ANCIENT SPARTA
Although in the writings commonly ascribed to Homer is to be observed
a fairly correct picture of many phases of Greek life, the earliest
authentic historical accounts which we have of this people are
perhaps those of Aristotle and Plutarch. In the accounts given of the
Lacedæmonians by the last named of these writers, the fact is shown
that male influence among the Spartans of the time of Lycurgus had not
reached that state of intense and overshadowing domination in which we
find the Athenians of the Solonic period submerged.
The early Dorians were ever ready to uphold the ancient customs
as opposed to innovations. In the management of public affairs
they trusted to the ties of relationship rather than to political
organization based on property. The policy of the Athenians, on the
contrary, as enunciated by Pericles, was that “it is not the country
and the people, but movable and personal property, in the proper sense
of the word, which make states great and powerful.” The one policy was
essentially Doric, the other Ionic.[182]
[182] Müller, _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book i., 9,
13.
The exact time at which Lycurgus occupied the position of lawgiver to
the Spartans is not known, but it is claimed by Xenophon that he lived
shortly after the age of Homer. If the accounts of the Lacedæmonians
which have come down to us in connection with the name of this
legislator belong to that early age, if scarcely one ethnical period
had elapsed since woman’s influence was supreme in the home and in the
group, we would naturally expect to find in their customs, usages, and
regulations for the management of society, certain traces of a former
state of female independence, and a hint, at least, of those principles
of liberty and equality in the establishment of the commonwealth
which were the result of female influence; especially would this be
true as we are informed that the Spartans were a conservative people,
clinging to the prejudices of more ancient times. A glance at Spartan
institutions at the time indicated, furnishes ample proof of the fact
that the Lacedæmonians were still to a considerable extent living under
conditions which had been established under the archaic rule of the
gens.
The Spartan senate as reconstructed by Lycurgus was composed of thirty
members including the two kings or military leaders.[183] These chiefs
were the heads of the several gentes. The Ecclesia, or assembly of the
people, “contained originally all the free males who dwelt within the
city were of a legal age.”[184] Hence may be observed the fact that
the constitution of the state was the same as that in the Upper Status
of barbarism; yet the spectacle of a double monarchy (notwithstanding
the fact that it has been designated as a kind of irresponsible
generalship)[185] shows that the power attached to the office of
_basileus_ had become a menace to the liberties of the people; hence
this equal division of responsibility and authority.
[183] Grote, _History of Greece_, vol. ii., p. 345.
[184] Rawlinson, book v., essay i.
[185] Aristotle, _Politics_, book iii., Jowett’s translation.
The Spartan men were warriors who had subjugated the country, making
serfs of the original inhabitants. In the time of Lycurgus these
gentlemen soldiers constituted an aristocratic class who spent their
lives in the performance of public duties, leaving the cultivation of
the soil to the serfs. Helots, the name given to the serfs, signifies
“captives.” They were the slave population of Laconia.[186] The
manufacturers and tradespeople of the towns and country districts
around Sparta were free, but had been deprived of their political
rights. It is evident from these facts that although the constitution
of the state had not been changed, the division of the people into
classes, a division which since the latter part of the Second Status
of barbarism had been threatened, had through spoliation and conquest
already taken place. Add to this the fact that property had passed
into the hands of private individuals, and we shall observe that the
conditions had already become favourable for the development of that
thirst for wealth and power which characterizes monarchial institutions.
[186] Rawlinson, book v., essay i.
If we carefully note the early condition of Spartan society, and
studiously observe the processes involved in the growth of human
institutions, we shall be enabled to perceive the nature of the “load”
under which the Spartans “groaned” in the time of Lycurgus. The fact
has been noted that, throughout an entire ethnical period, human
ingenuity had been taxed to the utmost to subdue or keep in check the
growing tendency toward usurpation and tyranny, and the spectacle of
a double monarchy, or of two military chieftains as they appeared in
ancient Sparta, indicates an attempt on the part of the people to
divide the power which had become attached to this office, and which
was doubtless already menacing the popular rights.
In addition to the turmoil and strife engendered by the thirst for
power were the turbulence and frequent insurrections of the serfs, who,
it will be remembered, had previously been free, and who were therefore
restless and impatient under the tyranny of their Spartan masters.
Although wealth had greatly increased in Sparta during the ages
immediately preceding the Lycurgan system, yet that the disorders which
prevailed were in no wise attributable to luxury and enervation is
shown in the fact as given by Aristotle, that the men during their
frequent campaigns had become inured to the rigours and hardships of a
soldier’s life. He says:
For, during the wars of the Lacedæmons, first against the Argives,
and afterwards against the Arcadians and Messenians, the men were
long away from home, and on the return of peace, they gave themselves
into the legislator’s hands, already prepared by the discipline of
a soldier’s life (in which there were many elements of virtue), to
receive his enactments.[187]
[187] _Politics_, book ii.
