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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: to be followed by the rest. And this is precisely what has taken
place. It[4] is reasonable to suppose that it was these same noblest
members of the state who combined[5] to lay the foundation of the
ephorate, after they had come to the conclusion themselves, that of
all the blessings which a state, or an army, or a household, can
enjoy, obedience is the greatest. Since, as they could not but reason,
the greater the power with which men fence about authority, the
greater the fascination it will exercise upon the mind of the citizen,
to the enforcement of obedience.
[1] See Grote, "H. G." v. 516; "Mem." III. v. 18.
[2] Or, reading after L. Dindorf, {eutaxian}, "this world-renowned
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