The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race Volume II Part 5

Chapter XI.

-- 1. Simplicity of the Law of Sparta. -- 2. Spartan System of Judicature. -- 3. Penal system of Sparta: fine, infamy, -- 4. exile, and death. -- 5. Origin of the laws respecting the penalty of death in the Doric states. -- 6. Connexion of Locri with the Doric race.

-- 7. Laws of Zaleucus.

1. The law, as well as the economy, of the Dorians, seems to bear a character of very great antiquity, as far as our scanty means of information permit us to judge. It exhibits strong marks of the early time at which it originated, and it is impossible not to recognise in it a certain loftiness and severity of character. For this reason it was ill suited to the circ.u.mstances of the more unrestrained and active manners of later times, and only owed its continuance to the isolated situation in which Sparta succeeded in keeping herself. Thus the civil law was less definite and settled here than in any other part of Greece in early times, as property was, according to the Spartan notions, to be looked upon as a matter of indifference; in the decrees and inst.i.tutions attributed to Lycurgus, no mention was made of this point, and the ephors were permitted to judge according to their own notions of equity. The ancient legislators had an evident repugnance to any strict regulations on this subject; thus Zaleucus, who, however, first made particular enactments concerning the right of property,(1023) expressly interdicted certificates of debt.(1024) The laws of that early period had a much more personal tendency, and rather regulated the actions of every individual by means of the national customs. It was nearly indifferent whether those actions immediately concerned other persons or not; the whole state was considered as injured and attacked when any individual did not comply with the general principles. Hence the ancient courts of justice exercised a superintendence over the manners of the citizens, as, for instance, the Areopagus at Athens, and the Gerusia at Sparta: hence the extensive interference of the law with the most private relations, such, for example, as marriage. But the history of nations is a history of the progress of individual liberty; among the Greeks of later times the laws necessarily lost this binding force, and obtained a negative character, by which they only so far restrained the actions of each individual, as was necessary for the co-existence of other members of the state. In Sparta, however, law and custom retained nearly equal power; it will therefore be impossible to treat of them separately, and we must be satisfied with some observations upon the judicial system in Sparta and other Doric states.

2. The courts of justice in Sparta have already been spoken of in several places.(1025) The Gerusia decided all criminal causes, together with most others which affected the conduct of the citizens; the other jurisdiction was divided among the magistrates according to the branches of their administration.(1026) The ephors decided all disputes concerning money and property, as well as in accusations against responsible officers, provided they were not of a criminal nature; the kings decided in causes of heiresses and adoptions, and the bidiaei in disputes arising at the gymnasia. Public offences, particularly of the kings and other authorities, were decided by a supreme court of judicature.(1027) The popular a.s.sembly had probably no judicial functions; disputes concerning the succession to the throne were referred to it only after ineffectual attempts to settle them, and it then pa.s.sed a decree.(1028) The a.s.sembly took the case of those who fled from their ranks at the battle of Leuctra out of the hands of the regular court, by nominating an extraordinary nomothetes for the occasion, and afterwards confirming his proposal.(1029) It does not appear that the practice of ostracism was known in the Doric states before the destruction of the early const.i.tution.(1030) Arbitrators were also employed at Sparta for the decision of private cases, as in the Homeric time;(1031) but whether they were publicly appointed, as in Athens, is not known.

At Sparta, as well as at Athens, the parties interested were, of course, ent.i.tled to accuse in private causes; and in criminal cases the next of kin; it cannot however be supposed that in Sparta, as in Athens, every citizen of the state was empowered to inst.i.tute a public action; as a regulation of this kind appears too inseparably connected with democracy.

Private individuals were therefore only permitted to lay an information before a magistrate, which was also allowed to the Helots;(1032) the action being conducted, as we find to have been so frequently the case with the ephors, by some public officer. In the judicial procedure of Sparta, it is probable that much of the ancient Grecian simplicity remained, which Aristotle for example remarks in the criminal proceedings of the aeolic c.u.me, where in trials for murder witnesses from the family of the murdered person were sufficient to prove the offence.(1033) In the ancient laws of Rhadamanthus, disputes were generally decided in a very summary manner by oath,(1034) and the legislation of Charondas for the Chalcidean colonies was the first that inst.i.tuted inquiries concerning false testimony.(1035)

The laws by which the decisions were regulated were supposed to live in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the magistrates themselves; nor was there any written law during the flourishing times of Sparta. The interpreters of the laws of Lycurgus, who occur at a late period,(1036) appear to imply the existence of a written code, if they are compared with the Syracusan interpreters of the code of Diocles;(1037) yet it is possible that they may have merely given answers from an innate knowledge of the traditional law, like the ?????ta? t?? pat???? at Athens.(1038) Thus also it was allowed to the judges to impose punishments according to their own pleasure; the laws of Sparta contained no special enactments on this point, which were first added by Zaleucus to his code.(1039)

