Sicily, and, in 1456, the place fell into the hands of Omar. To complete its degradation, the city of Minerva obtained the privilege (an enviable one in the East) of being governed by a black eunuch, as an appendage to the harem. The Parthenon became a mosque, and, at the west end of the Acropolis, those alterations were commenced, which the new discovery of artillery then made necessary. In 1687, at the siege of Athens by the Venetians under Morosini, it appears that the temple of Victory was destroyed, the beautiful remains of which are to be seen in the British museum. September 28, of this year, a Lomb fired the powder magazine kept by the Turks in the Parthenon, and, with this building, destroyed the ever memorable remains of the genius of Phidias. Probably, the Venetians knew not what they destroyed; they could not have intended that their artillery should accomplish such devastation. The city was surrendered to them September 29. They wished to send the chariot of Victory, which stood on the west pediment of the Parthenon, to Venice, as a trophy of their conquest, but, in removing, it fell and was dashed to pieces. April, 1688, Athens was again surrendered to the Turks, in spite of the remonstrances of the inhabitants, who, with good reason, feared the revenge of their returning masters. Learned travelers have, since that time, often visited Athens; and we may thank their relations and drawings for the knowledge which we have of many of the monuments of the place.*

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CHAPTER III.

SLAVES OF SPARTA, CRETE, THESSALY, &c.-THE HELOTS.

The Helots-leading events of their History summed up.-Their Masters described.The Spartans, their manners, customs and constitutions.-Distinguishing traits: severity, resolution and perseverance, treachery and craftiness.-Marriage.-Treatment of Infants.-Physical Education of Youth.-Their endurance of hardships.-The Helots their origin; supposed to belong to the State; power of life and death over them; how subsisted; property acquired by them; their military service.-Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Plutarch and other writers convict the Spartans of barbarity towards them; the testimony of Myron on this point; instances of tyranny and cruelty.Institution of the Crypteia; annual massacre of the Helots. - Terrible instance of treachery.-Bloody servile wars.-Sparta engaged in contests with her own vassals.-Relies upon foreign aid.-Earthquake, and vengeance of the Helots.-Constant source of terror to their masters.-Other classes of slaves.-Their privileges and advancement.-Slavery in Crete: classes and condition.-Mild treatment.-Strange privileges during certain Festivals.-Slaves of Syracuse rebel and triumph.-The Arcadians.

THERE

HERE seems to be a diversity of opinion among modern writers, as to the condition of the Spartan Helots. The American Encyclopedia, in giving

* Encyclopedia Americana.

briefly the prominent events of their history, states, that the name is generally derived from the town of Helos, the inhabitants of which were carried off and reduced to slavery by the Heraclidæ, about 1000 B. C. They differed from the other Greek slaves in not belonging individually to separate masters; they were the property of the state, which alone had the disposal of their freedom. They formed a separate class of inhabitants, and their condition was, in many respects, similar to that of the boors in some countries of Europe. The state assigned them to certain citizens, by whom they were employed in private labors, though not exclusively, as the state still exacted certain services from them. Agriculture and all mechanical arts at Sparta were in the hands of the Helots, since the laws of Lycurgus prohibited the Spartans from all lucrative occupations. But the Helots were also obliged to bear arms for the state, in case of necessity. The barbarous treatment to which they were exposed often excited them to insurrection. Their dress, by which they were contemptuously distinguished from the free Spartans, consisted of cat's-skin, and a leather cap, of a peculiar shape. They were sometimes liberated for their services, or for a sum of money. If their numbers increased too much, the young Spartans, it is said, were sent out to assassinate them. Their number is uncertain, but Thucydides says that it was greater than that of the slaves in any other Grecian state. It has been variously estimated, at from 320,000 to 800,000. They several times rose against their masters, but were always finally reduced.

Before we proceed with the history of the Spartan Helots, it will be well enough to digress, in order to understand the character of their masters, who were, in many respects, a peculiar people.

