Also, as Thucydides mentions in his
History of the Peloponnesian War, those Helots who were especially
honoured by the Spartans for their valour were crowned as free men, and
taken to the temples with rejoicings; but in a short time they all
disappeared, to the number of more than two thousand, and in such a way
that no man, either then or afterwards, could tell how they perished.
Aristotle says that the Ephors, when they first take office, declare war
against the Helots, in order that it may be lawful to destroy them. And
much other harsh treatment used to be inflicted upon them; and they were
compelled to drink much unmixed wine, and then were brought into the
public dining-halls, to show the young what drunkenness is.
They were also forced to sing low songs, and to dance low dances, and
not to meddle with those of a higher character. It is said that when the
Thebans made their celebrated campaign in Lacedaemon, they ordered the
Helots whom they captured to sing them the songs of Terpander, and
Alkman, and Spendon the Laconian; but they begged to be excused, for,
they said, "the masters do not like it." So it seems to have been well
said that in Lacedaemon, the free man was more free, and the slave more
a slave than anywhere else. This harsh treatment, I imagine, began in
later times, especially after the great earthquake, when they relate
that the Helots joined the Messenians, ravaged the country, and almost
conquered it.
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