XĔNĀGI (ξεναγοί). The Spartans, as being the head of that
Peloponnesian and Dorian league, which was formed to secure the
independence of the Greek states, had the sole command of the
confederate troops in time of war, ordered the quotas which each
state was to furnish, and appointed officers of their own to command
them. Such officers were called _Xenagi_. The generals whom the
allies sent with their troops were subordinate to these Spartan
_xenagi_, though they attended the council of war, as representatives
of their respective countries. After the peace of Antalcidas, the
league was still more firmly established, though Argos refused to
join it; and the Spartans were rigorous in exacting the required
military service, demanding levies by the _scytale_, and sending out
_xenagi_ to collect them. The word _Xenagus_ may be applied to any
leader of a hand of foreigners or mercenaries.
XĔNĒLĂSĬA (ξενηλασία). The Lacedaemonians appear in very early
times, before the legislation of Lycurgus, to have been averse to
intercourse with foreigners. This disposition was encouraged by the
lawgiver, who made an ordinance forbidding strangers to reside at
Sparta without special permission, and empowering the magistrate to
expel from the city any stranger who misconducted himself, or set an
example injurious to public morals.
XĔNĬAS GRĂPHĒ (ξενίας γραφή). As no man could be an Athenian citizen
except by birth or creation (γένει or ποιήσει), if one, having
neither of those titles, assumed to act as a citizen, either by
taking part in the popular assembly, or by serving any office,
judicial or magisterial, or by attending certain festivals, or doing
any other act which none but a citizen was privileged to do, he was
liable to a γραφὴ ξενίας, which any citizen might institute against
him; or he might be proceeded against by εἰσαγγελία.