It is indeed plain that the state of disorder which prevailed at Sparta
in the time of Lycurgus can be accounted for in no other way than
that the people were no longer able to keep in check the constantly
increasing egoism and selfishness developed within the governing
classes.
The extent to which all wise regulations are attributed to the
governing head is plainly apparent in the view taken of the management
of Sparta which Herodotus and Plutarch ascribe to Lycurgus, but which
in the very nature of the case must have originated from other sources.
It is in no wise probable that Lycurgus instituted any such radical
changes in the constitution of the state as have been ascribed to him
by the above writers, for, as we have seen, prior to his appearance
as lawgiver the government was administered by a military chieftain
or _basileus_, a senate, and an assembly of the people. In order to
strengthen their authority, the kings had made common cause with the
assembly of the people, and through this means had drawn to themselves
nearly all the powers originally vested in that body; while the senate,
destitute of support, had gradually yielded up its functions to them.
Before accepting the statements of these writers, attributing to
Lycurgus that almost unparalleled degree of genius by means of which
was originated an entirely new set of institutions, all the accessible
facts relative to these institutions should without prejudice be
closely scrutinized, especially as they involve principles and actions
which could scarcely have been forced upon a people through an
arbitrary stretch of power in the hands of a single individual.
Doubtless the principal changes in the government inaugurated by
Lycurgus were, first, the importance which he caused to be attached to
the assembly of the people, and second, the restoration of the senate.
By strengthening this body, which was originally composed of the heads
of the gentes, the gentile organization was in a measure restored to
its original dignity. The extreme anxiety felt in the time of Lycurgus
lest the people’s rights be invaded, is shown in the fact that the
three administrative functions of the government were supplemented
by five ephors chosen annually as agents of the people, whose chief
prerogative it was to scrutinize the acts of the chief magistrate and
other guardians of the commonwealth. Although the office of the ephors
is much older than the Lycurgan legislation,[188] it had previously
been abolished, or had sunk into disuse. The ephors of Lycurgus were
“probably appointed for the special purpose of watching over the
Lycurgan discipline, and punishing those who neglected it.”[189]
[188] Curtius, _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i.
[189] Rawlinson, book v., essay i.
Later, however, when through the greed for gain and the inordinate
thirst for power, the ephors in their turn had drawn to themselves
the greater share of the powers belonging to the state, the military
commander, or so-called king, became responsible to them for his
conduct even while directing the army in the field. He received his
orders from them, and although in cases of emergency he was authorized
to exercise the power of life and death, according to Xenophon, they
could accuse the king and compel him to defend his acts or suffer the
penalty of death. By a gradual process of usurpation the ephors had,
“by the time of Thucydides, completely superseded the king as the
directors of affairs at Sparta.”
The fact has been observed that the authority of the senate, a body
which in earlier times had been composed of the heads of the genets,
who were elected by all the people, and who held their office only
during good behaviour, had, in the time of Lycurgus, through the growth
of the monarchial and aristocratic party become weakened; and that,
as the kings had drawn to themselves the powers formerly belonging to
the popular assembly, the people were no longer represented, but had
been obliged to surrender their independence to the authority of the
military leaders. It is altogether likely, therefore, that the load
under which the Spartans are said to have groaned, and from which
Lycurgus is supposed to have released them, was the undue assumption
of power by the _basileus_ and the aristocratic party; and that the
chief service which he lent to the state was the sanction which he gave
to those principles of equality and liberty which had been recognized
and practised at a time when the gens as the unit of human society was
still in its original vitality and strength, and when woman’s influence
was therefore in the ascendency.
Most modern writers agree in the opinion that Lycurgus instituted no
fundamental changes in the constitution of the state; indeed all the
accessible facts relative to this subject go to prove that the attempt
at legislative reform in the time of this lawgiver did not begin with
him; but, on the contrary, that all along the line of development, for
an entire ethnical period, there had been a struggle between the people
on the one hand and the constantly increasing power exercised by their
rulers on the other.
Concerning the measures instituted by Lycurgus, and the way in which
the political power was distributed by him, we are assured that it was
according to a Rhetra of this legislator given under the direction of
the Pythian Apollo:
_Build a temple to Jupiter Hellanius and Minerva Hellania; divide
the tribes, and institute thirty obas; appoint a council, with its
princes; convene the assembly between Babyca and Cnacion; propose
this, and then depart; and let there be a right of decision and power
to the people._[190]
[190] Müller, _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iii.,
chap. v.
