The early history of this, as of most ancient nations, is entirely mythical; and we cannot trace by any trustworthy historical information the gradual rise and progress of the state, or of its remarkable and celebrated institutions. All that we can do is to make a broad distinction between the legendary and the historical; and while retaining the former for what it is worth, to begin the real history of the nation at a much later period. The Dorian conquest of the Peloponnese affords such a line of separation: all before it may be considered as simply mythical; while this event itself, and those which are recorded as having followed it, may probably have in their general features some basis of historical fact.

Lacedemon, a son of Jupiter and Taygeta, with his wife Sparta, daughter of Eurotas, are represented as founding and giving their names to the kingdom and city. The country was then ruled in succession by twelve of their descendants, until the line became extinct. Of these monarchs the most famous in the legends were Hyacinthus, who having been accidentally killed by Apollo, was changed into the flower that bears his name; Castor and Pollux, who were raised to heaven, and became special patrons of the city; their sister Helen and her husband Menelaus, whose story forms the theme of the early epic songs. On the failure of the original dynasty, Orestes the son of Agamemnon was raised to the throne; and in the reign of his son and successor, Tisamenes, is said to have occurred the invasion of the country by the Heraclidae or descendants of Hercules, who are represented in the legends as having returned to claim their ancient inheritance, with the aid of the Dorians, Aetolians, and Locrians. These vanquished the Spartan monarch, and divided among them the richest parts of the peninsula. The country of Laconia, of which Sparta was the capital, fell to the share of Aristodemus, one of the three leaders of the conquerors; but, as he died before the conquest was complete, his twin-sons, Eurysthenes and Procles, were appointed joint kings, and from them the double line of Spartan sovereigns is said to have been descended, there being always on the throne at the same time an Eurysthenid and a Proclid king. That there is some truth in the accounts of this migration of the Dorians into the Peloponnese is generally admitted, though it has doubtless been considerably amplified and embellished by popular tradition. It forms one of the great movements of population which took place in Greece shortly after the time of the Trojan war, and beyond which no historical researches can be pushed with any degree of certainty. We may, therefore, fix this as the boundary between the legendary and the historical, though it must not be therefore assumed that everything subsequent to that event is equally well ascertained. For a long time afterwards, until we come within the range of contemporary historians, we are in a sort of middle region, where only the general truth of the narrative can be depended upon.

Before the Dorian invasion, Laconia, with the rest of southern Greece, was inhabited by Achaeans. Of these some left the country and established themselves in the land to which they gave their name along the south shore of the Corinthian Gulf; but a considerable number seem to have remained in the country in a state of subjection to the Dorians. These were known by the name of Perioeci (περιοίκοι), or provincials; and they enjoyed personal liberty but had no political privileges. Below them was another class, the Helots or slaves, whose origin is not very certainly known, and who cultivated the lands of the Dorians or true Spartans, who were thus left at leisure for the noble employments of government and war. Thus the ruling power was entirely in the hands of the Dorian race; and the institutions and character of the people were entirely Dorian. The first great event in Spartan history is the legislation of Lycurgus in the 9th century B.C. While it is impossible to believe that such a system as prevailed in Sparta could have been the work of one man, and not rather the gradual result of time and circumstances, it is not on that account necessary to deny altogether that Lycurgus was a real personage. The more probable opinion seems to be, that as a long time must have elapsed before the commotions raised by the Dorian invasion had subsided, and many dissensions and abuses may have crept in; the legislator's work was to rectify these, and restore the constitution according to the ancient Dorian laws and customs. From this period onwards, the history of Greece consists mainly of a narrative of the gradual rise of Sparta to a supremacy at first over the Dorians in the south, and then over the whole of Greece; then of the more sudden rise of her rival Athens, and her long contest with Sparta; and finally, of the wars between Sparta and Thebes, and the final subjection of the whole of Greece to Philip of Macedon.

