Xenophon, Res Publica Lacedaemoniorum 1.3-4: Lycurgus and the introduction of female athletics in Sparta

Xenophon, Res Publica Lacedaemoniorum 1.3-4: Lycurgus and the introduction of female athletics in Sparta

ca. 428–354 BCE

Political philosophy

Literary source

First, to begin at the beginning, I will take the begetting of children. In other states the girls who are destined to become mothers and are brought up in the approved fashion, live on the very plainest fare, with a most meagre allowance of delicacies. Wine is either witheld altogether, or, if allowed them, is diluted with water. The rest of the Greeks expect their girls to imitate the sedentary life that is typical of handicraftsmen -- to keep quiet and do wool work. How, then, is it to be expected that women so brought up will bear fine children?
But Lycurgus thought the labour of slave women sufficient to supply clothing. He believed motherhood to be the most important function of freeborn woman. Therefore, in the first place, he insisted on physical training for the female no less than for the male sex: moreover, he instituted races and trials of strength for women competitors as for men, believing that if both parents are strong they produce more vigorous offspring.

Edgar C. Marchant, Xenophon in Seven Volumes, vol. 7, Scripta Minora: Hiero, Agesilaus, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, Ways and Means, Cavalry Commander, Art of Horsemanship, On Hunting, Constitution of the Athenians (= Loeb Classical Library; 183), Cambridge, MA/London 1925.

Αὐτίκα γὰρ περὶ τεκνοποιίας, ἵνα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄρξωμαι, οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι τὰς μελλούσας τίκτειν καὶ καλῶς δοκούσας κόρας παιδεύεσθαι καὶ σίτῳ ᾗ ἀνυστὸν μετριωτάτῳ τρέφουσι καὶ ὄψῳ ᾗ δυνατὸν μικροτάτῳ· οἴνου γε μὴν ἢ πάμπαν ἀπεχομένας ἢ ὑδαρεῖ χρωμένας διάγουσιν· ὥσπερ δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν τὰς τέχνας ἐχόντων ἑδραῖοί εἰσιν, οὕτω καὶ τὰς κόρας οἱ ἄλλοι Ἕλληνες ἠρεμιζούσας ἐριουργεῖν ἀξιοῦσι. τὰς μὲν οὖν οὕτω τρεφομένας πῶς χρὴ προσδοκῆσαι μεγαλεῖον ἄν τι γεννῆσαι;
Ὁ δὲ Λυκοῦργος ἐσθῆτας μὲν καὶ δούλας παρέχειν ἱκανὰς ἡγήσατο εἶναι, ταῖς δ᾿ ἐλευθέραις μέγιστον νομίσας εἶναι τὴν τεκνοποιίαν πρῶτον μὲν σωμασκεῖν ἔταξεν οὐδὲν ἧττον τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ ἄρρενος φύλου· ἔπειτα δὲ δρόμου καὶ ἰσχύος, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, οὕτω καὶ ταῖς θηλείαις ἀγῶνας πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐποίησε, νομίζων ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἰσχυρῶν καὶ τὰ ἔκγονα ἐρρωμενέστερα γίγνεσθαι.

Edgar C. Marchant (ed.), Xenophon in Seven Volumes, vol. 7, Scripta Minora: Hiero, Agesilaus, Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, Ways and Means, Cavalry Commander, Art of Horsemanship, On Hunting, Constitution of the Athenians (= Loeb Classical Library; 183), Cambridge, MA/London 1925.