Lacedaemon, Republic of. A WONDERFUL republic, which was an object of fear for the Persians and of veneration for the Greeks. More than that, it has become the object of admiration for posterity, which will spread its fame far and wide as long as the love for great and beautiful things endures.

It seems that only in Lacedaemon did nature herself create real men. In the rest of the universe the help of science or the light of religion have helped us to distinguish man from beast. In Lacedaemon man had at birth, if one can say so, the seeds of uprightness and real fearlessness. The Lacedaemonian was born with the character of philosopher and citizen, and the native air was sufficient to make men wise and courageous. Here natural morality itself led men to be reasonable. These men voluntarily accepted a strict discipline and, by force of arms, having brought other peoples into submission, they submitted themselves to virtue.

Once Lycurgus had shown the way, the Spartans pursued it without deviating for seven or eight hundred years. Therefore, I declare with Procopius that I feel myself in every way a Lacedaemonian. Lycurgus satisfies me in everything; I need neither Solon nor Athens.

Lycurgus belonged to the family of the Heraclids. We can have a rather accurate idea of his dates if we accept the testimony of Aristotle, who maintains that an engraved tablet, preserved in Olympia, speaks of Lycurgus as a contemporary of Iphitus and mentions him in connection with the truce observed during the Olympic games. At that epoch the Lacedaemonians were living in a state of barbarism. Lycurgus undertook to give them refinement of manners, knowledge, and lasting fame.

After the death of his brother Polydectes, who was king of Lacedaemon, Lycurgus refused the crown offered him by the widow. She was even willing to terminate her pregnancy if only he would marry her. His regard for his sister-in-law was such that he made her keep the child, who was known as Leobotes or Labotes, or, according to Plutarch, Charilaus; he became the guardian of this boy and turned the crown over to him when he came of age.

From the beginning of his reign, however, Lycurgus carried out his plans for changing the government of Lacedaemon entirely, in matters pertaining to police, war, finances, religion, education, possession of wealth, the magistracy, private citizens, in a word, everything touching on persons of both sexes and all ages and conditions. I shall sketch as carefully as I can these reforms, admirable in themselves as well as in their results, and to do so I shall sometimes borrow from works too well known for me to mention their authors.

Lycurgus' first and most important concern was to establish a senate of twenty-eight members who, together with two kings, composed a council of thirty persons. In the hands of this council reposed the right over life and death, over the dishonor or glory of the citizens. The twenty-eight senators of Lacedaemon were called gerontes and Plato said that they were the moderators of the people and the royal power, maintaining the equilibrium between them as well as between the two kings, whose power was equal. See Gerontes ( Geronte ).

After having constituted this senate from those persons most capable of occupying the position and most initiated in all its secrets, Lycurgus decided that the places left vacant because of death would be filled by means of an election by the people of Sparta, who would by a plurality of votes elect from among the virtuous men of Sparta who were at least sixty years old.

Plutarch has left a detailed account of these elections. I shall only say that the new senator was immediately crowned with a flowered hat and that followed by a crowd he would go to the temples to thank the gods. Upon his return his relatives would offer him refreshments, saying, "The town honors you with this feast"; then he would go to sup in the public dining hall, about which we will speak, and that day he would receive two helpings. After the meal he would give the second helping to the female relative he respected most, saying, "I offer you the price of the honor I have received." Then her relatives and friends would accompany her home with acclamations, good wishes, and blessings.

The people held their general and special assemblies in a bare hall where there were neither statues, nor pictures, nor paneling, so as not to have the attention distracted from the subject under discussion. All the inhabitants of Laconia assisted at these general assemblies; the citizens of Sparta alone made up the particular assemblies. The right to proclaim an assembly and to propose subjects for discussion belonged exclusively to the kings and the gerontes . Later this right was usurped by the ephors.

The deliberations of these assemblies concerned peace and war, alliances, great affairs of state, and the election of magistrates. After the proposals had been heard, those who held one opinion lined up on one side, those who held the opposite point of view lined up on the other side. The majority opinion, thus made known, decided the debate.

The people were divided into tribes or families; the main ones were the Heraclides and the Pisanetes, from whom came Menelaus, and that of the Aegids, who were different from the Athenian tribe of the same name.

The kings of Lacedaemon were called archagetes . This name was different from the one given to the other kings in Greece, as if it were meant to indicate that these kings were merely the first magistrates for life in the republic, similar to the consuls in Rome. In time of war they served as generals of the army; in time of peace they presided at the assemblies and at public sacrifices. They could propose anything they deemed advantageous to the state and had the right to dissolve the assemblies they themselves had called. They could not, however, make any final decision without the consent of the nation, and they could not marry foreign women. Xenophon will tell you of their other prerogatives; Herodotus and Pausanias will give you a list of their succession. For my part, I deem it sufficient to note that Lycurgus intended in his organization of the government to unite all three powers into one, so that they would serve as checks and balances for each other. Events justified this lofty concept.

This great man did not proceed slowly or gradually with the other changes he intended. He hoped to make his fatherland a republic of heroes; in the heat of virtuous passion and by the force of his genius as well as by means of oracles, he tried to take advantage of the first moment of fervor and imbue the Spartans with the same sentiments that were inflaming him. He felt "that passions were like volcanoes whose sudden eruption immediately changes the riverbed while man's skill could only deflect it from its course by digging a new channel. Therefore he made use of strong passions to bring about a sudden revolution and fill the hearts of the people with enthusiasm, and if one can say so, with the fever of virtue." This is why he was successful in carrying out his legislative projects, the most daring, the finest, the best organized ever conceived by a mortal.

