Ælian. V. H. xiv. 7. Plut. Inst. Lac. § 13. Athen. xii. 74.—Apropos of this subject, the ancients have left us a very curious anecdote. Dionysios, son of Clearchos, the first tyrant of Heraclea, having succeeded to the government of his country, became insensibly so corpulent by his daily excess and extreme niceness in the choice of his viands, that he was nearly suffocated by the enormous mass of his fat. Every time he fell into a deep slumber it was feared he would never wake again; and, to rouse him from his lethargy, the physicians were often compelled to thrust long, sharp needles into his body until they reached the quick, upon which he would again exhibit signs of animation. Of this prodigious obesity his majesty was so much ashamed, however, that, when transacting business or giving audience to strangers, he would ensconce himself behind a large trunk, so that no part of him was visible but his face. Yet, in spite of this infirmity, he lived fifty-five years and reigned thirty-three; and, to the honour of corpulence be it remarked, that no tyrant ever before exhibited so much mildness and moderation.—Id. xii. 72. Footnote 873: Xen. Rep. Lac. ii. 6.—This writer observes, that what might be filched was determined by law.—Anab. iv. 6. 14. And Plutarch explains, that they might take as much food as they could.—Inst. Lac. § 12. In modern times it would be thought a poor compliment to any system of education to represent it as an admirable method for rendering a man an accomplished thief. But the Spartan sophists, whose wisdom Plato, in a jocular mood, so greatly extols, held a different theory. They did not undertake the teaching of morals, but such habits as became a soldier, among which thieving always maintains a distinguished place. Xenophon, however, is careful to guard us against the supposition that this habit of appropriation arose from want. The object of the legislator was, without the incurring of moral guilt, to nourish all the useful habits commonly found in a thief,—as, the power to watch by night, to wear the mask of honesty by day, craftily to lay snares, and even to set spies upon the individual to be plundered. To men designed to spend their lives in war such qualities are, doubtless, of the highest importance, since they enable them to procure provisions and overreach the enemy.[874] To this practice Xenophon alludes in the Anabasis, where the army is placed in circumstances of much difficulty. “I understand,” he says to Cheirisophos, “that among you Lacedæmonians the habit of stealing is carefully cultivated from childhood; and that, so far from being disgraceful, it is considered a necessary accomplishment, so long as you keep within the bounds prescribed by law. When detected, however, it is equally lawful to be scourged.”[875] Footnote 874: Xen. de Rep. Lac. ii. 7. Footnote 875: Anab. iv. vi. 14.