year; their bodies were hard and dry, with but little acquaintance with baths and unguents; these human indulgences they were allowed only on some particular days in the year. They lodged together in little bands upon beds made of the rushes, which grew by the banks of the river Eurotas, which they were to break off with their hands without a knife; if it were winter, they mingled some thistle-down with their rushes, which it was thought had the property of giving warmth." They were encouraged to supplement their daily allowance of food by theft. If detected, they were severely whipped for their want of skill. In order to strengthen and harden the body, they were continually trained in gymnastic exercises, the chief of which were jumping, running, wrestling, spear-throwing, and quoits. In the system of Lycurgus but small provision was made for literary culture. Reading and writing were taught only to a very limited extent. The absence of formal intellectual training, however, was partly compensated by the constant association of the young with the old, from whom they imbibed lessons of practical wisdom. At the public tables they were instructed in state affairs by the conversation of leading men; they learned to converse in an intelligent and agreeable manner; and by a natural spirit of imitation they early acquired a dignified bearing and practical wisdom beyond their years. Their judgment was cultivated by frequent questions requiring well-considered answers. A sententious mode of speech was carefully inculcated. Lycurgus himself, if we may judge by certain anecdotes related of him, affected a curt and energetic style. To a Spartan who urged the establishment of a democracy in Lacedæmon,

he said, "Begin, friend, and set it up in your family." To another who asked why he permitted such trivial sacrifices to the gods, he replied, "That we may always have something to offer them."

The moral education of Sparta presented many admirable points. The Spartan youth were taught to maintain an absolute control over their appetites, and to observe temperance in all their habits. Drunkenness was looked upon as a shame. A modest and retiring manner was inculcated until the moment for action came; then the Spartan youth were quick, aggressive, and strong, ready to purchase victory with their lives. They were inured to heat and cold, hunger and fatigue; they were accustomed to wear the same clothing winter and summer, and to bear great physical suffering with impassive countenance. Obedience to parents and reverence for established usages were carefully cultivated. The respect entertained for age was so great that it was said to be a pleasure to grow old in Sparta. This respect was shown by saluting the aged, rising up in their presence, making place for them in company, and, above all, by receiving with submissive spirit their advice and reproofs. An old man once entered a theater at Athens too late to get a seat. As he stood hesitating a moment, he was beckoned by a group of young Athenians. When he had made his way to them, they retained their seats, and thus exposed the old man to ridicule. As he withdrew in confusion, he came to the benches occupied by the Lacedæmonian embassadors, who rose in a body to receive the old man among them. The Athenians, suddenly struck by this display of characteristic Spartan virtue, burst forth in applause; whereupon the old man

exclaimed, "The Athenians know what is right, but the Spartans practice it."

The musical education of the Spartans has been well described by Plutarch. "Nor was their instruction in music and verse," he says, "less carefully attended to than their habits of grace and good breeding in conversation. And their very songs had a life and spirit in them that inflamed and possessed men's minds with an enthusiasm and ardor for action; the style of them was plain and without affectation; the subject always serious and moral; most usually it was in praise of such men as had died in defense of their country, or in derision of those that had been cowards the former they declared happy and glorified, the life of the latter they described as most miserable and abject."

The girls were not neglected. In the interests of a hardy race, they were encouraged to engage in gymnastic exercises, in which the claims of modesty were often forgotten. This physical training was not without perceptible results, and the Spartan women became the admiration of all Greece for their development, strength, and beauty. They cherished a passionate love of country. Nothing appeared to them so shameful as cowardice, and the Spartan mother could hear unmoved of sons and husbands slain in battle, if they died facing the enemy.

Though crude in form, and destructive of the best instincts of our nature, the system of Sparta admirably subserved its purpose. It made the Spartans a powerful band of warriors, secured them continual supremacy in Laconia, and raised them for a time to the leadership of Greece. It produced Leonidas. "The Spartan educa

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tion," to quote Thirlwall's excellent summary, simple in its objects; it was not the result of any general view of human nature, or of any attempt to unfold its various capacities; it aimed at training men who were to live in the midst of difficulty and danger, and could be safe themselves only while they held rule over others. The citizen was to be always ready for the defense of himself and his country, at home and abroad; and he was, therefore, to be equally fitted to command and to obey. His body, his mind, and his character were formed for this purpose, and for no other; and, hence, the Spartan system, making directly for its main end, and rejecting all that was foreign to it, attained, within its own sphere, to a perfection which it is impossible not to admire."

We may call the system of Sparta martial education.

(B.) PYTHAGORAS.

At this point it is proper to notice the labors of a great educator who in spirit, though not by birth, was allied to the Dorians. It is Pythagoras. He is an interesting character, whether we regard the keen penetration of his intellect, his moral excellence, his system of education, or the influence exerted by him upon his contemporaries. As he left no written records, not a few mythical stories have been connected with his origin, and many of his teachings are involved in obscurity. He was born about 580 B. C., on the island of Samos. After spending many years in private study, he sought to increase his store of knowledge by travel. In Egypt he came into possession of the wisdom of the priests, by which his subsequent teachings were perceptibly influ

enced. "The spectacle of Egyptian habits," says Grote, "the conversation of the priests, and the initiation into various mysteries or secret rites and stories not accessible to the general public, may very naturally have impressed the mind of Pythagoras, and given him that turn for mystic observance, asceticism, and peculiarity of diet and clothing, which manifested itself from the same cause among several of his contemporaries, but which was not a common phenomenon in the primitive Greek religion." Subsequently he founded a school at Crotona, in Southern Italy, that attained to wide influence and celebrity. He was careful to receive only students of character and ability. They lived together as one family or brotherhood, the expense being defrayed from a common fund. The course of study, which was comprehensive, was divided into two parts distinguished as exoteric and the esoteric. It was only after the satisfactory completion of the former preliminary course, which occupied three years, that the student was admitted to the profounder studies of the esoteric course, and to a closer fellowship with the great master himself.

Pythagoras was not very far from grasping the true idea of education. The key-note of his system was harmony. He wished to introduce into human life the harmony which he discovered in the universe at large, and which produced the music of the spheres. He aimed at harmony of body and soul; harmony between parents and children; harmony in social life; harmony between man and God. He recognized the innate evil tendencies of our nature which generate discord; and in education he sought a remedy. "At birth," says