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64 64 Dr Arnold on the forming the duties imposed on him by law (Xen. Rep. Lac- X. 7). That the Equals were considered as forming a higher rank among the Spartans, may be inferred from the circum- stance that the king when in the field was attended, among others, by three Equals (ib. xiii. 1^). Demosthenes (Lept. p. 4iSQ. 20) says that, " whereas in Sparta the reward of virtue is for the councillor to become a master of the state together with the Equals^ at Athens the people has that power, and there are safeguards of religion and law to prevent any other person from obtaining it."' The meaning of Demosthenes in this passage (which is not expressed with greater precision than his purpose required) appears to be, that the sovereign power, or the legislative and administrative authority, exercised by the whole body of citizens at Athens, in Sparta belonged to the council and the Equals. It may moreover be re- marked that the ofxoTifxoL of Xenophon in his Cyropaedia, which are generally admitted to be copied both in name and substance from the ojuolol of Sparta, were a small body who ruled over the mass of the Persian nation ^^. From these vague and incidental notices it seems probable that the Equals were an aristocratical class within the body of Spar- tans, who were much employed in public offices, and had great influence on the government ; originally perhaps se- lected for their merit, and afterwards their rank became hereditary : it must also be remembered that scarcely in any state did virtue less agree with the common sentiments of mankind, or the standard of morality as it ought to be, than in the republic of Sparta: its virtue consisted in an implicit obedience to the magistrate and a strict adherence to the duties prescribed by law^^: so that even if the Equals were 33 Rep. Lac. xill. 2. dvei ^hv yap irpcoTov o'lkol wu Ad dynTopi Kal toT? (tvv avTM, L. Dindorf corrects avu toI? gvv avTco, comparing s. 1. n-pecpei ij ttoXi^ PaariXea Kal tous avv ai/TO). I should prefer Kal ul crvv avTto, See Elmsley ad Med. 865. 34 The bjULOLOL prohably includes all the public magistrates. See Wolf ad 1. Miiller, b. in. c. 5. § 9. Schafer ad 1. conjectures that niei-d n-(Zu ojulolcjv means but 1 am not aware of any place in which b/moio^ has this sense. On this subject generally, see Cragius de Rep. Lac. i. 10. 35 oXiyoL bvT€^ ovToi oi bp.6Tip.0L KokovpevoL TToWtov ovTcov Twv dWu)v Hepa-oov pa^tcos dpxovaiv II. 1. 3. comp. I. 3. 15. I. 5. 5. 36 ^« The measure of what is everywhere called and esteemed virtue and vice is
 * with his peers' (mit seines Gleichen) i. e. with his colleagues, the other gerons: