The able-bodied child was restored to its
mother, and she directed the early training of her charge under the eye
of the magistrates. Though the Spartan girl was not, as the youth,
removed altogether from the mother at the age of seven and brought up in
the barracks, yet her training was scarcely less severe than that of the
boys. The feminine tasks of spinning and weaving, customary for free
women of other peoples, were by the Spartans committed to female slaves,
and the State so ordered the lives of the free maidens that they might
become in the future the mothers of robust children. "He [Lycurgus]
directed the maidens," says Plutarch, "to exercise themselves with
wrestling, running, throwing the quoit, and casting the dart, to the
end that the fruit they conceived might in strong and healthy bodies
take firmer root and find better growth." These gymnastic exercises they
practised in public, clad in little else save their own modesty, thus
overcoming fear of exposure to the air, as well as overgreat tenderness
and shyness. Similarly clad, they took part in processions along with
the young men, and were trained in singing and dancing in the public
choruses. This carefully regulated comradeship between youths and
maidens was encouraged with a view to stimulating the young men to deeds
of valor. The maidens on these occasions would make, by means of jests,
befitting reflections on the young men who had misbehaved themselves in
the wars, and would sing encomiums upon those who had done gallant
actions. Thus the young men were spurred on to greater endeavor by the
dread of feminine ridicule, and were inspired by feminine praise to the
performance of great deeds. It was always the part of the Spartan
maiden, then, to keep bright the fires of patriotism and heroic
endeavor. The mother, by precept and example, taught the daughter to
repress every emotion of womanly tenderness, to elevate the State to the
first place in her heart and life, and to find her destiny in bearing
brave sons to defend her country. Thus admitted to the freedom of
companionship with their brothers in the games and processions, and
stimulated by the instructions of their mothers, they early caught the
spirit and purpose which animated one and all--the spirit of unselfish
patriotism. It was natural, therefore, that they accepted without a
murmur the tyranny of a single idea and found in it their glory and
pride. Many stories are told of their remarkable d