They looked
to him for orders, obeyed his commands, and endured his punishments, so
that even in childhood they learned to obey. The elder men watched them
at their play, and by instituting fights and trials of strength,
carefully learned which was the bravest and most enduring. They learned
their letters, because they are necessary, but all the rest of their
education was meant to teach them to obey with cheerfulness, to endure
labours, and to win battles. As they grew older their training became
more severe; they were closely shorn, and taught to walk unshod and to
play naked. They wore no tunic after their twelfth year, but received
one garment for all the year round. They were necessarily dirty, as they
had no warm baths and ointments, except on certain days, as a luxury.
They slept all together in troops and companies, on beds of rushes which
they themselves had picked on the banks of the Eurotas with their hands,
for they were not allowed to use a knife. In winter they mixed the herb
called lycophon with the rushes, as it is thought to possess some
warmth.
XVI. At this age the elder men took even greater interest in them,
frequenting the gymnasia where they were, and listening to their
repartees with each other, and that not in a languid careless manner,
but just as if each thought himself the father, instructor, and captain
of them all.
Thus no time was left unemployed, and no place was left without some one
to give good advice and punish wrong-doing; although a regular
superintendent of the boys was appointed from the leading men of the
city, and they had their own chiefs, who were the wisest and bravest of
the Eirenes.
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