Plato, Laws 830a

ἆρʼ οὐκ ἀθλητὰς τῶν μεγίστων ἀγώνων, οἷς ἀνταγωνισταὶ μυρίοι ὑπάρχουσι; καὶ πάνυ γε, φαίη τις ἂν ὀρθῶς λέγων. τί δῆτα; εἰ πύκτας ἢ παγκρατιαστὰς ἐτρέφομεν ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων ἕτερον ἀγωνισμάτων ἀθλοῦντας, ἆρα εἰς αὐτὸν ἂν ἀπηντῶμεν τὸν ἀγῶνα, ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν χρόνῳ οὐδενὶ καθʼ ἡμέραν προσμαχόμενοι; ἢ πύκται γε ὄντες παμπόλλας ἂν ἡμέρας ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἐμανθάνομέν

when I have made ready the whole State? Are they not to be competitors in the greatest of contests, wherein their antagonists will be numberless? Most certainly, one would rightly reply. What then? Suppose we had been rearing boxers or pancratiasts or competitors in any similar branch of athletics, should we have gone straight into the contest without previously engaging in daily combat with someone? If we were boxers, for a great many days before the contest we should have been learning how to fight,