Dialectic journals 4, 5, and 6

Pg. 21 All is the obverse of what it had been.

This reminds me of real life. When there is a panic, nobody cares if you were a rich land owner or a slave. You are all treated the same. Specifically later on when it says the adults became kids, this makes me think of when some adults see a celebrity, they turn into kids again and clamor to try to meet them and get an autograph or a hand-shake. People try to keep things in order, but when it comes down to it we are all humans on equal levels when our social levels get torn apart.

Pg. 23 Our city no longer existed. Not alone the physical site, the citizens, the walls and famrs. But the very spirit of our nation, the polis itself, that ideal of mind called Astakos that, yes, had been poorer than Megara or Epidauros or Olympia, but that existed as a city nonetheless. Our city, my city. Now it was effaced utterly. We who called ourselves Astakiots were effaced with it. Without a city, who were we? What were we?

This quote really strikes me. It shows not only how much material possesions effect ourselves, but effect relationships and overall how we think. Without the claim of a house or the claim on food and resources, they feel that they are nothing. They no longer that they really exist and that in a way, they all stopped existing, along with any relationships or any ties to what once lived in the village before it was attacked.

pg. 36 Because a warrior carries helmet and breastplate for his own protection, but his shield for the safety of the whole line.

The spartans would not punish one who did protect himself, but they were severe to anyone who would not protect others and endangered them all. This shows the spartans value individual lives, but will not go out to attack those who do not value their own lives and try to protect it. They have a sense of unity, but they will not force that on anyone. Just like the whipping the person chooses to train themself. The masters do not force anything on them though.