584: POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



the military divisions : &quot; at the battle of Plataea every Spartan 

 hoplite had seven Helots, and every Periceki hoplite one Helot 

 to attend him.&quot; The extent to which, by the daily military 

 discipline, prescribed military mess, and fixed contributions of 

 food, the individual life of the Spartan was subordinated to 

 public demands, from seven years upwards, needs mention 

 only to show the rigidity of the restraints which here, as 

 elsewhere, the militant type imposes restraints which were 

 further shown in the prescribed age for marriage, the preven 

 tion of domestic life, the forbidding of industry or any money- 

 seeking occupation, the interdict on going abroad without 

 leave, and the authorized censorship under which his days 

 and nights were passed. There was fully carried out in Sparta 

 the Greek theory of society, that &quot; the citizen belongs neither 

 to himself nor to his family, but to his city.&quot; So that though 

 in this exceptional case, chronic militancy was prevented 

 from developing a supreme head, owning the individual citizen 

 in body and estate, yet it developed an essentially identical 

 relation between the community as a whole and its units. 

 The community, exercising its power through a compound 

 head instead of through a simple head, completely enslaved 

 the individual. While the lives and labours of the Helots 

 were devoted exclusively to the support of those who formed 

 the military organization, the lives and labours of those who 

 formed the military organization were exclusively devoted to 

 the service of the State : they were slaves with a difference. 



Of modern illustrations, that furnished by Eussia will 

 suffice. Here, again, with the wars which effected conquests 

 and consolidations, came the development of the victorious 

 commander into the absolute ruler, who, if not divine by 

 alleged origin, yet acquired something like divine prestige. 

 &quot; All men are equal before God, and the Eussians God is the 

 Emperor,&quot; says De Custirie: &quot;the supreme governor is so raised 

 above earth, that he sees no difference between the serf and the 

 lord.&quot; Under the stress of Peter the Great s wars, which, as 

 the nobles complained, took them away from their homes, &quot;not, 



