wine, cheese, and figs and a little money to buy flesh and fish.
No distinction of any kind was allowed at these frugal meals.
Meat was only eaten occasionally; and one of the principal dishes
was black broth. Of what it consisted we do not know. The
tyrant Dionysius found it very unpalatable; but, as the cook told
him, the broth was nothing without the seasoning of fatigue and
hunger.

The Spartan women in their earlier years were subjected to a
course of training almost as rigorous as that of the men, and
contended with each other in running, wrestling and boxing. At
the age of twenty a Spartan woman usually married, and she was no
longer subjected to the public discipline. Although she enjoyed
little of her husband's society, she was treated by him with deep
respect, and was allowed a greater degree of liberty than was
tolerated in other Grecian states. Hence she took a lively
interest in the welfare and glory of her native land, and was
animated by an earnest and lofty spirit of patriotism. The
Spartan mother had reason to be proud of herself and of her
children. When a woman of another country said to Gorgo, the
wife of Leonidas, "The Spartan women alone rule the men," she
replied, "The Spartan women alone bring forth men." Their
husbands and their sons were fired by their sympathy to deeds of
heroism. "Return either with your shield, or upon it," was their
exhortation to their sons when going to battle.

Lycurgus is said to have divided the land belonging to the
Spartans into 9000 equal lots and the remainder of Laconia into
30,000 equal lots, and to have assigned to each Spartan citizen
one of the former of these lots, and to each Perioecus one of the