ruler for the
nonce, each of his own division. The conclusion being that under no
circumstances whatever are the boys of Sparta destitute of one to rule
them.

(19) Lit. "Paidonomos."

(20) Lit. "Eirens."

I ought, as it seems to me, not to omit some remark on the subject of
boy attachments, (21) it being a topic in close connection with that of
boyhood and the training of boys.

(21) See Plut. "Lycurg." 17 (Clough, i. 109).

We know that the rest of the Hellenes deal with this relationship in
different ways, either after the manner of the Boeotians, (22) where man
and boy are intimately united by a bond like that of wedlock, or after
the manner of the Eleians, where the fruition of beauty is an act of
grace; whilst there are others who would absolutely debar the lover from
all conversation (23) and discourse with the beloved.

(22) See Xen. "Symp." viii. 34; Plato, "Symp." 182 B (Jowett, II. p.
33).

(23) {dialegesthai} came to mean philosophic discussion and debate. Is
the author thinking of Socrates? See "Mem." I. ii. 35; IV. v. 12.

Lycurgus adopted a system opposed to all of these alike. Given that some
one, himself being all that a man ought to be, should in admiration of
a boy's soul (24) endeavour to discover in him a true friend without
reproach, and to consort with him--this was a relationship which
Lycurgus commended, and indeed regarded as the noblest type of bringing
up. But if, as was evident, it was not an attachment to the soul, but
a yearning merely towards the body, he stamped this thing as foul and
horrible; and with this result, to the credit of Lycurgus be it said,
that in Lacedaemon the relationship of lover and beloved is like that
of parent and child or brother and brother where carnal appetite is in
abeyance.

(24) See Xen. "Symp." viii. 35; Plut. "Lycurg." 18.

That this, however, which is the fact, should be scarcely credited in
some quarters does not surprise me, seeing that in many states the laws
(25) do not oppose the desires in question.

(25) I.e. "law and custom."

I have now described the two chief methods of education in vogue; that
is to say, the Lacedaemonian as contrasted with that of the rest of
Hellas, and I leave it to the judgment of him whom it may concern, which
of the two has produced the finer type of men. And by finer I mean the
better disciplined, the more modest and reverential, and, in matters
where self-restraint is a virtue, the more con