ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the mechanisms whereby the unity and discipline of the Spartans were maintained. It examines that Spartan officials at times practised deception upon their own citizens, and not only upon helots and outsiders. The chapter explores that the Catholic Church, in its dread of political and doctrinal schism at the Reformation and earlier, did not normally encourage - and sometimes firmly opposed - the circulation of the Bible in contemporary translations. The church's belief, that individuals would draw contradictory conclusions from their own study of the text, was reasonable. The certain conspicuous facts about Spartans abroad, such as the names and the death-rate of commanders, can be exploited as reflections of life within Sparta. Life at Sparta in several ways resembled that of a military camp - a point familiar in antiquity, though how far Spartan culture was militaristic has been intelligently debated in the twenty-first century.
