BOOK I, PREFACE 15-18 



their womanish motions a sex which nature has 

 denied to men, and deceive the eyes of the spectators. 

 And presently, then, that we may come to our 16 

 gluttonous feasts in proper fettle, we steam out our 

 daily indigestion in sweat-baths,'* and by drying 

 out the moisture of our bodies we arouse a thirst ; we 

 spend our nights in licentiousness and drunken- 

 ness, our days in gaming or in sleeping, and account 

 ourselves blessed by fortune in that " we behold 

 neither the rising of the sun nor its setting."* The 17 

 consequence is that ill health attends so slothful a 

 manner of living ; for the bodies of our young men 

 are so flabby and enervated that death seems likely 

 to make no change in them. 



But, by heaven, that true stock of Romulus, 

 practised in constant hunting and no less in toiling 

 in the fields, was distinguished by the greatest 

 physical strength and, hardened by the labours 

 of peace, easily endured the hardships of war when 

 occasion demanded, and always esteemed the 

 common people of the counti'v more highlv than those 

 of the city. For as those who kept wathin the confines 

 of the country houses'^ were accounted more slothful 

 than those who tilled the ground outside, so those 

 who spent their time idly within the walls, in the 

 shelter of the city, were looked upon as more sluggish 

 than those who tilled the fields or supervised the 

 labours of the tillers. It is evident, too, that their 18 



Herodotus (IV. 75) speaks of it as well known throughout 

 Greece, and not peculiar to the Spartans. For a description 

 of this chamber, see Vitruvius, De Arch. V. 10. 5, \ll. 10. 2. 



" Cato aj). Sen. Epist. 122. 2. 



" I.e. those members of the familia rustica whose duties 

 kept them indoors or close to the farm buildings. 



IS 



