Plato, Laws 834d

τιθέντες ἀγωνίας ὀρθῶς ἂν νομοθετοῖμεν. τοξότης δὲ ἀφʼ ἵππων Κρὴς οὐκ ἄχρηστος, οὐδʼ ἀκοντιστής, ὥστε ἔστω καὶ τούτων παιδιᾶς χάριν ἔρις τε καὶ ἀγωνία. θηλείας δὲ περὶ τούτων νόμοις μὲν καὶ ἐπιτάξεσιν οὐκ ἄξια βιάζεσθαι τῆς κοινωνίας· ἐὰν δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν παιδευμάτων εἰς ἔθος ἰόντων ἡ φύσις ἐνδέχηται καὶ μὴ δυσχεραίνῃ παῖδας ἢ παρθένους κοινωνεῖν, ἐᾶν καὶ μὴ ψέγειν.ἀγωνία δὴ νῦν ἤδη καὶ μάθησις γυμναστικῆς, ὅσα τε

And for a Cretan there is credit in being a mounted archer or javelin-man, so we shall have contests and matches of a sportive kind between these also. As to women,—it is not worth while to make compulsory laws and rules about their taking part in such sports; but if, as a result of earlier training which has grown into a habit, their nature allows, and does not forbid, girls or maidens to take part, let them do so without blame. So now at length we have reached the end both of competition and instruction in gymnastic, so far as concerns our education