3. Among the various punishments which occur, fines levied on property would appear ridiculous in any other state than Sparta on account of their extreme lowness. Perseus in his treatise on the Lacedaemonian government, says, that "the judge immediately condemns the rich man to the loss of a dessert (?p?????); the poor he orders to bring a reed, or a rush, or laurel-leaves for the public banquet." Nicocles the Lacedaemonian says, upon the same subject, "when the ephor has heard all the witnesses, he either acquits the defendant or condemns him: and the successful plaintiff slightly fines him in a cake, or some laurel-leaves," which were used to give a relish to the cakes.(1040) From this it is evident that actions were heard before the ephors, and probably in private cases, in which the plaintiff a.s.sessed the fine (????e? t??t??). Large fines of money in early times only occur as being paid by the kings, but afterwards by generals, harmosts, &c.(1041) The defendant was frequently condemned to leave the country.(1042) It is hardly possible that a complete confiscation of property, extending to land, could have been permitted in Sparta,(1043) although it is mentioned in Argos and Phlius. Imprisonment was never employed in Sparta as a penalty for a free citizen, but only as a means of preventing the escape of an accused person. Corporal punishment preceded, as in the case of Cinadon, the infliction of death; but was not a separate penalty.(1044) On the other hand, infamy (?t??a) was the more frequently used as a punishment, from the deep impression which it made on the mind of a Spartan.(1045) The highest degree of this infamy, as it appears, fell upon the coward, who either left the ranks and fled from battle, or returned without the rest of the army, as Aristodemus from Thermopylae.(1046) A person thus excommunicated could fill no public office; had the lowest place in the choruses; in the game of ball neither party would have him on their side; he could find no compet.i.tor in the gymnasia, no companion of his tent in the field. The flame of his hearth was extinguished, as he was unable to obtain fire from any person. He was compelled to maintain his daughters at home, or, if unmarried, to live in an empty house, since no one would contract any alliance with him. In the street he yielded to every one the way, and gave up his seat to an inferior in age; his lost honour was at first sight evident to every one from his ragged cloak, and his half slavery, from his half-shorn head.

Hence many persons have asked, what merit it was in a Spartan if he preferred death to flight, since a punishment far worse than death awaited the coward? It is indeed true, that the merit of each individual Spartan was less if he preferred dying at his post to saving himself by flight, than if public opinion had not affixed so severe a penalty to the offence of the cowardly soldier. But this argument would be equally good against _all_ public laws and ordinances, and even against the expression of national feelings and opinion. For the looser the bond of social union, and the more anarchical the condition of any state, the greater is the individual merit of any citizen who nevertheless observes the rules of morality and justice, and the praise of virtue is more considered as his particular due. Whereas, when each citizen listens to the voice of public opinion, and feels himself, as it were, bound to support the national power, a large part of the merit of individual excellence is taken away from the individual, and bestowed on the public inst.i.tutions.

A less severe description of infamy was the lot of prisoners taken in war, who were not subject to the imputation of cowardice, as, for instance, the captives at Sphacteria. They were not allowed to fill any public office, and were deprived of the privilege of buying and selling. The other degrading restrictions were not, however, enforced, and the time of the punishment was limited.(1047)

Among this cla.s.s of punishments may be included the penalty of the unmarried, who were deprived of the customary honours of old age. Young men were also punished for various offences, by being compelled to sing defamatory songs against themselves, a custom corresponding with the inclination of the Doric race to mirth and merriment, under which a very serious character was frequently concealed. In the code of Charondas, public ridicule was also a.s.signed as the penalty of the adulterer and busybody (p???p?????),(1048) and that for sycophants and cowards was of a similar character.(1049)

4. Banishment was probably never a regular punishment in Sparta, for the law could hardly have compelled a person to do that which, if he had done it voluntarily, would have been punished with death.(1050) Murderers, particularly if their crime was unpremeditated, were sometimes forced to fly the country;(1051) but this cannot be considered as a case in point, for the flight only took place for the purpose of avoiding the revenge of relations. On the other hand, banishment exempted a person from the most severe punishments,(1052) and, according to the principles of the Greeks, preserved him from every persecution; so that even a person who was declared an outlaw by the Amphictyons was thought secure when out of the country.(1053) There is no instance in the history of Sparta of any individual being banished for political reasons, so long as the ancient const.i.tution continued.

The punishment of death was inflicted either by strangulation in a room of the public prison called ?e???,(1054) or by throwing the criminal into the Caeadas, a ceremony which was always performed by night.(1055) It was also in ancient times the law of Athens, that no execution should take place in the day-time.(1056) So also the senate of the aeolic c.u.me (whose antiquated inst.i.tutions have been already mentioned) decided criminal cases during the night, and voted with covered b.a.l.l.s,(1057) nearly in the same manner as the kings of the people of Atlantis, in the Critias of Plato.(1058) These must not be considered as oligarchical contrivances for the undisturbed execution of severe sentences, but are to be attributed to the dread of p.r.o.nouncing and putting into execution the sentence of death, and to an unwillingness to bring the terrors of that penalty before the eye of day. A similar repugnance is expressed in the practice of the Spartan Gerusia, which never pa.s.sed sentence of death without several days'

deliberation, nor ever without the most conclusive testimony; the person who was acquitted could however be always subjected to a fresh examination.(1059) Notwithstanding this horror of shedding blood, the punishments in the early Greek states were more severe than under the Athenian republic. The orator Lycurgus(1060) ascribes to the ancient legislators in general the principle of the laws of Draco, to punish _all_ actions with the same severity, whether the evil which they caused was great or small. This severity partly owed its origin to a supposition that the public rights were injured, and not the property or the peace of an individual. Thus the ancient law of Tenedos (which, together with the worship of Apollo there established, appears to have been derived from Crete) punished adulterers by decapitation with an axe;(1061) the same offence was punished, according to the code of Zaleucus, by the loss of an eye,(1062) and in Sparta it was guarded against by laws of extreme severity.(1063)

5. The laws respecting the penalty of death, which prevailed in the Grecian, and especially in the Doric states, were derived from Delphi.

