9 definitions
Boasting (n.) gets refuted on the battlefield: Stesilaus, so grand at his exhibition, ended watching his scythe-spear dangle from an enemy ship while both crews laughed.
A Charlatan (n.) performs for every audience except the one able to judge him: the masters of fighting in armour give Sparta a wide berth.
Courage (n.) looks greatest where it is most foolish: the soldier who holds out against the odds seems braver than the one who has counted his reinforcements.
Definition (n.) can escape a man who knows the thing perfectly well: Laches knew what courage was and still could not pin it down in words.
Eloquence (n.) from a man whose deeds don't match his words only hurts: the better he speaks, the worse Laches feels.
Harmony (n.) is best played not on a lyre but on a life: the true musician tunes his deeds to his words in the Dorian mode.
Public life (n.) costs a man his private one: the great men of Athens left sons with grand fathers to praise and nothing of their own.
Skill (n.) makes a coward rash and only shows more clearly what he is; in a brave man it turns every slip into a scandal.
Skill (n.) seems to subtract from courage: the man who dives into a well untrained is called braver than the expert diver.