Sphaerus of Borysthenes Quotes
Sphaerus of Borysthenes was a Greek Stoic philosopher, pupil of Zeno of Citium and of Cleanthes, who later traveled to Sparta as the philosophical adviser to the reforming kings Agis IV and Cleomenes III. There he is credited with framing the educational and constitutional reforms by which the kings sought to revive the ancient discipline of the Spartan agoge as a Stoic polis in fact as well as in name. The quotes below are attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes, organized by topic.
Sphaerus of Borysthenes on Politics
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Attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes:
“The polis is a school of virtue, or it is nothing.”
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Attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes:
“Sparta of old was a city of philosophers; we may yet make it one again.”
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Attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes:
“Education shapes the citizen as the chisel shapes the stone.”
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Attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes:
“What the laws once were, the laws may yet become.”
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Attributed to Sphaerus of Borysthenes:
“The Stoic is a citizen first of the cosmos and second of his city, but he must be both.”