They were entirely founded upon the ancient rite of expiation, by which a limit was first set to the fury of revenge, and a fixed mode of procedure in such cases established.(1064) Any person killing another without premeditation in the gymnastic contests and public battles was, according to the law which (as Plato states)(1065) came from Delphi, immediately released from all guilt, when he had been purified: it is however probable, that much of what the philosopher recommends in other cases was derived from the inst.i.tutions of Draco, as well as from the Delphian laws, which were actually administered in the latter state by the Pythian court of justice.(1066) To what extent reconciliation with kinsmen by the payment of a fine was permitted, and in what cases the punishment of death was made compulsory, cannot be ascertained. The Delphian court having unjustly condemned aesop to death, sentenced itself to the payment of a fine, and discovered some descendants or kinsmen of their victim, to whom the money was paid.(1067) The Delphian inst.i.tutions were doubtless connected with those of Crete, where Rhadamanthus was reported by ancient tradition to have first established courts of justice, and a system of law,(1068) the larger and more important part of which, in early times, is always the criminal law. Now as Rhadamanthus is said to have made exact retaliation the fundamental principle of his code,(1069) it cannot be doubted, after what has been said in the second book on the connexion of the worship of Apollo and its expiatory rites with Crete, that in this island the harshness of that principle was early softened by religious ceremonies, in which victims and libations took the place of the punishment which should have fallen on the head of the offender himself.

6. In the present chapter we have frequently had occasion to mention the laws of Zaleucus (the earliest written code which existed in Greece),(1070) actuated by a belief that they were of Doric origin. The Epizephyrian Locrians, amongst whom these laws were in force, were indeed for the most part descendants of the Ozolian and Opuntian Locrians.(1071) Aristotle describes them as a collected rabble, in the true spirit of a mythologist, carrying to the extreme the opposition between recent regularity and early anarchy. These Locrians, however, at the very first establishment of their city, received the Doric customs, Syracusans from Corinth having contributed largely to its foundation,(1072) besides which the Spartans are said to have colonized Locri during the first Messenian war. Although the time may be doubtful, it is an additional confirmation of the fact, that in an ancient war with the inhabitants of Croton, the Locrians applied for a.s.sistance to the Spartans, who promised them the a.s.sistance of their G.o.ds of war, the Tyndaridae. Locri was therefore considered a Doric state, a character which was likewise preserved in its dialect. The const.i.tution was also an oligarchy,(1073) in the hands apparently of a number of Doric and Locrian families. We find in this state, as well as in its mother-city Opus, the hundred families who, by virtue of their n.o.bility, enjoyed a large share in the government.(1074) But that the aristocracy was united with a timocracy appears to me to be proved by the senate of a thousand; which, under the presidency of the cosmopolis, const.i.tuted a supreme court of justice,(1075) and appears to have been formed in the manner stated, if we may judge from the a.n.a.logy of the senates of Rhegium and Agrigentum: which argument seems to have the greater weight, as such numerous councils of an aristocratic character do not appear to have existed in Greece, and they were evidently not democratic.

7. Now with regard to the laws themselves which Zaleucus gave to this state about the 29th Olympiad,(1076) the testimony of Ephorus deserves particular attention, that they were founded upon the inst.i.tutions of Crete, Sparta, and the Areopagus, and upon those of the latter in criminal law.(1077) For this reason Zaleucus is brought into connexion with Thaletas, the expiatory priest of Crete, and the spirit of his laws suited the Pythagoreans (who proceeded upon the same Doric usages and maxims), and in later days Pindar(1078) and Plato.(1079) The prohibition to all citizens to leave their country, and to dwell in foreign states,(1080) is of genuine Doric, and therefore Spartan character;(1081) an inst.i.tution which forms the other side of the Xenelasia. Of the same nature also is the firmness with which the legislation was maintained, and every change guarded against;(1082) they laboured to resist in every manner the Ionic spirit of innovation; and if understood with a slight allowance, it may be true that every person arriving at Locri was punished, who inquired after novelties.(1083) In the same spirit are the measures adopted for securing as far as possible the inalienability of landed property.(1084) The same character is shown in the strict sumptuary laws,(1085) and the superintendence of public morals exercised by the nomophylaces, who were, for example, empowered to admonish and to punish slanderers.(1086) A certain progress is, however, shown in the rude attempts at a law of property, and a more accurate a.s.signment of punishments.(1087) It is remarkable that both Zaleucus and Charondas annexed a sort of recommendation to particular laws:(1088) whereas nothing can be a greater proof of the total failure of a system of laws, than when an endeavour is made to demonstrate the expediency of arrangements, the truth and necessity of which should be self-evident. This statement must not, however, be thus understood: the meaning is, that all the laws were by a short introduction referred to some general principle; such, for example, as "In order not to offend the G.o.ds of the families." "In order that the state may be well administered, and according to the laws of our fathers."

