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.

The lovers of the boys also shared their honour or disgrace; it is said
that once when a boy in a fight let fall an unmanly word, his lover was
fined by the magistrates. Thus was love understood among them; for even
fair and honourable matrons loved young maidens, but none expected their
feelings to be returned. Rather did those who loved the same person make
it a reason for friendship with each other, and vie with one another in
trying to improve in every way the object of their love.

XVIII. The boys were taught to use a sarcastic yet graceful style of
speaking, and to compress much thought into few words; for Lykurgus made
the iron money have little value for its great size, but on the other
hand he made their speech short and compact, but full of meaning,
teaching the young, by long periods of silent listening, to speak
sententiously and to the point. For those who allow themselves much
licence in speech seldom say anything memorable. When some Athenian
jeered at the small Laconian swords, and said that jugglers on the stage
could easily swallow them, King Agis answered, "And yet with these
little daggers we can generally reach our enemies." I think that the
Laconian speech, though it seems so short, yet shows a great grasp of
the subject and has great power over the listeners. Lykurgus himself
seems to have been short and sententious, to judge from what has bee