many miles beyond rome there was a famous country whichwe call greece.the people of greece were not united like theromans；but instead there were several states，each of which hadits own rulers.
some of the people in the southern part of the country werecalled spartans ，and they were noted for their simple habits andtheir bravery.the name of their land was laconia，and so theywere sometimes called lacons.
one of the strange rules which the spartans had，was thatthey should speak briefly，and never use more words than wereneeded，and so a short answer is often spoken of as beinglaconic；that is，as being such an answer as a lacon would belikely to give.
there was in the northern part of greece a land calledmacedon，and this land was at a time ruled over by a warlike king named philip.
philip of macedon wanted to become the master of allgreece.so he raised a great army，and made war upon the otherstates，until nearly all of them were forced to call him their king.then he sent a letter to the spartans in laconia，and said，“if i godown into your country，i will level your great city to theground.”
in a few days，an answer was brought back to him.when heopened the letter，he found only one word written there.
that word was“if”。
it was as much as to say，“we are not afraid of you so longas the little word'if'stands in your way.”
离罗马很远的地方，有一个著名的国家，我们都称它为希腊。希腊人不像罗马人那么团结，而是分成了很多个邦，每一个邦都有自己的统治者。
这个国家南部的一部分人叫做斯巴达，这里的人以习俗简朴、行为勇敢而闻名。这个地方叫拉科尼亚。因此，有时候他们被称为拉科人。
斯巴达人有些奇怪的规矩。其中之一是，说话要简练，而且从来不用不必要的多余的词儿。所以，人们对一种简短的回答往往说成了拉科人的答法，就是说拉科人是这样答复问题的。
希腊北部有一个地方，叫马其顿。这地方曾经一度被一个好战的国王菲利普所统治。
马其顿的菲利普想成为整个希腊的霸主。因此，他募集了一支大军，向其他邦开战，最后几乎所有的邦都被迫称他为王了。后来，他给拉科尼亚的斯巴达人送去了一封信。信上说，“假如我开进你们的国家，我要把你们这座大城市夷为平地。”几天以后，他收到了回信。他打开信，发现上面只写着一个词。
这个词就是“假如”。
这等于说“只要'假如’这个小小的词儿还挡着你们的路，我们就不怕你。”