Selecta capita ex scriptoribus Graecis in usum classis quintae Carolinae

The remaining guards spend time practicing both the other things they learned as boys, and shooting with the bow, and throwing the javelin, and they continue competing in these against one another. There are also public contests of these, and prizes are set; and the tribe in which the most are found to be most skilled and most manly, the citizens praise, and honor not only their ruler, but also whoever educated them when they were boys. The magistrates use the remaining youths if there is a need to garrison, or to search for evildoers, or to hunt down robbers, or if there is any other thing that is a work of strength and speed. The youths do these things. And when they complete the ten years, they pass out into the perfect men.

From the time they pass out from the youths, these spend twenty-five years in this way. First, just like the youths, they offer themselves for the magistrates to use, if there is any need for the common good, such as are the works of those already thinking and still able. But if there is a need to go to war, those educated in this way no longer go to war having bows or javelins; they go to war with weapons called close-combat weapons, a breastplate around the chest and a wicker shield on the left hand, just as they are depicted