Gates of Fire

by Steven Pressfield

“And why,” the lady asked, “does a boy of no city display so much loyalty to this alien country of Lakedaemon, of which he is not, and can never be, a part?” I knew the answer but could not judge how much I dared entrust to her. I responded obliquely, speaking briefly of Bruxieus. “My tutor instructed me that a boy must have a city or he cannot grow to be fully a man. Since I no longer possessed a city of my own, I felt free to choose any I liked.” This was a novel point of view, but I could see the lady approved of it. “Why not, then, a polis of riches or opportunity? Thebes or Corinth or Athens? All that can come to you here is coarse bread and a striped back.” I replied with a proverb that Bruxieus had once quoted to Diomache and me: that other cities produce monuments and poetry, Sparta produces men.