Apophthegmata Laconica

Being asked why he had prohibited frequent campaigns against the same foes, he said, So that they may not, by becoming accustomed to defending themselves frequently, become skilled in war. It was for this reason also that there appeared to be no slight ground for complaint against Agesilaus, who by his almost continual inroads and campaigns into Boeotia had rendered the Thebans a match for the Spartans. At any rate Antalcidas, when he saw him wounded, exclaimed, You have got a handsome reward as you deserve for your fostering care in teaching them to fight when they did not wish to fight and did not even know how. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, chap. xiii. (47 D), and Moralia, 189 D, supra, and the note.)

When someone else desired to know why he instituted strenuous exercise for the bodies of the maidens in races and wrestling and throwing the discus and javelin, he said, So that the implanted stock of their offspring, by getting a strong start in strong bodies, may attain a noble growth, and that they themselves may with vigour abide the birth of their children and readily and nobly resist the pains