[18] The Perioeci (dwellers around) were the older population of the land, who inhabited the mountains and hillsides about Sparta. They were farmers, and they also worked the mines and quarries, manufactured articles for the Spartan market, and carried on the commerce. Though freemen, they were allowed no part in the government, could not bear arms, and had to pay tribute to Sparta.
[19] The Helots were probably peasants who occupied the land about Helos, and, defeated in war, became Spartan subjects. They could not be sold or given away, but belonged to the inventory of the farm.
=Literature.=--_Bryce_, The Holy Roman Empire; _Bury_, The Roman Empire; _Church_, Pictures from Roman Life and Story; _Clarke_, Ten Great Religions; _Gibbon_, Decline and Fall of Roman Empire; _Lord_, Beacon Lights; _Capes_, Roman Empire; _Merivale_, History of the Romans; _Shumway_, A Day in Ancient Rome; _Mommsen_, History of Rome; _Liddell_, History of Rome; _Ploetz_, Epitome of Universal History; _Gilman_, Story of Rome; _Collins_, Ancient Classics; _Monroe_, Source Book of the History of Education.
=The Age of Augustus.=--The history of Rome covers a period of a thousand years. From the little village on the Palatine Hill Rome grew to be the mightiest empire of the world. The "Age of Augustus" represents not only the summit of military glory, but also the highest civilization, and the noblest ideals of the Roman people. It was the age of Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, and Seneca. Rome was at peace with the world, and therefore had time to devote to art, literature, and other intellectual pursuits. It was during this period that Christ was born.
Like Sparta, Rome for a long time maintained her supremacy by force of arms, and therefore encouraged physical education. But when she became mistress of the world, and came in contact with the culture of the Greeks, she began to feel the need of an intellectual and aesthetic development. Accordingly it became the fashion to study Greek, to bring teachers from Athens to Rome, and to send young men to Athens to study. The Roman Empire was therefore the medium through which Grecian culture was transmitted to the western world, and during the Augustan Age the center of learning was transferred from Athens to Rome.