cal phrases sufficiently
indicate the relation which subsisted between the pair. The lover
taught, the hearer learned; and so from man to man was handed down the
tradition of heroism, the peculiar tone and temper of the state to
which, in particular among the Greeks, the Dorians clung with obstinate
pertinacity. Xenophon distinctly states that love was maintained among
the Spartans with a view to education; and when we consider the customs
of the state, by which boys were separated early from their homes and
the influences of the family were almost wholly wanting, it is not
difficult to understand the importance of the paiderastic institution.
The Lacedaemonian lover might represent his friend in the Assembly. He
was answerable for his good conduct, and stood before him as a pattern
of manliness, courage, and prudence. Of the nature of his teaching we
may form some notion from the precepts addressed by the Megarian
Theognis to the youth Kurnus. In battle the lovers fought side by side;
and it is worthy of notice that before entering into an engagement the
Spartans sacrificed to Eros. It was reckoned a disgrace if a youth found
no man to be his lover. Consequently we find that the most illustrious
Spartans are mentioned by their biographers in connection with their
comrades. Agesilaus heard Lysander; Archidamus, his son, loved
Cleonymus; Cleomenes III, was the hearer of Xenares and the inspirer of
Panteus. The affection of Pausanias, on the other hand, for the boy
Argilus, who betrayed him according to the account of Thucydides,[35]
must not be reckoned among these nobler loves. In order to regulate the
moral conduct of both parties, Lycurgus made it felony, punishable with
death or exile, for the lover to desire the person of a boy in lust;
and, on the other hand, it was accounted exceedingly disgraceful for the
younger to meet the advances of the elder with a view to gain. Honest
affection and manly self-respect were exacted on both sides; the bond of
union implied no more of sensuality than subsists between a father and a
son, a brother and a brother. At the same time great license of
intercourse was permitted. Cicero, writing long after the great age of
Greece, but relying probably upon sources to which we have no access,
asserts that, "Lacedaemoni ipsi cum omnia concedunt in amore juvenum
_praeter stuprum_ tenui sane muro dissaepiunt id quod excipiunt:
_complexus enim concubitusque permittunt_."[36] The Lacedaemonians