UR stry ges back again t Greece， the landf Hmer and the fairy-tale gds， and t Sparta， where Helennce lived.
Abut nine hundred years befre Christ was brn， there lived in Sparta a man named Lycurgus. That is a hard name， and when yu hear abut this man yu may think he was hard， t. Lycurgus wanted his city t be the greatest in the wrld.
First he had t findut what it was that made a city and a peple great.
He startedff and traveled fr years and years， visiting all the chief cuntriesf the wrld t see if he culd learn what it was that made them great. And this is what he learned.
Wherever the peple thught chieflyf fun and pleasure，f amusing themselves and having a gd time-he fund they were nt gd fr much， ntf much accunt-nt great.
Wherever the peple thught chieflyf hard wrk and did what theyught， whether it was pleasantr nt， he fund they were usually gd fr smething-f sme accunt-great.
S Lycurgus came back t his hme Sparta and set t wrk t make a setf rules that he thught wuld make his peple greater than allther peple in the wrld. These rules were called a Cdef Laws， and I think yu"ll agree they were very hard， and they made the Spartans hard， t-as hard as nails. We shall see whether they made the Spartans really great， als.
T begin with， babies， as sn as they were brn， were examined t see that they were strng and perfect. Wheneverne was fund wh did nt seem t be s， her she was pututn the muntainside and left t die. Lycurgus wanted n weaklings in Sparta.
When bys were seven yearsld， they were taken frm their mthers and put in a schl， which was mre like a sldiers" camp than a schl， and they never lived anywhere else until they were sixty yearsld.
In this schl they were nt taught the things yu are， butnly the things that trained them t be gd sldiers.
There were n such things as schlbks then.
There were n spelling bks. There were n arithmetics.
There were n gegraphies. Nne knew enugh abut the wrld t write a gegraphy.
There were n histries. Nne knew much abut things that had happened in the wrld befre that time， andf curse nnef the histry since then that yu nw study had taken place.
At certain times， the Spartan by was whipped， nt because he had dne anything wrng， but just t teach him t suffer pain withut whimpering. He wuld have been disgraced frever if he had cried， n matter hw badly he was hurt.
He was exercised and drilled and wrked until he was ready t drp. Still he wasbliged t keepn， n matter hw tiredr hungryr sleepyr aching he might be， and he must never shw by any sign hw he felt.
He was made t eat the wrst kindf fd， t g hungry and thirsty fr lng peridsf time， t gut in the bitter cld with littler n clthing， just t get used t such hardships and able t bear all srtsf discmfrts. This kindf training， this kindf hardening， is therefre called Spartan discipline. Hw d yu think yu wuld have liked it？
The Spartans" fd， clthing， and ldging were all furnished them， thugh it was very pr fd and pr clthing and pr ldging. They were nt allwed gd things t eat， sft beds t lien，r fine clthing t wear. Such things were called luxuries， and luxuries， Lycurgus thught， wuld make peple sft and weak， and he wanted his peple hard and strng.
The Spartans were even taught t speak in a shrt and blunt manner； they were taught nt t waste wrds； they must say what they had t say in as few wrds as pssible. This mannerf speaking we call lacnic frm the name Lacnia， the state in which Sparta was lcated.
nce a king wrte t the Spartans a threatening letter， saying that they had better d what he tld them t， fr if he came and tk their cuntry， he wuld destry their city and make them slaves.
The Spartans sent a messenger back with their answer， and when the letter waspened， it cntainednlyne wrd：
"IF！"
Even tday， we call such an answer， shrt but t the pint， a lacnic answer.
Did all this hard training and hard wrk make the Spartans the greatest peple in the wrld？
Lycurgus did make the Spartans the strngest and best fighters in the wrld-but-The Spartans cnquered all the peples arund abut them， thugh there were ten times as many-but-They made these peple their slaves， wh did all their farming andther wrk-but-We shall see later whether Lycurgus"s idea was right.
Nrthf Sparta was anther great cityf Greece called Athens. There were，f curse， manyther twns in Greece， but Sparta and Athens were the mst imprtant. In Athens the peple lived and thught quite differently frm thse in Sparta.
The Athenians were just as fndf everything beautiful as the Spartans weref discipline andf everything military.
The Athenians lved athletic gamesf all srts just as the Spartans did， but they als lved music and petry and beautiful statues， paintings， vases， buildings， and such things that are knwn as the arts.
The Athenians believed in training the mind as well as the bdy. The Spartans believed the trainingf the bdy was the all-imprtant thing. Which d yu like better， the Athenians" idear the Spartans" idea？
nce at a big game a veryld man was lking fr a seatn the Athenians" side. There was n seat empty， and n Athenianffered t give himne. Whereupn the Spartans called t theld man and gave him the best seatn their side. The Athenians cheered the Spartans t shw hw fine they thught this act. At this the Spartans said：
"The Athenians knw what is right but they dn"t d it."【中文阅读】
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"1，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？
1 言简意赅的意思--译者注。
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。"