Conquest 97
allowed them to conduct their affairs in so orderly, restrained, and sane a
fashion for so many years; and that made of them men of the sort who would
in obedience to the authorities in Lacedaemon lay down their lives as they did
at Thermopylae, we would be well advised to consider how they came to grips
with the two events we have just discussed: the military revolution of the early
seventh century, and the great helot revolt that took place in its wake.