Ath. O my friend, there will be no difficulty, for the law hasalready given and will give him permission to select as his assistantsin this charge any citizens, male or female, whom he desires; and hewill know whom he ought to choose, and will be anxious not to make amistake, from a due sense of responsibility, and from aconsciousness of the importance of his office, and also because hewill consider that if young men have been and are well brought up,then all things go swimmingly, but if not, it is not meet to say,nor do we say, what will follow, lest the regarders of omens shouldtake alarm about our infant state. Many things have been said by usabout dancing and about gymnastic movements in general; for we includeunder gymnastics all military exercises, such as archery, and allhurling of weapons, and the use of the light shield, and allfighting with heavy arms, and military evolutions, and movements ofarmies, and encampings, and all that relates to horsemanship. Of allthese things there ought to be public teachers, receiving pay from thestate, and their pupils should be the men and boys in the state, andalso the girls and women, who are to know all these things. While theyare yet girls they should have practised dancing in arms and the wholeart of fighting-when grown-up women, they should apply themselves toevolutions and tactics, and the mode of grounding and taking uparms; if for no other reason, yet in case the whole military forceshould have to leave the city and carry on operations of waroutside, that those who will have to guard the young and the rest ofthe city may be equal to the task; and, on the other hand, whenenemies, whether barbarian or Hellenic, come from without withmighty force and make a violent assault upon them, and thus compelthem to fight for the possession of the city, which is far frombeing an impossibility, great would be the disgrace to the state, ifthe women had been so miserably trained that they could not fightfor their young, as birds will, against any creature however strong,and die or undergo any danger, but must instantly rush to thetemples and crowd at the altars and shrines, and bring upon humannature the reproach, that of all animals man is the most cowardly!
Cle. Such a want of education, Stranger, is certainly an unseemlything to happen in a state, as well as a great misfortune.
Ath. Suppose that we carry our law to the extent of saying thatwomen ought not to neglect military matters, but that all citizens,male and female alike, shall attend to them?
Cle. I quite agree.
Ath. Of wrestling we have spoken in part, but of what I shouldcall the most important part we have not spoken, and cannot easilyspeak without showing at the same time by gesture as well as in wordwhat we mean; when word and action combine, and not till then, weshall explain clearly what has been said, pointing out that of allmovements wrestling is most akin to the military art, and is to bepursued for the sake of this, and not this for the sake of wrestling.
Cle. Excellent.
Ath. Enough of wrestling; we will now proceed to speak of othermovements of the body. Such motion may be in general called dancing,and is of two kinds: one of nobler figures, imitating thehonourable, the other of the more ignoble figures, imitating the mean;and of both these there are two further subdivisions. Of theserious, one kind is of those engaged in war and vehement action,and is the exercise of a noble person and a manly heart; the otherexhibits a temperate soul in the enjoyment of prosperity and modestpleasures, and may be truly called and is the dance of peace. Thewarrior dance is different from the peaceful one, and may be rightlytermed Pyrrhic; this imitates the modes of avoiding blows and missilesby dropping or giving way, or springing aside, or rising up or fallingdown; also the opposite postures which are those of action, as, forexample, the imitation of archery and the hurling of javelins, andof all sorts of blows. And when the imitation is of brave bodies andsouls, and the action is direct and muscular, giving for the most parta straight movement to the limbs of the body-that, I say, is thetrue sort; but the opposite is not right. In the dance of peace whatwe have to consider is whether a man bears himself naturally andgracefully, and after the manner of men who duly conform to the law.