obedience, Lycurgus took their education out of the hands of their parents, and committed it to masters appointed by the state. So desirous, indeed, was he of having a hardy and robust race of citizens, that he began the work of education, even from the time of the mother's conception, making it her duty to use such diet and exercise, as might fit her to produce a healthy and vigorous offspring. Nay, such children as were born with any capital defect, were not suffered to be brought up, but were exposed to perish in a cavern near mount Taygetus; and such as, upon a public view, were deemed to be sound and healthy, were adopted as children of the state, and delivered to their parents to be nursed with rigour and severity. From their tenderest years they were accustomed to make no choice in their eating, not to be afraid in the dark, or when left alone; not to be peevish or fretful; to walk barefoot; to lie hard at nights; to wear the same clothes summer and winter; and to fear nothing from their equals. At the age of seven they were taken from their parents, and delivered over to the classes for a public education. Their discipline there was still more rigid and severe. They were still obliged to go barefoot, their heads were shaved, and they fought with one another naked.

To enable them the better to endure bodily pain without complaining, they were annually whipped at the altar of Diana; and the boy that bore this punishment with the greatest fortitude, came off victorious. Plutarch tells us, that he has seen several children expire under this cruel treatment; and he makes mention of one, who having stolen a fox, and hid it under his coat, chose rather to let the animal tear out his bowels than discover the theft. In order to prepare them for the stratagems of war, they were permitted to steal from one another; but if they were caught in the fact, they were punished for their want of dexterity. At twelve years of age they were removed into a class of a more advanced

kind. There their labour and discipline were increased with their years. They had now their skirmishes between small parties, and their mock fights between larger bodies; and in these they sometimes fought with such obstinacy, that they were seen to lose their eyes, and even their lives, before they gave up the contest. Such was the constant discipline of their minority, which lasted till the age of thirty, before which they were not permitted to marry, to go into the troops, or to bear any office in the state.

The discipline of the virgins was as severe as that of the young men. They were inured to a life of labour and industry till they were twenty years of age, before which time they were not allowed to be marriageable. They had also their peculiar exercises. They ran, wrestled, and pitched the bar; and performed all these feats naked before the whole body of the citizens. Yet this was thought no way indecent, as it was supposed that the frequent view of the person would tend rather to check than excite every irregular desire. An education so manlike, did not fail to bestow upon the Spartan women equal vigour of body and mind. They were bold, hardy, and patriotic, filled with a sense of honour, and a love of military glory. Some foreign women, in conversation with the wife of Leonidas, saying, that the Spartan women alone knew how to govern the men, she boldly replied, "The Spartan women alone bring forth "men." A mother was known to give her son, who was going to battle, his shield, with this gallant advice, "Return "with it, or return upon it;" thereby in effect telling him, that, rather than throw it away in flight, he should be berne home upon it dead. Another hearing that her son was killed fighting for his country, she answered without any emotion, "It was for that I brought him into the "world." After the battle of Leuctra, the parents of those who fell in the action, went to the temples to thank the

gods that their sons had done their duty, while those whose children survived that dreadful day were overwhelmed with grief.

Besides these general regulations, there were many other subordinate maxims, that, by long and constant practice, obtained the force of laws. The Spartans were expressly forbid to exercise any mechanic art. War was their chief occupation; and in time of peace they employed themselves in hunting, or bodily exercises. The Helots, or slaves, tilled their lands for them, and received for their labour a bare subsistence. Nor was this the only hardship to which these unhappy men were subject; they were in a manner bound to the soil, nor was it even lawful to sell them to strangers, or to make them free: nay, if at any time their numbers increased to such a degree as to excite the suspicion of their cruel masters, there was a Cryptia, or secret act, by which it was permitted to destroy them without mercy. Thucydides relates, that two thousand of these slaves disappeared at once, without ever after being heard of. Nor were they only thus wantonly put to death, they were even made a mockery of while living: they were frequently intoxicated on purpose, and in that condition exposed before the children, in order to deter them from this kind of debauchery.

As to the citizens themselves being possessed, by means of their slaves, of competence and leisure, they were almost always in company in their large common halls, where they met and conversed with one another. The love of their country was their ruling passion, and all self-interest seemed lost in the general wish for the welfare of the public. Pedarctus having missed the honour of being chosen one for the three hundred who had a certain rank in the city, converted his disappointment into joy, "that there were "three hundred better men in Sparta than he."

The Spartans were forbid to make frequent war upon the same people, lest they should teach their discipline to others. When they had broken and routed their enemies, they never pursued them farther than was necessary to make themselves sure of the victory. This had an excellent effect; for the enemy, knowing that all who resisted were put to the sword, often fled, as they were convinced that this was the most effectual means of ensuring their safety. With the Spartans themselves the case was directly the reverse: for their first and most inviolable maxim was, never to turn their backs on the enemy, however unequal to them in numbers, nor ever to deliver up their arms till they resigned them with their life. Nay, they would not suffer the contrary notion to be propagated, or even mentioned among them. For when the poet Archilochus came to Sparta, he was obliged to quit the city, for having asserted in one of his poems, that it was better for a man to lose his arms than his life. Thus depending upon their valour alone, their legislator would not allow them to wall the city. It was his opinion, that a wall of men was preferable to a wall of brick, and that valour, which is obliged to take shelter within a fortification, is little better than cowardice.

Such was the general purport of the institutions of Lycurgus, which from their tendency gained the esteem and admiration of all the surrounding states. In order to render them as lasting as they were excellent, Lycurgus pretended that something was still wanting to the completion of his plan, and that it was necessary for him to go and consult the Oracle of Delphos. In the mean time, he persuaded his countrymen to take an oath for the strict observance of all his laws till his return, and then left Sparta with a firm resolution of never seeing it more. When he arrived at Delphos, he inquired of the Oracle, whether the laws he had made were sufficient to render the Lacedemo

gods that their sons had done their duty, while those whose children survived that dreadful day were overwhelmed with grief.

Besides these general regulations, there were many other subordinate maxims, that, by long and constant practice, obtained the force of laws. The Spartans were expressly forbid to exercise any mechanic art. War was their chief occupation; and in time of peace they employed themselves in hunting, or bodily exercises. The Helots, or slaves, tilled their lands for them, and received for their labour a bare subsistence. Nor was this the only hardship to which these unhappy men were subject; they were in a manner bound to the soil, nor was it even lawful to sell them to strangers, or to make them free: nay, if at any time their numbers increased to such a degree as to excite the suspicion of their cruel masters, there was a Cryptia, or secret act, by which it was permitted to destroy them without mercy. Thucydides relates, that two thousand of these slaves disappeared at once, without ever after being heard of. Nor were they only thus wantonly put to death, they were even made a mockery of while living: they were frequently intoxicated on purpose, and in that condition exposed before the children, in order to deter them from this kind of debauchery.

As to the citizens themselves being possessed, by means of their slaves, of competence and leisure, they were almost always in company in their large common halls, where they met and conversed with one another. The love of their country was their ruling passion, and all self-interest seemed lost in the general wish for the welfare of the public. Pedarctus having missed the honour of being chosen one for the three hundred who had a certain rank in the city, converted his disappointment into joy, "that there were "three hundred better men in Sparta than he."