gates of fire book 2

Book 2
Chapter 8
pg. 67
"This is why I had come to Sparta in the first place, to witness the training close up and to endure as much of it as Lakedaemonians would permit."

It's weird how first he talks about how he was "captured" at the age of twelve and brought to Sparta and he even saw that as "saving his life." Now he's saying that he wants to "continue in Alexandros' services" and become his squire just so he can be around and witness the training. I had always heard of how Sparta was so great, what, with them having the best army in the world and all, but never thought of it as so great that there were men serving other men so that they would have the chance to be near by when the man he was serving, which was most likely, to him, of a higher rank, he would get to see Spartan armies train. It makes me want to personally what training was like for the Spartans. The author really just brings out the fact that Spartan soldiers were really just great.
Book 2
Chapter 8
pg. 75
"' Who the fuck told you you had the right to see'....Did Alexandros think that in combat he would be allowed to pause to wipe his face?"

This was such a shocking and breathtaking line to read. At first I thought to myself "wow! These people are so strict, maybe too strict," but not that I think about it, I realize why they were known so well as the most powerful and the strongest of men when it came to fighting in combat. It was all the extreme strictness of the training that made them the strong undefeatable army that they were. I couldn’t think of any reason why Alexandros was being yelled at by the Polynikes because of something as simple as wiping his face, until I read the second part. It really got me thinking, and I realized he was right. When they were to be on the battlefield he would not get the chance to pause so that he could simply wipe blood from his face. For those reasons Sparta had the strongest army. They were quick, smart, and ready for anything, and most of all, fighting was their priority.