Corvallis High School - Chintimini Yearbook (Corvallis, OR)

Page 21 text:

GEIIEASSIIEES

Page 20 text:

Spartan., Czdraining All Spartans were subjected to the most rigorous training throughout life, from early boyhood to old age. Not only were they drilled in complicated military movements which taught a body of Spartan soldiers to act as one man, but they were subjected also to incessant gymnastic exercises to give them strength and endurance. Newly born babies were brought before a council and, if they were judged weak or deformed, they were left exposed on the mountains to die. Children were taken from their parents at the age of seven and were placed in groups of hundreds, headed by a chief who trained them to fight and to endure suf- fering. At the feast of Artemis, the young Spartans were beaten before the statue of the goddess until blood was drawn, but their pride would not allow them to cry. Boys were forced to go without food so that they would learn to provide for themselves. They did this by hunting and by stealing. Hunting in the mountains was encouraged, not only because it provided food, but also be- cause it built up endurance. All Spartan youths were taught to bear severe pain, to walk barefoot on rugged ground, to endure heat and cold, hunger and thirst, and to wear the same clothing in all seasons. A story is told of a boy who having stolen a fox, covered it with his cloak in order to hide it. The enraged animal tore him to pieces with claws and teeth, but the child did not reveal his theft. When a Spartiate reached seventeen years of age, he became a soldier, and led a military life. Spartan authorities regulated the lives of all the people, even to the hour of rising and retiring, the food that was eaten, and the exercise that was taken. Spartan soldiers were not allowed to engage in any other occupation or to live with their own families. Their whole lives were given to the state and they were slaves to military service. Girls were disciplined as rigidly as boys. They were forced to contend in boxing, running, wrestling and all sports that would make them strong and healthy. The women were a stimulus to the men in combat. One Spartan mother preferred to kill her own son rather than have him flee from battle, and another, learning that her five sons had perished in battle, said, This is not what I wish to know, does the victory belong to Sparta? When the answer was in the affirmative, she replied, Then let us render thanks to the gods. -Jean Whitelaw. l12l

Page 22 text:

2 ff Q. FL Jw' al E 2 E 5 Q E ix Q E? 1 A ,A E e S 1 4 L H ,E il E