[142] See Petit, _Leges Atticae_, ii. 4, compiled with great ingenuity out of many authors. Hence the proverbs ὁ μήτε νεῖν μήτε γράμματα ἐπιστάμενος [ho mête nein mête grammata epistamenos], of utter dunce, and πρῶτον κολυμβᾶν δεύτερον δὲ γράμματα [prôton kolymban deuteron de grammata]. The spelling-riddles of the tragedians imply a whole nation interested in spelling. [143] Plato, _Kriton_, 50 D. [144] Aristophanes, _Knights_, 189. [145] _Ibid._ 1235-1239. [146] _Ibid._ 987-996. [147] [Plato] _Theages_, 122 E. [148] Plato, _Alkibiades_, i. 122 B. The Athenian State, however, from the time of Solon onwards, supported and educated at public expense the sons of those who fell in battle. The endowed systems in Teos and at Delphoi belong to the third century; it is impossible to say whether such existed earlier. [149] Xen. _Mem._ ii. 2. 6. [150] [Xen.] _Constit. of Athens_, ii. 10. [151] Plutarch, _Alkib._ 3; Plato, _Charmides_, 153 A. [152] _C.I.A._ ii. 1. 444, 445, 446. [153] See Excursus on γυμνιασιαρχοί [gymniasiarchoi]. [154] He could, and had to, use compulsion in collecting boys. This suggests that a parent could always, if he wished, get this free education for his son. [155] This rule fell into abeyance. [156] Dem. _against Boiot._ 1001. [157] [Xen.] _Constit. of Athens_, i. 13. [158] On the strength of the passages quoted from the law, and from Demosthenes, and of Aristophanes, _Clouds_, 964, some have maintained a theory that the Athenian tribes provided free education in dancing, and perhaps in other subjects, to all free boys, exclusive of competitions. But the quotation in Aischines, except for the actual law, which is a later interpolation, certainly refers only to the choregoi, and the passage in Demosthenes is concerned only with chorus-dancing for competitions. In Aristophanes the boys of the same neighbourhood naturally attend the same school, that is all. [159] Plut. _Themist._ 10. [160] Ael. _Var. Hist._ vii. 15. [161] Diod. Sic. xii. 42. [162] Probably lived _circa_ 500 B.C. [163] Plato, _Tim._ 21 B. [164] Böckh, 3088. [165] _Ibid._ 2214. I have omitted patronymics. [166] _C.I.G. Boeot._ 1760-1766. [167] Böckh, 232, 245. [168] Pind. _Nem._ vii. [169] Bacchul. xiii., Pind. _Nem._ v. [170] Wrestling, Pind. _Nem._ iv., vi. [171] _Anthol._ ed. Jacobs, vi. 308. [172] Sometimes earlier. Plato, _Protag._ 325 C. [173] Elderly, as in the picture of Medeia and her children given in Smith’s _Smaller Classical Dictionary_ under “Medea,” and on Douris’ Kulix, Plates I. A and I. B (if those are paidagogoi), and on other vases.