LACEDEMON, or SPARTA, now Mismta, the capi tal ofLaconia, was situated at the fciot of Mount Taygctus, and watered by the river Urotas. It is said by Polybius to have, at one time, occupied so great an extent of ground, as to include a circuit of forty-eight Creck stadia, or about six British miles. There are no certain records of its ori gin ; but it is generally said to have been founded about 1516, B. C. by Lelex, from whom it was first called Lele gia ; and it appears, from Homer's description, to have been among the most considerable of the Grecian states in those early times. Its history is not distinguished by any remarkable personages or events, till the reign of Tynda reus, whose wife (the poetical Leda), was mother of the celebrated brothers, Castor and Pollux, and of two sisters not less celebrated, Clytemnestra and Helen. The two sons having died in early manhood, the daughters were married to Agamemnon and Menelaus, princes of Argos and Mycenx. About 80 years after the fall of Troy, La cedxmon was wrested from Tisamenus, grandson of Aga memnon, by the decendants of Hercules. Aristodemus, to whose lot Laconia fell, in the division of the subjugated countries of Peloponnesus, left two sons, Eurysthenes and Procles. The mother refusing to declare which of the princes (who were twins) was the first born, it was deter mined that they should succeed to the throne of their fa ther with equal authority, and that the posterity of each should inherit the rights of their respective ancestors. The jealousy naturally consequent upon such a divided so vereignty led the succeeding kings of Laccdxmon to court the support of the people ; and thus produced so many concessions of authority, as at last to render the go vernment of Sparta little better than a state of anarchy. In this situation of affairs, the celebrated Lycurgus, general ly reckoned the fifth in descent from Procles, succeeded his brother Polydectes ; but contented himself with acting as guardian of his nephew Charilaus, who was born after the death of his father, and whom he immediately present ed to the Spartans as their king. Either from a thirst for knowledge, or front the calumnies by which, notwithstand ing his disinterested conduct, his character was assailed among the lawless Lacedxmonians, he resigned the reins of government, and resolved to spend the period of his ne phew's minority in foreign travel. The insubordination of Sparta, and the miseries which it produced, became, in a short time, so intolerable, that both the kings and the peo ple united in requesting him to return, and take upon him self, in quality of legislator, the reformation of the state. Aware of the influence of religious sanctions on the human mind, he took care, on his way, to procure from the Ora cle at Delphos a high testimony to his claims as a legisla tor. Having farther secured a strong party of friends to favour his extraordinary scheme of polity, he proceeded to renovate the Spartan citizens. He committed the execu tive power of the state to a senate of twenty-eight, select.
ed from the nobles, with the two kings as presidents ; and, to this assembly was assigned the entire privilege of ori ginating laws. The assembly of the people, on the other hand, was intrusted with the election of the future sena tors, and with the prerogative of annulling or confirming (by simple votes, without the liberty of debate,) the laws which the senate proposed. The kings were nothing more than hereditary senators, commanders-in-chief of the ar mies, and high-priests of the nation. He next effected the most daring innovation ever attempted by a legislator, namely, an equal division of the lands, and levelling of con ditions. The whole territory of Laconia was divided into 39,000 shares, 9000 of which were allotted to the city of Sparta, and the rest to the other townships. His next step was to prohibit all use of gold and silver, even as a cir culating medium, and to substitute a cumbersome coinage of iron money, which rendered the accumulation of wealth inconvenient and almost useless, as well as abolished all foreign commerce and trades of luxury. Resolved to de stroy every temptation to avarice, as well as to preclude every display of its gains, he ordained that all the citizens, even the kings, should eat only at public tables, where the strictest temperance should be observed. He went so far as almost to annihilate private property, by enacting, that every individual must lend what he was not immediately using ; and even that any one might take, without asking, whatever he wanted of his neighbour's goods, with the obligation of replacing it undamaged. By all these regu lations it was his aim to exalt every individual ; and hence his laws farther required, that every citizen should, in the strictest sense of the modern term, be a gentleman. Eve ry free Lacedxmonian was prohibited from exercising any of the mechanical or even agricultural arts. He was pet mitted to have no business, except that of the state ; and for this, whether in peace or war, it was the purpose of education to qualify every man. Having attempted to pro