After having welded together all three powers of government to keep them from rivaling each other, he tore asunder family ties and declared all citizens of Lacedaemon born of the state. A great genius [1] of our century has said that this is the only way to stifle the vices that give the appearance of virtue. It prevents the division of a people into an infinite number of families or little societies, whose interests, being almost always opposed to the public weal, will in the long run extinguish any kind of love for the fatherland.

In order to prevent this misfortune still more easily and create a true republic, Lycurgus made all lands of the country common holdings and divided them into 39,000 equal parts which he distributed, just as if a group of republican brothers were dividing their common domain.

He insisted that members of both sexes should make their sacrifices in common and present their offerings and prayers together at all religious solemnities. He was convinced that these first ties of friendship and spiritual communion would be happy omens for faithfulness in marriage.

He excluded all kinds of superstition from funerals, ordering that nothing be put in the casket with the body and that the coffin be decorated simply with leaves from the olive tree. Since self-love knows no limit, he prohibited the name of the deceased from being written on his grave, except when a man had been killed bearing arms, or when a woman had been a priestess.

He allowed the dead to be buried near and even inside the temples in order to accustom the young to this spectacle and teach them that one was neither impure nor contaminated by walking over bones and sepulchers.

He shortened the period of mourning and limited it to eleven days, for he wanted to leave no room for uselessness and idleness in the activities of life.

His intention was also to strip religion of all superfluity and therefore he established laws of thrift and economy in all religious ritual. We offer to the gods simple things, said a Lacedaemonian, in order to be able to honor them every day.

Because laws and manners are the expression of customs, Lycurgus dealt with all three, in one and the same political code. His main concern was to insure obedience to the magistrates and foster a martial spirit in the nation. The Spartans were a people always either being admonished or admonishing, always either being taught or learning, always simple and severe, and therefore they excelled in virtue rather than good manners. [2] Thus morality set the tone of this republic. Dishonor became the greatest of evils and weakness the greatest of crimes.

Because the use of gold and silver has disastrous consequences, Lycurgus outlawed it upon penalty of death. He decreed that all money be either of iron or copper; moreover, Seneca is the only one who speaks of copper money; all other authors mention only iron, and, according to Plutarch, brittle iron at that. The public funds of Lacedaemon were deposited with neighboring nations and kept in Arcadia. Soon one would meet in Sparta neither sophists nor charlatans, nor soothsayers, nor fortunetellers; all those who sell their science and their secrets left the country and were followed by those who work for the luxury trades.

Lawsuits ceased with the money supply—how could they have endured in a republic where there was neither wealth nor poverty, where equality banished want, and abundance was maintained for all by means of frugality? Plutus was locked up in Sparta like a statue without soul and without life. This was the only town in the world where what is usually said of this god, namely that he is blind, became true. The legislator of Lacedaemon was thus assured that because he had obliterated the love for riches, all thoughts of the Spartans would turn unfailingly toward glory and probity. He did not even feel it necessary to regulate minor agreements between private persons. He left a people who were so wise and virtuous that they were free to add or delete from these agreements whatever seemed appropriate.

In order to avoid corruption from the outside, Lycurgus took two important steps.

First of all, the right to travel hither and yon according to their whim was not given to all citizens, for fear that ideas, tastes, and habits might be introduced into the fatherland that would ruin the harmony of the established government, just as discord and false notes destroy the harmony in music.

Secondly, he sought to prevent still more effectively any corruption of the discipline and manners of the Lacedaemonians through the influence of customs contrary to the laws of Lacedaemon, by decreeing that foreigners should be received in Sparta only during the solemn festivals, public games, and other spectacles. At such times they were welcomed respectfully and seated under a canopy while the local inhabitants found seats wherever they could. It was merely to observe this custom that there was a proxenos in Lacedaemon. Exceptions to this law were made rarely and only in cases of persons whose visit could honor the state. It is in this connection that Xenophon and Plutarch praise the hospitality of the Spartan Lychas.

The only thing left to be done was to prevent licentiousness and private debauchery since they are detrimental to health and require palliatives, which are merely other evils, such as long sleep, rest, diet, baths, and medical remedies. Lycurgus stopped all possibility of private intemperance by establishing a public table, the phiditia . All citizens had to come together in special dining halls and eat the same food which was prescribed by law.

The tables held approximately fifteen persons. Each brought, per month, a bushel of flour, eight measures of wine, five pounds of cheese, two and a half pounds of figs, and a little iron money to buy meat. It was the custom for anyone who was sacrificing at home or had killed some game to send a piece of meat or venison to his table.

There were only two occasions on which it was permitted to eat at home without the excuse of being ill, to wit, when one returned late from the hunt or when a sacrifice had ended late; otherwise appearance at the public meals was required. This custom was meticulously observed for a long time, until King Agis, returning after a victory over the Athenians, celebrated by dining at home with his wife. He sent to the mess hall for his two portions, but the polemarchs [ sic ] [3] refused it.

Let it be said in passing, only the king had two portions. Xenophon observes that this was not done so that they would eat a double amount but so that they could give one of the portions to anyone they considered worthy of the honor. Children of a certain age were present at these meals, and they were brought to be edified and taught temperance.

Lycurgus had all the dining halls decorated with pictures and statues of Laughter in order to show that joy should be the spice at all the tables and that it went along with order and frugality.

