12.7
Let not the length to which I run occasion surprise, for it is almost impossible to find any detail in military matters requiring attention that is overlooked by the Lacedaemonians.
13.1
I will also give an account of the power and honour that Lycurgus conferred on the King in the field. In the first place, while on military service the King and his staff are maintained by the state. The colonels mess with the King, in order that constant intercourse may give better opportunities for taking counsel together in case of need. Three of the peers also attend the King’s mess. These three take entire charge of the commissariat for the King and his staff, so that these may devote all their time to affairs of war.
13.2
But I will go back to the beginning, and explain how the King sets out with an army. First he offers up sacrifice at home to Zeus the Leader and to the gods associated with him.Or, if we read οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ with Haase, he and his staff. By the associated gods we should understand Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri. In the Oxford text I gave τοῖν σιοῖν, the twin gods. If the sacrifice appears propitious, the Fire-bearer takes fire from the altar and leads the way to the borders of the land. There the King offers sacrifice again to Zeus and Athena.