After the internal confusion had been rectified, and the government firmly established, the energies of Sparta began to find vent in foreign conquests. Their arms were at first directed against Argos and Arcadia; but a more tempting as well as an easier prey was to be found in the rich land of Messenia, where the arts of peace were more flourishing than those of war. Private feuds and border forays gave a cause or a pretext to the first Messenian war, which was begun in 743 B.C. by the sudden invasion of the country B.C. 743, by the Spartans. They took by surprise the fortress of Ampea near the border, from which they made inroads into the very heart of the country. The Messenians for a time did not venture to meet them in the open field, but remaining in their impregnable strongholds, confined their efforts to retaliations on the Spartan territory. At length they changed their tactics, and instead of scattering their forces all over the country, concentrated them in the stronghold of Ithome, so as to protect all the country behind it. This policy proved for a long time successful, though the Messenians never gained any decided advantage; but at length, in 723, they were driven from Ithome, and thus the war B.C. 723, ended by the total reduction of Messenia under the Spartan power. A few of the principal men left the country, while the bulk of the people were reduced to a condition similar to that of the Helots. For 38 years the Messenians remained subject to their conquerors, but in 685 they made B.C. 685, an attempt to regain their liberty under a noble of the name of Aristomenes, and thus began the second Messenian war. The valour of this leader in his first engagement so alarmed the Spartans, that they sought the advice of the Delphic god, by whom they were directed to seek for an Athenian counsellor. They obtained the assistance of Tyrtaeus, traditionally represented as a lame schoolmaster, and he animated the Spartan courage by those warlike songs of which there are still some fragments extant. Notwithstanding this assistance, Aristomenes gained a great victory at Stecnerus, which for a time freed his country from the Spartans. But the Messenians were obliged at last to have recourse to their former tactics, and this time they chose as their stronghold Eira in the extreme north of the country. For a long time they contrived, by means of the able conduct and valiant exploits of their chieftain, to hold out against the Spartans; but at last, in 668, the fortress was B.C. 668, taken, its defenders being allowed to retire into Arcadia. Thus ended the second Messenian war, leaving Sparta in full possession of the whole of Laconia and Messenia. Nor were the Spartans slow in pushing their aggressions in other directions, though they nowhere met with such complete success as in Messenia. Tegea in Arcadia, with which they had long carried on hostilities, was in 545 forced to acknowledge their supremacy, and the district of Cynuria, near the Laconian border, was conquered from Argos. Sparta thus gradually rose to a lofty position; and in the time of Croesus was acknowledged to be the most powerful of the Grecian states. Another war with Argos about 525 B.C. terminated B.C. 525, likewise in favour of the Spartans. At the instigation of the Delphic oracle, the Spartans under Cleomenes invaded Attica in 510, and expelled from Athens Hippias, the last B.C. 510, of the Pisistratidæ. They afterwards interfered under the same leader in support of the aristocratic against the democratic party; but after holding the acropolis for some time, Cleomenes was forced ignominiously to retreat. An attempt which he made immediately after to restore the aristocratic party, and another, somewhat later, to reinstate Hippias as tyrant, proved utter failures. The circum- stances are narrated under Attica. We come now to the events which led to the Persian war. When applied to for assistance by the Ionian Greeks in their revolt against Darius, the Spartans refused to aid them; but afterwards, when the Persian monarch sent to demand the submission of Greece to his authority, they joined with their countrymen in rejecting the demand with contempt, and thus became involved equally with the Athenians in hostility against Persia. When the confederacy was first formed against the Persians, the supremacy was admitted even by Athens to belong to Sparta; for when the Aeginetans gave into the demands of Darius, the Athenians sent to Sparta to accuse them of betraying the common cause. A jealousy, however, soon grew up between Sparta and Athens, and the narrow and often selfish policy of the former tended to widen the breach. In the first Persian invasion, they permitted the Athenians single handed to meet and conquer the enemy at Marathon, being prevented, as they said, from sending aid in time by having to wait for the time of full moon. As a similar delay afterwards occurred on another critical occasion, one may be permitted to suspect that it was not in either case due wholly to superstition. In the invasion of Xerxes, Sparta played a much more conspicuous part in defense of Grecian liberty; though even then the only engagement whose glory belongs exclusively to them was that of Thermopylae; and this celebrated battle, with all the courage which it displayed, was productive of no good results. The Persians were advancing with an immense host through Macedonia and Thessaly against Greece. The only spot where it could be hoped to make any effectual resistance to their advance was the pass of Thermopylae, between the eastern extremity of Mount Oeta and the Malian Gulf. To the north-east, the pass expanded into a small plain in which stood the town of Trachis, where Xerxes was encamped during the battle. The force with which Leonidas undertook to defend this pass consisted only of 300 Spartans, 400 Thebans, and from 8000 to 11,000 allies from the other states.