The most exquisite of all the dishes served at the meal of Lacedaemon was the black broth. At least, the old men preferred it to anything else. There once was a king of Pontus who, having heard the praises of this broth, especially bought a cook from Lacedaemon so as to have the broth prepared for his table. Having tasted it, however, he found it abominable; but the cook said "My lord, I am not surprised, for the best thing is missing from my broth and I cannot obtain it for you; before you taste it you should bathe in the waters of the Eurotas."

After the evening meal the Lacedaemonians returned home without torches or lights. Lycurgus had prescribed this in order to accustom them to walk bravely at night and in the dark.

Here are some other admirable features of the legislation of Lycurgus. Toward the weaker sex it inculcated a novel and valuable attitude. This great man was convinced "that women, who everywhere else seem to be like flowers in a beautiful garden and destined only for the adornment of the earth and the pleasures of the eye, could be put to a nobler usage, and that this sex, debased, and degraded among almost all peoples of the world, could participate in the glory of men, share with them the laurels they had cut, and in a word give powerful support to the laws of the nation."

We have no interest in exaggerating the allure of the Lacedaemonian ladies of the past; but the voice of the oracle recorded by Eusebius claims that they were the most beautiful in the universe, and almost all Greek authors speak in the same way. It should be sufficient to remember that Helen came from Lacedaemon. For love of her Theseus came from Athens, and Paris from Troy, certain they would find there someone more beautiful than in any other country. Penelope too was from Sparta; and almost at the same time that Helen's charms kindled criminal desires in the hearts of the two lovers, Penelope's chaste glances lit a great number of innocent fires in the breasts of the rivals who came in great number to contend for her with Ulysses.

This is why the legislator of Lacedaemon, intending to raise the daughters of Sparta above the customs of their sex, made them perform the same exercises as the men, so that they would not be inferior either in strength or bodily health or courage. Thus, since they had to run, fight, throw the quoits and the javelin, they wore clothes that gave them the necessary ease in the performance of all these exercises. Sophocles has characterized the dress worn by the women of Sparta in a fragment concerning Hermione, which is recorded by Plutarch: "This dress was short, that is all I need to say."

Not only did Lycurgus wish the young men to dance naked, but he decreed that during certain solemn rituals the young girls would dance in public clad only in their beauty and adorned by no other veil than their virtue. Modesty was at first alarmed but soon gave way to the public good. The nation saw with respect how, during the festivities, these lovely beauties sang hymns to celebrate the young warriors who had won distinction through their exploits. "What triumph it is for the hero to receive the palms of glory from the hands of beauty. How could one doubt that a young warrior would be carried away by valor when he read respect on the faces of the old men and saw the eyes of maidens offer him love and promises which in themselves were sufficient pleasures." Everything in this legislation conspired to transform men into heroes.

I am not trying to justify, as Plutarch did, the gymnopaediae in which the young Lacedaemonian women participated. According to a famous modern writer no more need be said than that "this custom suited only the pupils of Lycurgus." Only their frugal and hard-working way of life, their strict and pure morality, and their strength of character could lend innocence to a spectacle that is shocking to any people whose virtue does not go beyond respectability.

Does the skillful adornment of our women present fewer dangers than complete nudity, which with habit would turn into indifference in spite of our first reaction? Do not statues and paintings become offensive only when a little clothing renders nudity obscene? The immediate power of the senses is weak and limited; it is through the medium of the imagination that they wreak havoc. It is imagination that excites desire by endowing objects with even more attraction than they were granted by nature. When one dresses with as much artfulness and as little economy as women do today, when one shows less in order to excite desire more, when the obstacle placed before the eyes merely serves to irritate passion further, when one hides one part of the object merely to embellish even more the one remaining exposed, then:

The women of Lacedaemon wore a veil over their faces, the young girls did not; when a stranger asked Charilaus the reason for this custom, he replied that the young girls were looking for husbands and that the women were keeping themselves for theirs.

As soon as this husband was found and accepted by the magistrate, he had to kidnap the girl he was going to marry. Perhaps this was so that modesty would find a ready pretext for its surrender in the violence of the ravisher. Plutarch adds that at the time of the consummation of the marriage the woman wore a man's dress. No reason is given but one can imagine none more simple or obvious than that this was the symbol of equality between husband and wife, for it is certain that there never has existed a nation where women were as powerful as in Lacedaemon. This is illustrated by the well-known reply of Gorgo, the wife of the Spartan king Leonidas when a foreign woman said to her, "You are the only ones to rule over your husbands." "That is true," answered the queen, "but then, we alone give birth to true men."

Everyone is familiar with the Spartan practices of confinement. Aroused by a sentiment of glory, filled with the spirit of the republic, a woman's only thought during such moments was to instill warlike ardor in her child. As soon as labor started, a javelin and a shield were brought and the woman was placed on the shield; these bellicose people considered this the omen of the birth of another soldier. If the child was a boy, the relatives would raise him on the shield, uttering the heroic shout I tan I epitan , words that have been rendered by the Latin Aut hunc, aut in hoc , which means, "Keep this shield, part with it only in death." Feeling that the children might forget these first lessons, mothers would repeat them when they handed the shield to a soldier leaving for war. Ausonius repeats this, basing himself on other Greek authors.

According to Aristotle, it was the famous wife of Leonidas, whom I mentioned above, who was the first to speak in this manner to her son as he left for the army; this was later imitated by the other Lacedaemonian women.

