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Once more, the military rule of not spoiling the dead or offering

arms at the temples; the moderation in the pursuit of enemies;

the importance attached to the physical well-being of the

citizens; the use of warfare for the sake of defence rather than

of aggression-are features probably suggested by the spirit and

practice of Sparta.

To the Spartan type the ideal State reverts in the first decline;

and the character of the individual timocrat is borrowed from the

Spartan citizen. The love of Lacedaemon not only affected Plato

and Xenophon, but was shared by many undistinguished Athenians;

there they seemed to find a principle which was wanting in their

own democracy. The (Greek) of the Spartans attracted them, that

is to say, not the goodness of their laws, but the spirit of

order and loyalty which prevailed. Fascinated by the idea,

citizens of Athens would imitate the Lacedaemonians in their

dress and manners; they were known to the contemporaries of Plato

as 'the persons who had their ears bruised,' like the Roundheads

of the Commonwealth.