We have already[63] taken notice of another division [pg 021] of Laconia besides that into towns, and shown that the Periœci of this country had formerly dwelt in five districts, of which the chief towns were Amyclæ, Las, Epidaurus Limera (or else Gytheium), Ægys, and Pharis; as also Messenia, in addition to the territory round the city inhabited by Dorians, contained four provinces—viz., Pylos, Rhium, Mesola, and Hyamia. For what length of time these districts were retained, and what relation they bore to the division into a hundred towns or hamlets, cannot now be determined.

2. It will next be necessary to ascertain what were the political rights and condition of the Periœci. The main circumstances are without doubt correctly given by Ephorus. “They were,” he says, “tributary to Sparta, and had not equal rights of citizenship.” If these words are taken in their literal sense, it is plain that the Periœci had not a share in the great legislative assembly of the citizens. And in truth the passages adduced by modern writers to show that they had a vote in this assembly are not by any means satisfactory.[64] Perhaps the following considerations are sufficient to convince us of the impossibility of such general assemblies. Had the Spartan constitution permitted the whole people to hold large assemblies with the right of deciding on all public questions, it would have been in principle completely democratic, and would have had a perpetual tendency to become [pg 022] more so, in the necessary course of events. But, in addition to this objection, let us only picture to ourselves the absurdity of the Periœci, in the neighbourhood of Sparta, all flocking together between the brook Babyca and the bridge Cnacion! Where again were those, who took several days to arrive at Sparta from Cyphanta, Pylos, or Tænarus, to find houseroom and food? How could any of them be ready to leave their homes and trades at such a summons? It was esteemed a difficult matter even to collect an armed force of Periœci at a short notice. A city-community was doubtless everywhere requisite for a popular assembly; and hence in the Athenian, and every similar democracy, each citizen was in some way settled in the town, and had the right of there possessing an house (ἔγκτησις οἰκίας), which a Periœcus most assuredly had not.[65]

