Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/431

 LYKURGEAN REGULATIONS ABOUT PROPERTY. 41 5 ascribes to the magistrate be found sustained by the chapter of Herodotus on which he seems to rest them. 1 1 Herod, vi. 57, in enumerating the privileges and perquisites of the kings dcKufriv 6k novvovs rotJf Paaihijas roaade ^ovva -irarpov^ov re Traptisvov xipt, ec rbv ittveerai e^stv, rjv [ijjxep 6 Trar^p avrr/v i-yyvqarf Koi 66uv v Trt'ot Kal TJV TIC tieTov iralda Troieecrdai i?e/b/, (iaai/.rjuv ivdvTiov It seems curious that Trarpot^of napdevor should mean a damsel who has .w father (liteially, lucus a non lucendo) : but I suppose that we must accept this apon the authority of Julius Pollux and Timaeus. Proceeding on this int/". '^relation, Valckenaer gives the meaning of the passage very justly : ' : OrU" uuptias, nccduju a patre desponsatse, si plures sibi vindicarent, fieretque r, .rlK^rjpof, ut Athenis loquebantur, emdiKOf, Sparta? lis ista dirimebatur a tigibus solis." iVow the judicial function here described, is something very different from the language of Dr. Thirlwall, that " the kings had the disposal of the hand of orphan heiresses in cases where the father had not signified his will." Such disposal would approach somewhat to that omnipotence which Aristo- phanes ( Vesp. 585) makes old Philokleon claim for the Athenian dikasts (an exaggeration well calculated to serve the poet's purpose of making the dikasts appear monsters of caprice and injustice), and would be analogous to the power wnich English kings enjoyed three centuries ago as feudal guardians over wards. But the language of Herodotus is inconsistent with the idea that the kings chose a husband for the orphan heiress. She was claimed, as of right, by persons in certain degrees of relationship to heiv Whether the law about uyxioTeia, affinity carrying legal rights, was the same as at Athens, we cannot tell ; but the question submitted for adjudication at Sparta, to the kings, and at Athens to the dikasteries, was certainly the same, agreeabiy to the above note of Valckenaer, namely, to whom, among the various clarnuints for the marriage, the best legal title really belonged. It is, indeed, probable enough, that the two royal descendants of Herakles might abuse their judicial function, as there are various instances known in which they take bribes ; but they were not likely to abuse it in favor of an unprovided youth. Next, as to adoption : Herodotus tells us that the ceremony of adoption was performed before the kings : probably enough, there was some fee paid with it. But this affords no ground for presuming that they had any hand in determining whom Uie childless father was to adopt. According to the Attic law about adoption, there were conditions to be fulfilled, consents to be obtained, the absence of disqualifying circumstances verified, etc ; and some authority before which this was to be done was indispensable (see Meier und Schoniann, Attisch. Prozess, b. iii. ch. ii. p. 436). At Sparta, such authority was vested by ancient custom in the king : but we are not told, nor is it prol >able, " that he could interpose, in opposition to the wishe* of individuals, to relieve porerty," as Dr. Thirlwall supposes