this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of
danger? The veriest coward would become an inspired hero, equal to
the bravest, at such a time; love would inspire him. That courage
which, as Homer says, the god breathes into the soul of heroes,
love of his own nature inspires into the lover."

With the whole of this quotation we might compare what Plutarch in the
Life of Pelopidas relates about the composition of a Sacred Band;[15]
while the following anecdote from the _Anabasis_ of Xenophon may serve
to illustrate the theory that regiments should consist of lovers.[16]
Episthenes of Olynthus, one of Xenophon's hoplites, saved a beautiful
boy from the slaughter commanded by Seuthes in a Thracian village. The
king could not understand why his orders had not been obeyed, till
Xenophon excused his hoplite by explaining that Episthenes was a
passionate boy-lover, and that he had once formed a corps of none but
beautiful men. Then Seuthes asked Episthenes if he was willing to die
instead of the boy, and he answered, stretching out his neck, "Strike,"
he says, "if the boy says 'Yes,'[17] and will be pleased with it." At
the end of the affair, which is told by Xenophon with a quiet humour
that brings a little scene of Greek military life vividly before us,
Seuthes gave the boy his liberty, and the soldier walked away with him.

In order further to illustrate the hardy nature of Greek love, I may
allude to the speech of Pausanias in the _Symposium_ of Plato.[18] The
fruits of love, he says, are courage in the face of danger, intolerance
of despotism, the virtues of the generous and haughty soul.

"In Ionia," he adds, "and other places, and generally in countries
which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be
dishonourable; loves of youth share the evil repute of philosophy
and gymnastics because they are inimical to tyranny, for the
interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in
spirit, and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or
society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely
to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience."

VIII.

Among the myths to which Greek lovers referred with pride, besides that
of Achilles, were the legends of Theseus and Peirithous, of Orestes and
Pylades, of Talos and Rhadamanthus, of Damon and Pythias. Nearly all the
Greek gods, e