It is not certain whether the Periœci were Achæans or Dorians in origin. Whichever they were, our view of the Spartans and their government will be much the same. The Periœci were not treated with distrust or systematic cruelty: they retained their personal freedom under the Spartan rule, they continued to inhabit the towns or cities of Laconia, and in each of their towns to manage their local affairs for themselves[61]: but they had no voice whatever in the politics of Sparta, which were controlled exclusively by the Spartans. Occasionally a man of ability from among the Periœci was promoted to a position of trust: thus in the year 412 B.C. a man named Deiniadas, a Periœcus, commanded a squadron of ships in the war on the coasts of Asia Minor and of Lesbos[62]. [61] If they had not possessed the management of their local affairs, their communities would scarcely have been called πόλεις by Herodotus in the conversation between Xerxes and Demaratus. Herodotus VII. 234; Smith's _Dict. Antiq._ article Periœci. [62] Thucydides VIII. 22 ἦρχε τῶν νεῶ ν Δεινιάδας περίοικος (Deiniadas a Periœcus was in command of the ships). The Helots formed in the fifth century B.C. a large population of serfs who tilled the soil: they were the property of the Spartan state, which however placed the services of Helots at the disposal of the Spartans and Periœci for the cultivation of their estates. The Helots, who were bound to the soil on any given estate were compelled every year to render a fixed quantity of produce to the owner: on the residue they and their families subsisted[63]. [63] These statements about the condition of the Helots are not given by either Herodotus or Thucydides, but are found in Plutarch and Pausanias. Plutarch wrote about 60-70 A.D., and Pausanias about 170-180 A.D.: but both copied authors probably of the fourth century B.C. Pausanias (III. 20. 6) speaks of the Helots as slaves belonging to the state (δοῦλοι τοῦ κοινοῦ): the rest comes from Plutarch, _Lycurgus_, ch. 8.