But it was from the day of Leuctya that the fall of Spate became rapid and violent.

Some time before that day the Thebans had resolved to follow the example set many years before by the Argives.

Some hundreds of athletic youths, carefully selected, were set apart, under the names of the City Band and the Sacred Band, to form a standing army.

Their business was war.

They encamped in the citadel; they were supported at the expense of the community; and they became, under assiduous training, the first soldiers in Greece.