Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/865

Rh LYCURGUS. set to work he strengthened himself with the au- thority of the Delphic oracle, and with a strong party of influential men at Sparta, who were able in case of need to support his measures with their arms. The reform seems not to have been carried altogether peaceably. The new division of all the land among the citizens must have violated many existing interests. Plutarch has preserved a state- ment, that king Charilaus fled into the temple of Athene Chalcioecos ; and we may presume (if the whole story can be looked upon as authentic) that tliis was not from a mere mistake, as Plutarch thinks, but from necessity. Whatever opposition there was, however, was overborne, and the whole constitution, military and civil, was remodelled. After Lycurgus had ob- tained for his institutions an approving oracle of the national god of Delphi, he exacted a promise from the people not to make any alterations in his laws before his return. And now he left Sparta to finish his life in voluntary exile, in order that his countrymen might be bound bj' their oath to pre- serve his constitution inviolate for ever. Where and how he died nobody could tell. He vanished from the earth like a god, leaving no traces behind but his spirit ; and he was honoured as a god at Sparta with a temple and yearly sacrifices down to the latest times. (Herod, i. 65; Plut. Lye. 31 ; Ephor. ap. Strab. viii. p. 366.) The Spartan constitution was of a mixed nature : the monarchical principle was represented by the kings, the aristocracy by the senate, and the de- mocratical element by the assembly of the people, and by their representatives, the ephors. The question has therefore arisen, what the prominent feature of the Spartan constitution was. Plato doubts whether it ought to be called a tyranny, on account of the arbitrary power of the ephors, or a monarchy, on account of the kings ; while, at other times, no state seemed more democratical, " although (he adds) not to call it an aristocracy (z. e. a go- vernment of the apiaroi, or best), is altogether absurd." {Lerj. iv. p. 712.) So too Isocrates says in one place (p. 270; com p. p. 152, a) that the Spartans had established among themselves an equal demo- cracy, and in another (p. 265, a) that t'le Spartan government was a democracy mixed with aristo- cracy. (Comp. Arist. FoL ii. 6.) Again, Aristotle says {Pol. iv. 9) " that the test of a well mixed constitution is the uncertainty of its name : thus the Spartan constitution is sometimes called a de- mocracy, because the rich and poor are treated in the same manner as to education, dress, and food ; and because the people have a share in the two highest ofiices, by electing the one, and being eligible to the other ; sometimes an oligarchy, be- cause it has many oligarchical institutions, such as that none of the magistrates are chosen by lot, and that a few persons have power to pass sentence of banishment and death." It is evident that the royal prerogatives were on the decline during the whole of the period in which we can follow the course of events. Even at the earliest stage it was divided between two persons, and was consequently weak. The kings had originally to perform the common functions of the kings of the heroic age. They were high priests, judges, and leaders in war; but in all of these departments they were in course of time superseded more or less. As judges they retained only a particular branch of jurisdiction, that referring to the succession of property. As LYCURGUS. 8^ military commanders they were restricted and watched by commissioners sent by the senate ; the functions of high priest were curtailed least, per- haps, because least obnoxious. In compensation for the loss of power, the kings enjoyed great honours, both during their life and after their death, which at Sparta might almost be thought extrava- gant. Still the principle of monarchy was very weak among the Spartans, although their life re- sembled more that of the camp than that of a town. Military obedience was nowliere so strictly enforced as at Sparta, but nowhere was the commander him- self so much restricted by law and custom. It is more difficult to decide whether the aristo- cratical or the democratical element prevailed. The powers of the senate were very important : they had the right of originatnig and discussing all measures before they could be submitted to the deci- sion of the popular assembly ; the management of foreign policy and the most important part of the administration was entrusted to them (Isocr. Pan, p. 265, a; Dionys. ii. 14; Paus. iii. 11. § 2; Aeschin. in Tim. p. 25. 36) ; they had, in conjunc- tion Avith the ephors, to watch over the due ob- servance of the laws and institutions ; and they were judges in all criminal cases, without being bound by any written code. For all this they were not responsible, holding their office for life, a circumstance which Aristotle {Pol. ii. 6, § 17) strongly censures. But with all these powers, the elders formed no real aristocracy. They were not chosen either for property qualification or for noble birth. The senate was open to the poorest citizen, who, during 60 years, had been obedient to the laws and zesUous in the performance of his duties. (Arist. Pol. ii. 6. § 15.) Tyrannical habits are not acquired at such an age and after such a life ; party spirit cannot exist but in a close corporation, separated from the rest of the community by peculiar in- terests. Thus, in Sparta, during its better days, the elements of an aristocracy were wanting. Ths. equal division of property was alone sufficient to prevent it. The only aristocracy was one of merit and personal influence, such as will and must always exist. There are mentioned, however, a class of citizens called the equals, or peers ("0/xojot) {Xen. Hell, iii. 3, § 4, &c. ; de Pep. Laced, x. 4, with the note of Haase), who may appear to have fonned an exclusive body, possessed of peculiar privileges. But these "Ofj.otoi must be regarded as those Spar- tans who had not suffered a diminution of their political rights, who were not virofieiopes or an/xot, as such citizens were called at Athens ; afterwards perhaps the word was used in contradistinction from emancipated slaves, who were not admitted to all the civil privileges of the genuine Spartans. These equals perhaps formed also the lesser as- sembly mentioned by Xenophon {Hell. iii. 3, 8. ^ fxiKpd eKKK-naia) (see Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterth. § 55, p. 464; Hermann, § 28); but were by no means an aristocratical body. The mass of the people, that is, the Spartans of pure Doric descent, formed the sovereign power of the state. From them emanated all particular delegated authority, except that of the kings, which indeed was theoretically based on what may be called divine right, but, as we have seen, derived its strength in every particular part from the consent of the people. The popular assembly con- 3i 2