Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/409

 PARTITION OF LANDS. 393 case sufficiently to see that, in what Plutarch has told us ("and from Plutarch the modern views have, until lately, been de rived), there is indeed a basis of reality, but there is also a large superstructure of romance, in not a few particulars essentially misleading. For example, Plutarch treats Lykurgus as intro- ducing his reforms at a time when Sparta was mistress of La- conia, and distributing the whole of that territory among the Periceki. Now we know that Laconia was not then in possession of Sparta, and that the partition of Lykurgus (assuming it to be real) could only have been applied to the land in the immediate vicinity of the latter. For even Amyklae, Pharis, and Geron thras, were not conquered until the reign of Teleklus, posterior to any period which we can reasonably assign to Lykurgus : nor can any such distribution of Laconia have really occurred. Farther, we are told that Lykurgus banished from Sparta coined gold and silver, useless professions and frivolities, eager pursuit of gain, and ostentatious display. Without dwelling upon the improbability that any one of these anti-Spartan characteristics should have existed at so early a period as the ninth century before the Christian era, we may at least be certain that coined silver was not then to be found, since it was first introduced into Greece by Pheidon of Argos in the succeeding century, as has been stated in the preceding section. But amongst all the points stated by Plutarch, the most sus- picious by far, and the most misleading, because endless calcula- tions have been built upon it, is the alleged redivision of landed property. He tells us that Lykurgus found fearful inequality in the landed possessions of the Spartans ; nearly all the land in the hands of a few, and a great multitude without any land ; that he rectified this evil by a redivision of the Spartan district into nine thousand equal lots, and the rest of Laconia into thirty thousand, giving to each citizen as much as would produce a given quota of barley, etc. ; and that he wished, moreover, to have divided the movable property upon similar principles of equality, but was deterred by the difficulties of carrying hia design into execution. Now we shall find on consideration that this new and equal partition of lands by Lykurgus is still more at variance with 17*