Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/354

 338 HISTORY OF GREECE. And this exordium is but too well borne out by the unsatisfac- tory nature of the accounts which we read, not only in Plutarch himself, but in those other authors out of whom we are obliged to make up our idea of the memorable Lykurgean system. If we examine the sources from which Plutarch's life of Lykurgus is deduced, it will appear that excepting the poets Alkman, Tyrtaeus, and Simonides, from whom he has borrowed less than we could have wished he has no authorities older than Xen ophon and Plato : Aristotle is cited several times, and is unques- tionably the best of his witnesses, but the greater number of them belong to the century subsequent to that philosopher. Neither Herodotus nor Ephorus are named, though the former furnishes some brief, but interesting particulars, and the latter also (as far as we can judge from the fragments remaining) entered at large into the proceedings of the Spartan lawgiver. 1 Lykurgus is described by Herodotus as uncle and guardian to king Labotas, of the Eurystheneid or Agid line of Spartan kings ; and this would place him, according to the received chronology, about 220 years before the first recorded Olympiad (about B. c. 9 9 6). 2 All the other accounts, on the contrary, seem to repre- sent him as a younger brother, belonging to the other or Prokleid tine of Spartan kings, though they do not perfectly agree respect- ing his parentage. While Simonides stated him to be the son of Prytanis, Dieutychidas described him as grandson of Prytanis, son of Eunomus, brother of Polydektes, and uncle as well as guardian to Charilaus, thus making him eleventh in descent from Herakles. 3 This latter account was adopted by Aristotle, coinciding, according to the received chronology, with the date of Iphitus the Eleian, and the first celebration of the Olympic games by Lykurgus and Iphitus conjointly, 4 which Aristotle 1 See Hcercn, Disscrtatio de Fontibus Plutarchi, pp. 19-25. Lacedaemonians themselves. 3 Plutarch, Lykurg. c. 1. According to Dionys. Halik. (Ant. Rom. ii. 49/ Lykurgus was uncle, not son, of Eunomus. Aristotle considers Lykurgus as guardian of Charilaus (Politic, ii. 7, 1 ) : compare v. 10, 3. See O. Miiller (Hist, of Dorians, i. 7, 3). 4 Phlegon also adds Kleosthenes of Pisa (De Olympiis ap. Menrsii Opp. f ii. p. 128). It appears that there existed a quoit at Olympia, upon whick
 * Herodot. i. 65. Moreover, Herodotus gives this as the statement of the