Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

290 CIVITAS. CIVITAS.
maternal grandfather. (Isaeus, De Apol. Hered. fled only by the genius of Lycurgus, their designi
c. 15.) Still an additional safeguard was provided was evidently to unite the governing body among
by the registry of the deme. At the age of six- themselves against the superior nun bers of the
teen, the son of a citizen was required to devote subject population. The division of lands, the
two years to the exercises of the gymnasia, at the syssitia, the education of their youth, all tended to
expiration of which term he was enrolled in his this great object. The most important thinff next
deme; and, after taking the oath of a citizen, was to union among themselves, was to divide the subarmed in the presence of the assembly. He was ject class, and accordingly we find the government
then of age, and might marry; but was required conferring some of the rights of citizenship on the
to spend two years more as a 7repuroXos in frontier helots. Properly speaking, the helots cannot be
service, before he was admitted to take part in the said to have had any political rights; yet being
assembly of the people. The admission into the serfs of the soil, they were not absolutely under
phratria and deme were alike attended with oaths the control of their masters, and were never sold
and other solemn formalities: when a 8oecmtcaaia out of the country even by the state itself. Their
or general scrutiny of the claims of citizens took condition was not one of hopeless servitude; a legal
place, it was entrusted to both of them; indeed way was open to them, by which, through many
the registry of the deme was the only check upon intermediate stages, they might attain to liberty
the naturalised citizen. and citizenship. (Miiller, Dorians, iii. 3. ~ 5.)
These privileges, however, were only enjoyed Those who followed their masters to war were
while the citizen was E&rITltloS: in other words, deemed worthy of especial confidence; indeed,
did not incur any sort of &ryqdea, which was of when they served among the heavy-armed, it
two sorts, either partial or total, and is spoken of seems to have been usual to give them their
at length elsewhere. [ATIMIA.] liberty. The &eorIromLovairaL,~ by whom the
Recurring then to Aristotle's definition, we find Spartan fleet was almost entirely manned, were
the essential properties of Athenian citizenship to freedmen, who were allowed to dwell where they
have consisted in the share possessed by every pleased, and probably had a portion of land alcitizen in the legislature, in the election of magis- lotted them by the state. After they had been
trates, in the 5oicmaerea, and in the courts of in possession of their liberty for some time, they
justice. appear to have been called VeoeatoieEs (Thuc. vii.
The lowest unity under which the citizen was 58), the number of whom soon came near to that
contained, was the ye'vos or clan; its members of the citizens. The udOwYves or yMdOaKes (as their
were termed TyevvrTra or 05toydaecaKrE. Thirty name implies) were also emancipated helots; their?yerv4 formed a ppaTrpfa, which latter division, as descendants, too, must have received the rights of
was observed above, continued to subsist long citizenship as Callicratidas, Lysander, and Gylipafter the four tribes, to which the twelve phratries pus were of Mothacic origin. (MUlier, Dorians,
anciently corresponded, had been done away by ii. 3. ~ 6.) We cannot suppose that they passed
the constitution of Cleisthenes. There is no reason necessarily and of course into the full Spartan
to suppose that these divisions originated in the franchise; it is much more probable that at Sparta,
common descent of the persons who were included as at Athens, intermarriage with citizens might
in them, as they certainly did not imply any such at last entirely obliterate the badge of former seridea in later times. Rather they are to be con- vitude.
sidered as mere political unions, yet formed in The perioeci are not to be considered as a subimitation of the natural ties of the patriarchal ject class, but rather as a distinct people, separated
system. by their customs as well as by their origin from
If we would picture to ourselves the true notion the genuine Spartans. It seems unlikely that they
which the Greeks embodied in the word -ro'XAs, were admitted to vote in the Spartan assembly
we must lay aside all modern ideas respecting the yet they undoubtedly possessed civil rights in the
nature and object of a state. With us practically, communities to which they belonged (MUller,
if not in theory, the object of a state hardly em- Dorians, iii. 2. ~ 4), and which would hardly have
braces more than the protection of life and pro- been called 7ro'AEL unless they had been in some
perty. The Greeks, on the other hand, had the sense independent bodies. In the army they commost vivid conception of the state as a whole, monly served as hoplites, and we find the comevery part of which was to co-operate to some mand at sea intrusted to one of this class. (Thuc.
great end to which all other duties were considered viii. 22.) In respect of political rights, the perioeci
as subordinate. Thus the aim of democracy was were in the same condition with the plebeians in,
said to be liberty; wealth, of oligarchy; and edu- the early history of Rome, although in every other
cation, of aristocracy. In all governments the respect far better off, as they participated in the
endea-our was to draw the social union as close division of lands, and enjoyed the exclusive prias possible, and it seenms to have been with this vilege of engaging in trade and commerce. What
view that Aristotle laid down a principle which confirms the view here taken, is the fact, that, as
answered well enough to the accidental circum- far as we know, no individual of this class was
stances of the Grecian states, that a wriAls must-be ever raised to participate in Spartan privileges.
of a certain size. (Pol. vii. 4; Nic. Etth. ix. 10. Nothing, however, can be more erroneous than to
Ob y&ap iK &rea /uvptd'iwv 7rdLXs CrT ErL'V.) look upon them as an oppressed race. Even their
This unity of purpose was nowhere so fully exclusion from the assembly cannot be viewed in
carried out as in the government of Sparta; and, if this light; for, had they possessed the privilege,
Sparta is to be looked upon as the model of a their residence in the country would have deDorian state, we may add, in the other Dorian go- barred them from its exercise. It only remains
vernments. Whether Spartan institutions in their to consider in what the superiority of the genuine
essential parts were the creation of a single Spartan may have consisted. In the first place,
master-mind, or the result of circumstances modi- besides the right of voting in the assembly and