There is so much uncertainty in the accounts which historians haveleft us of Lycurgus, the lawgiver of Sparta, that scarcely anythingis asserted by one of them which is not called into question or contradictedby the rest. Their sentiments are quite different as to the familyhe came of, the voyages he undertook, the place and manner of hisdeath, but most of all when they speak of the laws he made and thecommonwealth which he founded. They cannot, by any means, be broughtto an agreement as to the very age in which he lived； for some ofthem say that he flourished in the time of Iphitus, and that theytwo jointly contrived the ordinance for the cessation of arms duringthe solemnity of the Olympic games. Of this opinion was Aristotle；and for confirmation of it, he alleges an inscription upon one ofthe copper quoits used in those sports, upon which the name of Lycurguscontinued uneffaced to his time. But Eratosthenes and Apollodorusand other chronologers, computing the time by the successions of theSpartan kings, pretend to demonstrate that he was much more ancientthan the institution of the Olympic games. Timaeus conjectures thatthere were two of this name, and in diverse times, but that the oneof them being much more famous than the other, men gave to him theglory of the exploits of both； the elder of the two, according tohim, was not long after Homer； and some are so particular as to saythat he had seen him. But that he was of great antiquity may be gatheredfrom a passage in Xenophon, where he makes him contemporary with theHeraclidae. By descent, indeed, the very last kings of Sparta wereHeraclidae too； but he seems in that place to speak of the first andmore immediate successors of Hercules. But notwithstanding this confusionand obscurity, we shall endeavour to compose the history of his life,adhering to those statements which are least contradicted, and dependingupon those authors who are most worthy of credit.

    The poet Simonides will have it that Lycurgus was the son of Prytanis,and not of Eunomus； but in this opinion he is singular, for all therest deduce the genealogy of them both as follows：-

    Aristodemus. to Patrocles. to Sous. to Eurypon. to Eunomus / \ Polydectes by his first wife. Lycurgus by Dionassa his second. Dieuchidassays he was the sixth from Patrocles and the eleventh from Hercules.Be this as it will, Sous certainly was the most renowned of all hisancestors, under whose conduct the Spartans made slaves of the Helots,and added to their dominions, by conquest, a good part of Arcadia.There goes a story of this king Sous, that, being besieged by theClitorians in a dry and stony place so that he could come at no water,he was at last constrained to agree with them upon these terms, thathe would restore to them all his conquests, provided that himselfand all his men should drink of the nearest spring. After the usualoaths and ratifications, he called his soldiers together, and offeredto him that would forbear drinking his kingdom for a reward； and whennot a man of them was able to forbear, in short, when they had alldrunk their fill, at last comes King Sous himself to the spring, and,having sprinkled his face only, without swallowing one drop, marchesoff in the face of his enemies, refusing to yield up his conquests,because himself and all his men had not, according to the articles,drunk of their water.

    Although he was justly had in admiration on this account, yet hisfamily was not surnamed from him, but from his son Eurypon （of whomthey were called Eurypontids）； the reason of which was that Euryponrelaxed the rigour of the monarchy, seeking favour and popularitywith the many. They, after this first step, grew bolder； and the succeedingkings partly incurred hatred with their people by trying to use force,or, for popularity's sake and through weakness, gave way； and anarchyand confusion long prevailed in Sparta, causing, moreover, the deathof the father of Lycurgus. For as he was endeavouring to quell a riot,he was stabbed with a butcher's knife, and left the title of kingto his eldest son, Polydectes.

