portion of wine and fruit annually. * Anything beyond this amount was the property of the
helot. The helots were Greeks, like the Spartans, and bitterly resented their servile condition.
When they could, they rebelled. The Spartans had a body of secret police to deal with this
danger, but to supplement this precaution they had another: once a year, they declared war on
the helots, so that their young men could kill any who seemed insubordinate without incurring
the legal guilt of homicide. Helots could be emancipated by the state, but not by their masters;
they were emancipated, rather rarely, for exceptional bravery in battle.
At some time during the eighth century B.C. the Spartans conquered the neighbouring country
of Messenia, and reduced most of its inhabitants to the condition of helots. There had been a
lack of Lebensraum in Sparta, but the new territory, for a time, removed this source of
discontent.
Lots were for the common run of Spartans; the aristocracy had estates of their own, whereas the
lots were portions of common land assigned by the state.
The free inhabitants of other parts of Laconia, called "perioeci," had no share of political power.
The sole business of a Spartan citizen was war, to which he was trained from birth. Sickly
children were exposed after inspection by the heads of the tribe; only those judged vigorous
were allowed to be reared. Up to the age of twenty, all the boys were trained in one big school;
the purpose of the training was to make them hardy, indifferent to pain, and submissive to
discipline. There was no nonsense about cultural or scientific education; the sole aim was to
produce good soldiers, wholly devoted to the state.
At the age of twenty, actual military service began. Marriage was permitted to any one over the
age of twenty, but until the age of thirty a man had to live in the "men's house," and had to
manage his marriage as if it were an illicit and secret affair. After thirty, he was a full-fledged
citizen. Every citizen belonged to a mess, and dined with the other members; he had to make a
contribution in kind from the produce of his lot. It was the theory of the state that no Spartan
citizen should be destitute, and none should be rich. Each was ex-
* Bury, History of Greece, I, p. 138. It seems that Spartan men ate nearly six times as much
as their wives.