No matter how strong the love for the fatherland may be in soldierly republics, one will never see a mother, after the loss of one son killed in battle, reproach the remaining son for having survived defeat. The example of the Lacedaemonians is no longer followed. After the battle of Leuctra, those mothers whose sons had escaped the massacre retired into their houses in grief and silence, ashamed of having given birth to men who would flee in battle, whereas the mothers whose sons had died showed themselves in public, their heads garlanded with flowers, and went to the temples to praise the gods. It is certain that there never has been a country where greatness of soul has been more widespread among the fair sex. If you do not believe me, read what Plutarch has to say about Demetria and so many other Lacedaemonian women.

When these women heard that their children had perished, and when they were able to view the bodies, they would hurry to examine whether the wound had been received facing the enemy or with the back turned; if the son had faced the enemy, then they dried their tears and with a calmer face buried him in the tomb of his ancestors. But if the wound had been of a different nature, they retired grief-stricken and abandoned the body to the common grave.

Since these same Lacedaemonian women were no less attached to their husbands than to the glory of the children they had brought into the world, their marriages were very happy. It is true that the laws of Lycurgus punished all those who remained bachelors or who married late, as well as those who made an ill-assorted match; but after what we have said of the charms and virtues of Lacedaemonian women, it was very difficult to remain celibate, for their charms were sufficient to make marriage desirable.

Add to this that marriage was forbidden to those who, because of cowardice, had escaped from the battlefield. What Spartan would have dared to expose himself to this double ignominy?

Marriage was the only way in which one could love an honest woman. All other ways were, in Sparta, either rare or dangerous. Whosoever violated a girl was punished by death. As far as adultery was concerned, one need only remember the witticism of Geradas. A stranger asked a Lacedaemonian how such action was punished in Sparta; it is unknown, said Geradas. But suppose it does occur, said the stranger; in such a case, replied the Spartan, the offender would have to pay with a bull so big that he would be able to drink the waters of the Eurotas while standing on the peak of the Taygetus. But it is impossible to imagine such a bull, said the stranger; but it is impossible to imagine such an action, said Geradas smiling.

Let us not think that the ancient authors are contradicting themselves when they assure us that there was no adultery in Sparta, while there were husbands who sometimes yielded their matrimonial bed to a healthy man in order to have wellformed and robust children. The Spartans did not call this adultery. They believed that in the sharing of so precious a gift, the consent or unwillingness of the husband made the action criminal or not. A man may be willing to give away a treasure when he feels like it but does not want it taken from him. On such an occasion the wife did not betray her husband; and since the persons involved in this contract saw no offense in it, they also found no shame in it. In a word, the Lacedaemonian asked of his wife not pleasure but children.

How handsome these children must have been. How could it have been otherwise, when one considers their origin and the care lavished upon them. Read only what the poet Oppian has written on this subject. The Spartans, he says, believing that the mother's imagination during conception contributes to the beauty of children, especially if she thinks of pleasant things, put before the eyes of their wives the portraits of the handsomest heroes: Castor and Pollux, the charming Hyacynthus, Apollo, Bacchus, Narcissus, and the incomparable Nereus, king of Naxos who, according to Homer, was one of the handsomest of the Greeks fighting before Troy.

Consider besides how strong and vigorous children must be who are born of robust, abstemious, and chaste parents! The institutions of Lycurgus conspired precisely to achieve this effect. Philopoenen tried to persuade the Lacedaemonian women to abandon the breast feeding of their children; he was persuaded that even without this they would have a great soul and a brave heart. The nursemaids of the Spartan women were known all over Greece for the excellent early care they provided and for the way in which they swaddled the child so that it could grow more freely and easily than anywhere else. It was from Sparta that Amicla came to Athens to nurse Alcibiades.

In spite of all this appearance of vigor in their children, the Spartans still tried them at birth by washing them in wine. This liquid, in their opinion, was endowed with the property of increasing the strength of a good constitution or of weakening a feeble one. I remember that Henri IV was treated like a Spartan. His father, Antoine of Bourbon, after receiving him from the midwife, made him suck a clove of garlic and put some wine in his mouth.

The children who survived this ordeal (and doubtless only a few succumbed) were entitled to a share of the lands of the republic and enjoyed the right of citizenship. The weaklings were abandoned because, according to the spirit of the Lycurgan laws, a Lacedaemonian was born not for himself nor for his parents, but for the republic whose interests transcended even blood ties. Athenius assures us that every ten days the children appeared naked before the ephors so that the latter could judge whether these children were going to be capable of rendering the services expected by the republic.

When Lacedaemon had to withstand the weight of the armies of Asia with a mere handful of subjects, it was to the brave men born in her midst that she owed her survival. It was because the republic was always eager to rear great men that the children were the first concern of the government. In the light of this, one can understand why their reply to Antipater's demand for fifty children as hostages was very different from what ours would have been. They preferred to give up double the number of mature men, for this is how they evaluated the loss of public education.

Each child in Sparta had an older Lacedaemonian as a special friend and intimate associate. It was an intercourse of mind and manners from which even the shadow of crime was banished. As the divine Plato says, it was the emulation of virtue between lover and loved one. The lover had to be constantly concerned with inspiring the object of his affection with sentiments of glory. Xenophon compared the ardor and modesty of this mutual love to the chain that binds the hearts of fathers and children.

