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OUR story goes back again to Greece, the land of Homer and the fairy-tale gods, and to Sparta, where Helen once lived.
About nine hundred years before Christ was born, there lived in Sparta a man named Lycurgus. That is a hard name, and when you hear about this man you may think he was hard, too. Lycurgus wanted his city to be the greatest in the world.
First he had to find out what it was that made a city and a people great.
He started off and traveled for years and years, visiting all the chief countries of the world to see if he could learn what it was that made them great. And this is what he learned.
Wherever the people thought chiefly of fun and pleasure, of amusing themselves and having a good time—he found they were not good for much, not of much account— notgreat.
Wherever the people thought chiefly of hard work and did what they ought, whether it was pleasant or not, he found they were usually good for something—of some account—great.
So Lycurgus came back to his home Sparta and set to work to make a set of rules that he thought would make his people greater than all other people in the world. These rules were called a Code of Laws, and I think you'll agree they were very hard, and they made the Spartans hard, too—as hard as nails. We shall see whether they made the Spartans really great, also.
To begin with, babies, as soon as they were born, were examined to see that they were strong and perfect. Whenever one was found who did not seem to be so, he or she was put out on the mountainside and left to die. Lycurgus wanted no weaklings in Sparta.
When boys were seven years old, they were taken from their mothers and put in a school, which was more like a soldiers' camp than a school, and they never lived anywhere else until they were sixty years old.
In this school they were not taught the things you are, but only the things that trained them to be good soldiers.
There were no such things as schoolbooks then.
There were no spelling books.
There were no arithmetics.
There were no geographies. No one knew enough about the world to write a geography.
There were no histories. No one knew much about things that had happened in the world before that time, and of course none of the history since then that you now study had taken place.
At certain times, the Spartan boy was whipped, not because he had done anything wrong, but just to teach him to suffer pain without whimpering. He would have been disgraced forever if he had cried, no matter how badly he was hurt.
He was exercised and drilled and worked until he was ready to drop. Still he was obliged to keep on, no matter how tired or hungry or sleepy or aching he might be, and he must never show by any sign how he felt.
He was made to eat the worst kind of food, to go hungry and thirsty for long periods of time, to go out in the bitter cold with little or no clothing, just to get used to such hardships and able to bear all sorts of discomforts. This kind of training, this kind of hardening, is therefore called Spartan discipline. How do you think you would have liked it?
The Spartans'food, clothing, and lodging were all furnished them, though it was very poor food and poor clothing and poor lodging. They were not allowed good things to eat, soft beds to lie on, or fine clothing to wear. Such things were called luxuries, and luxuries, Lycurgus thought, would make people soft and weak, and he wanted his people hard and strong.
The Spartans were even taught to speak in a short and blunt manner; they were taught not to waste words; they must say what they had to say in as few words as possible. This manner of speaking we call laconicfrom the name Laconia, the state in which Sparta was located.
Once a king wrote to the Spartans a threatening letter, saying that they had better do what he told them to, for ifhe came and took their country, he would destroy their city and make them slaves.
The Spartans sent a messenger back with their answer, and when the letter was opened, it contained only one word:
“IF!”
Even today, we call such an answer, short but to the point, a laconic answer.
Did all this hard training and hard work make the Spartans the greatest people in the world?
Lycurgus did make the Spartans the strongest and best fighters in the world——but—.
The Spartans conquered all the peoples around about them, though there were ten times as many—but—.
They made these people their slaves, who did all their farming and other work—but—.
We shall see later whether Lycurgus's idea was right.
North of Sparta was another great city of Greece called Athens. There were, of course, many other towns in Greece, but Sparta and Athens were the most important. In Athens the people lived and thought quite differently from those in Sparta.
The Athenians were just as fond of everything beautiful as the Spartans were of discipline and of everything military.
The Athenians loved athletic games of all sorts just as the Spartans did, but they also loved music and poetry and beautiful statues, paintings, vases, buildings, and such things that are known as the arts.
The Athenians believed in training the mind as wellas the body. The Spartans believed the training of the body was the all-important thing. Which do you like better, the Athenians' idea or the Spartans' idea?
Once at a big game a very old man was looking for a seat on the Athenians' side. There was no seat empty, and no Athenian offered to give him one. Whereupon the Spartans called to the old man and gave him the best seat on their side. The Athenians cheered the Spartans to show how fine they thought this act. At this the Spartans said:
“The Athenians knowwhat is right but they don't doit.”