    He, too, dying soon after, the right of succession （as every one thought）rested in Lycurgus； and reign he did, until it was found that thequeen, his sister-in-law, was with child； upon which he immediatelydeclared that the kingdom belonged to her issue, provided it weremale, and that he himself exercised the regal jurisdiction only ashis guardian； the Spartan name for which office is prodicus. Soonafter, an overture was made to him by the queen, that she would herselfin some way destroy the infant, upon condition that he would marryher when he came to the crown. Abhorring the woman's wickedness, henevertheless did not reject her proposal, but, making show of closingwith her, despatched the messenger with thanks and expressions ofjoy, but dissuaded her earnestly from procuring herself to miscarry,which would impair her health, if not endanger her life； he himself,he said, would see to it, that the child, as soon as born, shouldbe taken out of the way. By such artifices having drawn on the womanto the time of her lying-in, as soon as he heard that she was in labour,he sent persons to be by and observe all that passed, with ordersthat if it were a girl they should deliver it to the women, but ifa boy, should bring it to him wheresoever he were, and whatsoeverdoing. It fell out that when he was at supper with the principal magistratesthe queen was brought to bed of a boy, who was soon after presentedto him as he was at the table； he, taking him into his arms, saidto those about him, "Men of Sparta, here is a king born unto us；"this said, he laid him down in the king's place, and named him Charilaus,that is, the joy of the people； because that all were transportedwith joy and with wonder at his noble and just spirit. His reign hadlasted only eight months, but he was honoured on other accounts bythe citizens, and there were more who obeyed him because of his eminentvirtues, than because he was regent to the king and had the royalpower in his hands. Some, however, envied and sought to impede hisgrowing influence while he was still young； chiefly the kindred andfriends of the queen-mother, who pretended to have been dealt withinjuriously. Her brother Leonidas, in a warm debate which fell outbetwixt him and Lycurgus, went so far as to tell him to his face thathe was well assured that ere long he should see him king； suggestingsuspicions and preparing the way for an accusation of him, as thoughhe had made away with his nephew, if the child should chance to fail,though by a natural death. Words of the like import were designedlycast abroad by the queen-mother and her adherents.

    Troubled at this, and not knowing what it might come to, he thoughtit his wisest course to avoid their envy by a voluntary exile, andto travel from place to place until his nephew came to marriageableyears, and, by having a son, had secured the succession； setting sail,therefore, with this resolution, he first arrived at Crete, where,having considered their several forms of government, and got an acquaintancewith the principal men among them, some of their laws he very muchapproved of, and resolved to make use of them in his own country；a good part he rejected as useless. Among the persons there the mostrenowned for their learning and their wisdom in state matters wasone Thales, whom Lycurgus, by importunities and assurances of friendship,persuaded to go over to Lacedaemon； where, though by his outward appearanceand his own profession he seemed to be no other than a lyric poet,in reality he performed the part of one of the ablest lawgivers inthe world. The very songs which he composed were exhortations to obedienceand concord, and the very measure and cadence of the verse, conveyingimpressions of order and tranquillity, had so great an influence onthe minds of the listeners, that they were insensibly softened andcivilized, insomuch that they renounced their private feuds and animosities,and were reunited in a common admiration of virtue. So that it maytruly be said that Thales prepared the way for the discipline introducedby Lycurgus.

    From Crete he sailed to Asia, with design, as is said, to examinethe difference betwixt the manners and rules of life of the Cretans,which were very sober and temperate, and those of the Ionians, a peopleof sumptuous and delicate habits, and so to form a judgment； justas physicians do by comparing healthy and diseased bodies. Here hehad the first sight of Homer's works, in the hands, we may suppose,of the posterity of Creophylus； and, having observed that the fewloose expressions and actions of ill example which are to be foundin his poems were much outweighed by serious lessons of state andrules of morality, he set himself eagerly to transcribe and digestthem into order, as thinking they would be of good use in his owncountry. They had, indeed, already obtained some slight repute amongthe Greeks, and scattered portions, as chance conveyed them, werein the hands of individuals； but Lycurgus first made them really known.

    The Egyptians say that he took a voyage into Egypt, and that, beingmuch taken with their way of separating the soldiery from the restof the nation, he transferred it from them to Sparta, a removal fromcontact with those employed in low and mechanical occupations givinghigh refinement and beauty to the state. Some Greek writers also recordthis. But as for his voyages into Spain, Africa and the Indies, andhis conferences there with the Gymnosophists, the whole relation,as far as I can find, rests on the single credit of the Spartan Aristocrates,the son of Hipparchus.

    Lycurgus was much missed at Sparta, and often sent for, "for kingsindeed we have," they said, "who wear the marks and assume the titlesof royalty, but as for the qualities of their minds, they have nothingby which they are to be distinguished from their subjects； adding,that in him alone was the true foundation of sovereignty to be seen,a nature made to rule, and a genius to gain obedience. Nor were thekings themselves averse to see him back, for they looked upon hispresence as a bulwark against the insolence of the people.

