On the military system of the Spartans and other Doric states.

1. The military system of the Dorians, which we are now about to consider, was evidently brought to the greatest perfection in Sparta. In this state the military profession, as was hardly the case in any other part of Greece, was followed as an art, as the study of a life; so that when Agesilaus (as is related) separated the shoemakers, carpenters, potters, &c. from the assembled allied army, the Spartans alone remained, as being the warriors by profession (as τεχνῖται τᾶν πολεμικῶν). But the principles of their military tactics were evidently common to the whole race; and, according to a conjecture advanced in a former part of this work, it was chiefly the method of attack, in closed lines, with extended lances, by which the Dorians conquered the Achæans of the Peloponnese, and which was adopted from them by many other states of Greece.

Every Spartan was, if he had sufficient strength, bound to defend his country in expeditions without the boundaries during the years that were designated by the name ἡλικία. This period lasted to the fortieth year from manhood (ἀφʾ ἥβης), that is to say, to the sixtieth year from birth: until that time a man was called ἔμφρουρος (from φρουρὰ), and could not go out of the country without permission from the authorities.