Par Then Iæ

a word derived from the Greek, signifying virginity. In military history it refers to a particular circumstance which occurred among the ancients. The Spartans having been at war with the Me enians for 20 years, and having by that means very much depopulated their country, and apprehending that if this war continued, it might eventually strip Sparta of all its male inhabitants, they sent some of their young men from the army into the city, with licence to be familiar with as many unmarried women as they would; and the children begotten by them in this manner were called Par then iæ, on account of the uncertainty who were their fathers. At the end of the war this brood were deemed bastards, and were denied the bearing of any office in the government, . This unjust exclusion enraged them so much, that they conspired with the slaves to destroy all the nobility; but on the discovery of their plot, they were driven out of the city. After which, being headed by Phalantus, a bold and enterprising son of chance, they travelled into Magna Grecia in Italy, and built Tarentum.— Bailey’s Dict.