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What Plato had heard or seen of Sparta was applied by him in a

mistaken way to his ideal commonwealth. He probably observed that

both the Spartan men and women were superior in form and strength

to the other Greeks; and this superiority he was disposed to

attribute to the laws and customs relating to marriage. He did

not consider that the desire of a noble offspring was a passion

among the Spartans, or that their physical superiority was to be

attributed chiefly, not to their marriage customs, but to their

temperance and training. He did not reflect that Sparta was

great, not in consequence of the relaxation of morality, but in

spite of it, by virtue of a political principle stronger far than

existed in any other Grecian state. Least of all did he observe

that Sparta did not really produce the finest specimens of the

Greek race. The genius, the political inspiration of Athens, the

love of liberty-all that has made Greece famous with posterity,

were wanting among the Spartans.