I heard this story a few days ago and loved it. I will likely get most of it wrong but the jist of the story will be intact.
Apparently our old mates, the Spartans, back in the old days, weren't well liked. They prided themselves on war rather than thinking, government and the search for the meaning of life. Their neighbours (Greeks, Romans etc) were all about war being the last resort, not the first reaction.
So, the Spartans had somehow annoyed one of their neighbours (I think the Greeks) to the point that they amassed an enormous. They then had this army parked on the front doorstep. By this stage, the Greeks sent an envoy to the Spartans to scare them into backing down and giving up without a fight. Their speech went something along these lines -
"If we beat you in this war with our indominable army we will kill your women and children, burn your crops, destroy your cities and leave Sparta in a state that it could never return from."
In reply, the arrogant Spartans came back with a one word response that shook the commander of the Greek forces into second thought.
"If"
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