    Things being in this posture at his return, he applied himself, withoutloss of time, to a thorough reformation, and resolved to change thewhole face of the commonwealth； for what could a few particular lawsand a partial alteration avail？ He must act as wise physicians do,in the case of one who labours under a complication of diseases, byforce of medicines reduce and exhaust him, change his whole temperament,and then set him upon a totally new regimen of diet. Having thus projectedthings, away he goes to Delphi to consult Apollo there； which havingdone, and offered his sacrifice, he returned with that renowned oracle,in which he is called beloved of God, and rather God than man； thathis prayers were heard, that his laws should be the best, and thecommonwealth which observed them the most famous in the world. Encouragedby these things he set himself to bring over to his side the leadingmen of Sparta, exhorting them to give him a helping hand in his greatundertaking； he broke it first to his particular friends, and thenby degrees, gained others, and animated them all to put his designin execution. When things were ripe for action, he gave orders tothirty of the principal men of Sparta to be ready armed at the market-placeby break of day, to the end that he might strike a terror into theopposite party. Hermippus hath set down the names of twenty of themost eminent of them； but the name of him whom Lycurgus most confidedin, and who was of most use to him, both in making his laws and puttingthem in execution was Arthmiadas. Things growing to a tumult, KingCharilaus, apprehending that it was a conspiracy against his person,took sanctuary in the temple of Minerva of the Brazen House； but,being soon after undeceived, and having taken an oath of them thatthey had no designs against him, he quitted his refuge, and himselfalso entered into the confederacy with them； of so gentle and flexiblea disposition he was, to which Archelaus, his brother-king, alluded,when, hearing him extolled for his goodness, he said, "Who can sayhe is anything but good？ he is so even to the bad."

    Amongst the many changes and alterations which Lycurgus made, thefirst and of greatest importance was the establishment of the senate,which having a power equal to the king's in matters of great consequence,and, as Plato expresses it, allaying and qualifying the fiery geniusof the royal office, gave steadiness and safety to the commonwealth.For the state, which before had no firm basis to stand upon, but leanedone while towards an absolute monarchy, when the kings had the upperhand, and another while towards a pure democracy, when the peoplehad the better, found in this establishment of the senate a centralweight, like ballast in a ship, which always kept things in a justequilibrium； the twenty-eight always adhering to the kings so faras to resist democracy, and on the other hand, supporting the peopleagainst the establishment of absolute monarchy. As for the determinatenumber of twenty-eight, Aristotle states, that it so fell out becausetwo of the original associates, for want of courage, fell off fromthe enterprise； but Sphaerus assures us that there were but twenty-eightof the confederates at first； perhaps there is some mystery in thenumber, which consists of seven multiplied by four, and is the firstof perfect numbers after six, being, as that is, equal to all itsparts. For my part, I believe Lycurgus fixed upon the number of twenty-eight,that, the two kings being reckoned amongst them, they might be thirtyin all. So eagerly set was he upon this establishment, that he tookthe trouble to obtain an oracle about it from Delphi, the Rhetra,which runs thus： "After that you have built a temple to Jupiter Helianius,and to Minerva Hellania, and after that you have phyle'd the peopleinto phyles, and obe'd them into obes, you shall establish a councilof thirty elders, the leaders included, and shall, from time to time,apellazein the people betwixt Babyca and Cnacion, there propound andput to the vote. The commons have the final voice and decision." Byphyles and obes are meant the divisions of the people； by the leaders,the two kings； apellazein, referring to the Pythian Apollo, signifiesto assemble； Babyca and Cnacion they now call Oenus； Aristotle saysCnacion is a river, and Babyca a bridge. Betwixt this Babyca and Cnacion,their assemblies were held, for they had no council-house or buildingto meet in. Lycurgus was of opinion that ornaments were so far fromadvantaging them in their counsels, that they were rather an hindrance,by diverting their attention from the business before them to statuesand pictures, and roofs curiously fretted, the usual embellishmentsof such places amongst the other Greeks. The people then being thusassembled in the open air, it was not allowed to any one of theirorder to give his advice, but only either to ratify or reject whatshould be propounded to them by the king or senate. But because itfell out afterwards that the people, by adding or omitting words,distorted and perverted the sense of propositions, Kings Polydorusand Theopompus inserted into the Rhetra, or grand covenant, the followingclause： "That if the people decide crookedly it should be lawful forthe elders and leaders to dissolve；" that is to say, refuse ratification,and dismiss the people as depravers and perverters of their counsel.It passed among the people, by their management, as being equallyauthentic with the rest of the Rhetra, as appears by these versesof Tyrtaeus,-

