XXII.  The sophist Hippias states that Lykurgus himself was a great warrior and took part in many campaigns; and Philostephanus even attributed to Lykurgus the division of the cavalry into the troops called oulamos.  This, according to him, consisted of a troop of fifty horsemen drawn up in a square.  Demetrius Phalereus, on the other hand, says that he had no experience in war, and arranged the whole constitution in time of peace.  Moreover the institution of the Olympic truce seems to be the idea of a man of gentle and peaceful temperament, some however say, according to Hermippus, that Lykurgus had at first no communication with Iphitus, but happened to be present in the crowd; that he then heard a voice as it were of a man behind him blaming him and wondering why he did not encourage his fellow-citizens to take part in the festival.  As, when he turned round, there was no one who could have said so, he concluded that it was a divine warning, and, at once joining Iphitus and assisting him in regulating the festival, he rendered it both more splendid and more lasting.

XXIII.  The training of the Spartan youth continued till their manhood.  No one was permitted to live according to his own pleasure, but they lived in the city as if in a camp, with a fixed diet and fixed public duties, thinking themselves to belong, not to themselves, but to their country.  Those who had nothing else to do, either looked after the young, and taught them what was useful, or themselves learned such things from the old.  For ample leisure was one of the blessings with which Lykurgus provided his countrymen, seeing that they were utterly forbidden to practise any mechanical art, while money-making and business were unnecessary, because wealth was disregarded and despised.  The Helots tilled the ground, and produced the regular crops for them.  Indeed, a Spartan who was at Athens while the courts were sitting, and who learned that some man had been fined for idleness, and was leaving the court in sorrow accompanied by his grieving friends, asked to be shown the man who had been punished for gentlemanly behaviour.  So slavish did they deem it to labour at trade and business.  In Sparta, as was natural, lawsuits became extinct, together with money, as the people had neither excess nor deficiency, but all were equally well off, and enjoyed abundant leisure by reason of their simple habits.  All their time was spent in dances, feasting, hunting or gymnastic exercises and conversation, when they were not engaged in war.

XXIV.  Those who were less than thirty years old never came into the market-place at all, but made their necessary purchases through their friends and relations.  And it was thought discreditable to the older men to be seen there much, and not to spend the greater part of the day in the gymnasium and the lesches or places for conversation.  In these they used to collect together and pass their leisure time, making no allusions to business or the