Xerxes advancing near the pass, was surprised to find that the Greeks were resolved to dispute his passage; for he had always flattered himself, that on his approach they would betake themselves to flight, and not attempt to oppose his innumerable forces. He waited four days without undertaking anything, on purpose to give them time to retreat. He then ordered them by a herald to deliver up their arms. Leonidas, in a style truly laconical, answered, "Come and take them." Xerxes, transported with rage at this reply, commanded the Medes and Cissians to march against them, seize them alive, and bring them to him in fetters. These troops, unable to break the ranks of the Greeks, soon betook themselves to flight. In their rear, Hydarnes was ordered to advance with that body which was called Immortal, and consisted of 10,000 chosen men; but when these assailed the Greeks, they succeeded no better than the Medes and Cissians, being obliged to retire with great loss. The next day the Persians made another attack; but with all their efforts they could not make the Greeks give way, and, on the contrary, were themselves put to a shameful flight. Having lost all hope of forcing his way through troops that were determined to conquer or die, Xerxes was extremely perplexed and doubtful what measures he should adopt, when one Ephialtes, in expectation of a great reward, came to him, and pointed out a circuitous path which led to the rear of the Spartan forces. The king immediately ordered Hydarnes, with a select body of Persians, to follow this path by night, and attack the Greeks from behind. The Phocians who had been set to guard this important route were taken by surprise, and retired with precipitation to the very top of the mountain. But Hydarnes, neglecting to pursue them, marched down the mountain with all possible expedition, in order to attack in the rear those who defended the straits. Leonidas, being apprised of the treachery of Ephialtes, and perceiving that there was no longer any hope of success, advised his allies to retire, though he conceived that he himself and the Spartans could not with honour retreat. With this advice they all complied except the Thebans, who were detained by Leonidas as hostages, for they were suspected to favour the Persians, and the Thebians, who could not be prevailed upon to abandon Leonidas. Xerxes, after pouring out a libation at the rising of the sun, began to move with the whole body of his army, as he had been advised by Ephialtes. Upon their approach, Leonidas advanced to the broadest part of the pass, and fell upon them with undaunted courage and resolution. Great numbers of the enemy falling into the sea, were drowned; others were trampled under foot by their companions, and very many killed by the Greeks; who, knowing they could not avoid death upon the arrival of those who were advancing to fall upon their rear, made prodigious efforts of valour. In this action fell the brave Leonidas; on which Arbocones and Hyperanthus, two brothers of Xerxes, advanced to seize his body, and carry it in triumph to Xerxes. But the Lacedemonians, more eager to defend it than their own lives, repulsed the enemy four times, killed both the princes, with many other commanders of distinction, and rescued the body of their beloved general out of the enemy's hands. But in the meantime, as the troops, guided by Ephialtes, were advancing to attack their rear, the surviving Greeks retired to the narrowest part of the pass, and all drawing together, except the Thebans, who laid down their arms, posted themselves on a rising ground. In this place they made head against the Persians, who assaulted them on all sides, till at length, overwhelmed by numbers, they all fell, except one, who escaped to Sparta. Some time after, a monument was erected at Thermopylae in honour of those brave defenders of Greece, with two inscriptions; the one general, and relating to all those who died on this occasion, importing that the Greeks of Peloponnesus, only 4000 in number, fought against the Persian army, consisting of 3,000,000. The other related to the Spartans in particular, and was composed by the poet Simonides, in these words—"Go, traveller, and tell the Spartans that we lie here in obedience to their laws."

