cally--the word has still persisted. The Greeks cited many
examples of these expressions. To a garrison in danger of being
surprised the government sent this message, "Attention!" A Spartan
army was summoned by the king of Persia to lay down his arms; the
general replied, "Come and take them." When Lysander captured Athens,
he wrote simply, "Athens is fallen."

=Music. The Dance.=--The arts of Sparta were those that pertained to
an army. The Dorian conquerors brought with them a peculiar sort of
music--the Dorian style, serious, strong, even harsh. It was military
music; the Spartiates went into battle to the sound of the flute so
that the step might be regular.

Their dance was a military movement. In the "Pyrrhic" the dancers were
armed and imitated all the movements of a battle; they made the
gestures of striking, of parrying, of retreating, and of throwing the
javelin.

=Heroism of the Women.=--The women stimulated the men to combat; their
exhibitions of courage were celebrated in Greece, so much so that
collections of stories of them were made.[64] A Spartan mother, seeing
her son fleeing from battle, killed him with her own hand, saying;
"The Eurotas does not flow for deer." Another, learning that her five
sons had perished, said, "This is not what I wish to know; does
victory belong to Sparta?" "Yes." "Then let us render thanks to the
gods."

THE INSTITUTIONS OF SPARTA

=The Kings and the Council.=--The Spartiates had at first, like the
other Greeks, an assembly of the people. All these institutions were
preserved, but only in form. The kings, descendants of the god
Herakles, were loaded with honors; they were given the first place at
the feasts and were served with a double portion; when they died all
the inhabitants made lamentation for them. But no power was left to
them and they were closely watched.

The Senate was composed of twenty-eight old men taken from the rich
and ancient families, appointed for life; but it did not govern.

=The Ephors.=--The real masters of Sparta were the Ephors (the name
signifies overseers), five magistrates who were renewed every year.
They decided peace and war, and had judicial functions; when the king
commanded the army, they accompanied him, directed the operations, and
sometimes made him return. Usually they consulted the senators and
took action in harmony with them. Then they assembled the Spartiates
in one place, announced to them what had been decided and ask