CHAPTER VI.

LAWS AND DISCIPLINE OF LYKURGUS AT SPARTA.

Lykurgus—authorities of Plutarch respecting him.—Uncertainties about his genealogy.—Probable date of Lykurgus.—Opinion of O. Müller (that Sparta is the perfect type of Dorian character and tendencies) is incorrect.—Peculiarity of Sparta.—Early date of Lykurgus.—View taken of Lykurgus by Herodotus.—Little said about Lykurgus in the earlier authors.—Copious details of Plutarch.—Regency of Lykurgus—his long absence from Sparta.—He is sent by the Delphian oracle to reform the state.—His institutions ascribed to him—senate and popular assembly—ephors.—Constitution ascribed to Lykurgus agrees with that which we find in Homer.—Pair of kings at Sparta—their constant dissensions—a security to the state against despotism.—Idea of Kleomenês the Third respecting the first appointment of the ephors.—Popular origin of the board of ephors—oath interchanged between them and the kings.—Subordination of the kings, and supremacy of the ephors, during the historical times.—Position and privileges of the kings.—Power of the ephors.—Public assembly.—The Senate.—Spartan constitution—a close oligarchy.—Long duration of the constitution without formal change—one cause of the respect in Greece and pride in the Spartans themselves.—Dorians divided into three tribes,—Hylleis, Pamphyli, and Dymanes.—Local distinctions known among the Spartans.—Population of Laconia—1. Spartans.—2. Periœki.—Special meaning of the word Periœki in Laconia.—Statement of Isokratês as to the origin of the Periœki.—Statement of Ephorus—different from Isokratês, yet not wholly irreconcilable.—Spartans and Periœki—no distinction of race known between them in historical times.—3. Helots—essentially villagers.—They were serfs—adscripti glebæ—their condition and treatment.—Bravery and energy of the Helots—fear and cruelty of the Spartans.—Evidence of the character of the Spartan government.—The Krypteia.—Manumitted Helots.—Economical and social regulations ascribed to Lykurgus.—Partition of lands.—Syssitia, or public mess.—Public training or discipline.—Manners and training of the Spartan women—opinion of Aristotle.—Statement of Xenophon and Plutarch.—Number of rich women in the time of Aristotle—they had probably procured exemption from the general training.—Earnest and lofty patriotism of the Spartan women.—Lykurgus is the trainer of a military brotherhood, more than the framer of a political constitution.—His end exclusively warlike—his means exclusively severe.—Statements of Plutarch about Lykurgus—much romance in them.—New partition of lands—no such measure ascribed to Lykurgus by earlier authors down to Aristotle.—The idea of Lykurgus as an equal partitioner of lands belongs to the century of Agis and Kleomenês.—Circumstances of Sparta down to the reign of Agis.—Diminished number of citizens and degradation of Sparta in the reign of Agis.—His ardent wish to restore the dignity of the state.—Historic fancy of Lykurgus as an equal partitioner of lands grew out of this feeling.—Partition proposed by Agis.—Opinion that Lykurgus proposed some agrarian interference, but not an entire repartition, gratuitous and improbable.—The statement of Plutarch is best explained by supposing it a fiction of the time of Agis.—Acknowledged difficulty of understanding by what means the fixed number and integrity of the lots was maintained.—Plutarch’s story about the ephor Epitadeus.—Landed property was always unequally divided at Sparta.—Nor were there any laws which tended to equalize it.—Opinions of Aristotle.—Erroneous suppositions with regard to the Spartan law and practice of succession.—Lykurgean system—originally applied only to Sparta—introduced equal severity of discipline, not equality of property.—Original Dorian allotment of land in Sparta unknown—probably not equal.—Gradual conquest of Laconia, the result of the new force imparted by the Lykurgean discipline.—Conquest of Amyklæ, Pharis, and Geronthræ, by king Têleklus.—Helus conquered by Alkamenês.—Progressive increase of Sparta. 337-421