ed their
approbation. The people without discussing the matter approved the
action by acclamation. No one knew whether he had the right to refuse
assent; accustomed to obey, the Spartiate never refused. It was,
therefore, an aristocracy of governing families. Sparta was not a
country of equality. There were some men who were called Equals, but
only because they were equal among themselves. The others were termed
Inferiors and had no part in the government.

=The Army.=--Thanks to this regime, the Spartiates preserved the rude
customs of mountaineers; they had no sculptors, no architects, no
orators, no philosophers. They had sacrificed everything to war; they
became "adepts in the military art,"[65] and instructors of the other
Greeks. They introduced two innovations especially: a better method of
combat, a better method of athletic exercise.

=The Hoplites.=--Before them the Greeks marched into battle in
disorder; the chiefs, on horseback or in a light chair, rushed ahead,
the men following on foot, armed each in his own fashion,
helter-skelter, incapable of acting together or of resisting. A
battle reduced itself to a series of duels and to a massacre. At
Sparta all the soldiers had the same arms; for defence, the
breastplate covering the chest, the casque which protected the head,
the greaves over the legs, the buckler held before the body. For
offence the soldier had a short sword and a long lance. The man thus
armed was called a hoplite. The Spartan hoplites were drawn up in
regiments, battalions, companies, squads, almost like our armies. An
officer commanded each of these groups and transmitted to his men the
orders of his superior officer, so that the general in chief might
have the same movement executed throughout the whole army. This
organization which appears so simple to us was to the Greeks an
astonishing novelty.

=The Phalanx.=--Come into the presence of the enemy, the soldiers
arrange themselves in line, ordinarily eight ranks deep, each man
close to his neighbor, forming a compact mass which we call a Phalanx.
The king, who directs the army, sacrifices a goat to the gods; if the
entrails of the victim are propitious, he raises a chant which all the
army takes up in unison. Then they advance. With rapid and measured
step, to the sound of the flute, with lance couched and buckler before
the body, they meet the enemy in dense array, overwhelm him by their
mass and momentum, throw him into rout, and on