Sparta

Certain · Laconia

In Homer, the pleasant palace where Telemachus finds Menelaus and Helen at home; in history, the unwalled city of the Lycurgan discipline whose hoplites were the terror of Greece and whose way of life haunted political philosophy. Plato’s Republic and Laws argue with Sparta on every page — drawn to her order, appalled by her narrowness; Plutarch’s Spartan lives and sayings, in this library, preserve the legend.