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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: inventions of Lycurgus with a view to the final arbitrament of battle.
Whensoever, the enemy being now close enough to watch the
proceedings,[16] the goat is sacrificed; then, says the law, let all
the pipers, in their places, play upon the pipes, and let every
Lacedaemonian don a wreath. Then, too, so runs the order, let the
shields be brightly polished. The privilege is accorded to the young
man to enter battle with his long locks combed.[17] To be of cheery
countenance--that, too, is of good repute. Onwards they pass the word
of command to the subaltern[18] in command of his section, since it is
impossible to hear along the whole of each section from the particular
subaltern posted on the outside. It devolves, finally, on the
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