SPARTA. 



349 



damus IV. was attacked by Demetrius Poliorcetes, 

 and Sparta was saved with difficulty. New troubles 

 soon arose: Cleonymus, nephew of the king Areus, 

 invited Pyrrhus into the country in aid of his ambi- 

 tious projects, which were frustrated, partly by the 

 negligence of Pyrrhus, and partly by the courage 

 of the Spartans. Luxury and licentiousness were 

 continually growing more and more prevalent, and, 

 though several succeeding kings attempted to 

 restore the constitution of Lycurgus, and restrain 

 the power of the ephori, it was without success. 

 Cleomenes, indeed, accomplished a reform ; but it 

 was not permanent. After an obstinate and unfor- 

 tunate war against the Achaeans and Antigonus, 

 king of Macedonia, Cleomenes fled to Egypt, where 

 he died. The state remained three years without 

 a head, and was then ruled by the tyrants Macha- 

 nidas and Nabis, by the latter of whom the most 

 atrocious cruelties were committed. The Romans 

 and the Achaean league effected the final fall of the 

 state, which had been upheld for a short time by 

 Nabis. Sparta was obliged to join tjie Achaean 

 league, with which it afterwards passed under the 

 dominion of the Romans. 



Sparta, or Lacedaemon, the capital of Laconia 

 and of the Spartan state, lay on the west bank of 

 the river Eurotas, and embraced a circuit of forty- 

 eight stadia, or six miles. The ruins are still seen 

 nearly a league to the east of Misitra, and are 

 known by the name of Palceopolis (Ancient City). 

 Sparta was irregularly built, and consisted of five 

 separate quarters, which, as late as the 120th 

 Olympiad, were not enclosed by any common wall. 

 Among other remarkable objects enumerated by 

 Pausanius are the following : the market-place 

 (ywa), containing the public buildings, in which 

 the most distinguished magistrates held their meet- 

 ings, and the principal ornament of which was the 

 Persice, a celebrated colonnade, built from the spoils 

 taken from the Persians ; its roof was supported by 

 statues of Persians ; the chorus, or place in which 

 the ephebi executed their dances, in the gymno- 

 paedia, adorned with statues of Apollo, Diana, and 

 Latona ; the Baroneta, or residence of the kings of 

 the family of Eurysthenes, in the street Aphetai, 

 so called because the people bought it of the widow 

 of Polydorus for a herd of cattle : the Leschai, or 

 halls in which the popular assemblies were held, 

 and of which there were two, the Lesche of the 

 Crotanes, near the tombs of the Agides, and the 

 Lesche Pcecile : the temple of Minerva Poliouchos 

 (Chalcioeca), on the Acropolis, &c; 



The Spartans were distinguished among the 

 people of Greece by their manners, customs, and 

 constitution. Their kings ruled only through the 

 popular will, as they had no other privileges than 

 those of giving their opinion first in the popular 

 assemblies, acting as umpires in disputes, and of 

 commanding the army; their only other advantages 

 were a considerable landed estate, a large share of 

 the spoils, and the chief seats in assemblies and at 

 meals. The Spartans, that is, the descendants of 

 the Dorians, who acquired possession of Laconia 

 under the Heraclidae, were occupied only with war 

 and the chase, and left the agricultural labours to 

 the Helots ; but the Lacedaemonians, or Perioeci 

 (the ancient inhabitants of the country), engaged 

 in commerce, navigation, and manufactures. Al- 

 though the Spartan conquerors were superior in 

 refinement and cultivation to the Lacedaemonians, 

 the arts of industry flourished only among the 

 latter. They gradually intermingled with the 



Spartans, whom they exceeded in number, and 

 formed one people. Herodotus states the number 

 of Spartans at only 8000. Both people constituted 

 one state, with a national assembly, to which the 

 towns sent deputies. The military contributions 

 in money and troops formed the principal tribute 

 of the free Lacedaemonians to the Spartans (Do- 

 rians). The former were sometimes divided by 

 jealousy from the latter, and in the Theban war, 

 several towns withdrew their troops from the 

 Spartans, and joined Epaminondas. The distin- 

 guishing traits of the Spartans were severity, reso- 

 lution, and perseverance. Defeat and reverse 

 never discouraged them. But they were faithless 

 and crafty, as appears from their conduct in the 

 Messenian wars, in which they not only bribed the 

 Arcadian king, Aristocrates, to the basest treachery 

 towards the Messenians, but also corrupted the 

 Delphic oracle, of which they made use to the 

 prejudice of the Messenians. The agfe at which 

 marriage might be contracted was fixed by Lycur- 

 gus at thirty for men and twenty for women. 

 When a Spartan woman was pregnant, it was re- 

 quired that pictures of the handsomest young men 

 should be hung up in her chamber, for the purpose 

 of producing a favourable effect on the fruit of her 

 womb. The child was brought forth, it is said, 

 upon a shield, and, if a male, was laid, without 

 swaddling clothes (to leave him the free use of his 

 limbs), in a shield, with the words A r a t-n vat 

 (Either with this or upon this). The other Greeks 

 washed the new-born infants with water, and after- 

 wards rubbed them over with oil ; but the Spartans 

 bathed them in wine, to try the strength of their 

 constitutions. They had a notion that a wine 

 bath produced convulsions or even death in weakly 

 children, but confirmed the health of the strong. 

 If the infant proved vigorous and sound, the state 

 received it into the number of citizens ; otherwise 

 it was thrown into a cave on mount Taygetus. In 

 the other Grecian states, the exposition of children 

 was a matter of custom : in Sparta it was forbidden 

 by law. If we may trust to Homer, it was at an 

 early period, a custom among the Spartan women 

 to employ nurses in order to preserve the beauty 

 of their breasts. The nurses were treated as part 

 of the family. The Spartan children were early 

 inured to hardships and accustomed to freedom. 

 Stays, which were in use among the other Grecians, 

 were unknown to the Spartans. To accustom 

 the children to endure hunger, they gave them but 

 little food ; and, if they stood in need of more, 

 they were obliged to steal it ; and, if discovered, 

 they were severely punished, not for the theft, but 

 for their awkwardness. Every ten days, they were 

 required to present themselves before the ephori, 

 and whoever was found to be too fat, received a 

 flogging. Wine was not generally given to girls 

 in Greece, but was commonly allowed to boys from 

 earliest childhood. In Sparta, the boys were ob- 

 'liged to wear the hair short, until they attained the 

 age of manhood, when it was suffered to grow. 

 They usually ran naked, and were generally dirty, 

 as they did not bathe and anoint themselves, like 

 the other Greeks. They took pride in having the 

 body covered with marks of bruises and wounds. 

 They wore no outer garment, except in bad 

 weather, and no shoes at any time. They were 

 obliged to make their beds of rushes from the 

 Eurotas. Till the seventh year, the child was 

 kept in the gynaeceum, under the care of the 

 women ; from that age to the eighteenth year, they 



