ne origin and sanction.

XIII. Considering education to be the most important and the noblest
work of a lawgiver, he began at the very beginning, and regulated
marriages and the birth of children. It is not true that, as Aristotle
says, he endeavoured to regulate the lives of the women, and failed,
being foiled by the liberty and habits of command which they had
acquired by the long absences of their husbands on military expeditions,
during which they were necessarily left in sole charge at home,
wherefore their husbands looked up to them more than was fitting,
calling them Mistresses; but he made what regulations were necessary for
them also. He strengthened the bodies of the girls by exercise in
running, wrestling, and hurling quoits or javelins, in order that their
children might spring from a healthy source and so grow up strong, and
that they themselves might have strength, so as easily to endure the
pains of childbirth. He did away with all affectation of seclusion and
retirement among the women, and ordained that the girls, no less than
the boys, should go naked in processions, and dance and sing at
festivals in the presence of the young men. The jokes which they made
upon each man were sometimes of great value as reproofs for ill-conduct;
while, on the other hand, by reciting verses written in praise of the
deserving, they kindled a wonderful emulation and thirst for distinction
in the young men: for he who had been praised by the maidens for his
valour went away congratulated by his friends; while, on the other hand,
the raillery which they used in sport and jest had as keen an edge as a
serious reproof; because the kings and elders were present at these
festivals as well as all the other citizens. This nakedness of the
maidens had in it nothing disgraceful, as it was done modestly, not
licentiously, producing simplicity, and teaching the women to value good
health, and to love honour and courage no less than the men. This it was
that made them speak and think as we are told Gorgo, the wife of
Leonidas, did. Some foreign lady, it seems, said to her, "You Laconian
women are the only ones that rule men." She answered, "Yes; for we alone
bring forth men."

XIV. These were also incentives to marriage, I mean these processions,
and strippings, and exercises of the maidens in the sight of the young
men, who, as Plato says, are more swayed by amorous than by mathematical
considerations; moreover, he imposed certain p