The young women were also trained in gymnastic exercises, and enjoyed more freedom than in any other part of Greece. They boxed and wrestled, and ran races, sometimes even with the young men. The object of their education was to train them to be mothers of brave men, and their martial spirit comes out in some of the sayings addressed by Spartan mothers to their sons--“Return with your shield or upon it,” “If your sword is too short add a pace to it.” As a rule the women held a position of honour in the community and were frequently possessed of property, so much so that in the fourth century B.C. more than half the land in Laconia belonged to them. They were trained to suppress all emotions of tenderness and compassion, and to reserve their admiration and affection for the brave and strong. Nothing could have been more humiliating than the reception given to defeated soldiers who survived their comrades and returned home. No one would speak to them or associate with them in any way, and if they did not bear themselves with the greatest humility they were liable to be struck and insulted by any one who met them. Cowardice was the one sin for which there was no forgiveness. It is told of one of the men serving under Leonidas, who had allowed some complaint in his eyes to prevent him from joining his comrades at Thermopylæ, that when he went home to Sparta he was treated with the utmost scorn; no [Illustration: MOUNT ITHOME FROM THE STADION OF MESSENE At the base of the mountain, part of the village of Mavromati may be seen. The architectural fragments in the foreground lie near the entrance to the Stadion. Only the western side of the Stadion appears. Its site is indicated by two figures seated under a tree.] one would give him even a light for his fire. A year afterwards the same man was foremost in the fight at the battle of Platæa, which completed the discomfiture of Persia. He thought by his heroic defiance of danger to wipe out the reproach which rested on him, and he perished nobly on the field. But for all that he was not considered worthy of the funeral honours that were bestowed upon his fallen comrades, who had been less reckless in the fight but had always done their duty.