§ 7. The population of Laconia was divided into the three classes of Spartans, Pericci, and Helots.

The Spartans were the descendants of the leading Dorian conquerors. They formed the sovereign power of the state, and they alone were eligible to honours and public offices. They lived in Sparta itself, and were all subject to the discipline of Lycurgus. They were maintained from their estates in different parts of Laconia, which were cultivated for them by the Helots, who paid them a fixed amount of the produce. Originally all Spartans were on a footing of perfect equality. They were divided into three tribes,-the Hylleis, the Pamphyli, and the Dymanes, which were not, however, peculiar to Sparta, but existed in all the Dorian states. They retained their full rights as citizens, and transmitted them to their children, on two conditions, first, of submitting to the discipline of Lycurgus; and secondly, of paying a certain amount to the public mess, which was maintained solely by these contributions. In course of time many Spartans forfeited their full citizenship from being unable to comply with the latter of these conditions, either through losing their lands or through the increase of children in the poorer families. Thus there arose a distinction among the Spartans themselves, unknown at an earlier period -the reduced number of qualified citizens being called the Equals or Peers,* the disfranchised poor the Inferiors.† The latter, however, did not become Periæci, but might recover their original rank if they again acquired the means of contributing their portion to the public mess.

§ 8. The Pericit were personally free, but politically subject to the Spartans. They possessed no share in the government, and were bound to obey the commands of the Spartan magistrates. They appear to have been partly the descendants of the old Achæan population of the country, and partly of Dorians who had not been admitted to the full privileges of the ruling class. They were distributed into a hundred townships, which were spread through the whole of Laconia. They fought in the Spartan armies as heavy-armed soldiers, and therefore must have been trained to some extent in the Spartan tactics; but they were certainly exempt from the peculiar discipline to which the ruling class was subject, and possessed more individual freedom of action. The larger proportion of the land of Laconia belonged to Spartan citizens, but the smaller half was the pro† Οἱ Ὑπομείονες.

* Οἱ Ὅμοιοι.

The name Teplouxo signifies literally "dwellers around the city," and is used generally by the Greeks to signify the inhabitants in the country districts, who possessed inferior political privileges to the citizens who lived in the city.

B.C. 776.

LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS.

63

perty of the Perioci. The whole of the commerce and manufactures of the country was in their exclusive possession, since no Spartan ever engaged in such occupations. They thus had means of acquiring wealth and importance, from which the Spartans themselves were excluded; and although they were probably treated by the Spartans with the same haughtiness which they usually displayed towards inferiors, their condition upon the whole does not appear as oppressive or degrading. They were regarded as members of the state, though not possessing the full citizenship, and were included along with the Spartans as Laconians or Lacedæmonians.

§ 9. The Helots were serfs bound to the soil, which they tilled for the benefit of the Spartan proprietors. Their condition was very different from that of the ordinary slaves in antiquity, and more similar to the villanage of the middle ages. They lived in the rural villages, as the Perioci did in the towns, cultivating the lands and paying over the rent to their masters in Sparta, but enjoying their homes, wives, and families, apart from their master's personal superintendence. They appear to have been never sold, and they accompanied the Spartans to the field as light-armed troops. But while their condition was in these respects superior to that of the ordinary slaves in other parts of Greece, it was embittered by the fact that they were not strangers like the latter, but were of the same race, and spoke the same language as their masters. Their name is variously explained, and we have different accounts of their origin; but there is no doubt that they were of pure Hellenic blood, and were probably the descendants of the old inhabitants, who had offered the most obstinate resistance to the Dorians, and had therefore been reduced to slavery.* In the earlier times they appear to have been treated with comparative mildness, but as their numbers increased, they became objects of greater suspicion to their masters, and were subjected to the most wanton and oppressive cruelty. They were compelled to wear a peculiar dress leather cap and a sheepskin-to distinguish them from the rest of the population; every means was adopted to remind them of their inferior and degraded condition; and it is said they were often forced to make themselves drunk, as a warning to the Spartan youth. Whatever truth there may be in these and

a

*The common account derives the name of Helots (ETATES) from the town of Helos ("Exos) in the south of Laconia, the inhabitants of which had rebelled and been reduced to slavery. Others connect their name with eλŋ, marshes, as if it signified inhabitants of the lowlands. Others, again, with more probability explain Eλwres as meaning prisoners, from the root of éλeîv to take.

similar tales, it is certain that the wanton and impolitic oppressions of the Spartans produced in the minds of the Helots a deep-seated and inveterate detestation of their masters. They were always ready to seize any opportunity of rising against their oppressors, and would gladly "have eaten the flesh of the Spartans raw." Herce Sparta was always in apprehension of a revolt of the Helots, and had recourse to the most atrocious means for removing any who had excited their jealousy or their fears. Of this we have a memorable instance in the secret service, called Cryptia,* which authorized a select body of Spartan youths to range the country in all directions, armed with daggers, and secretly to assassinate such of the Helots as were considered formidable. Sometimes, however, the Helots, who had distinguished themselves by their bravery in war, received their freedom from the government; but in that case they formed a distinct body in the state, known at the time of the Peloponnesian war by the name of Neodamōdes.†

§ 10. The functions of the Spartan government were distributed among two kings, a senate of thirty members, a popular assembly, and an executive directory of five men called the Ephors. This political constitution is ascribed to Lycurgus; but there is good reason for believing that the Ephors were added at a later time; and there cannot be any doubt that the senate and the popular assembly were handed down to the Spartans from the Heroic age, and merely received some modification and regulations from Lycurgus.