The Persian host now advanced, without further opposition, into the heart of Greece, ravaging Phocis, Bœotia, and Attica. The fate of Athens is narrated in the article Attica. The Spartans at this time declined to send any forces to resist the enemy in Northern Greece, and confined their efforts to the defence of the Peloponnesus. Meanwhile, however, the combined fleet, under Eurybiades, a Spartan, encountered the Persian armada near Artemisium, in the strait between Eubœa and the mainland. This engagement proved indecisive; but soon afterwards the great naval victory of Salamis was gained, chiefly by the conduct of Themistocles and the services of the Athenian ships, which formed the greater part of the fleet. This was the first decisive check which the Persians received. Xerxes, with the fleet, was obliged to take to flight, leaving only his army under Mardonius to effect the conquest of Greece. The Spartans were at length roused by the remonstrances of the Athenians to make an effort for the expulsion of the Persian army from Northern Greece; and in 479 despatched a force of 40,000 men under Pausanias for that purpose. No sooner did Mardonius hear of this movement than he withdrew from Attica, where he had previously been encamped, and pitched his camp on the Asopus in Boöotia. Pausanias continued his advance, and was joined at Corinth by the forces of the other Peloponnesian states, and at Eleusis by those of Athens under Aristides. He then took up a strong position on the Asopus, near Platæa, opposite the Persian camp. For some days the two armies remained in sight of each other, engaged in manoeuvres and skirmishes, marching and countermarching, but without coming to a general engagement. The decisive battle of Platæa was at length brought on more by accident than design on either side. Its issue remained doubtful, till the Persian general fell in heading a charge of cavalry. On this the whole army took to flight, and were pursued by the Greeks, who, after a tremendous carnage, seized upon the camp, with all its stores and treasures. This victory for ever delivered Greece from the danger of Persian invasion. The broken remains of the great army immediately began to retreat; and their return to Asia forms one of the most disastrous episodes in the whole course of ancient history. Not content with self-defence, the Greeks, emboldened by their success, prosecuted the war with Persia on the coasts of Asia Minor, with a view to the emancipation of the Ionian cities in that country. The victory of Mycale was gained by the combined fleets on the same day as that of Platæa. Pausanias was soon after appointed to the command of the naval forces of the confederacy; and in this capacity he first conquered Cyprus, and afterwards took Byzantium from the Persians. But as he became elated with his success, his proud and overbearing conduct excited the jealousy of the allies, and they all, with the exception of the Peloponnesian states, called upon the Athenians to accept the supremacy in the confederacy instead of the Spartans. The latter thereupon withdrew altogether from the war, and their ascendancy was thenceforth confined to the Peloponnesian, which still remained firm in its adherence to Sparta.

From this period the growing jealousy and opposition between Sparta and Athens began more openly to break out, until at length the two states were engaged in deadly war with one another. In 465, the Spartans were on the point of invading Attica, at the solicitation of the Thasians, when their design was cut short by an alarming and dangerous event, which led to the outbreak of the third Messenian war. A most dreadful earthquake happened at Sparta, in which, according to Diodorus, 20,000 persons lost their lives; and Plutarch avers that only five houses were left standing in the whole city. On this occasion the Helots, descended from the ancient Messenians, attempted to regain their liberty, by making an assault on the city, in hopes of gaining the upper hand in the confusion, and cutting off all who had escaped from the earthquake. But their attempt was defeated by the prudence of the Spartan king Archidamus, who, aware of the impending danger, and observing that the citizens were exposing themselves to an attack in their anxiety to preserve their property, caused the alarm of war to be sounded. On this the citizens armed themselves in haste with such weapons as they could lay hold of; and meeting the insurgents a little way from the city, by their superior discipline compelled them to retire. The latter, however, knowing that they had now no mercy to expect from those who had already treated them with such cruelty, resolved to defend themselves to the last. Having therefore seized upon their old stronghold Ithome, they from thence made such incursions into the Spartan territories that they compelled their imperious masters to ask assistance from the Athenians. This was immediately granted; but the consciousness of their own bad faith led them to suspect that of the Athenians, whom they in consequence dismissed, while retaining the services of all their other allies. On this the Athenians left them in disgust, and allied themselves with the Argives against Sparta. In 457 they attempted to intercept a Spartan army returning from an expedition to Doris, but were totally defeated at Tanagra. Meanwhile, as the Messenians did not venture to come to an engagement with a Spartan army in the field, but took shelter in their fortified places, the war was protracted for nearly ten years. In 455 the Athenian fleet, under Tolmides, sailing round the Peloponnese, burned the Spartan arsenal at Gythium, and received the fugitive Messenians, who had at last been compelled to surrender Ithome. These were