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This may be believed from what the young men in Lacedaemon do now, for at the present day I have seen many of them perish under the scourge at the altar of Diana Orthias. After dinner the Eiren would recline, and bid one of the boys sing, and ask another some questions which demand a thoughtful answer, such as "Who is the best among men?" or "How is such a thing done?"
This is a name given to those who have begun their second year after ceasing to be children, and the eldest of the children are called Melleirenes. This Eiren, who is twenty years old, commands his company in their battles, and in the house uses them as his servants to prepare dinner. He orders the bigger boys to carry logs of wood, and the little ones to gather pot herbs.
Often when elders and magistrates were present the Eiren would punish the boys; if only he showed that it was done deservedly and with method, he never was checked while punishing, but when the boys were gone, he was called to account if he had done so either too cruelly or too remissly.
The boy's answer was required to be well reasoned, and put into a small compass; he who answered wrongly was punished by having his thumb bitten by the Eiren.
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