At the head of the state were the two hereditary kings. The existence of a pair of kings was peculiar to Sparta, and is said to have arisen from the accidental circumstance of Aristodēmus having left twin sons, Eurysthenes and Procles. This division of the royal power naturally tended to weaken its influence and to produce jealousies and dissensions between the two kings, who constantly endeavoured to thwart each other. The royal power was on the decline during the whole historical period, and the authority of the kings was gradually usurped by the Ephors, who at length obtained the entire control of the government, and reduced the kings to a state of humiliation and dependence. Originally the Spartan kings were the real and not the nominal chiefs of the state, and exercised most of the functions of the monarchs of the Heroic age. In later times the most important of the prerogatives which they were allowed to retain, was the supreme command of the military force on foreign expeditions. But even in this privilege their authority was restricted at a *KρuTTela, a secret commission, from крúπτw, hide, conceal. † Neodaμúdeis: that is, newly enfranchised.

See above, p. 33.

later time by the presence of two out of the five Ephors. Although the political power of the kings was thus curtailed, they possessed many important privileges, and were always treated with the profoundest honour and respect. They were regarded by the people with a feeling of religious reverence as the descendants of the mighty hero Hercules, and were thus supposed to connect the entire state with the gods. They were the highpriests of the nation, and every month offered sacrifices to Jove on behalf of the people. They possessed ample domains in various parts of Laconia, and received frequent presents on many public occasions. Their death was lamented as a public calamity, and their funeral was solemnized by the most striking obsequies. The Senate, called Gerusia,* or the Council of Elders, consisted of thirty members, among whom the two kings were included. They were not chosen under sixty years of age, and they held their office for life. They possessed considerable power, and were the only real check upon the authority of the Ephors. They discussed and prepared all measures which were to be brought before the popular assembly, and had some share in the general administration of the state. But the most important of their functions was, that they were judges in all criminal cases affecting the life of a Spartan citizen, without being bound by any written code.

The Popular Assembly was of little importance, and appears to have been usually summoned only as a matter of form for the election of certain magistrates, for passing laws, and for determining upon peace and war. It would appear that open discussion was not allowed, and that the assembly rarely came to a division. Such a popular assembly as existed at Athens, in which all public measures were exposed to criticism and comment, would have been contrary to one of the first principles of the Spartan government in historical times, which was characterized by the extreme secrecy of all its proceedings.

The Ephors may be regarded as the representatives of the popular assembly. They were elected annually from the general body of Spartan citizens, and seem to have been originally appointed to protect the interests and liberties of the people against the encroachments of the kings and the senate. They correspond in many respects to the tribunes of the people at Rome. Their functions were at first limited and of small importance; but in the end the whole political power became centred in their hands. They were thus the real rulers of the state, and their orders were submissively obeyed by all classes in Sparta. Their authority was of a despotic nature, and they ex* Γερουσία.

forms the southern part, is in the shape of a triangle with its base extending from the top of the Adriatic to the mouths of the river Danube, and having its two sides washed by the sea.

§ 2. At the fortieth degree of latitude a chain of mountains called the Cambunian, and continued under the name of Lingon, runs across the peninsula from east to west, and forms the northern boundary of Greece. At a time when the Mediterranean was the great highway of commerce and civilization, no position could be more favourable than that of Greece. The Egean sea, which bathes its eastern shores, is studded with numerous islands, inviting the timid mariner from one to the other, and thus establishing an easy communication between Asia and Greece. Towards the south it faces one of the most fertile portions of Africa; and on the west it is divided from Italy by a narrow channel, which in one part is not more than thirty miles in breadth.

§ 3. Greece, which commences at the fortieth degree of latitude, does not extend farther than the thirty-sixth. Its greatest length from Mount Olympus to Cape Tænarum is not more than 250 English miles; its greatest breadth from the western coast of Acarnania to Marathon in Attica is only 180 miles. Its surface is considerably less than that of Portugal. This small area was divided among a number of independent states, many of them containing a territory of only a few square miles, and none of them larger than an English county. But it is not the magnitude of their territory which constitutes the greatness of a people; and the heroism and genius of the Greeks have given an interest to the insignificant spot of earth bearing their name, which the vast empires of Russia and China have never equalled.

§ 4. The name of Greece was never used by the inhabitants of the country. They called their land Hellas, and themselves Hellēnes. It is from the Romans that we have derived the name of Greece; though why the Romans gave it a different appellation from that used by the natives cannot be determined. It is however a well known fact that foreigners frequently call a people by a name different from the one in use among themselves. Thus the nation called Germans by us, bear the appellation of Deutschen among themselves; and the people whom the Romans named Etruscans or Tuscans, were known in their own language by that of Rasena. The word Hellas signified at first only a small district in Thessaly, the original abode of the Hellenes. From this district the people, and along with them their name, gradually spread over the whole country south of the Cambunian mountains. The rude tribes of Epirus, however, were not reckoned among the Hellenes, and the northern boundary of Hellas proper was a line