The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they. — Plutarch Sayings of the Spartans

The Spartans do not ask how many the enemies are but where they are.

The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they.

A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?"

This expedition of the Athenians led to the first open quarrel between them and the Lacedaemonians. For the Lacedaemonians, not succeeding in storming the place, took alarm at the bold and original spirit of the Athenians. They reflected that they were aliens in race, and fearing that, if they were allowed to remain, they might be tempted by the Helots in Ithomè to change sides, they dismissed them, while they retained the other allies. But they concealed their mistrust, and merely said that they no longer needed their services.

(Book 1 Chapter 102.3)