我们的故事又回到希腊——荷马和神话传说中众神的故乡，然后再去海伦曾经生活过的城市斯巴达。
大约在基督诞生前900年，斯巴达有个男人叫来库古。这是个很硬朗的名字，当你听到有关此人的事情时，可能会认为这个人也很强硬。来库古希望斯巴达成为世界上最强大的城市。
首先，他得弄明白什么才能让一个城市和一个民族变得强大起来。
他出外游历了很多很多年，走访了世界上主要的国家，想看看自己是否能发现这些国家变得强大的原因。以下就是他所发现的。
哪个地方的人首先想的是寻欢作乐，贪图享受——他发现那里的人就没有大的作为，显得无足轻重——当然就不会强大。
哪个地方的人首先想的是努力工作，不管开心不开心，都做该做的事，他发现那里的人通常就有所作为——受人重视——当然会强大。
后来，来库古回到家乡斯巴达，着手制定一系列的规则，他认为按照这些规则生活就能使他的人民变得比世界上别的民族都强大。这些规则叫“法典”，我想你会赞同我说这些规则都非常苛刻，确实让斯巴达人变得非常强大——“像铁钉一样坚硬”。我们再来看这些规则是否真让斯巴达人变得强大起来。
首先，婴儿刚刚呱呱坠地，就要接受检查，看他们是否强壮、健全。只要发现哪个婴儿看上去达不到这个要求，就会被遗弃在山坡上，任其自生自灭。来库古希望在斯巴达没有一个体质孱弱者。
男孩们长到7岁，就会被带走，离开他们的母亲而到学校生活。说是学校，其实更像是兵营。从那时开始，他们就要一直住在学校里直到60岁。
他们在学校里学的东西和你们学的可不一样，他们只学习如何被训练成为优秀的士兵。
学校里没有课本这类的东西。
没有单词拼写课本。
没有算术课本。
没有地理课本。当时还没有人对世界有充分的了解，能写出一本地理书。
没有历史课本。之前世界上发生的事情没有人知道多少，当然，你们现在学的自那以后的历史还没发生呢。
到了一定的时候，斯巴达的男孩会被鞭打一顿，不是因为他做错了什么，只是要教会他在吃苦受难时不能哭。不管他伤得有多重，如果他哭了，就会永远感到抬不起头。
他会不断地操练、训练、劳作直到快要累倒。然而，不管有多么累、多么饿、多么困、身体有多么痛，他都要坚持下去，而且绝不能表现出一点受苦的样子。
他被迫吃最差的食物，长时间地忍受饥渴，在极其寒冷的天气里到户外，要穿得很少或根本不穿衣服。他受到如此严酷的训练，就是为了习惯这样的困苦，能够忍受各种各样的艰难。因此现在把类似这样的训练，这样的磨炼叫做“斯巴达式的训练”。你觉得你会喜欢这样的训练吗？
尽管斯巴达人的食物、衣服、住所都很简陋，却都是由国家提供的。他们不允许吃可口的食物，睡柔软的床或穿精美的衣服。他们把这些东西叫做奢侈品。而来库古认为，奢侈品会让人变得软弱、懦弱，而他则希望他的人民强硬、健壮。
斯巴达人甚至要求说话要简短直接，不能说废话，学会用尽可能少的词语说出要说的话。这种说话方式叫做“拉哥尼亚式”
，取名自斯巴达所在的拉哥尼亚。
以前，有个国王给斯巴达人写了封恐吓信，要求他们最好按照他说的去做，因为如果不服从，他就来占领他们的国家，毁掉他们的城市，使他们都沦为奴隶。
斯巴达人让信使送去了回信，国王打开一看，信上只有一个词：“如果！”
即使今天，我们还把这类简短、扼要的回答叫做“拉哥尼亚式回答”。
这样严酷的训练和拼命的劳作让斯巴达人变成世界上最强大的民族了吗？
来库古确实让斯巴达人变成了世界上最强壮、最优秀的战士——但是——
斯巴达人征服了周围地区所有的民族，尽管这些民族的人口是他们的十倍——但是——
他们迫使这些人民成为他们的奴隶，让他们种地和干活——但是——
我们以后会知道来库古的想法是否正确。
斯巴达的北边是希腊的另一个叫做雅典的大城市。当然，希腊还有很多其他的城市，但是斯巴达和雅典是最重要的两个城市。雅典人的生活和想法与斯巴达人有天壤之别。
斯巴达人强调纪律严明，热衷于一切行动军事化，而雅典人喜欢一切美的东西。
雅典人和斯巴达人一样热爱各种体育运动，但是他们还喜欢音乐、诗歌，以及美丽的雕刻、油画、花瓶、建筑等所有这类被称为艺术的东西。
雅典人认为锻炼身体和培养思维能力一样重要，而斯巴达人却认为锻炼身体才是最重要的。你更喜欢哪个观点呢，雅典人的还是斯巴达人的？
有一次，一场盛大的赛事正在进行，一个老人在雅典人那边找座位，但是没有空位子了，也没有一个雅典人给他让座。就在这时，斯巴达人那边喊老人过去，给了他最好的座位。雅典人为斯巴达人的举动欢呼起来，表示他们认为这种行为多么高尚。看到这一点，斯巴达人说：“雅典人知道什么是对的，但是他们却不去做。”