By this decree the assembly was invested with authority to reject
or accept any proposed measures of the council and princes. Later,
however, when the chiefs and the military leaders would draw to
themselves a portion of the power which had been delegated to the
people, we find subjoined to the original document of the priestess the
following clause: “But if the people should follow a crooked opinion,
the elders and the princes shall dissent.” Or, according to Plutarch:
“If the people attempt to corrupt any law, the senate and chiefs shall
retire,” meaning that “they shall dissolve the assembly and annul the
alterations.”[191]
[191] _Lycurgus._
According to the testimony of Plutarch, when Lycurgus entered upon
the duties of lawgiver he went to Crete, and while there examined the
laws of that people; those of them which he considered wise and suited
to the needs of a commonwealth and which were based on principles
involving the highest interests of the people, he incorporated into
his system. Now the Cretans were a branch of the Doric stock,[192]
and as among them descent and rights of succession were still traced
through women, it would seem that they had preserved much of that
simplicity of manner which characterizes primitive society. Upon his
return from Crete Lycurgus made an equal division of the land, and
as he could not induce the people to surrender their treasures, he
prohibited the use of gold and silver currency and substituted iron in
its place. To a great quantity and weight of this metal he assigned
a slight value, so that to lay up a small amount of wealth a whole
room was required, and for the removal of a moderate sum of money a
yoke of oxen must be employed. When this became current many kinds of
injustice ceased in Lacedæmonia. “Who would steal or take a bribe,
who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty, when
he could neither be dignified by the possession of it, nor if cut in
pieces be served by its use?”[193] There is little evidence in support
of the statement of Plutarch that Lycurgus attempted to establish a
community of goods among the Spartans. Although he caused the landed
possessions which had been parcelled out to individuals to be returned
to the state, too much interest had already become attached to personal
possessions to have made a division of this kind of wealth possible.
[192] Aristotle’s _Politics_, book ii.
[193] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_.
A legislator may not enact laws with the expectation of seeing them
enforced which are not in accord with the temper of the people, and the
degree of success which attended the legislation ascribed to Lycurgus
proves that the great mass of the people were in sympathy with many of
the measures which he proposed for the government of Sparta.
It is plain that the object of the person or persons, whom history
has named Lycurgus, was a return to the simpler manners and purer
customs of a more primitive age, which the growth of the aristocratic
spirit and the accumulation of wealth in masses in the hands of the
few threatened entirely to subvert; and, as a community of goods was
at this time impossible, he, or they, sought to level the distinctions
between rich and poor by exalting virtue and moral excellence above the
mere possession of wealth and hereditary titles.
It is the opinion of some writers that although Lycurgus did not
inaugurate a new set of institutions, nor materially change the
constitution of the state, the great service which he rendered to the
Spartans was the remarkable system of discipline which he is supposed
to have inaugurated. Of this Mr. Rawlinson says: “It must always remain
one of the most astonishing facts in history, that such a system was
successfully imposed upon a state which had grown up without it.”[194]
Of the fact, however, that the state had not grown up without it there
is ample evidence. On this subject Curtius remarks:
It is certain that the Spartan discipline in many respects corresponds
to the primitive customs of the Dorians, and that by constant
practice, handed down from generation to generation, it grew into the
second nature of the members of the community.[195]
[194] Book i., essay i.
[195] _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i.
From the facts at hand it is quite evident that Lycurgus did not
originate that system of discipline through which it is claimed Spartan
greatness was achieved. The fact has been noted that when he entered
upon the duties of lawgiver he sailed for Crete, and, “having been
struck with admiration of some of their laws,” he resolved to make use
of them in Sparta.[196] As the discipline of Lycurgus constitutes the
principal feature of the government ascribed to him, and as his models
were for the most part drawn from the Cretans, it is only reasonable
to suppose that this remarkable system was itself, in part at least,
copied from them. It appears that among the Cretans, as among all
peoples among whom female influence is in the ascendency, the children
belonged to the mother, and that women owned, or at least controlled,
their own households; they did not, therefore, follow the fathers of
their children to their homes. In Crete, “the young Dorians were left
in the houses of their mothers till they grew up into youths.”[197] As
Cretan mothers had charge of their sons until they were grown up, it is
not unlikely that the discipline which Lycurgus attempted to copy was
a system inaugurated under matriarchal usages, but which in Sparta in
the time of Lycurgus may have become somewhat relaxed. However, that
the primitive discipline of the Dorian people was not extinct among
the Spartans of this time is observed in the warlike character of the
males, and in the express testimony of Aristotle that Spartan men had
become inured to hardships by means of their frequent campaigns. To
restore, or rather to intensify this discipline, seems to have been the
object of Lycurgus; yet that he lacked greatly in judgment is shown by
the measures which he put into execution. We are informed that
[196] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_.
[197] Curtius, _History of Greece_, book ii., chap. i.
