They used to make the Helots drunk and exhibit them to the young as a deterrent from excessive drinking.Cf., 455 e; Plutarch’s , chap. xxviii. (57 a); , chap. i. (889 a); Plato, , 816 e; Clement of Alexandria, , iii. chap. viii. ad init. (41. 5); Diogenes Laertius, i. 103.

It was their custom not to knock on the outer doors but to call from outside.

The strigils which they used were not made of metal but of reeds.

They did not attend either comedy or tragedy, so that they might not hear anyone speak either in earnest or in jest against the laws.Cf. Plato, , 816 ff. where a different conception is expressed.

Archilochus the poet, when he arrived in Sparta, they ordered to depart that very instant because they learned that he had written in his verses that it is better to throw away one’s arms than to be killedFor the numerous references to the action of Archilochus see Bergk, ii. p. 384, Archilochus, no. 6, or better Diehl, , i. p. 213. Cf. also Horace, , ii. 7. 10, and Valerius Maximus, vi. 3, ext. 1.: Shield that was mine, fair armour, now gladdens the heart of some Saian; Sorry I left it behind tangled in brush in my path; But for myself I escaped from the clutches of Death. Let perdition Take the old shield, for no worse surely I’ll get the next time.