"Trusting that it will be salutary to the people," (????? ?a? ?e????, as the Delphic oracle says on some occasion(1089)), &c.; which seem to me to be rather ancient formulas, suited to the simplicity of the time, and inserted from a vague religious feeling, than intended logically to establish, to the satisfaction of the people, the wisdom and expediency of the new laws.

Chapter XII.

-- 1. Study of the military profession at Sparta. Period of service. -- 2. Arrangement of the army. Numbers of the military divisions. -- 3. Arrangement of the enomoty and military evolutions. -- 4. Arrangement of the Mora. -- 5. Organization of the Spartan army. Its officers. -- 6. Cavalry in the other Doric states. The Sciritae in the Lacedaemonian army. Light-armed soldiers. -- 7. Arms of the heavy infantry of Sparta. -- 8. Spartan tactics. -- 9. Steady courage of the Spartans. -- 10. War considered as an art by the Spartans. Life of the Spartans in camp.

1. The military system of the Dorians, which we are now about to consider, was evidently brought to the greatest perfection in Sparta. In this state the military profession, as was hardly the case in any other part of Greece, was followed as an art, as the study of a life;(1090) so that when Agesilaus (as is related) separated the shoemakers, carpenters, potters, &c., from the a.s.sembled allied army, the Spartans alone remained, as being the warriors by profession (as te???ta? t?? p??e????(1091)). But the principles of their military tactics were evidently common to the whole race; and, according to a conjecture advanced in a former part of this work,(1092) it was chiefly the method of attack, in closed lines, with extended lances, by which the Dorians conquered the Achaeans of Peloponnesus, and which was adopted from them by many other states of Greece.

Every Spartan was, if he had sufficient strength, bound to defend his country in expeditions without the boundaries during the years that were designated by the name ?????a.(1093) This period lasted to the fortieth year from manhood (?f? ???), that is to say, to the sixtieth year from birth:(1094) until that time a man was called ?f?????? (from f?????), and could not go out of the country without permission from the authorities.(1095) Of these, the younger men were sometimes sent abroad; but those of fifty-five and upwards, not till the state was in difficulty.(1096) The ephors stated in the name of the public a.s.sembly the years, until which the obligation to service in an individual case extended.(1097) Upon the whole, the armies of Sparta must have contained many aged triarii: while in Athens the liability to foreign service generally terminated with the twenty-third year of manhood; which was computed from the eighteenth year.(1098) But Sparta reckoned upon a healthy and strong old age; the time for deliberative sagacity does not begin till the age for fighting has ended. The allied army of the Argives, Arcadians, and Athenians was, in 418 B.C., met by an army composed of all the Spartans(1099) (that is, all the ?f??????(1100)); but they dismissed from the boundaries a sixth part of the army, consisting of the younger and the older, in order to protect the capital.(1101)

2. In marching and in battle the Spartans endeavoured to conceal their strength from the enemy; for this reason the levies were hastily made by the ephors, and the army sometimes marched during the night;(1102) the depth of the ranks in the army was also very various, and the enemy could not be certain of its strength. In the battle of Mantinea there were seven lochi, each containing four pentecostyes, the pentecostys four enomoties, and the front row of the enomoty containing four men: the pentecostys had therefore 16 in front, the lochus 64, the whole army 448. According to Thucydides the Spartans generally stood eight men deep; therefore the whole number of the hoplitae was 3584. To these however were added the 300 picked men about the king, about 400 cavalry in both wings,(1103) and also the old men, posted as a body of reserve with the baggage, together with the Lacedaemonians, appointed to cover the right wing of the allies, in number perhaps about 500.(1104) The whole number of men was 4784. A sixth part of the army had been sent back; which gives for the entire army 5740 men. This was at that time the number of heavy-armed soldiers, which, after severe losses in the field, the city of Sparta was able of itself to furnish:(1105) nor indeed is it so considerable as the report of its strength would lead one to suppose; but it increased, in the manner of an avalanche, into a numerous and powerful army,(1106) when there was time to collect troops from the allies.

Although we have given the account of this battle in the first instance, we cannot derive from it any information with regard to the original regulation of the army, since Agis had increased the lochi to four times their usual strength, as we shall presently see, in order to deceive the enemy by false accounts. For, if we compare the statements of the well informed Xenophon,(1107) we obtain the following explanation of the names: two enomoties compose a pentecostys, two pentecostyes a lochus,(1108) four lochi a mora; now if an enomoty, as must have been originally the case, contained twenty-four,(1109) or, with the enomotarch, twenty-five men,(1110) the mora would have contained 400; and, including the superior officers, pentecosters, and lochagi, 412. In the time of Xenophon, however, the enomoty consisted of thirty-six men(1111); and accordingly, the mora of 600, as was the case on an occasion mentioned by the same historian(1112); the other numbers, which vary between 500(1113) and 900,(1114) must also have resulted from the greater or less increase in the strength of the enomoty.