    "These oracles they from Apollo heard, And brought from Pytho home the perfect word： The heaven-appointed kings, who love the land, Shall foremost in the nation's council stand； The elders next to them； the commons last； Let a straight Rhetra among all be passed."

    Although Lycurgus had, in this manner, used all the qualificationspossible in the constitution of his commonwealth, yet those who succeededhim found the oligarchical element still too strong and dominant,and to check its high temper and its violence, put, as Plato says,a bit in its mouth, which was the power of the ephori, establishedan hundred and thirty years after the death of Lycurgus. Elatus andhis colleagues were the first who had this dignity conferred uponthem in the reign of King Theopompus, who, when his queen upbraidedhim one day that he would leave the regal power to his children lessthan he had received it from his ancestors, said in answer, "No, greater；for it will last longer." For, indeed, their prerogative being thusreduced within reasonable bounds, the Spartan kings were at once freedfrom all further jealousies and consequent danger, and never experiencedthe calamities of their neighbours at Messene and Argos, who, by maintainingtheir prerogative too strictly for want of yielding a little to thepopulace, lost it all.

    Indeed, whosoever shall look at the sedition and misgovernment whichbefell these bordering nations to whom they were as near related inblood as situation, will find in them the best reason to admire thewisdom and foresight of Lycurgus. For these three states, in theirfirst rise, were equal, or, if there were any odds, they lay on theside of the Messenians and Argives, who, in the first allotment, werethought to have been luckier than the Spartans； yet was their happinessof but small continuance, partly the tyrannical temper of their kingsand partly the ungovernableness of the people quickly bringing uponthem such disorders, and so complete an overthrow of all existinginstitutions, as clearly to show how truly divine a blessing the Spartanshad had in that wise lawgiver who gave their government its happybalance and temper. But of this I shall say more in its due place.

    After the creation of the thirty senators, his next task, and, indeed,the most hazardous he ever undertook, was the making a new divisionof their lands. For there was an extreme inequality amongst them,and their state was overloaded with a multitude of indigent and necessitouspersons, while its whole wealth had centred upon a very few. To theend, therefore, that he might expel from the state arrogance and envy,luxury and crime, and those yet more inveterate diseases of want andsuperfluity, he obtained of them to renounce their properties, andto consent to a new division of the land, and that they should liveall together on an equal footing； merit to be their only road to eminence,and the disgrace of evil, and credit of worthy acts, their one measureof difference between man and man.

    Upon their consent to these proposals, proceeding at once to put theminto execution, he divided the country of Laconia in general intothirty thousand equal shares, and the part attached to the city ofSparta into nine thousand； these he distributed among the Spartans,as he did the others to the country citizens. Some authors say thathe made but six thousand lots for the citizens of Sparta, and thatKing Polydorus added three thousand more. Others say that Polydorusdoubled the number Lycurgus had made, which, according to them, wasbut four thousand five hundred. A lot was so much as to yield, oneyear with another, about seventy bushels of grain for the master ofthe family, and twelve for his wife, with a suitable proportion ofoil and wine. And this he thought sufficient to keep their bodiesin good health and strength； superfluities they were better without.It is reported, that, as he returned from a journey shortly afterthe division of the lands, in harvest time, the ground being newlyreaped, seeing the stacks all standing equal and alike, he smiled,and said to those about him, "Methinks all Laconia looks like onefamily estate just divided among a number of brothers."