Sparta, or Lacedæmon, the capital of Laconia and of the Spartan state, lay on the west bank of the river Eurotas, and embraced a circuit of six miles. The ruins are still seen nearly a league to the east of Misistra, and are known by the name of Palæopolis, or "ancient city." The Spartans were distinguished among the people of Greece by their manners, customs and constitution. Their kings ruled only through the popular will, as they had no other privileges than those of giving their opinion first in the popular assemblies, acting as umpires in disputes, and of commanding the army: their only other advantages were a considerable landed estate, a large share of the spoils, and the chief seat in assemblies and at meals. The Spartans, that is, the descend. ants of the Dorians, who acquired possession of Laconia under the Heraclidæ, were occupied only with war and the chase, and left the agricultural labors to the Helots; but the Lacedæmonians, or Periœci (the ancient inhabitants of the country), engaged in commerce, navigation and manufactures. Although the Spartan conquerors were superior in refinement and cultivation to the Lacedæmonians, the arts of industry flourished only among the latter. They gradually intermingled with the Spartans, whom they exceeded in number, and formed one people. Both people constituted one state, with a national assembly, to which the towns sent deputies. The military contributions in money and troops formed the principal tribute of the free Lacedæmonians to the

Spartans (Dorians). The former were sometimes divided by jealousy from the latter, and in the Theban war several towns withdrew their troops from the Spartans, and joined Epaminondas. The distinguishing traits of the Spartans were severity, resolution and perseverance. Defeat and reverse never discouraged them. But they were faithless and crafty, as appears from their conduct in the Messenian wars, in which they not only bribed the Arcadian king, Aristocrates, to the basest treachery towards the Messenians, but also corrupted the Delphic oracle, of which they made use to the prejudice of the Messenians. The age at which marriage might be contracted was fixed by Lycurgus at thirty for men and twenty for women. When a Spartan woman was pregnant, it was required that pictures of the handsomest young men should be hung up in her chamber, for the purpose of producing a favorable effect on the fruit of her womb. The other Greeks washed the new-born infants with water, and afterwards rubbed them over with oil; but the Spartans bathed them in wine, to try the strength of their constitution. They had a notion that a wine bath produced convulsions or even death in weakly children, but confirmed the health of the strong. If the infant proved vigorous and sound, the state received it into the number of citizens; otherwise it was thrown into a cave on mount Taygetus. In the other Grecian states, the exposition of children was a matter of custom; in Sparta it was forbidden by law. The Spartan children were early inured to hardship and accustomed to freedom. Stays, which were in use among the other Grecians, were unknown to the Spartans. To accustom the children to endure hunger, they gave them but little food; and, if they stood in need of more, they were obliged to steal it; and, if discovered, they were severely punished, not for the theft, but for their awkwardness. Every ten days, they were required to present themselves before the ephori, and whoever was found to be too fat, received a flogging. Wine was not generally given to girls in Greece, but was commonly allowed to boys from earliest childhood. In Sparta, the boys were obliged to wear the hair short, until they attained the age of manhood, when it was suffered to grow. They usually ran naked, and were generally dirty, as they did not bathe and anoint themselves, like the other Greeks. They took pride in having the body covered with marks of bruises and wounds. They wore no outer garment, except in bad weather, and no shoes at any time. They were obliged to make their beds of rushes from the Eurotas. Till the seventh year, the child was kept in the gynæceum, under the care of the women; from that age to the eighteenth year, they were called boys, and thence to the age of thirty, youths. In the thirtieth year the Spartan entered the period of manhood, and enjoyed the full rights of a citizen. At the age of seven, the boy was withdrawn from the paternal care, and educated under the public eye, in coinpany with others of the same age, without distinction of rank or fortune. If any person withheld his son from the care of the state, he forfeited his civil rights. The principal object of attention, during the periods of boyhood and youth, was the physical education, which consisted in the practice of various