vide against internal evils, by rendering his countrymen a nation of philosophers, he next secured protection against external violence, by making them also a nation of sol diers, superior to the rest of mankind. In this view, he began with measures to provide a strong and active race of subjects for the state. He directed that the young wo men should be trained, like the young rnen, to athletic ex ercises ; and that both sexes should appear naked in the public places. He enacted that it should be disgraceful to be unmarried, and unproductive of children to the com monwealth ; but, at the same time, disregarding the sanc tity of wedlock, he held it a matter of indifference, who might be the father of the child, provided only it was healthy and well formed. To prevent, however, the natu ral evils of promiscuous concubinage. (which would have defeated the end in view,) he decreed, that it should be a reproach, and a species of crime, for young men to be seen in company with young women, and that even their own wives should be visited only by stealth. The Spartan legislator sacrificed to his political s) stein, not enly the moral feelings, but also the natural instincts of his fellow creatures. He appointed that all children, as soon as should be examined by persons set apart for the cffice, and that only the vigorous and well-formed infants should be preserved, while all that were defective in shape or con stitution, should be instantly exposed in the wilds of Mount Taygetus. Those, who were Found fit for being reared, were delivered to the care of public nurses, to be brought up according to the mode prescribed by law ; and were, after the age of seven years, introduced into the public schools, where all were educated on the same plan. There, both in body and mind, they were moulded to such a temperament, as was thought most suitable for render ing them serviceable to tile state. Letters were taught only for use, not fur ornament ; and the Spartans, while famed for wisdom, were never eminent for learning. Great attention was paid to con' ersation ; and, while loquacious ness was reprobated, the boys were exercised to quickness of reply, conciseness or expression, and satirical strokes of humour. They were principally taught to cherish du ar dent and paramount love of their country; and formed to a high principle of boom, especially of sensibility to ap plause and shame. They were allowed only one garment, which was to serve equally for winter and summer; were accustomed to sleep on rushes, which they were obliged to gather for themselves ; and were supplied with very plain and scanty food ; but encouraged to steal whatever they could, provided they accomplished the theft without de tection. As they approached the years of puberty, their discipline became more strict, and their labour more se vere. No kind of remission or indulgence was permitted, except during military service ; and, while the city was the scene of toil, study, spare diet, and rigid discipline, the camp was a place of rest, relaxation, and luxury. Till the age of thirty, no one was permitted to intermeddle with political or judicial affairs ; nor was either private study, or domestic business, considered as reputable ; but it was every man's duty to attend the places of instruction, and to bestow a portion of his time on military and athletic ex ercise. Poetry and music were allowed, under the direc tion of the magistrate, but rather on public festivals than for private recreation ; and the amusements most encour aged, were hunting, and conversational meetings. In these conversations, mirth of a peculiar species, the mirth of wit and wisdom united, was prescribed ; and, while all were trained from their youth to a ready and determined style of reply, great care was taken to preserve, at the same time, a graceful, respectful, and even modest demea nour. The young were constantly under the inspection of the old, to whom the greatest reverence was recommend ed, and tinder whose eye a talent of circumspection and attention to rules was acquired. To prevent the corrup tion of Spartan manners, all travelling into foreign coun tries was prohibited, and strangers admitted under great limitations. To preserve the state from the insurrection of the slaves, of liclots, to whom all agricultural opera tions and mechanical arts were allotted, the most oppres sive and inhuman treatment of these miserable bondmen was enjoined by law. Every thing that could humiliate their minds, and remove them to a distance from the con dition of their haughty masters, was imposed Even vice was prescribed to them; and they were com pelled to drunkenness, in order to render it contemptible in the eyes of the Laccdxmonian youth. Nay, to prevent the increase of their numbers beyond what the safety of the commonwealth allowed, the young Spartans were oc casionaily dispersed through the country, with a commis sion to murder the stoutest and most enterprising Helots, whom they might meet, or be able to surprise.