Spartan boys were as early as their eighth year taken into public
training, and assigned their places in their respective divisions,
where they had to go through all the exercises introductory to
military service, and accustom their bodies to endurance and exercise,
in exact obedience to the forms acquired by the state through its
officers.[198]
[198] _Ibid._
This interference with the natural development of the Spartan youth was
not without its effect upon his character; and especially so as the
policy adopted was such as to narrow his mental horizon, and confine
his ideas within the scope of Spartan possibilities.
From all the evidence to be gathered about the individual whom
historians call Lycurgus, it would appear that he was a fanatic, who,
doubtless feeling deeply the disorders which had fastened themselves
upon society, attempted to manage not only the affairs of the state,
but to impose his authority also upon individual conduct.
Of the position occupied by women at the time when Lycurgus is said to
have been lawgiver at Sparta, there seems to be much evidence going
to show that they were in the possession of a remarkable degree of
liberty, and that they were possessed of great power and influence.
We have seen that while the men of Sparta were away from their homes
engaged in warfare, the country had become wealthy and prosperous. Not
only was the land controlled by women, but nearly two-fifths of it was
theirs by actual possession.[199] Therefore, when Aristotle informs
us that when Lycurgus “wanted to bring the women under his laws,
they resisted, and he gave up the attempt,”[200] we are by no means
surprised. Indeed, Aristotle himself says that this license of the
Lacedæmonian women existed from the earliest times, and was only what
might be expected.[201] It is altogether likely that in the time of
Lycurgus, Spartan women had not been brought under subjection to male
authority.
[199] _Politics_, vol. ii., p. 9.
[200] _Ibid._
[201] _Ibid._
According to the accounts given by Aristotle and Plutarch, under
regulations made by Lycurgus, the men dined on the plainest fare at
the public table, or mess, while the women remained within their own
homes. That a considerable degree of success crowned this legislator’s
efforts to control the conduct and private life of men, from the facts
at hand may not be doubted; among the women, however, the case seems to
have been altogether different. Of the Spartans, Aristotle says: “In
the days of their greatness many things were managed by their women.
But what difference does it make whether women rule, or the rulers are
ruled by women.”[202] Because, however, the Spartan women preferred
to remain within their own homes, and refused to allow their private
affairs to be controlled by Lycurgus, Aristotle accuses them “of
intemperance and luxury.” He says:
[202] _Politics._
For a husband and a wife, being each a part of every family, the state
may be considered as about equally divided into men and women; and,
therefore, in those states in which the condition of the women is bad,
half the city may be regarded as having no laws. And this is what has
actually happened at Sparta, the legislator wanted to make the whole
state temperate, and he has carried out his intentions in the case of
the men, but he has neglected the women, who live in every sort of
intemperance and luxury.[203]
[203] _Ibid._
So far, however, from the Spartan women refusing to concur in those
movements which were in operation to make the whole state hardy and
temperate, we have ample evidence going to prove that it was women
themselves who in former times had encouraged the healthful and
moderate exercise of body and limb among the youth of both sexes.
Indeed, from natural inferences to be drawn from the facts at hand,
it is probable that these exercises which had originated among the
primitive Dorians, while under the matriarchal system, had not only
been encouraged, but practised, by women while their husbands and
fathers were absent on their campaigns.
We have seen that, according to Aristotle, women refused to unite
in those movements in operation in the time of Lycurgus for the
strengthening and general improvement of the youth. Plutarch, on
the contrary, ascribes all the physical strength and vigour of mind
possessed by Spartan women to the wise regulations of Lycurgus;
and, notwithstanding the fact that, according to his own testimony,
they were possessed of great liberty and power, he imputes to this
legislator the inauguration of all those practices for the promotion
of perfect freedom among women which were so salutary in producing or
continuing a healthful state of public morals.
It is plain that the position occupied by Spartan women presented
difficulties to the minds of Aristotle and Plutarch which they were
wholly unable to explain. With regard to the supposition of Plutarch
that the exercises performed by the young women of Sparta while in a
nude or semi-nude condition were inaugurated by Lycurgus, it is too
unreasonable for serious consideration. It is to be doubted if there
has ever existed, either in ancient or modern times, a legislator, who,
unaided and alone, and simply through a stretch of arbitrary power,
has been able to regulate the dress, amusements, bodily exercise, and
general movements of women in possession of a reasonable degree of
personal freedom and liberty of action.
Respecting the wise regulations instituted by Lycurgus for the
management of women, Plutarch says:
In order to take away the excessive tenderness and delicacy of the
sex, the consequence of a recluse life, he accustomed the virgins
occasionally to be seen naked as well as the young men, and to dance
and sing in their presence on certain festivals.[204]
[204] _Lycurgus._
Perhaps throughout the entire narrative of Plutarch concerning Lycurgus
and his laws, there is nothing so absolutely devoid of reason as this.
