Reader question:

Please explain “Spartan life” in the following passage:

Bernard Madoff, the disgraced US financier who carried out one of Wall Street’s biggest-ever frauds, has swapped a life of luxury and drug-fuelled excess for a spartan life in prison where his main companions are a mafia boss and a convicted spy, according to legal papers.

My comments:

Madoff, who ran a Ponzi scheme to cheat billions out of investors, is living a spartan life, that is, a life of simplicity instead of luxury, which was his lifestyle before he was taken into prison.

“Spartan life” refers to the life led by a Spartan, a lifestyle characterized by vigorous military training, severity and deprivation.

The Spartans, if you learned your world history lessons, were from an ancient state in Greece who ran a great rivalry with the state of Athens for many centuries before Jesus Christ.

Unlike the Athenians, who advocated individual rights and civil liberty, the Spartans were devoted to warfare. From the Web, I’ve culled these tidbits to give you an idea about what a real Spartan life was like - comparing to which, by the way, Madoff’s time in the cell will look like sunshine all year round:

1. Every male of Spartan (and Dorian, if one goes back far enough) blood was a warrior, and nothing else. The Spartan soldier spent his life with his comrades. He lived in barracks and ate all his meals with his fellow soldiers. He also married, but he was forbidden from living with his wife. It was an Athenian joke that Spartans had children before they even saw the face of their wives. The marriage ceremony involved an unusual ritual: at the end of the ceremony, the man carried his wife off as if he were taking her by force (do not mull too much on this point - women had great status in Sparta, as we shall see). Only at the age of 30 did the Spartan become an ‘equal’, and was allowed to live in his own house with his own family, although it was still compulsory to serve in the military. Military service ended at the age of 60.

- Ancient Sparta, April 13, 2006, BBC.co.uk.

2. The Spartan family was quite different from that of other Ancient Greek city-states. The word “spartan” has come down to us to describe self-denial and simplicity. This is what Spartan life was all about. Children were children of the state more than of their parents. They were raised to be soldiers, loyal to the state, strong and self-disciplined.

It began in infancy. When a Spartan baby was born, soldiers came to the house and examined it carefully to determine its strength. The baby was bathed in wine rather than water, to see its reaction. If a baby was weak, the Spartans exposed it on the hillside or took it away to become a slave (helot). Infanticide was common in ancient cultures, but the Spartans were particularly picky about their children. It was not just a matter of the family; the city-state decided the fate of the child. Nurses had the primary care of the baby and did not coddle it.

Soldiers took the boys from their mothers at age 7, housed them in a dormitory with other boys and trained them as soldiers. The mother’s softening influence was considered detrimental to a boy’s education. The boys endured harsh physical discipline and deprivation to make them strong. The marched without shoes and went without food. They learned to fight, endure pain and survive through their wits. The older boys willingly participated in beating the younger boys to toughen them. Self-denial, simplicity, the warrior code, and loyalty to the city-state governed their lives.

Spartan children were taught stories of courage and fortitude. One favorite story was about a boy who followed the Spartan code. He captured a live fox and intended to eat it. Although boys were encouraged to scrounge for food, they were punished if caught. The boy noticed some Spartan soldiers coming, and hid the fox beneath his shirt. When the soldiers confronted him, he allowed the fox to chew into his stomach rather than confess, and showed no sign of pain in his body or face. This was the Spartan way...

Girls also were removed from the home at 7 and sent to school. Here they learned wrestling, gymnastics, were taught to fight, and endured other physical training.

- The Spartan Family, Historywiz.com.

3. “Come back with your shield - or on it” (Plutarch, Mor.241) was supposed to be the parting cry of mothers to their sons. Mothers whose sons died in battle openly rejoiced, mothers whose sons survived hung their heads in shame.

- Sparta: Famous quotes about Spartan life, PBS.org.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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