3. Now, if it is acknowledged that the distant situation and state of the Periœci presented almost insuperable objections to their possessing a share in the general government, their political inferiority to the Spartans will not appear very oppressive. They were admitted equally with the Spartans to the honourable occupation of war, and indeed sometimes served as heavy-armed soldiers, or as troops of the line.[66] There were at Platæa 5000 Dorian hoplitæ, [pg 023] and the same number of Periœci; at Sphacteria 292 prisoners were taken, of whom only 120 were Spartans.[67] How, if the Periœci had been an oppressed people, could Sparta have ventured to collect so large a number into her armies; and for what reason should the Periœci have taken part in the heroic devotion of that small band, if they had not the victory and honour of Sparta as much at heart as their own? “Sparta,” said the Spartan king Demaratus, to Xerxes,[68] “contains 8000 Spartans, all of equal bravery; the other Lacedæmonians, in many surrounding cities, are indeed inferior to them, but yet not deficient in courage.” Nor do we hear of any insurrection of Periœci (if we except the revolt of two Messenian towns in Olymp. 78. 468 B.C.) until the downfall of the constitution.[69] Again, would it be possible, on the assumption of an oppressive subjection, to explain how the Asinæans and Nauplians, when deprived of their independence by Argos, fled to Laconia, that they might occupy the maritime towns of Mothone and Asine, manifestly as Periœci? Nor is it consistent with a general contempt of the Periœci that καλοὶ καγαθοὶ—“gentlemen”—are mentioned in their number.[70] All trade and commerce, of indispensable need to Laconia, were in the hands of the maritime towns. Merchants from Libya and Egypt brought their cargoes to the Periœci of [pg 024] Cythera,[71] who, among other branches of trade, followed the lucrative employment of the purple fishery.[72] All manual labour in Sparta, not performed by slaves, was in the hands of this class, since no Spartan, before the introduction of the Achæan constitution, was allowed to follow any trade.[73] The low estimation in which trade was held was founded on the ancient Grecian customs and opinions, in departing from which the Corinthians were nearly singular among the Doric states, the productiveness of trade having taught them to set a higher value upon it.[74] And yet in their colony of Epidamnus public slaves were the only manual labourers;[75] Diophantus wished to introduce the converse of this system at Athens, and to make all the manual labourers slaves. The Spartans, moreover, appear to have admitted those alone of the Periœci who were engaged in agriculture to serve among the heavy-armed, while artisans were admitted only to the light-armed infantry.[76] This had been once the case at Athens, where the Thetes (to which class the artificers belonged) served only in that inferior rank. According to this, then, the 5000 Periœci, who at the battle of Platæa were allotted as light-armed to the same number of heavy-armed soldiers, were in part perhaps artificers. The [pg 025] industrious pursuit of trade did not, however, suffer so much as might be supposed, from the low estimation in which it was held; for not only were many raw commodities obtained in a high degree of perfection in Laconia, but many Lacedæmonian manufactures were also used and sought after in the rest of Greece. The Laconian cothon, a drinking vessel used in camps and marches,[77] the bowl,[78] the goblet,[79] tables, seats, elbow chairs,[80] doors,[81] and cars,[82] the Laconian steel,[83] keys,[84] swords, helmets, axes, and other iron fabrics,[85] the shoes of Amyclæ,[86] the Laconian mantles,[87] and woollen garments dyed with native purple, which adorned alike the warriors setting out to battle and the bloody corpses of the slain; all these bespeak an active pursuit of trade, and at the same time a peculiar sense of propriety and comfort, which brought several [pg 026] of these goods and implements into general use. Many men were probably employed in the iron mines and forges;[88] stone quarries of Tænarus had also been worked from early times;[89] and that their industry was not confined to the mere drudgery of manufactures is shown by the schools of Lacedæmonian embossers and brass-founders (probably a branch of that in Crete), to which Chartas, Syadras, Dontas, Dorycleidas and Medon, Theocles, Gitiadas, and Cratinus belonged,[90] all of whom were probably Periœci, although Pausanias, neglecting the distinction, calls them Spartans. Upon the whole we may venture to affirm that the Doric dominion did not discourage or stifle the intellectual growth of her dependent subjects, but allowed it full room for a vigorous development. Myson, by many reckoned one of the seven sages, was, according to some, and perhaps the most credible accounts, a husbandman of the Laconian town of Etia, and resided at a place called Chen in the same country.[91] Even the highest honour among the [pg 027] Greeks, the victory at the Olympic games, was not denied to the Lacedæmonians; an inhabitant of Acriæ was found in the list of the conquerors at Olympia:[92] from which circumstance it is evident that the Periœci of Sparta were in all other parts of Greece considered as free citizens. They must also without doubt have possessed civil rights, but only in those communities to which they immediately belonged, and which would never have been called cities (πόλεις) unless they had to a certain point been independent bodies. Isocrates,[93] indeed, states that they possessed less freedom and power than the demi of Attica; but no general comparison can be drawn between the δῆμοι of Attica and πόλεις of Laconia. Perhaps they had the power of electing their own municipal magistrates, though we find that a Spartan was sent as governor to the island of Cythera.[94] The same was the case in war. We find the command at sea intrusted to one of the class of Periœci,[95] doubtless because the Spartans did not hold the naval service in much estimation, and because the inhabitants of the maritime towns were more practised in naval affairs than the Dorians of the interior. Concerning the tribute of the towns belonging to the Periœci no accurate account has been preserved.

4. Though for the most part the early inhabitants were driven into the country by the Doric conquerors, there still remained some families which inhabited the [pg 028] city conjointly with the Spartans, and were held in equal consideration with them; as at Athens, for example, many families of the original inhabitants appear to have had the rank of Eupatridæ. Of this the Talthybiadæ are an instance. The office of herald was at Sparta (as in the fabulous times) hereditary, and not, as in other parts of Greece, obtained by competition.[96] The privilege of performing all foreign embassies,[97] and a share in the sacred missions,[98] were assigned to the pretended descendants of the Mycenean herald Talthybius, who also enjoyed especial honours amongst the Achæans at Ægium;[99] and there is doubtless reason to suppose that this family belonged to the Achæan race, without entering into the question of the correctness of their pedigree. The dignity attached to their office was very great, especially if, as was the case in the heroic ages, it was the custom for the heralds to address the princes as “beloved sons.” As to property and effects, they ranked with the first Spartans,[100] if, as it appears, Sperthias and Bulis, who offered themselves to the Persian king as an atonement for the murder of his ambassadors,[101] were of the family of the Talthybiadæ.