    Not contented with this, he resolved to make a division of their movablestoo, that there might be no odious distinction or inequality leftamongst them； but finding that it would be very dangerous to go aboutit openly, he took another course, and defeated their avarice by thefollowing stratagem： he commanded that all gold and silver coin shouldbe called in, and that only a sort of money made of iron should becurrent, a great weight and quantity of which was very little worth；so that to lay up twenty or thirty pounds there was required a prettylarge closet, and, to remove it, nothing less than a yoke of oxen.With the diffusion of this money, at once a number of vices were banishedfrom Lacedaemon； for who would rob another of such a coin？ Who wouldunjustly detain or take by force, or accept as a bribe, a thing whichit was not easy to hide, nor a credit to have, nor indeed of any useto cut in pieces？ For when it was just red hot, they quenched it invinegar, and by that means spoilt it, and made it almost incapableof being worked.

    In the next place, he declared an outlawry of all needless and superfluousarts； but here he might almost have spared his proclamation； for theyof themselves would have gone after the gold and silver, the moneywhich remained being not so proper payment for curious work； for,being of iron, it was scarcely portable, neither, if they should takethe means to export it, would it pass amongst the other Greeks, whoridiculed it. So there was now no more means of purchasing foreigngoods and small wares； merchants sent no shiploads into Laconian ports；no rhetoric-master, no itinerate fortune-teller, no harlot-monger,or gold or silversmith, engraver, or jeweller, set foot in a countrywhich had no money； so that luxury, deprived little by little of thatwhich fed and fomented it, wasted to nothing and died away of itself.For the rich had no advantage here over the poor, as their wealthand abundance had no road to come abroad by but were shut up at homedoing nothing. And in this way they became excellent artists in common,necessary things； bedsteads, chairs, and tables, and such like stapleutensils in a family, were admirably well made there； their cup, particularly,was very much in fashion, and eagerly bought up by soldiers, as Critiasreports； for its colour was such as to prevent water, drunk upon necessityand disagreeable to look at, from being noticed； and the shape ofit was such that the mud stuck to the sides, so that only the purerpart came to the drinker's mouth. For this also, they had to thanktheir lawgiver, who, by relieving the artisans of the trouble of makinguseless things, set them to show their skill in giving, beauty tothose of daily and indispensable use.

    The third and most masterly stroke of this great lawgiver, by whichhe struck a yet more effectual blow against luxury and the desireof riches, was the ordinance he made, that they should all eat incommon, of the same bread and same meat, and of kinds that were specified,and should not spend their lives at home, laid on costly couches atsplendid tables, delivering themselves up into the hands of theirtradesmen and cooks, to fatten them in corners, like greedy brutes,and to ruin not their minds only but their very bodies which, enfeebledby indulgence and excess, would stand in need of long sleep, warmbathing, freedom from work, and, in a word, of as much care and attendanceas if they were continually sick. It was certainly an extraordinarything to have brought about such a result as this, but a greater yetto have taken away from wealth, as Theophrastus observes, not merelythe property of being coveted, but its very nature of being wealth.For the rich, being obliged to go to the same table with the poor,could not make use of or enjoy their abundance, nor so much as pleasetheir vanity by looking at or displaying it. So that the common proverb,that Plutus, the god of riches, is blind, was nowhere in all the worldliterally verified but in Sparta. There, indeed, he was not only blind,but like a picture, without either life or motion. Nor were they allowedto take food at home first, and then attend the public tables, forevery one had an eye upon those who did not eat and drink like therest, and reproached them with being dainty and effeminate.

    This last ordinance in particular exasperated the wealthier men. Theycollected in a body against Lycurgus, and from ill words came to throwingstones, so that at length he was forced to run out of the market-place,and make to sanctuary to save his life； by good-hap he outran all,excepting one Alcander, a young man otherwise not ill accomplished,but hasty and violent, who came up so close to him, that when he turnedto see who was so near him, he struck him upon the face with his stick,and put out one of his eyes. Lycurgus, so far from being daunted anddiscouraged by this accident, stopped short and showed his disfiguredface and eye beat out to his countrymen； they, dismayed and ashamedat the sight, delivered Alcander into his hands to be punished, andescorted him home, with expressions of great concern for his ill-usage.Lycurgus, having thanked them for their care of his person, dismissedthem all, excepting only Alcander； and, taking him with him into hishouse, neither did nor said anything severely to him, but, dismissingthose whose place it was, bade Alcander to wait upon him at table.The young man, who was of an ingenuous temper, without murmuring didas he was commanded； and being thus admitted to live with Lycurgus,he had an opportunity to observe in him, besides his gentleness andcalmness of temper, an extraordinary sobriety and an indefatigableindustry, and so, from an enemy, became one of his most zealous admirers,and told his friends and relations that Lycurgus was not that moroseand ill-natured man they had formerly taken him for, but the one mildand gentle character of the world. And thus did Lycurgus, for chastisementof his fault, make of a wild and passionate young man one of the discreetestcitizens of Sparta.

