Protect before Attack

Reading some Plutarch, this stood out:

Spartan warriors who lost their shields received the death penalty, because “the shield protects every man in the line.”

If they lost their weapon, they were fined.

That’s quite a difference in penalties!

But it does draw attention to how important they deemed one’s ability to protect others, and what that meant to them.

The ability to attack wasn’t what ‘protect’ meant to them. To attack was to ‘attack’. No, to them, the shield represented their ability to ‘protect’.

To advance, defeat and conquer was secondary.

To protect — defending your line and introducing a modicum of safety to those in your group — was primary.

Lesson:

Losing your ability to fight is one thing.
But NEVER lose your ability to protect those close to you.