3. Now the enomoty, the most simple body of this military arrangement, was, as the word shows, a file of men closely united, and bound by a common oath,(1115) which stood in the deep phalanx each one behind the other,(1116) the enomotarch being in front (p??t?st?t??) of the whole file. Thus also the Thebans stood in files twenty-five men deep,(1117) which they sometimes strengthened to double that number(1118); in the Lacedaemonian army, however, the file was generally broken, and the enomoty, according to the order given before the battle, stood three and sometimes six men broad(1119); in the former case, if its number was not increased, eight; in the latter, four deep: the Lacedaemonians are also reported to have once beaten the Arcadians with a line only one shield deep.(1120) If, however, the whole enomoty stood in one file, it was called ????? ??????; and in this disposition they attacked high places, when the files were placed at some distance from each other.(1121) The deployments (pa?a???a?), by which the phalanx was made more or less deep, were ordered by the enomotarch. This person was the strongest man or the best soldier of the whole enomoty; hence it was his continual care that on whatever point the attack was made he should always stand at the head of his file: the uragi, however, the last men of the file, were experienced soldiers, especially when the army was expected to be threatened in the rear. If then the lochi moved one behind the other (?p? ?????), the enomotarchs advanced before the long files. If the enemy approached in front, the files, either whole or broken, moved forward, each placing itself on the left side of the preceding file (pa?? ?sp?da(1122)). If the enomoty was broken, the enomotarch then occupied in the square formed by his enomoty the front angle to the right hand, and the first enomotarch of the army was always the last man of the right wing; this movement was called pa?a???? e?? ?t?p??, or ?p? f??a????.(1123) But if the enemy came on in the rear, each file wheeled round, so that the leaders again came in front.(1124) If the enemy appeared on the right, the whole number of lochi, moving one behind the other, turned, like triremes, towards the enemy, and the man who was last upon the march was last in the line of battle to the right (pa?? d???). And, lastly, if they advanced from the left, the same movement took place, only the last lochus then occupied the left wing (pa?? ?sp?da(1125)).

4. Lochi also occur among the Argives and Thebans, and in the Asiatic armies; under the command of Sparta there were lochi of mercenaries and bowmen,(1126) &c.; whereas the mora was a division peculiar to the Spartans. The formation of this body was as follows. The whole number of citizens (t? p???t????) was divided into six moras(1127); so that every person of military age (?f??????), even while he lived at Sparta, belonged to one of them. The strength of the mora in the field depended on the maximum fixed by the ephors for the age of those employed; thus, for example, they were able to send out a mora composed of persons less than thirty-five years from manhood (?f? ???) and keep back those of greater age,(1128) &c. So that in this sense the numbers of the division depended upon circ.u.mstances. To each mora of heavy-armed infantry there belonged, without being in close connexion with it, a body of cavalry bearing the same name,(1129) consisting at the most of 100 men, and commanded by the hipparmost.(1130) In the mora of the infantry, however, the men of different ages must have been in some manner separated, so that, for example, those between thirty and thirty-five years of age could be easily detached for pursuit.(1131) In this division no respect was had to kindred; soldiers of one mora had brothers, sons, fathers, in another,(1132) although in early times it appears to have been an object of the greatest care to bring relations and friends together. According to Herodotus(1133) Lycurgus inst.i.tuted the enomoties, triacades, and syssitia for war; evidently as military divisions; and the Lacedaemonians ate and fought in the same company; from which we may explain why the polemarchs had also a superintendence over the public tables.(1134) By these the larger divisions, and not the single banqueting companies, are intended; when Sparta, in the reign of king Agis, again contained 4500 families, there were fifteen of these divisions(1135); and in earlier times, when the number of families was 9000, there were probably thirty; it is therefore doubtless another name for oba, which rarely occurs; and the army was arranged according to tribes, phratrias, and houses. In early times also the single hamlets of Sparta furnished lochi of their own; as were the Pitanatae(1136) in the Persian war, and the Mesoatae.(1137)