Woe to the lover who did not give a good example to his pupil and did not correct his faults! If a child fails, says Elian, he can be forgiven because of his tender years, but the punishment falls on the tutor, who has to answer for the pupil whom he cherishes. Plutarch tells how in one of those fights to the death in which the children engaged in Apollo's grove, one of them let out a moan unworthy of a Lacedaemonian. His lover was immediately condemned to pay a fine. Another author adds that if, as happened in other towns of Greece, some lover were to conceive criminal desires toward the object of his affections, only a shameful flight could save him from an ignominious death. Therefore let us not listen to what Hesychius and Suidas have said against the nature of this love. The verb laconisein must be explained by the habits and customs of Lacedaemon and this is how Athenius and Demosthenes have understood it.

Indeed, Spartan education was considered so pure and so perfect, that the children of a few important foreigners were allowed, as a special privilege, to come under Lacedaemonian discipline. Two famous Athenians, Xenophon and Phocion, had the advantage of this favor.

Every old man, every father had the right to punish the children of others as if they were his own; if he neglected to do so he was blamed for the child's mistake. This law of Lycurgus kept the fathers constantly on the alert and continually reminded the children that they belonged to the republic. Therefore they willingly submitted to the reproof of all old men. They would never meet an aged man without stopping respectfully until he had gone by, and if they were sitting down they would immediately get up as he approached. This made the other Greeks say that only in Lacedaemon were there pleasures attached to old age.

In this republic, idleness was considered a capital crime among young men, whereas in mature men it was a mark of honor. It was what distinguished the master from the slave, but before one could taste the sweetness of rest, one's youth had to be spent in a constant training for fighting, running, jumping, wrestling, military maneuvers, hunting, dancing, and even thievery. Sometimes a boy would receive a very peculiar punishment: he would have his finger bitten for having failed. Hesychius will tell you the different names given to young men, according to their age and the sequence of exercises, but I do not dare to enter into this type of detail.

On certain feast days the fathers made their slaves drunk and showed them in this contemptible state to the youth of Lacedaemon in order to keep them from debauchery and teach them virtue by showing its opposite; it is as if one were trying to arouse admiration for the beauties of nature by showing the horrors of the night.

Petty thievery was permitted in Lacedaemon in order to train the children in dexterity, guile, and nimbleness. The same custom existed with the Cretans. Montaigne says that Lycurgus was interested in the hardiness, diligence, and daring which resulted from this thievery, as well as in the benefit derived from the fact that everyone was more careful in protecting what was his. The legislator felt that such training in both attack and defense could be useful for military science, and that this outweighed the disorder and injustice of such thievery, which after all resulted only in the loss of some vegetables and a few chickens. Still, those who were caught in the act were punished for their clumsiness.

The children were so afraid of discovery that one of them, having stolen a little fox, hid it under his tunic and suffered in silence while the fox gnawed his vitals until he fell dead. Plutarch maintains that there is nothing inconceivable in this event, particularly for those who know what the children of this town are still capable of enduring. We have seen, says this historian, children being beaten to death with rods before the altar of Diana Orthia without uttering a sound.

Cicero also was witness to the manner in which these children, at the age of seven, proved their fortitude under pain by allowing themselves to be whipped until blood showed, without moving a muscle of the face. With us, custom would not have overcome nature, for our judgment has been poisoned by pleasures, soft living, idleness, cowardice, and laziness, and we have corrupted it by shameful habits. This is not I speaking of my nation, though it might seem that way; this is Cicero himself speaking of the Romans of his century. In order to leave no doubt, here are his own words: nos umbris de litis, otio, languore, desidia, animum infecimus, maloque more delinitum, mollivimus. Tusc. quaest . Liv. V cap. xxvij. [6]

Furthermore, the education of the Spartan children made them capable of performing the heaviest tasks. Their bodies were accustomed to the rigors of all seasons; they were plunged into cold water in order to harden them to withstand the fatigues of war and they were made to sleep on rushes which they had to gather in the Eurotas with their bare hands.

A young Spartan who, like a slave, would seek shelter during a thunderstorm would be publicly upbraided for it. To be seen under any roof other than the sky, no matter what the weather, was considered disgraceful. After that can we wonder that these children would turn into such strong, vigorous, and courageous men?

For about seven hundred years Lacedaemon had no other walls than the shields of her soldiers, and this too was a Lycurgan institution. "We honor valor, but much less than was done in Sparta; that is why we do not feel the scorn Lacedaemonians must have experienced at the sight of a fortified city. Once some of them passed by the walls of Corinth. Who are the women who live here, they asked. The Corinthians, was the answer. Do these vile cowards not know that the only impenetrable ramparts against the enemy are citizens who are determined to die defending the town?"

Philip wrote to the Spartans that he would keep them from carrying out any of their undertakings. Will you prevent us from dying, they asked. The history of Lacedaemon is full of such traits. It is all a miracle of a kind.

I know as well as others the apocryphal witticism of the Sybarite, which Plutarch relates in the Pelopidas. The Lacedaemonians were being praised before him for the fearlessness with which they faced death during the dangers of war. Why should one marvel, answered this pleasure-seeking man, if they seek death in battle since it delivers them from a miserable life? The Sybarite was wrong. The Spartans did not lead sad and miserable lives. They simply believed that happiness consisted neither in living nor in dying but in doing each gloriously and joyfully. "It was no less pleasant for the Spartans to live in the shadow of good laws than for the Sybarites in the shade of their groves!" And that is not all! In the midst of the soft life of Suza the bored Spartan would sigh for his simple feasts, for the the only life that befitted his temperament. He would sigh for the public teachings that sustained his mind, for the tiring exercises that preserved his health, for his wife whose favors offered pleasures that were always new, and finally for the games that provided relaxation in wartime.

