Both summer and winter they went
bare-foot and had but a single mantle. They lay on a heap of reeds and
bathed in the cold waters of the Eurotas. They ate little and that
quickly and had a rude diet. This was to teach them not to satiate the
stomach. They were grouped by hundreds, each under a chief. Often they
had to contend together with blows of feet and fists. At the feast of
Artemis they were beaten before the statue of the goddess till the
blood flowed; some died under this ordeal, but their honor required
them not to weep. They were taught to fight and suffer.
Often they were given nothing to eat; provision must be found by
foraging. If they were captured on these predatory expeditions, they
were roughly beaten. A Spartiate boy who had stolen a little fox and
had hidden it under his mantle, rather than betray himself let the
animal gnaw out his vitals. They were to learn how to escape from
perplexing situations when they were in the field.
They walked with lowered glance, silent, hands under the mantle,
without turning the head and "making no more noise than statues." They
were not to speak at table and were to obey all men that they
encountered.
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