the young men answered them, singing,
And we 're so now, come on and try;
the children came last and said,
But we'll be strongest by and by.
Indeed, if we will take the pains to consider their compositions, some of which were still extant in our days, and the airs on the flute to which they marched when going to battle, we shall find that Terpander and Pindar had reason to say that music and valor were allied. The first says of Lacedæmon—
The spear and song in her do meet,
And Justice walks about her street;
and Pindar—
Councils of wise elders here,
And the young men's conquering spear,
And dance, and song, and joy appear;
both describing the Spartans as no less musical than war-like; in the words of one of their own poets—
With the iron stern and sharp
Comes the playing on the harp.
For, indeed, before they engaged in battle, the king first did sacrifice to the Muses, in all likelihood to put them in mind of the manner of their education, and of the judgment that would be passed upon their actions, and thereby to animate them to the performance of exploits that should deserve a record. At such times, too, the Lacedæmonians abated a little the severity of their manners in favor of their young men, suffering them to curl and adorn their hair, and to have costly arms, and fine clothes;