The moment the Spartans started on a campaign, their life became less difficult, their food more delicate, and what affected them even more, this was the moment when they could shine in all their glory and valor. In the army they were permitted to adorn their clothing and weapons, to perfume and braid their long hair. On the day of battle they crowned their hats with flowers. The moment they were in the presence of the enemy, the king came out to lead them, commanded the flute players to play the air of Castor, and himself began to sing the hymn that was the special signal of attack. It was an awe-inspiring and terrible spectacle to see the Spartans advance upon the enemy to the sound of flutes and bravely confront all the horrors of death without ever breaking rank. Bound together as they were by their love of the fatherland, they either all perished or returned victorious.

Some Chalcidians, on arriving in Lacedaemon, went to see Argileonis, the mother of Brasidas, who had been killed while defending the Chalcidians against the Athenians. With tears in her eyes Argileonis asked them first of all if her son had died a brave man, worthy of his country. Full of their admiration for Brasidas, the foreigners extolled his bravery and his exploits and went so far as to say that there could be no equal in Sparta. No, no, said Argileonis, interrupting them and drying her tears. I hope my son was worthy of his country, but know that Sparta is full of citizens as virtuous and as courageous as he.

Truly, the brave actions of the Spartans would appear mad were they not hallowed with the admiration of centuries. Their heroes never wavered in that bold stubbornness that made them invincible. They knew that too much prudence dulls the strength of courage and that scruples do not breed virtue. Thus the Spartans were always impatient for battle, threw themselves furiously on the enemy batallions, and saw only glory when they were surrounded by death.

They invented weapons meant only for them, but it was their discipline and their valor which were their real strength. Other peoples, says Seneca, hastened after victory when it was certain; but the Spartans hastened to their death when it was inevitable; and he adds elegantly, turpe est cuilibet fugisse, Laconi vero deliberasse , "to flee is anyone's shame, but the mere thought of it is the shame of the Lacedaemonians."

Lacedaemon's allies asked of her neither money, nor ships, nor troops. They merely asked for one Spartan to lead their armies, and when they had him, they submitted to him completely and accorded him all kinds of marks of honor and respect. Thus the Sicilians obeyed Gylippus; the Chalcidians, Brasidas; and all the Greeks of Asia, Lysander, Callicratidas, and Agesilas.

This warlike people represented all its gods armed, even Venus: armatam venerem vidie Lacedemona Pallas . Bacchus, who everywhere else holds the thyrsus, in Lacedaemon carries a dart. How could the Spartans help but be brave? They never entered their temples without finding there an army; they could never pray to their gods without at the same time having worship excite their courage.

All their lives these men had to confront the problem of death. When Leonidas, king of Lacedaemon, set out to defend Thermopylae with three hundred Spartans against 300,000 Persians, they were so determined to perish that they assisted at the funeral ceremonies that were held in their honor. Leonidas is the magnanimous king whose actions Pausanias preferred to the behavior of Achilles before Troy, to the exploits of the Athenian Miltiades at Marathon, and to all the great examples of valor in Greek and Roman history. When you have read Plutarch on the heroic exploits of this great captain, you will be hard put to find a man to whom he can be compared.

At the time when this hero lived, Athens was so convinced of the pre-eminence of the Lacedaemonians that she did not hesitate to turn the command of the Greek army over to them. Themistocles served under Eurybiades who won the victory of Salamis over the Persians. Pausanias triumphed over them at Platea, carried his arms to the Hellespont, and captured Byzantium. Only the Theban Epaminondas had the glory, much later, of conquering the Lacedaemonians at Leuctra and Mantinea and depriving them of that pre-eminence in Greece that they had kept for seven hundred and thirty years.

When the Romans made themselves masters of Achaea, they imposed no other burden upon the Lacedaemonians than that of furnishing auxiliary troops to Rome when asked. Philistrates tells about Apollonius of Tyane who lived under Domitian and went to Lacedaemon out of curiosity. He found the laws of Lycurgus still in force. The Spartan reputation for bravery lasted far into the late Roman Empire.

The Lacedaemonians kept the esteem of the Roman emperors and raised temples in honor of Julius Caesar and Augustus from whom they had received new favors. They also struck medals with the stamp of Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus. Vaillant cites one being struck of Nero, [7] because this prince distinguished himself in the Greek games, but he never dared to come to Sparta because of the severity of the Lycurgan laws, which he feared like the furies of Athens.

And yet, what difference there is between these two peoples! In vain did the Athenians try to tarnish the glory of their rivals. They attempted to ridicule them because they did not use literature and philosophy as the Athenians did. It is easy to defend the Lacedaemonians against such accusations, and if I may be permitted I shall be so bold as to attempt it.

I admit that to find rhetoricians, painters, and sculptors one went to Athens and the other towns of Greece. But to find legislators, magistrates, and leaders of armies, one turned to Lacedaemon. In Athens one learned to speak well, in Sparta to act well. There, to unravel the arguments of sophists and to overcome the subtle and insidious interrelation of words; here one learned to extricate oneself from the lures of luxury and ward off with great courage the threat of fortune and death. The first, as Montaigne says so well, were engaged in speeches, the latter in actions. Send us your children, Agesilas wrote to Xenophon, not in order to study dialectics but to learn a finer science, namely to obey and to command.

Thus, ethics and philosophy were being explained in Athens, in Lacedaemon they were being practiced. The Spartan Panthoides pointed this out to the Athenians. He was strolling with some of them in the Lyceum and was urged to listen to the eloquent moral discussions of the philosophers. When he was asked his opinion he replied that they were admirable but of no use to the Athenian nation which did not practice them.