If, as he assures us, women were possessed of that excessive tenderness
and delicacy which are the result of a recluse life; and if, as he
supposes, they had hitherto been trained according to masculine ideas
of female modesty and decorum, it is greatly to be doubted if the laws
of Lycurgus, or even the lightnings of Zeus could have driven these
virgins into the presence of the opposite sex under the conditions
named.
Doubtless the Spartan people had not at this stage of their career
departed so far from the customs of a gynecocracy that women were
unable to exercise absolute control over their persons. Being free
from the domination of the opposite sex, all those exercises and
habits of body in use to increase their own vigour and that of the
entire race had doubtless been instigated by women, or at least had
been instituted at a time when female influence was in the ascendency.
Concerning the position occupied by the women of Sparta, Plutarch says
they had assumed to themselves great liberty and power “on account of
the frequent expeditions of their husbands, during which they were left
sole mistresses at home, and so gained an undue deference and improper
titles.”[205]
[205] _Lycurgus._
It is evident that this writer was unacquainted with the fact that
at a time not far distant in the past from the age of Lycurgus, the
influence of women in the family and in the gens had been supreme;
hence, like others who have attempted to deal with the subject of
primitive peoples, he was unable to conceive of a condition of society
in which women’s natural instincts played a conspicuous part in
regulating the social customs and in formulating the laws by which they
were governed.
The extreme modesty and sensitiveness which are observed as a
characteristic of both sexes in the marriage relation, and the reserve
of the youths at festivals in which young women are reported to have
appeared naked, may not be ascribed to the laws of Lycurgus, but on the
other hand appear as direct results of those checks upon the animal
instincts in the male which the former strength and independence of
women had imposed.[206]
[206] As to the exercises of the virgins, and their appearing naked,
C. O. Müller, in his _History and Antiquities of the Doric Race_
observes:
“The female sex underwent in this respect the same education as the
male, though (as has been above remarked) only the virgins. They had
their own gymnasia, and exercised themselves, either naked or lightly
clad, in running, wrestling, or throwing the quoit or spear. It is
highly improbable that youths or men were allowed to look on, since
in the gymnasia of Lacedæmon no idle bystanders were permitted; every
person was obliged either to join the rest, or withdraw.”—Book iv., ch.
v.-viii.
At a later age, for instance that of Plutarch, the spectacle of young
maidens appearing on occasions of public festivity in a single garment,
loose, and reaching a little below the knee, would have been associated
with ideas of disgrace and shame; but, under a condition of society in
which the animal instincts had not wholly gained the ascendency over
the higher faculties, or in which the characters peculiar to women had
not been overshadowed or subdued by the grosser elements developed
in human nature, such a proceeding might not, as we have seen, be
inconsistent with the purest motives and the highest aims.
Something of the extent to which the influence of women was exerted
to stimulate bravery and courage in the opposite sex is shown in the
description by Plutarch of the festivals in which the young people
appeared before each other in a semi-nude state to practise the popular
games of strength and skill. Concerning these festivals this writer
remarks that the young women engaged in little raillery upon those
who lacked skill, or who had not done their best, while “on such as
deserved them they sang encomiums, thus exciting in the young men a
useful emulation and love of glory.” Plutarch observes also that “those
who were praised for their bravery and celebrated among the virgins
went away perfectly happy, while their satirical glances were no less
cutting than serious admonitions.”[207]
[207] _Lycurgus._
These facts indicate something of the extent to which female influence
still survived in ancient Sparta, and reveal plainly the fact that
although in the time of Lycurgus the coarser instincts developed in
human nature had made considerable headway, they had not totally
eclipsed the finer characters peculiar to women, as was the case at a
later period of Grecian history—more particularly among the Athenians.
“As for the virgins appearing naked,” Plutarch himself assures us,
there was nothing disgraceful in it, because everything was conducted
with modesty, and without one indecent word or action. Nay, it caused
a simplicity of manner and an emulation for the best habit of body;
their ideas too were naturally enlarged while they were not excluded
from their share of bravery and honour.
Regarding the commingling of the sexes among the Spartans, Mr. Grote
says:
When we read the restrictions which Spartan custom imposed upon the
intercourse even between married persons, we shall conclude without
hesitation that the public intermixture of the sexes led to no such
liberties between persons not married, as might be likely to arise
from it under other circumstances.[208]
[208] _History of Greece_, vol. ii., p. 385.
