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When the boy was born...
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...like all Spartans, he was inspected.
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If he'd been small or punyor sickly or misshapen...
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...he would have been discarded.
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From the time he could stand,he was baptized in the fire of combat.
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Taught never to retreat,never to surrender.
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Taught that death on the battlefieldin service to Sparta...
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...was the greatest gloryhe could achieve in his life.
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At age 7, as is customary in Sparta...