"
And Pindar says of them--
"Where the old are wise in council,
And the young are brave in fight;
Where song and dance are honoured
On many a festal night."
For they represent them as being most warlike and at the same time most
poetical.
"The sword with song full well combines,"
as the Laconian poet says. Even in their battles the king first
sacrificed to the Muses, to remind them, it would appear, of their
education and their former contests, that they may be bold in danger,
and do deeds worthy of record in the fight.
XXI.--In time of war, too, they relaxed their strict rules and allowed
their young men to dress their hair and ornament their shields and
costumes, taking a pride in them such as one does in high-mettled
horses. For this reason, although they all let their hair grow long
after the age of puberty, yet it was especially in time of danger that
they took pains to have it smooth and evenly parted, remembering a
saying of Lykurgus about the hair, that it made a well-looking man look
handsomer, and an ugly man look more ferocious.
During a campaign they made the young men perform less severe gymnastic
exercises, and allowed them to live a freer life in other respects, so
that, for them alone of all mankind, war was felt as a relief from
preparation for war. When their array was formed and the enemy were in
sight, the king used to sacrifice a kid, and bid them all put on
garlands, and the pipers to play the hymn to Kastor; then he himself
began to sing the paean for the charge, so that it was a magnificent and
terrible spectacle to see the men marching in time to the flutes, making
no gap in their lines, with no thought of fear, but quietly and steadily
moving to the sound of the music against the enemy.
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