It was a Dorian who first threw aside his heavy girdle during the
Olympian contests and ran naked to the goal. In an allusion to this
incident, and also to the custom of Spartan virgins appearing in
a semi-nude state in the presence of the opposite sex during the
performance of their gymnastic feats, C. O. Müller says that a display
of the naked form when all covering was unnecessary and inconvenient
was quite in keeping with the character and temper of the Dorians.[209]
[209] _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iv., ch. ii.,
p. 1.
Concerning the style of dress adopted by the Doric virgins, it is said
to have consisted of a loose woollen garment called a _himation_. It
was without sleeves and was fastened over the shoulders with large
clasps. The _himation_ was completely joined only on one side, the
other side being left loose and fastened with a buckle or clasp.
Doubtless this adjustment of the gown was to enable the wearer to
open it and throw it back, thereby securing greater freedom to the
limbs while running and wrestling. This simple garment reached only to
the calf of the leg, and was worn sometimes with a girdle, sometimes
without.
The pure state of morals in Sparta furnishes an explanation of that
peculiar style of dress among women which has elicited so much comment
among later writers, and which has stamped the Spartan women as
creatures especially “devoid of modesty.” True modesty was evidently
one of the leading characteristics of this people among both sexes, but
the simulation of it, which, by the way, is usually practised just in
proportion as the lower propensities have gained the ascendency over
the higher faculties, was doubtless absent in Spartan society.[210]
[210] We have the authority of Tacitus respecting the customs,
character, and style of dress of the ancient Germans. Among this
people, as is well known, the influence of women was in the ascendency
over that of men, and the state of public morals was exactly that which
might be expected. Respecting the dress of women, this writer says they
“do not lengthen their upper garment into sleeves but leave exposed the
whole arm, and part of the breast” (_Germania_, chap. xvii.). It is
observed, however, that chastity was the characteristic virtue of this
people among both sexes. The marriage bond was strict and severe, and
we are informed that among the Saxons the women themselves inflicted
the penalty for adultery. From an epistle of St. Boniface, Archbishop
of Mentz, to Ethelbald, King of England, we have the following: “In
ancient Saxony (now Westphalia), if a virgin pollute her father’s
house, or a married woman prove false to her vows, sometimes she is
forced to put an end to her own life by the halter, and over the ashes
of her burned body her seducer is hanged.”
An illustration of the state of public morals in ancient Sparta may be
observed in the following dialogue. A stranger once asked a Spartan
what penalty their law attached to adultery. The reply was: “My
friend, there are no adulterers in our country.” Upon being further
interrogated, “But what if there should be one?” the Spartan replied:
“Why then, he must forfeit a bull so large that he might drink of the
Eurotus from the top of Mount Taygetus.” When the stranger asked: “How
can such a bull be found?” the man answered with a smile, “How can an
adulterer be found in Sparta?”[211]
[211] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_.
Commenting on the relative position of Doric and Athenian women, C. O.
Müller says:
The domestic relation of the wife to her husband among the Dorians was
in general the same as that of the ancient western nation, described
by Homer as universal among the Greeks, and which existed at Rome till
a late period; the only difference being that the peculiarities of the
custom were preserved by the Dorians more strictly than elsewhere.
Amongst the Dorians of Sparta, the wife was honoured by her husband
with the title of mistress (a gallantry belonging to the north of
Greece, and also practised by the Thessalians), which was used neither
ironically nor unmeaningly. Nay, so strange did the importance which
the Lacedæmonian women enjoy, and the influence which they exercised
as the managers of their household, and mothers of families, appear
to the Greeks, at a time when the prevalence of Athenian manners
prevented a due consideration for national customs, that Aristotle
supposed Lycurgus to have attempted, but without success, to regulate
the lives of women as he had regulated that of the men; and the
Spartans were frequently censured for submitting to the yoke of their
wives.
It has been truly said that nowhere else in Greece do we find traces of
that power exercised by women over their sons when arrived at manhood
observed among Spartan mothers. When a woman of another country said to
Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, “You of Lacedæmon are the only women in
the world that rule the men,” she replied, “We are the only women that
bring forth men.”[212]
[212] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_.
With our present knowledge respecting the influence and independence
of the Spartan women, it is folly for certain writers to assert that
married women were confined within the house and that only virgins
appeared in public. There is some evidence going to prove that at
Crete, at Sparta, and at Olympia, women were not only spectators at
the Olympian games, but that they engaged personally in the chariot
contests. According to an inscription in Della Cella, it is shown that
women presided over the public gymnastic exercises in that town.
One very important fact going to show whence proceeded the reforms of
Lycurgus is that the mandates of the oracle were supreme. The oracles
controlled the rulers, but women always controlled or interpreted
the oracles. The celebrated Rhetra of Lycurgus, in which unlimited
authority is given to the people to reject or adopt the proposals of
the king, was given according to the direction of the Pythian Apollo,
whose mandates were interpreted by women.
