LYCURGUS AND THE SPARTAN
LAWS.

Or the many nations between which the small
peninsula of Greece was divided, much the most in-
teresting were those whose chief cities were Athens
and Sparta. These are the states with whose doings
history is full, and without which the history of
ancient Greece would be little more interesting to
us than the history of ancient China and Japan.
No two cities could have been more opposite in
character and institutions than these, and they were
rivals of each other forthe dominant power through
centuries of Grecian history. In Athens freedom
of thought and freedom of action prevailed. Such
complete political equality of the citizens has scarcely
been known elsewhere upon the earth, and the intel-
lectual activity of these citizens stands unequalled.
In Sparta freedom of thought and action were both
suppressed to a degree rarely known, the most rigid
institutions existed, and the only activity was a war-
like one. All thought and all education had war for
their object, and the state and city became a com-
pact military machine. This condition was the re-
sult of a remarkable code of laws by which Sparta
was governed, the most peculiar and surprising code
which any nation has ever possessed. It is this

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