then settled at Naupactus, which the Athenians had recently gained, and there they proved steadfast allies of Athens, and constant foes to Sparta. Thus ended the third and last of the Messenian wars. The war with Athens, however, still continued, until, by the influence of Cimon, the leader of the aristocracy in that city, who had been recalled from banishment about this time, a truce for five years was concluded B.C. 450. In 450. On the expiration of this truce, the Spartans invaded Attica, and had penetrated as far as Eleusis, when they suddenly retired, induced, it is said, by bribes from Pericles. After this a peace was concluded for thirty years, in terms more favourable to Sparta than those of the former. But this peace did not last unbroken for half the time contemplated; for, in 431, the Peloponnesian war broke out, B.C. 431, and during the twenty-seven years of its continuance, Greece was almost without intermission torn by a deadly struggle between her most powerful states. The allies and dependants of Sparta in this war comprised the whole of the Peloponnese, except Argos and Achaea; and in Northern Greece, Thebes, with the greater part of Boeotia; the Opuntian Locrians, Phocians, Dorians, Aetolians, and the Corinthian colonies in the north-west. For an account of the origin and course of the war see Attica. Towards the close of this war Sparta had received much assistance from the younger Cyrus, son of Darius, the Persian monarch, and satrap of Lydia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia. In return for this, when Cyrus meditated an expedition to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes, he obtained the aid of 10,000 Spartan soldiers. The expedition failed by the defeat of Cunaxa, in which Cyrus fell, and the Greek generals were soon after treacherously slain; but Xenophon, an Athenian, conducted safely the celebrated retreat of the Greeks, of which he has left a narrative. The Ionian cities which had supported Cyrus, refusing to submit to his successor Tissaphernes, applied for assistance to Sparta, and thus led to a new Persian war. Under the command of Thimbron, and afterwards of Dercyllidas, the Spartan forces gained great successes; and after Agesilaus took the command, they very nearly overthrew the Persian Empire. But the career of this victorious general was cut short by the intrigues of the Persian satrap Tithraustes, who succeeded in raising a confederacy between the Thebans, Athenians, Corinthians, and Argives, against Sparta, and thus causing what has been called the Corinthian war. The Spartans, B.C. 395 under Lysander, invaded Boeotia, but suffered a total defeat at Halaiartus, where their general fell. Agesilaus was then recalled from Asia; and returning, completely turned the fortune of the war by his victory at Corinth in 394, and soon after by that of Coronea. But the naval power of Athens was re-established by the victory of Conon at Cnidus; and in the subsequent course of the war the prestige of the Spartan arms was much weakened by the defeat of her troops by Iphicrates. Both parties were at length desirous of peace, which was concluded in 387, through the intervention of Persia. This, which is known as the peace of Antalcidas, was on the whole favourable to Sparta; and about this time that nation had attained the highest pitch of power which it ever reached.

By the peace of Antalcidas the Thebans were deprived of the government of Boeotia, which they had for a long time enjoyed, and they were so much provoked that at first they absolutely refused to accede to the treaty; but as Agesilaus made great preparations to attack them, they at last thought proper to comply. It was not, however, long before a new war commenced, which threatened the total subversion of the Spartan state. As, by the peace of Antalcidas, the King of Persia had in a manner guaranteed the sovereignty of Greece to Sparta, this republic very soon began to exercise its power to the utmost extent. The Mantineans were the first who felt the weight of their resentment, although they had been their allies and confederates. In order to find a pretext for making war against them, they commanded them to quit their city, and to retire into five old villages, which, they said, had served their forefathers, and where they would live in peace themselves, and give no umbrage to their neighbours. As they refused to obey, an army was sent against them to besiege their city. The siege was continued through the summer with very little success on the part of the Spartans; but having, during the winter season, dammed up the river on which the city stood, the water rose to such a height as either to overflow or throw down the houses; and the Mantineans were thus compelled to submit to the terms prescribed to them, and to retire into the villages. The Spartan vengeance next fell on the Phliasians and Olynthians, whom they forced to agree to such measures as they thought proper. After this they assailed the Thebans, and, by attempting to seize on the Piraeus, drew the Athenians also into the quarrel. But here their career was arrested: the Thebans had been taught the art of war by Chabrias the Athenian; so that even Agesilaus himself took the command of the Spartan army in vain. At sea they were defeated by Timotheus the son of Conon; and by land the battle of Leuctra put an end to the superiority which Sparta had so long retained over Greece. After this dreadful defeat, the Spartans had occasion to exert all their courage and resolution. Agesilaus, by his prudent conduct, kept up the spirits of the people, at the same time that by his skill in military affairs he checked the progress of the enemy. Yet, during the lifetime of Epaminondas, the Theban general, the progress