Crete, Africa, and Egypt; to all of which countries,
according to Thucydides, the Lacedaemonians carried on a lucrative and
regular traffic. Another of their sea-ports was Epidaurus, situated on the
Gulf of Argos, in the eastern part of Laconia. The country round it
contained many vineyards, the wine of which was exported in considerable
quantities, and supplied other parts of Greece. This district is still
celebrated for its wine, called Malvasia, (or Malmsey,) a corruption from
Maleates, the ancient name of this part of Laconia.

We have already alluded to the supposed aversion of the Spartans to
maritime affairs, which, according to some authors, arose from Lycurgus
having prohibited them from building vessels, or employing sailors; but
this idea is unfounded, and seems to have arisen from the fact, that their
kings were prevented, by a positive law, from commanding the fleets. That
the Spartans engaged in commerce, we have, as has been just stated, the
express testimony of Thucydides; and there is abundant evidence that they
had always armed vessels during their wars; and even so early as the time
of Croesus, they sent some troops to Satnos, and plundered that island: and
in later times, they used such efforts to equip vessels, in order to gain
the mastery of the seas, that, according to Xenophon, they entirely
neglected their cavalry. They were stimulated to this line of conduct by
Alcibiades, who advised the kings, ephori, and the nation at large, to
augment their marine, to compel the ships of all other nations to lower
their flag to theirs, and to proclaim themselves exclusive masters of the
Grecian seas. Isocrates informs us, that, before Alcibiades came to
Lacedaemon, the Spartans, though they had a navy, expended little on it;
but afterwards they increased it almost daily. The signal defeat they
sustained at the battle of Cnidus, where Conon destroyed their whole fleet,
not only blasted their hopes of becoming masters of the seas, but,
according to Isocrates, led to their defeat at the battle of Leuctra.

Off the coast of Laconia, and about forty stadia from Cape Malea, lies the
island of Cythera; the strait between it and the mainland was deemed by the
ancients extremely dangerous in stormy weather; and indeed its narrowness,
and the rocks that lay off Cape Malea must, to such inexperianced
navigators, have been very alarming. The Phoenicians are supposed to have
had a settlement in this island: afterwards it