If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade march out, not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but equipped with what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up to the throat, a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior appears in pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword.

Lastly, it is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed except the teachers for the boys.

But when the five-and-twenty years are over and the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then they take rank as elders, and the title is deserved.

[14] These elders no longer go on military service beyond the frontier; they stay at home and decide all cases, public and private both.

Even capital charges are left to their decision, and it is they who choose all the magistrates.