LYCURGUS—“considering education to be the most important and the noblest
work of a law-giver, he began at the very beginning and regulated
marriages and the birth of children.... He strengthened the bodies of
the girls by exercise in running, wrestling, and hurling quoits or
javelins, in order that their children might spring from a healthy
source and so grow up strong, and that they themselves might have
strength, so as easily to endure the pains of childbirth. He did away
with all affectation of seclusion and retirement among the women, and
ordained that the girls, no less than the boys, should go naked in
processions, and dance and sing at festivals in the presence of the
young men. The jokes which they made upon each man were sometimes of
great value as reproofs for ill-conduct; while on the other hand, by
reciting verses written in praise of the deserving, they kindled a
wonderful emulation and thirst for distinction in the young men: for he
who had been praised by the maidens for his valour went away
congratulated by his friends; while on the other hand, the raillery
which they used in sport or jest had as keen an edge as a serious
reproof; because the kings and elders were present at these festivals as
well as all the other citizens. This nakedness of the maidens had in it
nothing disgraceful, as it was done modestly, not licentiously (as in
ballet dances and music halls and ball-rooms of the present day),
producing simplicity, and _teaching_ the women to _value good health_,
and to love honour and courage no less than the men. This it was that
made them speak and think as we are told Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas,
did. Some foreign lady, it seems, said to her, ‘You Laconian women are
the only ones that rule men....’ She answered, ‘Yes; for we alone bring
forth men....’ They considered that if a child did not start in
possession of health and strength, it was better for itself and for the
State that it should not live at all.”—_Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus,
Bohn’s Standard Library._
* * * * *
Lycurgus did not view children as belonging to their parents, but above
all to the state; and therefore he wished his citizens to be born of the
best possible parents; besides the inconsistency and folly which he
noticed in the customs of the rest of mankind, who are willing to pay
money, or use their influence with the owners of well-bred stock, to
obtain a good breed of horses or dogs, while they lock up their women in
seclusion and permit them to have children by none but themselves, even
though they be mad, decrepit, or diseased; just as if the good or bad
qualities of children did not depend entirely upon their parents, and
did not affect their parents more than anyone else.... Adultery was
regarded amongst them as an impossible crime.... The training of the
Spartan youth continued till their manhood. No one was permitted to live
according to his own pleasure, but they lived in the city as if in a
camp, with a fixed diet and public duties, thinking themselves to belong
not to themselves but to their country.... Lycurgus would not entrust
Spartan boys to any _bought_ or _hired servants_ nor was each man
allowed to bring up and educate his son as he chose, but as soon as they
were seven years of age he himself received them from their parents, and
enrolled them in companies. A superintendent of the boys was appointed,
one of the best born and bravest of the state.... The boys were taught
to compress much thought in few words; though Lycurgus made the
iron-money of little value he made their speech have great value. One of
his great reforms was the common dining-table.... In Sparta, as was
natural, lawsuits became extinct, together with money, as the people had
neither excess nor deficiency, but were all equally well off, and
enjoyed abundant leisure by reason of their simple habits.
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