5. Of the two principles upon which the regulation of the Lacedaemonian army was founded, one (as has been already pointed out) belonged more peculiarly to early times, and at a late period nearly disappeared: I mean the complete union and amalgamation of the army in all its parts. This is expressed by the name _enomoty_; and we are led to the same result by many other remarkable vestiges, such as the proximity of the lovers to the loved (which in certain situations must have produced a strong effect upon the feelings), and the sacrifices to Love, which, according both to the Spartan and Cretan usage, the most beautiful men performed before the battle. The second principle was of longer duration; the duty of implicit obedience to every person in authority (pe??a???a). Now in the artificial organization of the army almost all Spartans were in a certain respect commanders(1138); for not only the front men of the files, even when the enomoties were broken (p??t?st?ta?), but the first men of every line (?e???ta?) were officers(1139); nay, every two persons throughout the whole enomoty were connected with each other as fore-man and rear-man (p??t?st?t?? and ?p?st?t??.(1140)) The commands (pa?a????se??) pa.s.sed rapidly through the polemarchs, lochagi, &c, to the enomotarchs, who gave them out, like heralds, in a loud voice(1141); but that the command alone of the immediate superior held good, is proved by the circ.u.mstance that the disobedience of a polemarch or lochagus entailed the disobedience of the whole lochus.(1142) The polemarchs, lochagi, pentecosters, and also the xenagi (leaders of mercenaries(1143)), took part in the council of war, which was preceded by solemn sacrifices(1144); the first mentioned officers commanded independently single moras and whole armies,(1145) or composed the immediate council of the kings; they were supported or represented, as it appears, by the s?f??e??.(1146) The king, in an instance mentioned by Herodotus, himself appointed an inferior general,(1147) which seems to be a consequence of his extensive power in military affairs. The escort of the king was called by the name of _damosia_,(1148) and consisted of his tent comrades, to which the polemarchs,(1149) the Pythians,(1150) and three Equals also belonged(1151); of the diviners, surgeons, flute-players, and volunteers in the army,(1152) to which must be added the two ephors, who attended the kings on expeditions(1153); the laphyropolae, who together with the ephors, took possession of the booty; the h.e.l.lanodicae, who decided disputes in the army (in this case, as well as at Olympia, the Peloponnesians were called h.e.l.lenes by pre-eminence(1154)); the symbuli, sent out, after the time of Agis, as a.s.sistants to the king(1155); the pyrphorus, a priest of Ares, who took fire from the sacrifice, which the king performed at home to Zeus Agetor,(1156) and on the boundary to Zeus and Athene, and preserved it during the whole campaign (in battle the unarmed were protected by a religious awe(1157)); and, lastly, those who had conquered in crowned contests were in the king's train(1158); a train indeed of sufficient importance, and fit in so simple a state of society to surround the descendant of Hercules with an appearance of dignity. The Thirty about the king's person are not identical with the damosia; for these were always Spartans, which we cannot say of flute-players, &c.; they were a.s.signed to the king, even when the rest of the army (as was frequently the case in expeditions in Asia) consisted exclusively of neodamodes,(1159) and were probably at the same time the body-guard and council of the king. They may therefore be considered as the 300 contracted into a small body, which accompanied the king only on expeditions to a small distance from home.

These 300 were the picked regiment of Sparta, the flower of the youth, as the gerontes were of the old men, and also chosen on aristocratic principles. For the ephors appointed three hippagretae, each of whom chose one hundred young men, with a statement of the grounds of his selection; from the number of those discharged from this body the five agath.o.e.rgi were taken, who for the s.p.a.ce of a year served the state in missions.(1160)

6. A similar body in the Cretan states really consisted of hors.e.m.e.n; the Spartans were called hors.e.m.e.n, and were in fact heavy-armed infantry(1161); the cause of which was, the low estimation of the cavalry-service among the Lacedaemonians. The country was fitted rather for the production of men than of horses; and although the citizens furnished both the horse and accoutrements, they were ridden only by weak and inferior persons.(1162) Thus the hors.e.m.e.n of Sparta, the number of whom in the Peloponnesian war was at first 400, and afterwards rose to 600,(1163) effected nothing against the better mounted and practised cavalry of Botia, which as the light-armed riders sometimes mounted behind, sometimes vaulted off rapidly, was doubly formidable to the enemy.(1164) Among the other Doric states, Tarentum in particular had a numerous(1165) and very excellent light cavalry.(1166) The preference for a force of this description is a proof, according to the principles of antiquity, of an unstable and effeminate character, exactly the reverse of that exhibited by the heavy-armed soldiery of the Lacedaemonians.

In the Lacedaemonian army the Sciritae formed a separate body,(1167) of whom there were 600 in the Peloponnesian war.(1168) In marches they went in front, in the camp they occupied the extreme place,(1169) and in the battle they formed the left wing.(1170) Although we have no express statement of their mode of arms, we can hardly suppose that they were heavy-armed troops, since they were particularly employed when a rapid change of position, or a vigorous attack, such as storming of heights, &c., was required(1171); they were often at the post of greatest danger.(1172) Originally, doubtless, they were, as they were called, inhabitants of the district Sciritis, on the confines of Laconia, towards Parrhasia(1173); their rights and duties appear to have been defined by agreement; their mode of fighting was also perhaps Arcadian. The other Perici appear only to have taken part in large expeditions, and such as were prepared for a considerable time beforehand; and they probably served for the most part as hoplitae(1174); the ratio of their number, as well as that of the neodamodes and others, to the citizens of Sparta, was not governed by any fixed rule.(1175)

