e was perpetuated by
military form. The Dorian conquest brought these people in from the
north to settle in the Peloponnesus, and by degrees they obtained a
foothold and conquered their surrounding neighbors. Having established
themselves on a small portion of the land, the Dorians, or Spartans,
possessed themselves of superior military skill in order to obtain the
overlordship of the surrounding territory. Soon they had control of
nearly all of the Peloponnesus. Although Argos was at first the ruling
city of the conquerors, Sparta soon obtained the supremacy, and the
Spartan state became noted as the great military state of the Greeks.

The population of Sparta was composed of the Dorians, or citizens, who
were the conquerors, and the independent subjects, who had been
conquered but who had no part in the government, and the serfs or
helots, who were the lower class of the conquered ones. The total
population is estimated at about 380,000 to 400,000, while the serfs
numbered at least 175,000 to 224,000. These serfs were always a cause
of fear and anxiety to the conquerors, and they were watched over by
night and day by spies who kept them from rising. The helots were
employed in peace as well as in war, and in all occupations where
excessive toil was needed. The middle class (Perioeci) were subjects
dependent upon the citizens. They had no share in the Spartan state
except to obey its {243} administration. They were obliged to accept
the obligations of military service, to pay taxes and dues when
required. Their occupations were largely the promotion of agriculture
and the various trades and industries. Their proportion to the
citizens was about thirty to nine, or, as is commonly given, there was
one citizen to four of the middle class and twelve of the helots,
making the ratio of citizens to the entire population about
one-seventeenth, or every seventeenth man was a citizen.

Attempts were made to divide the lands of the rich among the poor, and
this redistribution of lands occurred from time to time. There were
other semblances of pure democracy of communistic nature. It was a
pure military state, and all were treated as soldiers. There was a
common table, or "mess," for a group, called the social union. There
all the men were obliged to assemble at meal-time, the women remaining
at home. The male children were taken at the age of seven years and
trained as soldiers. These were then in charge of th