gymnastic exercises-running, leaping, throwing the discus, wrestling, boxing, and the chase. These exercises were performed naked, in certain buildings called gymnasia. Besides gymnastics, dancing and the military exercises were practiced. A singular custom was the flogging the boys on the annual festival of Diana Orthia, for the purpose of inuring them to bear pain with firmness: the priestess stood by with a small, light, wooden image of Diana, and if she observed that any boy was spared, she called out that the image of the goddess was so heavy, that she could not support it, and the blows were then redoubled. The men who were present exhorted their sons to fortitude, while the boys endeavored to surpass each other in firmness. Whoever uttered the least cry during the scourging, which was so severe as sometimes to prove fatal, was considered as disgraced, while he who bore it without shrinking was crowned, and received the praises of the whole city. According to some, this usage was established by Lycurgus; others refer it to the period of the battle of Platææ. To teach the youth cunning, vigilance and activity, they were encouraged, as has been already mentioned, to practice theft in certain cases; but if detected, they were flogged, or obliged to go without food, or compelled to dance round an altar, singing songs in ridicule of themselves. The fear of the shame of being discovered sometimes led to the most extraordinary acts. Thus it is related that a boy who had stolen a young fox, and concealed it under his clothes, suffered it to gnaw out his bowels, rather than reveal the theft, by suffering the fox to escape. Swimming was considered indispensable among them; they had a proverb to intimate that a man was good for nothing,-He cannot swim. Modesty of deportment was particularly attended to; and conciseness of language was much studied. The Spartans were the only people of Greece who despised learning, and excluded it from the education of youth. Their whole instrutions consisted in learning obedience to their superiors, the endurance of hardships, and to conquer or die in war. The youth were, however, carefully instructed in a knowledge of the laws, which, not being reduced to writing, were taught orally. The education of females was entirely different from that of the Athenians. Instead of remaining at home, as in Athens, spinning, &c., they danced in public, wrestled with each other, ran on the course, threw the discus, &c. This was not only done in public, but in a half-naked state. The object of this training of the women, was to give a vigorous constitution to the children.*

From a valuable work on the manners and customs of ancient Greece, by a distinguished English author, to whom we have been indebted in our description of the Athenian slavery, we gather some interesting particulars relative to the Spartan Helots,† who, he says, were Greeks of the Achaian race, who fell together with the land into the power of the conquerors. He quotes the remark of Ephoros, that "they were, in a certain point of view,

*See Muller's History and Antiquities of the Doric race.

† See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London.

public slaves; their possessor could neither liberate them, nor sell them beyond the borders." His inference is, that they were the property of individuals, but that the state reserved to itself the right of enfranchising them and preventing their emancipation, lest persons should be found, who would sell or give them their liberty when too old to labor. It is true there was an ancient law prohibiting the exportation of the Helots; but we find that there was a regular trade carried on in females, who were exported into all the neighboring countries for nurses. Thus it seems that the state exercised the power to convert its serfs into merchandize. It is stated that over the Helots, "not the state only, but even private individuals, possessed the power of life and death, as well as the right of beating and maiming them."

As the Spartans possessed estates, which personally they never cultivated, the Helots were stationed throughout the country upon those estates, which it was their business to till for the owners. To live, it was of course necessary that they should eat, and therefore a portion of the produce was set aside for them, one-half, according to Tyrtæos,-a division not over generous, since their numbers were five times greater than those of the Spartans. The learned historian Herodotus remarks upon this, "as the quantity had been definitively settled at a very early period, to raise the amount being forbidden under very heavy imprecations, 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."

There appear to have been instances of Helots becoming comparatively wealthy in spite of the oppressions they endured; as did the Jews of the middle ages, notwithstanding the terrible robberies, persecutions and cruelties they were subject to. This fact proves that no pressure of hardship or ill-usage can entirely destroy the elasticity of the spirit: and no doubt the Helots, like all slaves, sought to soften their miseries by a gratification which the sense of property procures even in bondage. But of what value is property to a man who is himself the property of another? It appears, however, according to Herodotus, that "by means of the rich produce of the land, and in part by plunder obtained in war, they collected a considerable property."

But very little intercourse took place between the Spartans and Helots, at least in earlier times. Afterwards, when the masters quitted the capital, took to husbandry, and went to reside on their estates, the link must necessarily have been more closely drawn. Intercommunion begot more humane feelings in the master, and more attachment in the slave; for the Spartans felt the influence of intimacy, as is proved by their enfranchising the slave companions of their childhood. A certain number of Helots were retained in the city as personal attendants, and these waited at the public tables, and were lent by one person to another.

In the military service of the state, the Helots fought and bled by the side of their masters. The state was, no doubt, reluctant to admit them among the