Which famous Spartan saying urged soldiers to return from battle with their shield or on it?

“With it or on it” is the famous Spartan saying associated with returning from battle with a shield or being carried on it as a dead warrior.

The saying is traditionally attributed to Spartan mothers addressing their sons. A living soldier was expected to return carrying his shield, while a dead soldier could be carried home upon it. The phrase expresses the importance of maintaining formation, because abandoning a shield could endanger the men standing beside its owner.

The saying survives mainly through later literary traditions, especially moralizing accounts about Spartan customs. It should therefore be treated as a famous ancient anecdote rather than a surviving official military order or a universally documented everyday phrase.

The shield was central to hoplite warfare. Unlike a small personal buckler, the large round hoplon protected much of the body and also contributed to the defensive wall formed by the phalanx. Spartan culture used battlefield conduct as a measure of civic honor, linking military courage with membership in the citizen community.