.I~OTES, BOOK t-rr. T 1. 2 j5
dKO;flV, i. e. I) *vines planted thickly or in clumps, or 2) vines
planted irregularly. If we adopt the first of these interpretations
and take the image literally, Aristotle is suggesting that the city
should be built partly in regular streets, but here and there in
blocks which would have the character of strong places. If we
take the second, he would seem to mean that the city should be
built in part irregularly, with a view to confusing or perplesing an
enemy after he had entered it.
oi p$ +dUKovrfs 8eiv +fiv (rrI,yq). 11. 8.
Cp. Laws vi. 778 D ff, mpi 62 nix&, 2, hfiyrXXr, +my' &v 15The absence of walls in Sparta suggested to Plato the poetical
fancy that the walls of cities should be left to slumber in the
ground: it may reasonably be conjectured that the position of
Sparta and the military character of her citizens rendered artificial
defences unnecessary.
~adprg &p+rpoipqv rb KaOr&iv i2v iv sfi rfi KaraKripfua rh rrix7.
c'hryxopi'vas ?pry 76s ~KC~VUS KaXXorriuupi'vas.
The disasters of Leuctra (B.c. 371) and of Mantinea (B.c. 362)
had done a great deal to diminish the admiration for Sparta.
(Cp. ii. 9. 4 IO and infra c. 14. 4 16). Yet the allusion is hardly
to the point, for Sparta was never taken by an enemy: Epami-
nondas after the battle of Leuctra refrained from attacking it,
Xen. Hell. vi. 5.
&TI 81 7~pi)s piv TOAS dpniovs Kai pi mXi r4 aXjeri Gra+ipovras ot 11. 9.A somewhat romantic notion with which may be compared the
further refinement of $ I I, infra; also the saying of Archidamus,
the son of Agesilaus, when he saw catapults brought from Sicily,
which in other words and under other circumstances has no doubt
often been ejaculated by the African or New Zealand savage,
ho%&v dv8pi)~ dbCrd.
~dbv rb ?rfipiuOar uhfru8aL 8ih is sfv rrrxiv ~pupvdrqros.
(Plut. Apophth. Lac. 219 A.)?rOhf,LUKWTdTl)V. 11. 9.
Either 'the most truly warlike in character' or *' the best defence
of the warrior.' Both meanings may be included.
T2