he ordered the maidens to exercise themselves with wrestling,
running, throwing the quoit, and casting the dart, to the end that
they might have strong and healthy bodies.

It was not in the power of the father to dispose of his child as
he thought fit; he was obliged to carry it before certain "triers"
at a place called Lesche; these were some of the elders of the
tribe to which the child belonged; their business it was carefully
to view the infant, and, if they found it stout and well made,
they gave order for its rearing, and allotted to it one of the
nine thousand shares of land above mentioned for its maintenance;
but if they found it puny and ill-shaped, ordered it to be taken
to what was called the Apothetae, a sort of chasm under Taygetus;
as thinking it neither for the good of the child itself, nor for
the public interest, that it should be brought up, if it did not,
from the very outset, appear made to be healthy and vigorous. Upon
the same account, the women did not bathe the new-born children
with water, as is the custom in all other countries, but with
wine, to prove the temper and complexion of their bodies; from a
notion they had that epileptic and weakly children faint and waste
away upon their being thus bathed, while, on the contrary, those
of a strong and vigorous habit acquire firmness and get a temper
by it like steel. There was much care and art, too, used by the
nurses; they had no swaddling bands; the children grew up free and
unconstrained in limb and form, and not dainty and fanciful about
their food; nor afraid in the dark, or of being left alone;
without any peevishness or ill humor or crying. Upon this account,
Spartan nurses were often bought up, or hired by people of other
countries.