In an earlier age the chiefs of the gentes were elected by all the
people, and they held their office by virtue of their relationship
to the leader of the gens, who was a woman. That the honour due to
women was still recognized in Sparta is shown in the following from
Plutarch in relation to the election of senators. The person who had
received the loudest acclamations was declared duly elected, whereupon
he was crowned with a garland, and a number of young men followed him
about to extol his virtues. The women sang his praises and blessed
his life and conduct. Two portions were set before him, one of which
he carried to the gates of the public hall, where the women were in
waiting to receive him. To the one for whom he had the greatest esteem
he presented the portion, saying: “That which I received as a mark of
honour I give to you.” The woman thus honoured “was conducted home with
great applause by the rest of the women.”[213]
[213] Plutarch’s _Lycurgus_.
Spartan men were forbidden to marry foreign women, hence, contrary to
the customs of surrounding nations at this early period, wives as well
as husbands were native-born. All were Spartans, which fact probably
accounts in a measure for the exalted position occupied by women.
Both in Sparta and in Crete the form of marriage was by capture;
thus, although in the time of Lycurgus the Spartan men and women both
belonged to the same stock, it is plain that originally they were of
different tribes. Of capture as practised in Sparta, Müller says that
it was clearly an ancient national custom, founded on the idea that
“the young woman could not surrender her freedom and virgin purity,
unless compelled by the violence of the stronger sex.”[214] According
to Plutarch, after the arrangements for the wedding had been completed,
the bridegroom rushed in, seized the bride from among her assembled
friends, and bore her away.
[214] _History and Antiquity of the Doric Race_, book iv., chap. iv.
The Dorian stock alone seems to have preserved the ancient customs,
and among these peoples, wherever they are found, woman’s influence is
in the ascendency. According to Herodotus and Aristotle, the Spartans,
the Cretans, and the Lycians were related. The people of Crete still
preserved their ancient usages, hence may be observed the reason
why Lycurgus visited that country in quest of information before
enunciating the laws which were to restore order among the Spartans.
In Lycia, as in Crete, woman’s influence must still have been
considerable. Of the Lycians Herodotus says:
Their customs are partly Cretan, partly Carian.... They take the
mother’s and not the father’s name. Ask a Lycian who he is, and he
answers by giving his own name, that of his mother, and so on in the
female line. Moreover, if a free woman marry a man who is a slave,
their children are full citizens; but if a free man marry a foreign
woman, or live with a concubine, even though he be the first person in
the state, the children forfeit all the rights of citizenship.[215]
[215] Book i.
On the manner of reckoning descent through women which prevailed in
Lycia, Curtius remarks that the usage extends far beyond the territory
commanded by the Lycian nationality. It is still extant in India; it
was practised in ancient Egypt, among the Etruscans, and among the
Cretans, who were closely related to the Lycians. This writer observes
that if
Herodotus regards the usage in question as thoroughly peculiar to the
Lycians, it must have maintained itself longest among them of all
the nations related to the Greeks, as is also proved by the Lycian
inscriptions.[216]
[216] _History of Greece_, book i., Ward’s translation.
As the Sabines who united with the Romans in founding Rome claimed
relationship with the Dorians, we may reasonably expect to find among
them somewhat of that womanly influence which characterized the
Spartans, and some hint among their customs of an earlier age of female
independence. Although the Sabine women did not “voluntarily” assume
the position of wives to the Romans but were captured by them, when the
two nations united, the Sabines were regarded rather in the light of
conferring honour upon Rome than as detracting from its dignity.
Of the early Romans, Ortolan says:
The _connubium_, or right of marriage, did not exist between males and
females of different cities unless by special agreement between those
cities. Thus it was that the primitive Romans, according to tradition,
were compelled to resort to ambuscade and force in order to carry off
their first wives.[217]
[217] _History of Roman Law_, p. 79.
The Roman family, like the Roman state, began with slavery. Of the
Romans it has been said that they acquired their territory, their
property, and even their wives by the lance.
With them the lance became the symbol of property, and even had a
place in their judicial procedure. Their slaves were booty, their
wives were booty, and their children, begotten of them, the fruit of
their possessions.[218]
[218] Ortolan’s _History of Roman Law_, p. 42.
The right of fathers, under Romulus, to sell their sons, upon the
accession of Numa the Sabine ruler, to the office of lawgiver, was
withdrawn, and the reason given for it was consideration for women.
According to Plutarch, Numa “reckoned it a great hardship, that a woman
should marry a man as free, and then live with him as a slave.”[219]
[219] Numa and Lycurgus compared.
