From their earliest days the women engaged in gymnastic exercises; and when they reached the age of girlhood, they entered into contests with each other in wrestling, racing, and throwing the quoit and javelin. Some writers[24] assert that they engaged in similar contests even with the young men, and, like them, divesting themselves of the slight garments which they were in the habit of wearing in their warm climate, they showed before assembled multitudes what feats of strength and agility they could perform. In this way the whole body of citizens would come to know a girl’s powers; there could be no concealment of disease; no sickly girl could pass herself off as healthy. But it was not only for the physical strength, but for the mental tone, that the girls had to go through this physical exercise. The girls mingled freely with the young men. They came to know each other well. Long before the time of marriage they had formed attachments and knew each other’s characters. And in the games of the young men nothing inspirited them so much as the praise of the girls, and nothing was so terrible as the shouts of derision which greeted their failures. The same influence made itself felt when they fought in battle. The thought that, when they came home, they would be rapturously welcomed by mother and sister, nerved many an arm in the hour of danger. All the training anterior to marriage was deliberately contrived to fit the Spartan women to be mothers. And it is needless to say that all the arrangements in connexion with marriage were made solely for the good of the State. All the Spartan girls had to marry. No one ever thought of not marrying. There was one exception to this. No sickly woman was allowed to marry. The offspring must be healthy. And, indeed, if she had had to consult her own feelings in Sparta, the sickly girl would, of her own accord, have refrained from marriage. For the State claimed a right over all the children. They were all brought very soon after birth before a committee appointed by Government, which examined into the form and probable healthiness of the child, and if the committee came to the conclusion that the child was not likely to be strong its death was determined on.