If you wish for a historical fact that depicts the character of the two peoples, here is one: "An old man," says Plutarch, "was unsuccessfully trying to find a seat during one of the public performances in Athens. Some young Athenians, seeing his plight, called to him. When he approached they closed their ranks and laughed at him; the old fellow made the round of the theater, always shouted at by the young people. The ambassadors of Sparta saw it and immediately placed him in their midst. The action was noted by everyone and even applauded. Alas, cried the old man sorrowfully, the Athenians know what is honorable, but the Lacedaemonians practice it!"

These Athenians of whom we speak often misused words whereas the Lacedaemonians always saw in them the reflection of action. Only those who led a moral life were permitted a good turn of phrase. When a man of bad repute made a good suggestion on important matters, the ephors respected his opinion, but they had an honest man make the proposal; otherwise the people would not have backed it. Thus the magistrates accustomed the Spartans to being persuaded by good morals rather than by any other means.

It is not that they lacked the art of manipulating language; their speeches and repartee show a force and a grandeur that no amount of wit was able to introduce into the eloquence of their Athenian rivals. The entertainment in their theaters did not consist in satires and jokes; a single saying of Eudamidas eclipses the outrageous scene of Andromacha. This Lacedaemonian, finding himself one day in the Academy and seeing there the philosopher Xenocrates, who was studying philosophy though he was already very old, asked who this ancient was. The answer was that he was a wise man looking for virtue. But when will he use it if he is still looking for it, was Eudamidas' rejoinder. It is true, however, that the famous men of Athens were the first to prefer the deeds of the Lacedaemonians to all the lessons of the schools.

It is amusing to see how Socrates made fun of Hippias, who was saying that he had been unable to earn anything with his teaching in Sparta, that the Spartans lacked taste, esteemed neither grammar nor rhythm, and dabbled in the study of the history and character of their kings, the establishment and decadence of states, and other things of this type. With this Socrates, without contradicting him, made him admit in detail the excellence of the government of Sparta, the merit of her citizens, and the happiness of their private lives, and left Hippias to draw his own conclusions about the uselessness of the subjects he had been teaching.

The ignorance of the Spartans in such arts had its origin not in stupidity but in rules; even Plato agrees with that. In spite of the austerity of her politics, Lacedaemon produced some very fine minds, philosophers, famous poets, and illustrious authors; their works are lost to us because of the ravages of time. The care lavished by Lycurgus on the preservation of the works of Homer, which might otherwise have been lost, the beautiful statues that embellished Sparta, the Lacedaemonians' love for the paintings of the great masters prove that they were not insensitive to beauty in the arts.

It was because of their passionate appreciation of the poems of Terpander, Spendon, and Alcman that they forbade slaves to sing them. Only free men were entitled to sing such divine songs.

It is true that they punished Timothy for having added four more to the seven chords of music, but that was because they feared that the effeminacy of this new harmony would corrupt their austere morality. At the same time they admired the genius of the artist; they did not burn his lyre; on the contrary, they hung it from the arch of one of their most beautiful buildings, built by Theodore of Samos. This was a favorite walk of the Spartans. They also drove out the poet Archilochus; but that was because he proclaimed in verse that it was better to flee and save one's life than to die bearing arms. The exile to which they condemned him was not due to their indifference for poetry but to their love of valor.

The same principles of wisdom made them use nothing but the axe and the saw in building their houses. A Lacedaemonian whom I can name—it was the king Lectychides—on seeing in Corinth a reception hall with gilt and heavily carved paneling, coldly asked his host whether this was the way in which trees grew in Corinth. Yet these same Spartans had superb temples. They also had a magnificent theater destined for exercises, dances, games, and other public performances. The description that Pausanias has left of the decorations of their temples and the sumptuousness of the theater prove sufficiently that this people knew how to display magnificence where it was truly suitable and how to proscribe luxury in private houses, where its frivolous glitter merely satisfied the false needs of vanity.

However, since their workmen were full of admirable industriousness, skill, and patience, they turned their talents to perfecting furniture that was utilitarian and used daily. The beds, tables, and chairs of the Lacedaemonians were of better workmanship than anywhere else. Their pottery was more beautiful and more appealing. The Laconian goblet known as a cothon was especially praised for its shape and its particular usefulness in the army. Critics say that its color hid the disgusting color of the muddy water one is sometimes obliged to drink in the field in wartime. The impurities sank to the bottom of the goblet and the rim trapped the silt, so that only pure and clear water reached the lips.

Far from belittling the improvement of the mind and the polish of language, the Lacedaemonians wanted their children to learn at an early age how to combine strength and elegance of expression with purity of mind. According to Plutarch, they liked their answers always short and to the point, witty and graceful. Those who, either because of haste or slowness of mind, answered badly or not at all were punished. Bad reasoning was punished in Sparta in the same way as bad behavior. Therefore nothing could deceive the reason of this people. "Since a Lacedaemonian from the cradle had none of the whim and bad temper of childhood, he was in his youth free from all fear; devoid of superstitions, the Spartans brought their religion and their ritual before the tribunal of common sense." When Diogenes arrived in Athens from Lacedaemon, he replied with enthusiasm to those who asked where he was coming from, "I have just been with true men."

All the other Greeks had innumerable temples dedicated to Fortune. The Lacedaemonians had nothing but a statue erected to her and never went near it; they did not seek the favors of this goddess and tried to find in their virtues an escape from her insults.