Indeed almost all the other trades and occupations, besides that of herald, were hereditary at Sparta, as, [pg 029] for example, those of cooking, baking, mixing wine, flute-playing, &c.[102] The trade of cooks had its particular heroes, viz., Dæton, Matton, and Ceraon, whose statue stood in the Hyacinthian street.[103] It is easy to see how this hereditary transmission of employments favoured the maintenance of ancient customs. In fact, Sparta would not have so long remained contented with her black broth, either if her cooks had not learnt the art of dressing it from their youth upwards, and continued to exercise their craft after the manner of their fathers, or if this office could have been assigned at will to those who were able by their art to gratify the palate. It is not probable that any of these families of artisans were of Doric origin, and they doubtless belonged to the class of Periœci; nor is it to be supposed that, like the Talthybiadæ, they possessed the Spartan rights of citizenship.[104]

Chapter III.

§ 1. Helots of Sparta. Their political condition. § 2. Their service in war. § 3. Treatment of the helots. § 4. The crypteia. § 5. Various degrees of helotism. § 6. Number of the helots. § 7. The phylæ of Pitana, Limnæ, Mesoa, and Cynosura.

1. The condition of the Periœci and that of the Helots must be carefully distinguished from each other; [pg 030] the latter state may be termed “villenage,” or “bondage,” to which that of the Periœci had not the slightest resemblance.[105] The common account of the origin of this class is, that the inhabitants of the maritime town Helos were reduced by Sparta to this state of degradation, after an insurrection against the Dorians already established in power.[106] This explanation, however, rests merely on an etymology, and that by no means a probable one; since such a Gentile name as Εἵλως (which seems to be the more ancient form) cannot by any method of formation have been derived from Ἕλος. The word Εἵλως is probably a derivative from Ἕλω; in a passive sense, and consequently means the prisoners.[107] Perhaps it signifies those who were taken after having resisted to the uttermost, whereas the Periœci had surrendered upon conditions; at least [pg 031] Theopompus[108] calls them Achæans as well as the others. It appears, however, more probable that they were an aboriginal race, which was subdued at a very early period, and which immediately passed over as slaves to the Doric conquerors.[109]

In speaking of the condition of the Helots, we will consider their political rights and their personal treatment under separate heads, though in fact the two subjects are very nearly connected. The first were doubtless exactly defined by law and custom, though the expressions made use of by ancient authors are frequently vague and ambiguous. “They were,” says Ephorus,[110] “in a certain point of view public slaves. Their possessor could neither liberate them, nor sell them beyond the borders.” From this it is evident that they were considered as belonging properly to the state, which to a certain degree permitted them to be possessed, and apportioned them out to individuals, reserving to itself the power of enfranchising them. But to sell them out of the country was not in the power even of the state; and, to the best of our knowledge, such an event never occurred. It is, upon the whole, most probable that individuals had no power to sell them at all; since they were, for the most part, attached to the land, which was inalienable. On these lands they had certain fixed dwellings of their own, and particular services and payments were prescribed to them.[111] They paid as rent a fixed measure of corn; not, however, like the Periœci, to the state, but to their [pg 032] masters. As this quantity had been definitively settled at a very early period (to raise the amount being forbidden under heavy imprecations),[112] the Helots were the persons who profited by a good, and lost by a bad harvest; which must have been to them an encouragement to industry and good husbandry; a motive which would have been wanting, if the profit and loss had merely affected the landlords. And thus (as is proved by the accounts respecting the Spartan agriculture),[113] a careful management of the cultivation of the soil was kept up. By means of the rich produce of the land, and in part by plunder obtained in war,[114] they collected a considerable property,[115] to the attainment of which almost every access was closed to the Spartans. Now the annual rent paid for each lot was eighty-two medimni of barley, and a proportionate quantity of oil and wine.[116] It may therefore be asked how much remained to the Helots themselves, after paying this amount of corn from each lot. Tyrtæus appears to give some information, where he describes the Messenian bondmen[117] “as groaning like asses under heavy burdens, and compelled by force to pay to their masters a half of the entire produce of the land.”[118]