[2,60] χορεύματα δὲ καὶ χοροὺς ἀνάλογον τούτοις οὐ σφαλλομένους οὐδὲ ἀκρατεῖς, ἀλλὰ ὡς οἷόν τε ἰσχυροὺς καὶ σώφρονας ἐπάγειν ἐν καθεστῶτι ῥυθμῷ· ὄρχησίν γε μὴν τὴν ἐνόπλιον, τὴν γιγνομένην τοῖς θεοῖς ἀπαρχὴν ἅμα καὶ μελέτην τῶν πολεμικῶν, ἧς φησιν ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ τὸν Μηριόνην ἔμπειρον εἶναι· τῶν γὰρ Τρώων τινὰ πεποίηκε λέγοντα, Μηριόνη, τάχα κέν σε καὶ ὀρχηστήν περ ἐόντα ἔγχος ἐμὸν κατέπαυσε διαμπερές, εἴ ς´ ἔβαλόν περ. (61) ἢ σὺ οἴει ἄλλην τινὰ {λέγειν} ἐπίστασθαι τὸν τοῦ Μόλου υἱόν, ἀριθμούμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν Ἀχαιῶν, ἢ τὴν ἐνόπλιον, τὴν Κουρητικήν, ἥπερ ἦν ἐπιχώριος τοῖς Κρησίν, τὴν ὀξεῖαν καὶ ἐλαφρὰν κίνησιν πρὸς τὸ διακλῖναι καὶ φυλάξασθαι ῥᾳδίως τὸ βέλος; (62) τούτοις γε μὴν ξυνέπεται μηδὲ εὐχὰς εὔχεσθαι τὸν βασιλέα τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίας μηδὲ αὖ τοὺς θεοὺς καλεῖν οὕτως εὐχόμενον ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰώνων ποιητὴς Ἀνακρέων, ὦναξ, ᾧ δαμάλης Ἔρως καὶ Νύμφαι κυανώπιδες πορφυρέη τ´ Ἀφροδίτη συμπαίζουσιν, ἐπιστρέφεαι δ´ ὑψηλὰς ὀρέων κορυφάς, γουνοῦμαί σε, σὺ δ´ εὐμενὴς ἔλθοις μοι, κεχαρισμένης δ´ εὐχωλῆς ἐπακούειν· Κλευβούλῳ δ´ ἀγαθὸς γενεῦ σύμβουλος, τὸν ἐμὸν δ´ ἔρωτ´, ὦ Δεύνυσε, δέχεσθαι. (63) ἢ νὴ Δία τὰς τῶν Ἀττικῶν σκολιῶν τε καὶ ἐποινίων εὐχάς, οὐ βασιλεῦσι πρεπούσας, ἀλλὰ δημόταις καὶ φράτορσιν ἱλαροῖς καὶ σφόδρα ἀνειμένοις, εἴθε λύρα καλὴ γενοίμαν ἐλεφαντίνη, καί με καλοὶ παῖδες φορέοιεν Διονύσιον ἐς χορόν. εἴθ´ ἄπυρον καλὸν γενοίμαν μέγα χρυσίον, καί με γυνὴ καλὴ φοροίη. (64) πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ὡς Ὅμηρος πεποίηκεν εὐχόμενον τὸν βασιλέα τῶν πάντων Ἑλλήνων, Ζεῦ κύδιστε, μέγιστε, κελαινεφές, αἰθέρι ναίων, μὴ πρὶν ἐπ´ ἠέλιον δῦναι καὶ ἐπὶ κνέφας ἐλθεῖν, πρίν με καταπρηνὲς βαλέειν Πριάμοιο μέλαθρον αἰθαλόεν, πρῆσαι δὲ πυρὸς δηίοιο θύρετρα· Ἑκτόρεον δὲ χιτῶνα περὶ στήθεσσι δαΐξαι, χαλκῷ ῥωγαλέον, πολέες δ´ ἀμφ´ αὐτὸν ἑταῖροι πρηνέες ἐν κονίῃσιν ὀδὰξ λαζοίατο γαῖαν.

[2,60] "In conformity with these songs, our king should institute dance movements and measures that are not marked by reeling or violent motions, but are as virile and sober as may be, composed in a sedate rhythm; the dance should be the `enoplic,' the execution of which is not only a tribute to the gods but a drill in warfare as well—the dance in which the poet says Meriones was skilful, for he has put these words into the mouth of a certain Trojan: ' Had I but struck thee, dancer though thou art, Meriones, my spear had once for all Ended thy dancing.' (61) Or do you think that he can have meant that some other dance was known to the son of Molus, who was accounted one of the best of the Achaeans, and not the military dance of the Kouretes, a native Cretan dance, the quick and light movement designed to train the soldiers to swerve to one side and easily avoid the missile ? From these considerations, moreover, it follows that the king should not offer such prayers as other men do nor, on the other hand, call upon the gods with such a petition as Anacreon, the Ionian poet, makes : `O King with whom resistless love Disports, and nymphs with eyes so dark, And Aphrodite, fair of hue, O thou who rangest mountain crests, Thee do I beseech, do thou To me propitious come and hear With kindly heart the prayer I make : Cleobulus' confessor be And this love of mine approve, O Dionysus.' Nor, by heavens, should he ever utter such prayers as those we find in the ballads and drinking-songs of the Attic symposia, for these are suitable, not for kings, but for country folk and for the merry and boisterous clan-meetings. For instance, 'Would that I became a lovely ivory harp, And some lovely children carried me to Dionysus' choir ! Would that I became a lovely massive golden trinket, And that me a lovely lady wore ! ' He would much better pray as Homer has represented the king of all the Greeks as praying : 'O Zeus, most great and glorious, who dost rule The tempest—dweller of the ethereal space ! Let not the sun go down and night come on Ere I shall lay the halls of Priam waste With fire, and give their portals to the flames, And hew away the coat of mail that shields The breast of Hector, splitting it with steel. And may his fellow-warriors, many a one, Fall round him to the earth and bite the dust.'