X.12 On a law of Cyrus’s
I do not regard as a good law the one Cyrus made to keep the Lydians from exercising any but base or disreputable professions. One attends to what is most immediate ; one anticipates rebellions, and not invasions. But the invasions will soon come ; the two peoples unite, and corrupt each other. I would rather maintain by the laws the roughness of the conquering people than sustain by the same means the lethargy of the people vanquished.
Aristodemus, the tyrant of Cumæ [1] tried to undermine the courage of the youth. He wanted the boys to let their hair grow like girls, to decorate it with flowers, and wear robes of different colors down to the heels ; he wanted women, when they went to their dance and music masters, to take parasols, perfumes and fans for them, and in the bath give them combs and mirrors. This education lasted until age twenty. That can be fitting for none but a petty tyrant, who risks his sovereignty to defend his life.