In the life of Numa by Plutarch we have a hint of a former age of
universal freedom. It was one of this ruler’s institutions, that once
a year the slaves should be entertained along with their masters at
a public feast, there to enjoy the fruits “which they had helped to
produce.” The same writer assures us that some are of the opinion that
this is a remnant of that equality which was in existence in the times
of Saturn, when there was neither master nor slave, but all were upon
the same footing. Plutarch quotes from Macrobius, who says that this
feast was celebrated in Italy long before the building of Rome.
From all the facts to be gathered relative to the relations of the
sexes in the age of Numa, it is plain that that freedom of action
exercised by women in a former age among the Dorians, was rapidly
declining, and that the early independence which has characterized
the Sabine women was beginning to bring upon them the condemnation
of their Roman lords. This is shown in the fact that it soon became
Numa’s arduous task to institute certain restrictions on their former
liberties. In a comparison between Lycurgus and Numa, Plutarch, in
referring to this subject, observes:
Numa’s strictures as to virgins tended to form them to that modesty
which is the ornament of their sex; but the great liberty which
Lycurgus gave them, brought upon them the censure of the poets,
particularly Ibycus.
The grossness which had been developed during the four or five hundred
years following the age of Lycurgus, and the jealousy with which the
movements of women had come to be regarded, are illustrated by the
following stanza from Euripides:
These quit their homes, ambitious to display,
Amidst the youths, their vigour in the race,
Or feats of wrestling, whilst their airy robe
Flies back and leaves their limbs uncovered.[220]
[220] Quoted by Plutarch.
It is evident that not only in private life, but in their desire for
public activity also, the independence of the Sabine women failed to
comport with the ideas already in vogue among their Roman husbands
regarding the “proper sphere” of women. Consequently their behaviour
was thought to be
too bold and too masculine, in particular to their husbands; for
they considered themselves as absolute mistresses in their houses;
nay, they wanted a share in affairs of state, and delivered their
sentiments with great freedom concerning the most weighty matters.[221]
[221] Numa and Lycurgus compared.
A woman even appeared in the Forum to plead her own cause, whereupon
the grave senators ordered that the oracles be consulted that the true
import of the singular phenomenon might be revealed.[222]
[222] _Ibid._
Plutarch, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, after
having recounted these misdemeanours, assures us that “what is recorded
of a few infamous women is a proof of the obedience and meekness of
Roman matrons in general.”[223]
[223] _Ibid._
Doubtless, in Plutarch’s time, Roman women had lost much of that
influence which characterized the female sex in an earlier age; it
is not, therefore remarkable that by this writer the Sabine women
should have been regarded as too forward and as altogether infamous.
That their conduct was not all that could be desired by the outlaws
and bandits who founded Rome, and who had stolen them for wives, is
evident; and the regulations of their rulers respecting them show
plainly that much judicious training and a vast amount of repression
were required before they were fitted for the peculiar duties devolving
upon them as sexual slaves.
We are told by Plutarch that the regulations established by Lycurgus,
instead of encouraging that licentiousness of the women which prevailed
at a later period, operated to render adultery unknown amongst them;
yet this writer forgets to mention the fact that in Sparta, in the time
of this ruler, there was no demand for prostitution by a class who
held all the wealth and power, and who were therefore in a position
to regulate this matter to suit their own tastes and inclinations.
On the contrary, the female sex was free, not only in the matter of
sexual relations, but in the exercise of all their natural tendencies,
and in the direction of all their movements. The idea of sex, which
among later and more thoroughly sensualized nations became first and
foremost, among the Dorians, so far as equal rights, obligations, and
duties were concerned, was ignored or left to nature to regulate.
Plutarch, like most writers who have dealt with the relations of the
sexes, fails to observe the fact that just to the extent in the past
history of mankind to which women have been free and independent,
licentiousness has disappeared, and that just in proportion as the
influence of women has declined, in just such proportion have shame,
profligacy, disease, and infamy prevailed. To produce a state of
society in which the animal instincts ruled supreme, and in which
passion was the recognized god, women had first to become physically
dependent and mentally enslaved.
For so long a time have women been judged by masculine standards, it
is not perhaps remarkable that male writers of these later times can
discern in the simplicity and chastity existing among the Dorians,
in the age of Lycurgus, no evidence of a former era of female
independence. Neither is it singular, as for so many ages women have
been subject to the pleasure and control of the opposite sex, that we
should be repeatedly told by writers who have dealt with the usages
of the Spartans, that their women were “permitted” to do this, and
“allowed” to do that, although the facts in the case prove that in all
their movements they were guided by their own wills, exercised either
directly, or through the oracles of the gods.
When the customs of the ancient Dorians are viewed without prejudice,
the fact will doubtless be observed that they originated not in a
depraved and licentious state of society, but, on the contrary,
that they were the direct result of that freedom of action which
characterizes purity of life and a high standard of thought and action.