    In memory of this accident, Lycurgus built a temple to Minerva, surnamedOptiletis； optilus being the Doric of these parts for ophthalmus,the eye. Some authors, however, of whom Dioscorides is one （who wrotea treatise on the commonwealth of Sparta）, say that he was wounded,indeed, but did not lose his eye with the blow； but that he builtthe temple in gratitude for the cure. Be this as it will, certainit is, that, after this misadventure, the Lacedaemonians made it arule never to carry so much as a staff into their public assemblies.

    But to return to their public repast；- these had several names inGreek； the Cretans called them andria, because the men only came tothem. The Lacedaemonians called them phiditia, that is, by changingl into d, the same as philitia, love feasts, because that, by eatingand drinking together, they had opportunity of making friends. Orperhaps from phido, parsimony, because they were so many schools ofsobriety； or perhaps the first letter is an addition, and the wordat first was editia, from edode, eating. They met by companies offifteen, more or less, and each of them stood bound to bring in monthlya bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, twopounds and a half of figs, and a very small sum of money to buy fleshor fish with. Besides this, when any of them made sacrifice to thegods, they always sent a dole to the common hall； and, likewise, whenany of them had been a hunting, he sent thither a part of the venisonhe had killed； for these two occasions were the only excuses allowedfor supping at home. The custom of eating together was observed strictlyfor a great while afterwards； insomuch that King Agis himself, afterhaving vanquished the Athenians, sending for his commons at his returnhome, because he desired to eat privately with his queen, was refusedthem by the polemarchs； which refusal when he resented so much asto omit next day the sacrifice due for a war happily ended, they madehim pay a fine.

    They used to send their children to these tables as to schools oftemperance； here they were instructed in state affairs by listeningto experienced statesmen； here they learned to converse with pleasantry,to make jests without scurrility and take them without ill humour.In this point of good breeding, the Lacedaemonians excelled particularly,but if any man were uneasy under it, upon the least hint given, therewas no more to be said to him. It was customary also for the eldestman in the company to say to each of them, as they came in, "Throughthis" （pointing to the door）, "no words go out." When any one hada desire to be admitted into any of these little societies, he wasto go through the following probation： each man in the company tooka little ball of soft bread, which they were to throw into a deepbasin, which a waiter carried round upon his head； those that likedthe person to be chosen dropped their ball into the basin withoutaltering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it betwixttheir fingers, and made it flat； and this signified as much as a negativevoice. And if there were but one of these flattened pieces in thebasin, the suitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all themembers of the company should be agreeable to each other. The basinwas called caddichus, and the rejected candidate had a name thencederived. Their most famous dish was the black broth, which was somuch valued that the elderly men fed only upon that, leaving whatflesh there was to the younger.

    They say that a certain king of Pontus, having heard much of thisblack broth of theirs, sent for a Lacedaemonian cook on purpose tomake him some, but had no sooner tasted it than he found it extremelybad, which the cook observing, told him, "Sir, to make this brothrelish, you should have bathed yourself first in the river Eurotas."

    After drinking moderately, every man went to his home without lights,for the use of them was, on all occasions, forbid to the end thatthey might accustom themselves to march boldly in the dark. Such wasthe common fashion of their meals.

