THE SPARTAN'S MARCH.
"The Spartans used not the trumpet in their march into battle," says Thucydides, because they wished not to excite the rage of their warriors. Their charging-step was made "to the Dorian mood of flutes and soft recorders." The valour of a Spartan was too highly tempered to require a stunning or rousing impulse. His spirit was like a steed too proud for the spur."
Campbell on the Elegiac Poetry of the Greeks.
