1. The Spartan army, known and feared as the finest in Greece, was the product of a ruthless regime of training which began for all male citizens at the age of seven. On Sparta, see P. Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia (London 1979); W. G. Forrest, A History of Sparta, 2nd ed. (London 1980); and J. F. Lazenby, The Spanan Amy (Warminster 1985). cf. Socrates’ example at 191c, which derives its force, and a certain irony, from Laches’ admiration of Sparta.