of the war was greatly to the disadvantage of the Spartans; but after his death at the battle of Mantinea, all parties soon became desirous of peace. In the peace concluded in the following year, the independence of Messenia was recognised; and though Sparta at first refused to acknowledge it, she never regained her ancient dominion. Agesilaus did not long survive; and with him, we may affirm, perished the glory of Sparta. Soon after this all the states of Greece fell under the power of Philip of Macedon, who invaded Laconia after his victory at Charonea in 338. The Spartans, however, maintained their ground with great resolution against the celebrated Pyrrhus king of Epirus, whom they repulsed for three days successively, though not without assistance from one of the captains of Antigonus. Soon after this one of the kings of Sparta, named Agis, perceiving the universal degeneracy that had taken place, made an attempt to restore the laws and discipline of Lycurgus, by which he hoped the state would be restored to its former glory. But though at first he met with some appearance of success, he was in a short time tried and condemned by the ephors as a traitor to his country. Cleomenes, however, who ascended the throne in 216 B.C., accomplished the reformation which Agis had in vain attempted. He suppressed the ephorate; cancelled all debts; divided the lands equally, as they had been in the time of Lycurgus; and put an end to the luxury which prevailed among the citizens. Cleomenes also gained several victories over the Achaean league, and conquered a large part of the Peloponnese; but Antigonus Doson, king of Macedon, who had been summoned to the aid of the Achaeans, totally defeated him in the battle of Sellasia. The Spartan king then fled to Egypt, where he put an end to his own life. With him perished every hope of retrieving the affairs of Sparta; the city fell into the hands of Antigonus, after which a succession of tyrants gained and lost the ascendency, till at last all disturbances were ended by the Romans, who reduced Greece to the condition of a province.

It only remains to make some observations on the national character, manners, and customs of the Spartans, which, as they were at once the cause and the result of the peculiar constitution of the country, may best be learned from a view of that constitution. It might seem, on first sight, a singular circumstance that the government of Sparta, which was constantly at the head of the aristocratic party in Greece, should exhibit what appears to be a very popular character. But this apparent anomaly disappears when we remember that the population of Laconia consisted of three very different classes—the Spartans, or governing class; the Deltiotes Perioeci, or subjects; and the Helots, or slaves. The fundamental principles of the constitution were two—the superiority of the Spartans over both the other classes, and their equality among themselves. Thus the government, instead of being at all popular, was a very narrow oligarchy; for none of the inferior orders had any political privileges whatever, and, in ordinary circumstances, none could ever rise from a lower to a higher class. The Spartans themselves were divided into three clans or families, and these again were subdivided into thirty lesser divisions called obes; but these distinctions, though founded on descent, did not imply any difference in rank or privileges; the only inequality among the ruling class being the hereditary right to the crown, which belonged to the two families of the Heracleidæ. And though in Sparta, alone of the Greek states, the kingly form of government was permanently retained, it was very much limited by the other parts of the state. The sovereign power ultimately resided in the assembly of the people, held periodically in a field near the city; and in it every Spartan, without respect to birth or wealth, had an equal voice. This assembly had the right of filling all the elective offices in the state, of electing the Gerusia or senate, and of accepting or rejecting the proposals made to it by the magistrates. They had the ultimate decision of all questions about peace and war, treaties, taxes, changes in the constitution, and disputes about the succession to the throne. The Gerusia, or council of elders, consisted of thirty members, two of which were the kings, while the others were elected by the popular assembly in a singularly primitive fashion. The candidates, whose only qualification was to be above sixty, came forward successively to the assembly, and were chosen according to the amount of applause they received, as judged by persons shut up in a neighbouring room. The duties of the senators, who held office for life, were to prepare measures for the popular assembly, and to exercise criminal jurisdiction. In this body the kings had no greater authority than their colleagues; but they presided in a tribunal for civil affairs, they were the high-priests of the nation, and shad the command of the armies. Of the inferior magistrates little is known, with the exception of the ephors, who at one time rose to the highest power in the state. Their number was five, and they seem to have first come into prominence at a period subsequent to that of Lycurgus. It is not improbable that their power was either conferred or greatly increased at the time of the conquest of Messenia, when a new body of citizens seems to have been admitted, and, like the Roman tribunes, whom they resembled in many respects, they may have been representatives of the newly admitted and at first inferior citizens. They engrossed the greater part of the civil jurisdiction, which had before belonged to the kings; and they had the power even to control the royal proceedings.

