CHAPTER III.
THE SPARTAN WOMEN.
When we pass from Homer, we enter a new region. We do not know how far Homer’s characters are historical. We cannot doubt that the manners and ways of the men and women whom he describes were like those of the real men and women amongst whom he lived. He may have idealized a little, but even his idealizations are indicative of the current of his age. But we know little of the modes in which the various States of Greece were constituted, and of the relations which subsisted between them. We have to pass over a long period which is a practical blank, and then we come to historical Greece. In historical Greece we have no unity of the Greek nation. We have men of Greek blood, but these men did not dream of forming themselves into one nation, ruled by the same laws, and mutually helpful of each other. The Greek mind regarded the city as the greatest political organization possible, or at any rate compatible with the adequate discharge of the functions of a State. And accordingly if we could give a full account of woman in Greece, we should have to detail the arrangements made in each particular State. There are no materials for such an account if we wished to give it; but even if there had been, it is probable that we should not have learned much more than we learn from the histories of the two most prominent of those States, Sparta and Athens. It is to the position and influence of women in these States that we must turn our attention.
To form anything like a just conception of the Spartan State, we must keep clearly in view the notion which the ancients generally and the Spartans in particular had of a State. The ancients were strongly impressed with the decay and mortality of the individual man; but they felt equally strongly the perpetuity of the race through the succession of one generation after another. Accordingly, when a State was formed, the most prominent idea that pervaded all legislation was the permanence of the State, and the continuance of the worship of the gods. They paid little regard to individual wishes. They thought little of individual freedom. The individual was for the State, not the State for the individual, and accordingly all private and personal considerations must be sacrificed without hesitation to the strength and permanence of the State. A peculiar turn was given to this idea in Sparta.
From the circumstances in which the Spartans were placed, they had to make up their minds to be a race of soldiers. They had numerous slaves in their possession to do everything requisite for procuring the necessaries of life. They therefore had no call to labour. But if they were to retain their slaves and keep their property against all comers, they must be men of strong bodily configuration, hardy, daring, resolute. And as women were a necessary part of the State, they must contribute to this result. The regulations made for this purpose are assigned by the ancients to Lycurgus; but whether he was a real person, or how far our information in regard to him is to be trusted, is a matter of no consequence to us at present; for there can be no doubt that his laws were in force during the best period of Sparta’s existence. And the laws bear on their front the purpose for which they were made. All the legislation that relates to women has one sole object—to procure a first-rate breed of men. The one function which woman had to discharge was that of motherhood. But this function was conceived in the widest range in which the Spartans conceived humanity. In fact no woman can discharge effectively any one of the great functions assigned her by nature without the entire cultivation of all parts of her nature. And so we see in this case. The Spartans wanted strong men: the mothers therefore must be strong. The Spartans wanted brave men: the mothers therefore must be brave. The Spartans wanted resolute men—men with decision of character: the mothers must be resolute. They believed, with intense faith, that as are the mothers, so will be the children. And they acted on this faith. They first devoted all the attention and care they could to the physical training of their women.
From their earliest days the women engaged in gymnastic exercises; and when they reached the age of girlhood, they entered into contests with each other in wrestling, racing, and throwing the quoit and javelin. Some writers[24] assert that they engaged in similar contests even with the young men, and, like them, divesting themselves of the slight garments which they were in the habit of wearing in their warm climate, they showed before assembled multitudes what feats of strength and agility they could perform. In this way the whole body of citizens would come to know a girl’s powers; there could be no concealment of disease; no sickly girl could pass herself off as healthy. But it was not only for the physical strength, but for the mental tone, that the girls had to go through this physical exercise. The girls mingled freely with the young men. They came to know each other well. Long before the time of marriage they had formed attachments and knew each other’s characters. And in the games of the young men nothing inspirited them so much as the praise of the girls, and nothing was so terrible as the shouts of derision which greeted their failures. The same influence made itself felt when they fought in battle. The thought that, when they came home, they would be rapturously welcomed by mother and sister, nerved many an arm in the hour of danger. All the training anterior to marriage was deliberately contrived to fit the Spartan women to be mothers. And it is needless to say that all the arrangements in connexion with marriage were made solely for the good of the State. All the Spartan girls had to marry. No one ever thought of not marrying. There was one exception to this. No sickly woman was allowed to marry. The offspring must be healthy. And, indeed, if she had had to consult her own feelings in Sparta, the sickly girl would, of her own accord, have refrained from marriage. For the State claimed a right over all the children. They were all brought very soon after birth before a committee appointed by Government, which examined into the form and probable healthiness of the child, and if the committee came to the conclusion that the child was not likely to be strong its death was determined on.
But there must have been very few sickly women among the Spartans. If a girl survived this first inspection, she had, as we have seen, her trials to go through, and only the strong could outlive the gymnastic exercises and the exposure of their persons in all weathers during religious processions, sacred dances, and physical contests. The age of marriage was also fixed, special care being taken that the Spartan girls should not marry too soon. In all these regulations the women were not treated more strictly than the men. The men also were practically compelled to marry. The man who ventured on remaining a bachelor was punished in various ways. If a man did not marry on reaching a certain age, he was forbidden to be present at the exercises of the young girls. The whole set of them were taken one wintry day in each year, and, stripped of their clothing, went round the agora singing a song that told how disgraceful their conduct was in disobeying the laws of their country—a spectacle to gods and men. The women also, at a certain festival, dragged these misguided individuals round an altar, inflicting blows on them all the time.[25] Men were punished even for marrying too late, or for marrying women disproportionately young or old.
Such was the Spartan system. What were the results of it? For about four or five hundred years there was a succession of the strongest men that possibly ever existed on the face of the earth. The legislator was successful in his main aim. And I think that I may add that these men were among the bravest. They certainly held the supremacy in Greece for a considerable time through sheer force of energy, bravery, and obedience to law. And the women helped to this high position as much as the men. They were themselves remarkable for vigour of body and beauty of form. A curious illustration of this fact occurs in one of the plays of Aristophanes. An Athenian lady resolves to put an end to the war between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians by combined action on the part of the wives from all parts of Greece. She has summoned a meeting of them, and as Lampito, the Lacedæmonian wife, comes in, she thus accosts her: “O dearest Spartan, O Lampito, welcome! How beautiful you look, sweetest one; how fresh your complexion, how vigorous your body. You could throttle an ox.” “Yes,” says she, “I think I could, by Castor and Pollux, for I practise gymnastics and leap high.”[26] They were not, however, merely strong in body, but took a deep interest in all matters that concerned the State. They sank everything, even maternal feeling, in their care for the community. Many stories and sayings to this effect have been preserved. A Spartan mother sent her five sons to war, and, knowing that a battle had taken place, she waited for the news on the outskirts of the city. Some one came up to her and told her that all her sons had perished. “You vile slave,” said she, “that is not what I wanted to know; I want to know how fares my country.” “Victorious,” said he. “Willingly, then,” said she, “do I hear of the death of my sons.”
Another, when burying her son, was commiserated by an old woman, who cried out, “Oh, your fate!” “Yes, by the gods,” said she, “a glorious fate, for did not I bear him that he might die for Sparta?”
And their courage was not merely of a daring and physical character. It was a moral courage. A Spartan had been wounded in battle and compelled to crawl on all fours; he seemed to feel ashamed of the awkwardness of his position. “How much better it is,” said his mother, “to rejoice on account of bravery, than be ashamed on account of ignorant laughter!”
It might be supposed that the peculiar training to which the women were subjected might make them licentious and forward, but the testimony is strong that no such results followed from free intercourse with the young men. Adultery was almost entirely unknown.