However, it may be that the cause of this phenomenon is yet to be
discovered.
XVII. The boys steal with such earnestness that there is a story of one
who had taken a fox's cub and hidden it under his cloak, and, though his
entrails were being torn out by the claws and teeth of the beast,
persevered in concealing it until he died. This may be believed from
what the young men in Lacedaemon do now, for at the present day I have
seen many of them perish under the scourge at the altar of Diana
Orthias.
After dinner the Eiren would recline, and bid one of the boys sing, and
ask another some questions which demand a thoughtful answer, such as
"Who is the best among men?" or "How is such a thing done?" By this
teaching they began even in infancy to be able to judge what is right,
and to be interested in politics; for not to be able to answer the
questions, "Who is a good citizen?" or "Who is a man of bad repute?" was
thought to be the sign of a stupid and unaspiring mind. The boy's answer
was required to be well reasoned, and put into a small compass; he who
answered wrongly was punished by having his thumb bitten by the Eiren.
Often when elders and magistrates were present the Eiren would punish
the boys; if only he showed that it was done deservedly and with method,
he never was checked while punishing, but when the boys were gone, he
was called to account if he had done so either too cruelly or too
remissly.
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