The great prevailing principle of the Spartan institutions was the subordination of the interests of the individual to those of the community: the citizen was to live only for the state; all his wealth, powers, time, and if need be his life itself, were to be given up to its service. This state of things was the necessary result of the position of the Spartans in the country they had conquered; a mere handful of men compared with the numbers of their subjects. and slaves, who were of a wholly distinct and even hostile race. To this cause must be ascribed the martial character of the training to which every Spartan was subjected. From their very birth all the children were considered to be the property of the state, and though left to the care of their parents till their seventh year, they were from that time onwards put under a course of public discipline, gradually increasing in severity, and having for its one object to make them perfect soldiers. This training continued till the age of thirty; and even after that time they were liable to military service until they were sixty. The public meals (sysstis) and hard fare of the Spartans are well known, and may be traced back to the same general principle as their other institutions. Industry and commerce were very far from being encouraged at Sparta; all agriculture, manufactures, and trade being considered unworthy the attention of the free-born citizen, and left to the inferior classes. The only legal currency was of iron, a restriction which, if it was intended to discourage the love of money, most signalily defeated its own end, for there were no vices to which the Spartans were more prone than those of venality and avarice. A remarkable feature of Spartan society was the much greater freedom allowed and respect paid to women, than in any other of the Greek states. In this matter they probably retained very much of the old manners of the heroic age.

The national character of the Spartans exhibited many shining virtues, such as unwavering patriotism and public spirit, dauntless courage and endurance, a primitive simplicity of life and tastes, indefatigable perseverance, and a temper submissive to the laws of the state; but these were balanced by equally glaring faults, overbearing pride and narrow-minded exclusiveness, avarice, duplicity, and a total disregard of honour and uprightness in their dealings with foreign states. The uniformity of training to which they were all subjected naturally discouraged any great or original genius, and hardly any Spartan was ever celebrated in arts or literature, science or philosophy. All the great names of which she can boast, as those of Leonidas, Pausanias, Brasidas, Lysander, and Agesilaus, were distinguished solely for military genius, and even in their own sphere were equalled by many of the citizens of her more illustrious rival Athens. But although in reading the history of Greece our sympathies are irresistibly drawn to the side of Athens, it should be remembered that one important phase of the Grecian character is most fully exhibited in the Spartan institutions and history.

With regard to the city of Sparta, the remark of Thucydides, that if it were destroyed, posterity would have some difficulty in inferring the power of the nation from the extent of the remains that would be left, has proved prophetic; for of Sparta it might be said at the present day, with almost as much truth as of Troy long ago, "etiam periene ruinae." The city, like that of Rome, was built on a series of small hills, connected with the chain of Taygetus, and on the plain to the south-east, between these hills and the Eurotas. It was originally formed by the union of four earlier hamlets, Pitane, Limnae, Mesoa, and Cynosura, and it was never a very compactly built place, but always retained its original gardens, plantations, and other characteristics of village life. Pitane, which was the most fashionable quarter of the town, lay farthest north; Limnae lay along the bank of the Eurotas; Mesoa probably occupied the extreme south-east, and Cynosura the extreme southwest. In the midst of these different quarters stood the acropolis and market-place of Sparta. In the former the principal building was the temple of Athena Chalcioecus, or of the Brazen House, so called because it was covered with plates of bronze; also a temple of the muses, and several others of smaller size. The spacious agora or market-place was surrounded by colonnades, and from it the principal streets in the city diverged. In it stood the senate-house, with the offices of the ephors and other magistrates; but its chief ornament was the splendid marble portico erected from the spoils of the Persian war, and embellished with numerous sculptures. The principal streets were the Aphetais running southwards from the agora, and the Sebas running to the south-east, both of which were lined with many temples and public buildings. Another street led westward from the agora to the theatre, a building used in the good old days of Sparta, not for dramatic, but for athletic sports. The private dwellings of the Spartans, like those of the Romans in early days, were poor and mean, as they reserved all sumptuous and expensive decorations for the temples of the gods and the halls of the nation. The city was, in its flourishing days, never fortified, being defended, not by walls, but by the arms of its citizens; and until the invasion of Epaminondas, no enemy ever approached near the capital. At a later period hasty defences were thrown up, but Sparta was not regularly fortified till it came under the power of the Romans. A modern town has been built since the Greek revolution on one of the hills of Sparta, and the village of Mistra lies not far off.