latter.

Neither gold nor silver money was allowed in Sparta, and nothing
but bars of iron passed in exchange for every commodity. As the
Spartans were not permitted to engage in commerce, and all luxury
and display in dress, furniture, and food was forbidden, they had
very little occasion for a circulating medium, and iron money was
found sufficient for their few wants. But this prohibition of
the precious metals only made the Spartans more anxious to obtain
them; and even in the times of their greatest glory the Spartans
were the most venal of the Greeks, and could rarely resist the
temptation of a bribe.

The legislation of Lycurgus was followed by important results.
It made the Spartans a body of professional soldiers, all trained
and well disciplined, at a time when military training and
discipline were little known, and almost unpractised in the other
states of Greece. The consequence was the rapid growth of the
political power of Sparta, and the subjugation of the
neighbouring states. At the time of Lycurgus the Spartans held
only a small portion of Laconia: they were merely a garrison in
the heart of an enemy's country. Their first object was to make
themselves masters of Laconia, in which they finally succeeded
after a severe struggle. They next turned their arms against the
Messenians, Arcadians, and Argives. Of these wars the two waged
against Messenia were the most celebrated and the most important.
They were both long protracted and obstinately contested. They
both ended in the victory of Sparta, and in the subjugation of
Messenia. These facts are beyond dispute; but of the details we
have no trustworthy narrative.