold rhetoric in disdain, and to stick to the point. Loquacity was considered frivolous and unbecoming of sensible, down-to-earth Spartiate. A Spartan youth was reportedly liable to have his thumb bitten as punishment for too verbose a response to a teacher's question.
Examples
Spartan
-
A attributed to Lycurgus, the possibly legendary lawgiver of Sparta, was a response to a proposal to set up a democracy there: "Begin with your own family."
[Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 1 2 3.]
-
On another occasion, Lycurgus was reportedly asked the reason for the less-than-extravagant size of Sparta's to the gods. He replied, "So that we may always have something to offer."
-
When he was consulted on how Spartans might best forestall invasion of their homeland, Lycurgus advised, "By remaining poor, and each man not desiring to possess more than his fellow."
-
When asked whether it would be prudent to build a defensive wall enclosing the city, Lycurgus answered, "A city is well-fortified which has a wall of men instead of brick."
[Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica, 230c.])
-
Responding to a visitor who questioned why they put their fields in the hands of the helots rather than cultivate them themselves, Anaxandridas II explained, "It was not by taking care of the fields, but of ourselves, that we acquired those fields."
[Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica (Sayings of Spartans), 217a. This work may or may not be by Plutarch himself, but is included among the Moralia, a collection of works attributed to him but outside the collection of his most famous works, the Parallel Lives.]
-
King Demaratus, being pestered by someone with a question concerning who the most exemplary Spartan was, answered "He that is least like you."
-
On her husband Leonidas I's departure for battle with the Persians at Thermopylae, Gorgo, Queen of Sparta asked what she should do. He advised her: "Marry a good man and bear good children."
[Plutarch, Apophthegmata Laconica, 225a.][Plutarch, Lacaenarum Apophthegmata (Sayings of Spartan Women), 240e. This work may or may not be by Plutarch himself, but is included among the Moralia, a collection of works attributed to him but outside the collection of his most famous works, the Parallel Lives.]
-
Two examples from the Spartans (recorded by Herodotus), both concerning the Battle of Thermopylae, which have been featured in modern depictions of that battle, including the films The 300 Spartans and 300. The first is a boast from one of the Persians that when battle is joined, "our arrows will block out the sun!" The Spartans nonchalantly responded: "then we will fight in the shade." The second concerns a Persian commander's demand that the Spartans and their allies surrender and lay down their weapons. The Spartans, deployed for battle, responded: "Molon labe!"
-
In an account from Herodotus, "When the banished Samos reached Sparta, they had audience of the magistrates, before whom they made a long speech, as was natural with persons greatly in want of aid. When it was over, the Spartans averred that they could no longer remember the first half of their speech, and thus could make nothing of the remainder. Afterwards the Samians had another audience, whereat they simply said, showing a bag which they had brought with them, 'The bag wants flour.' The Spartans answered that they did not need to have said 'the bag'; however, they resolved to give them aid."
[Herodotus Histories, Book 3, section 46.]
-
Polycratidas was one of several Spartans sent on a diplomatic mission to some Persian generals, and being asked whether they came in a private or a public capacity, answered, "If we succeed, public; if not, private."
-
Following the disastrous sea battle of Cyzicus, the admiral Mindarus's first mate dispatched a succinct distress signal to Sparta. The message was intercepted by the Athenians and was recorded by Xenophon in his Hellenica: "Ships gone; Mindarus dead; the men starving; at our wits' end what to do".
[Xenophon, Hellenica .]
See also
Notes
External links
(additional examples of laconic phrases)
