On SpartaA vivid and richly anecdotal portrait of Spartan society. On Sparta by Plutarch provides vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs, offering a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of this remarkable Greek city state between the sixth and third centuries BC. Through his Lives of Sparta's leaders and his recording of memorable Spartan sayings, he depicts a people who lived frugally and mastered their emotions in all