Note 683 — Chapter VI · LAWS AND DISCIPLINE OF LYKURGUS AT SPARTA.

Aristot. Polit. viii. 3, 3. Οἱ Λάκωνες ... θηριώδεις ἀπεργάζονται τοῖς πόνοις.

That the Spartans were absolutely ignorant of letters, and could not read, is expressly stated by Isokratês (Panathen. Or. xii. p. 277). οὗτοι δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀπολελειμμένοι τῆς κοινῆς παιδείας καὶ φιλοσοφίας εἰσὶν, ὥστ᾽ οὐδὲ γράμματα μανθάνουσιν, etc.

The preference of rhetoric to accuracy, is so manifest in Isokratês, that we ought to understand his expressions with some reserve; but in this case it is evident that he means literally what he says, for in another part of the same discourse, there is an expression dropped, almost unconsciously, which confirms it. “The most rational Spartans (he says) will appreciate this discourse, if they find any one to read it to them,”—ἢν λάβωσι τὸν ἀναγνωσόμενον (p. 285).