It is not by any means clear in what manner the Peloponnesian armies were accompanied by such numerous bodies of light-armed soldiers, more particularly of Helots.(1176) It must at the same time be borne in mind that the Persian war was the only time, that is, on a general summons of the nation, when so many as seven attended upon every Spartan(1177); on this occasion, when the numbers of the enemy were so excessive, they might have served to protect the rear of the long line of battle, and to resist the pressure; in addition to which they also annoyed the enemy from behind with slings, javelins, and stones. A large part of them, in the capacity of attendants (?e??p??te?, ????t??e?, ?pasp?sta?), were also destined exclusively for the service of the hoplitae, and to rescue them in danger(1178); another portion was probably detached to convoy and cover the baggage (st?at?? s?e??f??????). The Peloponnesians in early times never attempted to form separate divisions of light-armed soldiers, such as the peltasts were, who, in addition to the javelin, bore the small shield of the Thracians and Illyrians.(1179) The perfection of this species of troops, especially after the improvement of Chabrias and Iphicrates, was the cause of severe injury to the heavy-armed tactics of the Spartans; and the Peloponnesians dreaded them for a long time, according to the Laconian expression, as children fear a bugbear.(1180)

7. The attention of Sparta was almost exclusively directed to the heavy infantry; and it can scarcely be denied that this was carried by them to the highest pitch of perfection. The arms(1181) consisted of a long spear,(1182) a short sword only used in the closest single combat,(1183) a brazen shield,(1184) which covered the body from the shoulders to the knees,(1185) and was in other respects also more similar to the shield of the heroic age than that of the other Greeks. For while the Greeks in general had adopted the Carian handle (?????) in order to direct the motion of the shield, of which the size had been considerably reduced, the Spartan buckler was probably suspended upon a thong (te?a??) laid round the neck, and was only managed by a ring (p??pa?) fastened to the concave side, which in time of peace could be taken out.(1186) Cleomenes the Third first introduced the handles of shields in Lacedaemon, and in general a less heavy armour.(1187)

8. The principles of the Lacedaemonian tactics may be deduced from what has been already said on the subject of the enomoty, and of its movements; the deployment of the enomoty (the ??e?????) was the chief means of opposing the best soldiers to the enemy,(1188) and it was from this movement in particular that victory was expected. A particular kind of this manuvre was called the Laconian; it began from the enomotarchs, who faced about to the right, and pa.s.sed in an oblique direction between their own and the next file; the whole file, following its leader, placed itself in front of the uragus, who merely faced to the right about. So that the whole phalanx, by this means, turning their faces towards the enemy who appeared in the rear, advanced at the same time in that direction by the depth of the order of battle. The Macedonian mode was different from this; for in that the movement began from the uragus, and therefore the phalanx lost, instead of gained, the same s.p.a.ce of ground as it covered; and the Cretan (called also _Ch.o.r.eus_) differed from both, as the enomotarch and uragus both moved, until they changed places, and consequently, according to this method, the phalanx remained on the same ground.(1189) In a charge it was the duty of the general to take care that the army constantly inclined somewhat further to the right than the exact line of its intended direction, since each man naturally endeavoured to bring his unprotected side under the shield of his neighbour, and the last man on the right wing to turn away that side from the danger, and therefore to outflank the left of the enemy:(1190) this was also the cause of the weakness of the right wing, which they endeavoured to remedy by putting in it the best troops, and by protecting it with cavalry. Before Epaminondas discovered the art of concentrating the battle in the spot in which he was strongest, and of keeping the rest of the enemy's troops unengaged, the general had to attend to two points. In the first place, that the chief charge of his own men should be made upon that part where it appeared most easy and advantageous to break the line; and that at the same time his own line should withstand the charge of the enemy: and, secondly, he might endeavour to obtain the victory by extending his front so as to outflank the enemy; a manuvre which the Spartans seldom indeed attempted, being content to hinder the enemy from effecting it. The chief point was to keep the whole body of men in compact order, both in rapid advance and in pretended flight:(1191) no bravery could excuse a man for quitting his post.

9. The chief characteristic of the warriors of Sparta was great composure and a subdued strength; the violence (??ssa) of Aristodemus(1192) and Isadas(1193) being considered as deserving rather of blame than praise; and these qualities in general distinguished the Greeks from the northern Barbarians, whose boldness always consisted in noise and tumult.(1194) The conduct of the Spartans in battle denotes a high and n.o.ble disposition, which rejected all the extremes of brutal rage; the pursuit of the enemy ceased when the victory was completed;(1195) and, after the signal for retreat had been given, all hostilities ceased.(1196) The spoiling of arms, at least during the battle, was also interdicted;(1197) and the consecration of the spoils of slain enemies to the G.o.ds,(1198) as in general all rejoicings for victory were considered as ill-omened;(1199) ancient principles of Greek humanity which we cannot but admire. War was as much as possible confined to a measure of strength; and battle, as Mardonius in Herodotus describes that of the Greeks in general,(1200) was a kind of duel upon the principles of honour. In Peloponnesus, as well as in Euba,(1201) the use of the different species of arms had perhaps been regulated by the appointment of general councils; Sparta also retained with a religious veneration the ancient inst.i.tutions of sacred truces; as, for instance, the Olympic armistice: it wished not only to celebrate its native festivals in quiet,(1202) but even respected foreign solemnities; thus, at so late a period as 391 B.C., that state allowed itself to be delayed and deceived by an appeal of the Argives to "the sacred months."(1203) If then the state, so long as it remained true to these principles, did not slaughter its enemies without aim or object, so much the more sparing was it of its own soldiers, every moderate loss being severely felt; but even in the engagements of the hoplitae few of the victorious party were lost. Every one knows of the tearless battle between the Spartans and Arcadians, in which the state had no dead to mourn.(1204) Nothing therefore can be less laid to the charge of Sparta than a violent pa.s.sion for war, a foolhardy and reckless desire of conquest. The latter was also guarded against by the maxim of Lycurgus,(1205) "not to go often against the same enemy," the non-observance of which was a charge brought against Agesilaus. With what unwillingness the Lacedaemonians engaged in great wars is generally known. And yet in every action in the open field, up to the battle of Leuctra, Sparta had nearly a certainty of success,(1206) since the consciousness of skill in the use of arms was added to the national feeling of the Doric race, that victory over the Ionians was not a matter of doubt.(1207) With what timidity did the Athenians attack the hard-pressed and exhausted Spartans in Sphacteria!

