Dialectic journals 7, 8, 9

pg. 72 Polynikes demanded to know which it was. Because if Ariston was afraid of him, then he was a coward. And if he wasn't, he was reckless and ignorant, which is even worse.

The training that these not even grown men was quite similar to the training we can put some adults through before the join the army. They give the people in training a dilemma, two equally unappealing sides of a question and they are required to answer it and get punished either way. It is a way of toughening up soldiers.

pg. 74 On it would go, into all-night shield drill which by mid second watch would have reduced the boys to involuntary regurgitation and defecation; they would be puking and shitting themselves, their bodies shattered utterly from exhaustion, and then, when the dawn sacrifices at last brought clemency and reprieve, the boys would fall in for another full day of training without a minute's sleep.

This is another example of the harsh training they would go through. The chapter is focusing around the training that they are going through and this could easily destroy a person from the inside, if not the outside. They are on the edge with no recent food or water, or even a minute to just sit down and rest after a long day of training. If this exercise routine goes on for too long, I would be very surprised if even the instructors made it out of this training regime alive.

pg. 115 That half of him, the best part, a man sets aside and leaves behind. He banishes from his heart all feeling of tenderness and mercy, all compassion and kindness, all thought or concept of the enemy as a man, a human being like himself.

This quote really strikes me as showing what exactly a warrior is in the eyes of the Spartans. They are pretty much bloodthirsty animals and stop showing mercy as they finally become a warrior. They lose a part of them that put them in with the rest of the towns and villages, they lost their common decency, and become killing machines. It is the reason that the Spartans can triumph over all others in battle, they push themselves to the human limit and beyond, and leave part of themselves behind.