DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0308
The Zulus and the Spartans
233
the system broke down first. Leave to marry was followed by the admission of the sons
of Janissaries to the corps, and ultimately a standing army, detached from civil society
and at the utter disposal of the Sultan, was converted into a privileged and unmanageable
military caste, like the Zulu warriors in their later degenerate days.
6. In both the Spartan and the Zulu states war was esteemed the only worthy occu-
pation of a man, and commerce was prohibited.
7. The Spartan said, “Return with your shield or on it”, the Zulu, “with your spear
or die”. Each had to learn to endure pain without flinching. Wounds in the front
were in both countries creditable; wounds in the back dishonorable. To retreat in face
of an enemy was a Spartan prohibition as well as a Zulu. Chaka gave “cowards” a short
shrift; Sparta was, perhaps, even more cruel. There, the “coward” lost citizen rights;
he was ejected from his syssitia, excluded from all fetes, and subjected to every indignity.
He had, for example, to wear a cloak made of patchwork, have his hair cut on one side
only, give place to all, even to the young. No one talked to him, no one gave him his
daughter in marriage or took his daughter to wife. No one gave him fire. And, like the
childless, he had to go to the market-place in wintry cold, yv/tw'?, and sing songs at his
own expense.
8. In Zululand the king was the state. He practically never died; he was put to
death by his successor, who, under the circumstances, could not be expected to mourn for
him. It was accordingly possible among the Zulus to pay respect to authority only when
the king was wounded or his mother or grandmother, or some one of his dignitaries, died.
Then, however, the mourning was unrestrained. Everybody had to assemble at the
capital. The lack of a tear was a death warrant. Men showed their grief by clubbing
to death those whose eyes were dry, or moist only with spittle; and in this way 7,000
persons are said to have perished when Nandi died. At such times all ordinary occupa-
tions were suspended. Sparta mourned the death of its kings with less ferocity, but none
the less with extraordinary fervor. For ten days thereafter all business was suspended.
Riders were despatched all over the land to carry the news, and Spartans, Perioecs, and
Helots flocked to the city to attend the funeral. Thousands assembled in this way and
made public lamentation. In every household at least one man and woman must put
on mourning.
9. It was the boys in Zululand who let the hair grow, if not long, at least curly, while
the men shaved their heads; the Spartan boys kept their hair cut short; the adults let it
grow long and dressed it, at least before battle, even more carefully than the Zulu war-
riors cultivated their crown-ring. The Spartan boys went sandal-less, in Zululand the
men were unshod. It was a Spartan who, on being asked why the girls went about scantily
clothed, while the married women wore veils, answered, “Because the maidens have
233
the system broke down first. Leave to marry was followed by the admission of the sons
of Janissaries to the corps, and ultimately a standing army, detached from civil society
and at the utter disposal of the Sultan, was converted into a privileged and unmanageable
military caste, like the Zulu warriors in their later degenerate days.
6. In both the Spartan and the Zulu states war was esteemed the only worthy occu-
pation of a man, and commerce was prohibited.
7. The Spartan said, “Return with your shield or on it”, the Zulu, “with your spear
or die”. Each had to learn to endure pain without flinching. Wounds in the front
were in both countries creditable; wounds in the back dishonorable. To retreat in face
of an enemy was a Spartan prohibition as well as a Zulu. Chaka gave “cowards” a short
shrift; Sparta was, perhaps, even more cruel. There, the “coward” lost citizen rights;
he was ejected from his syssitia, excluded from all fetes, and subjected to every indignity.
He had, for example, to wear a cloak made of patchwork, have his hair cut on one side
only, give place to all, even to the young. No one talked to him, no one gave him his
daughter in marriage or took his daughter to wife. No one gave him fire. And, like the
childless, he had to go to the market-place in wintry cold, yv/tw'?, and sing songs at his
own expense.
8. In Zululand the king was the state. He practically never died; he was put to
death by his successor, who, under the circumstances, could not be expected to mourn for
him. It was accordingly possible among the Zulus to pay respect to authority only when
the king was wounded or his mother or grandmother, or some one of his dignitaries, died.
Then, however, the mourning was unrestrained. Everybody had to assemble at the
capital. The lack of a tear was a death warrant. Men showed their grief by clubbing
to death those whose eyes were dry, or moist only with spittle; and in this way 7,000
persons are said to have perished when Nandi died. At such times all ordinary occupa-
tions were suspended. Sparta mourned the death of its kings with less ferocity, but none
the less with extraordinary fervor. For ten days thereafter all business was suspended.
Riders were despatched all over the land to carry the news, and Spartans, Perioecs, and
Helots flocked to the city to attend the funeral. Thousands assembled in this way and
made public lamentation. In every household at least one man and woman must put
on mourning.
9. It was the boys in Zululand who let the hair grow, if not long, at least curly, while
the men shaved their heads; the Spartan boys kept their hair cut short; the adults let it
grow long and dressed it, at least before battle, even more carefully than the Zulu war-
riors cultivated their crown-ring. The Spartan boys went sandal-less, in Zululand the
men were unshod. It was a Spartan who, on being asked why the girls went about scantily
clothed, while the married women wore veils, answered, “Because the maidens have