Their feeling towards the captives was nearly the same as that of the Achaeans in Homer to the corpse of Hector.

These opinions necessarily experienced innumerable modifications when Sparta engaged in foreign warfare, and moved out of her own orbit into an unknown region; this was particularly the case in maritime war, which, although followed in early times by Corinth, aegina, and Corcyra, never agreed with the nature of the Doric tribe. For this reason Sparta, although after many unsuccessful attempts she gave birth to men who had considerable talents for this service, as Callicratidas and Lysander, and for a time her fleet was very numerous, and the commander of it a second king,(1208) never showed any particular inclination for it. A disinclination equally strong, and formed upon the same grounds, was shown by the Spartans to the storming of walled places (p????a?e??(1209)) for which reason they never in early times constructed any defences of this kind; and despised the use of machines, by which Archidamus, the son of Agesilaus, thought that "man's strength was annihilated."

10. We conclude with the a.s.sertion with which we prefaced this chapter, though in a different point of view, that no nation ever considered war as an art in the same sense and to the same degree as the Doric Spartans.

Indeed every nation, of a military disposition, and addicted to warlike pursuits, considers war not merely as a means of repelling the attacks of enemies, or of gaining plunder or territory by being itself the invader.

The mere act of fighting, the common and disciplined movement of thousands directed to the same end, the "pomp, pride, and circ.u.mstance of glorious war," arouse the feelings, and inspire the mind with the n.o.blest and most elevated thoughts; and there is a certain affinity between the art of war and the more regular and peaceful arts; thus a military body resembled, in its movements and array, a large choral dance. These feelings and views were among all nations most natural to the Greeks, and, of the Greek races, familiar to the Dorians in particular.

The agreement which some moderns(1210) have found between the Greek chorus and the lochus is not a mere creation of the fancy; the large chorus was a pentecostys in number, which was divided into enomoties (hemichoria); it advanced in certain divisions, like an army, and had corresponding evolutions.(1211) Both the dance and the battle were the object of the Pyrrhic, which was particularly practised in Sparta and Crete.(1212) In early times it was a preparation for battle, an use of it which was neglected in a later age; in the soldier heavy-armed for the battle was also seen the practised dancer of the Pyrrhic. The same connexion is alluded to by Homer, where aeneas hopes to overthrow Meriones of Crete, however good a dancer he may be:(1213) thus also the Thessalians called the soldiers of the front ranks "princ.i.p.al dancers;" and said of a good fighter, that "he had danced well."(1214) For the same reason Homer calls hoplitae by the name p????e?(1215) the war-dance having been called p?????

by the Cretans.(1216) Now this latter expression is used by Homer in the pa.s.sages in which both Greeks and Trojans give up the usual method of fighting, and the heroes descend from their chariots and form themselves into a body on foot; and therefore of that very mode of battle which became prevalent in Greece through the influence of the Dorians. For the same reason the Spartans sacrificed to the Muses before an action,(1217) these G.o.ddesses being expected to produce regularity and order in battle; as they sacrificed on the same occasion in Crete to the G.o.d of love, as the confirmer of mutual esteem and shame.(1218)

The whole existence of the Spartans in the camp appears to have been easy and tranquil; and therefore resembled the mode of living in Sparta, as that city was to a certain degree always a camp.(1219) The bodily exercises were regularly continued, and repeated twice in each day;(1220) but with less severity than at home;(1221) and the discipline in general was less strict. The Persian spy found the Spartans in the evening before the battle of Thermopylae employed, some in gymnastic exercises, and some in arranging their hair,(1222) which they always wore long after their entrance into manhood. Every man put on a crown(1223) when the band of flute-players gave the signal for attack; all the shields of the line glittered with their high polish,(1224) and mingled their splendour with the dark red of the purple mantles,(1225) which were meant both to adorn the combatant, and to conceal the blood of the wounded; to fall well and decorously being an incentive the more to the most heroic valour.

BOOK IV. DOMESTIC INSt.i.tUTIONS, ARTS, AND LITERATURE OF THE DORIANS.

Chapter I.

-- 1. Subjects of the present book. -- 2. Simplicity of the dwellings of the Dorians. -- 3. Achaean style of buildings. -- 4.

Character of the Doric architecture.