There was a well known saying in antiquity, Spartam nactus es, hanc orna . "You have come to Sparta, try to be worthy of her." That was a noble proverb, used on important occasions to exhort someone to follow the sentiments and behavior of the Spartans, so that he might live up to public expectation. When Cimon wanted to prevent his compatriots from making a bad decision he said, "Think what the Lacedaemonians would do in your place."

Such is the fame of that great republic, so superior to Athens; and this fame was uniquely the result of the legislation of Lycurgus. But as M. de Montesquieu has observed, what genius must this great man have had to raise his fatherland in this manner! To see that by going against traditional customs, by confounding virtues he would show his wisdom to the universe! Lycurgus, by mingling thievery with a spirit of justice, the harshest slavery with freedom, cruel sentiments with the greatest moderation, gave stability to the foundations of the city while seeming to deprive her of all resources, of art, commerce, money, and walls.

The Lacedaemonian felt ambition without expecting betterment; he had all natural feeling; he was neither child nor father, nor husband. [8] He belonged totally to the state. The fair sex showed itself in all its beauty and in all its virtue and yet chastity did not even have the support of modesty. It was through these strange byways that Lycurgus led his Sparta to the pinnacle of greatness. His institutions remained so infallible that one could obtain nothing from Sparta by winning battles against it. In spite of all the successes of its happy days, Sparta never wanted to extend its boundaries—its only goal was liberty, and the only advantage it reaped from liberty was glory.

What other society has ever offered to Reason a more brilliant and sublime example? For seven or eight centuries the laws of Lycurgus were observed with the most religious faithfulness. How many men as good as the Spartans have ever provided so great and continuous an example of moderation, patience, courage, temperance, justice, and love of the fatherland? When we read their history, our soul is uplifted and seems to transcend the narrow limits within which the corruption of our century imprisons our frail virtues.

Lycurgus succeeded in carrying out the sublime plan for an excellent republic, which later was written about by Plato, Diogenes, Zeno, and others, but with a difference: they left nothing but discourses whereas the legislator of Laconia left neither words nor plans but showed the world an unequaled government and silenced those who maintained that a truly wise man has never existed. It is such considerations that prompted Aristotle to write that this sublime man had not been shown all the respect he deserved, even though he did receive the greatest honor a mortal can ever receive—a temple was erected to him and in the time of Pausanias sacrifices were still made to him annually, as if to a god.

When Lycurgus saw his government firmly established, he told his compatriots that he would consult the oracle in order to know whether any changes should be made in the laws he had promulgated; if that were the case he would promptly return to carry out Apollo's decree. But in his heart he decided to finish his days in Delphi and never to return to Lacedaemon, for he had reached the age where one leaves life without regret. He brought his life to an end secretly by abstaining from food, for he was persuaded that the death of a statesman should be of use to the fatherland, should be in harmony with his administration, and should contribute to his glory as much or more than any other of his actions. He understood that having accomplished such fine things, death would bring him to the height of happiness and would secure for the Spartans all the good he had given them in his lifetime, since it would force them to maintain his laws which they had sworn to observe until his return.

Dicaearchus, whom Cicero esteemed to an extraordinary degree, wrote the description of the republic of Sparta. In Lacedaemon this treatise was considered so beautiful, so accurate, and so useful that the magistrates decided that every year it was to be read in public to all the youth. The loss of this work must be regretted; we have to console ourselves, however, by reading the ancient historians who do survive, especially Pausanias and Plutarch; the collections of Meursius, Cragius, and Sugonius; and also by reading Of Ancient and Modern Lacedaemon by Guillet, a very learned and well written book. [9]

Notes

1. [Montesquieu.]

2. [This last sentence is taken almost verbatim from Montesquieu, L'Esprit des lois , Bk. XIX, chap. 16, except that Montesquieu says that the Spartans in their relations with each other practiced virtue rather than consideration.]

3. [The polemarch was an Athenian magistrate. Jaucourt probably means ephor.]

4. [The correct Latin reads, Heu! male tum mitis defendet pampinus uvas ("Oh! poorly then will the vine-leaf guard the ripe grapes") (Virgil, Georgics I. 448).]

5. ["A Spartan mother, slinging her son's shield, said, `Return with this or upon it' " ( Epigrams on Various Occasions XLIV, "On a Brave Mother").]

6. ["But as for us we have corrupted our souls with shadowy bowers, luxury, ease, indolence; and we have weakened them by bad habits" (Tusculan Disputations V. 27. 78).]

7. [Probably Jean-Foi Vaillant (1632–1706), famous numismatist.]

8. [This sentence is directly lifted from Montesquieu's L'Esprit des lois , Bk. IV, chap. 6, but in changing the punctuation, Jaucourt has made it meaningless. The original version is: [The Lacedaemonian] had ambition, without expecting betterment: he had all natural feeling; and he was neither....]

9. [Jean Meursius (de Meurs), Miscellanea Laconica (Amsterdam, 1661); De regno Laconico (Amsterdam, 1687). Cragius (Niels Krag), De Republicae Lacedaemoniorum (1593). Sugonius (Charles Sigonio), De republica Atheniensium libri quinque; De Atheniensium et Lacedaemoniorum temporibus liber unus (Bologna, 1564). Georges Guillet de Saint-George, Lacédémone ancienne et nouvelle où l'on voit les moeurs et les coûtumes des Grecs modernes, des Mahométans et des Juifs du pays ... (Paris, 1676).]