r them by the Helots, who were
such a strong race that it was not easy to keep them down, although their
masters were very cruel to them, often killing large numbers of them if
they seemed to be growing dangerous, always ill-treating them, and, it is
said, sometimes making them drunk, that the sight of their intoxication
might disgust the young Spartans. In truth, the whole Spartan system was
hard and unfeeling, and much fitter to make fighting machines than men.

The first great Spartan war that we know of was with their neighbours of
Messenia, who stood out bravely, but were beaten, and brought down to the
state of Helots in the year 723 B.C., all but a small band, who fled into
other states. Among them was born a brave youth named Aristomenes, who
collected all the boldest of his fellow-Messenians to try to save their
country, and Argos, Arcadia, and Elis joined with them. Several battles
were fought. One, which was called the battle of the Boar's Pillar, was
long sung about. An augur had told Aristomenes that under a tree sat the
Spartan brothers Castor and Pollux, to protect their countrymen, and that
he might not pass it; but in the pursuit he rushed by it, and at that
moment the shield was rent from him by an unseen hand. While he was
searching for it, the Spartans (who do seem this time to have fled)
escaped; but Messene was free, and he was crowned with flowers by the
rejoicing women. A command from Apollo made him descend into a cave,
where he found his shield, adorned with the figure of an eagle, and, much
encouraged, he won another battle, and would have entered Sparta itself,
had not Helen and her twin brothers appeared to warn him back. At last,
however, the war turned against him, and in a battle on Laconian ground
he was stunned by a stone, and taken prisoner, with 50 more. They were
all condemned to be thrown down a high rock into a deep pit. Everyone
else was killed by the fall, but Aristomenes found himself unhurt, with
sky above, high precipices on all sides, and his dead comrades under him.
He wrapped himself in his cloak to wait for death, but on the third day
he heard something moving, uncovered his face, and saw that a fox had
crept in from a cavern at the side of the pit. He took hold of the fox's
tail, crawled after it, and at last saw the light of day. He scraped the
earth till the way was large enough for him to pass, escaped, and
gathered his friends, to the amazement of the Sparta