    Lycurgus would never reduce his laws into writing； nay there is aRhetra expressly to forbid it. For he thought that the most materialpoints, and such as most directly tended to the public welfare, beingimprinted on the hearts of their youth by a good discipline, wouldbe sure to remain, and would find a stronger security, than any compulsionwould be in the principles of action formed in them by their bestlawgiver, education. And as for things of lesser importance, as pecuniarycontracts, and such like, the forms of which have to be changed asoccasion requires, he thought it the best way to prescribe no positiverule or inviolable usage in such cases, willing that their mannerand form should be altered according to the circumstances of time,and determinations of men of sound judgment. Every end and objectof law and enactment it was his design education should effect.

    One, then, of the Rhetras was, that their laws should not be written；another is particularly levelled against luxury and expensiveness,for by it was ordained that the ceilings of their houses should onlybe wrought by the axe, and their gates and doors smoothed only bythe saw. Epaminondas's famous dictum about his own table, that "Treasonand a dinner like this do not keep company together," may be saidto have been anticipated by Lycurgus. Luxury and a house of this kindcould not well be companions. For a man might have a less than ordinaryshare of sense that would furnish such plain and common rooms withsilver-footed couches and purple coverlets and gold and silver plate.Doubtless he had good reason to think that they would proportion theirbeds to their houses, and their coverlets to their houses, and theircoverlets to their beds, and the rest of their goods and furnitureto these. It is reported that king Leotychides, the first of thatname, was so little used to the sight of any other kind of work, that,being entertained at Corinth in a stately room, he was much surprisedto see the timber and ceiling so finely carved and panelled, and askedhis host whether the trees grew so in his country.

    A third ordinance of Rhetra was, that they should not make war often,or long, with the same enemy, lest that they should train and instructthem in war, by habituating them to defend themselves. And this iswhat Agesilaus was much blamed for, a long time after； it being thought,that, by his continual incursions into Boeotia, he made the Thebansa match for the Lacedaemonians； and therefore Antalcidas, seeing himwounded one day, said to him, that he was very well paid for takingsuch pains to make the Thebans good soldiers, whether they would orno. These laws were called the Rhetras, to intimate that they weredivine sanctions and revelations.

    In order to the good education of their youth （which, as I said before,he thought the most important and noblest work of a lawgiver）, hewent so far back as to take into consideration their very conceptionand birth, by regulating their marriages. For Aristotle is wrong insaying, that, after he had tried all ways to reduce the women to moremodesty and sobriety, he was at last forced to leave them as theywere, because that in the absence of their husbands, who spent thebest part of their lives in the wars, their wives, whom they wereobliged to leave absolute mistresses at home, took great libertiesand assumed the superiority； and were treated with overmuch respectand called by the title of lady or queen. The truth is, he took intheir case, also, all the care that was possible； he ordered the maidensto exercise themselves with wrestling, running, throwing, the quoit,and casting the dart, to the end that the fruit they conceived might,in strong and healthy bodies, take firmer root and find better growth,and withal that they, with this greater vigour, might be the moreable to undergo the pains of child-bearing. And to the end he mighttake away their overgreat tenderness and fear of exposure to the air,and all acquired womanishness, he ordered that the young women shouldgo naked in the processions, as well as the young men, and dance,too, in that condition, at certain solemn feasts, singing certainsongs, whilst the young men stood around, seeing and hearing them.On these occasions they now and then made, by jests, a befitting reflectionupon those who had misbehaved themselves in the wars； and again sangencomiums upon those who had done any gallant action, and by thesemeans inspired the younger sort with an emulation of their glory.Those that were thus commended went away proud, elated, and gratifiedwith their honour among the maidens； and those who were rallied wereas sensibly touched with it as if they had been formally reprimanded；and so much the more, because the kings and the elders, as well asthe rest of the city, saw and heard all that passed. Nor was thereanything shameful in this nakedness of the young women； modesty attendedthem, and all wantonness was excluded. It taught them simplicity anda care for good health, and gave them some taste of higher feelings,admitted as they thus were to the field of noble action and glory.Hence it was natural for them to think and speak as Gorgo, for example,the wife of Leonidas, is said to have done, when some foreign lady,as it would seem, told her that the women of Lacedaemon were the onlywomen in the world who could rule men； "With good reason," she said,"for we are the only women who bring forth men."

    These public processions of the maidens, and their appearing nakedin their exercises and dancings, were incitements to marriage, operatingupon the young with the rigour and certainty, as Plato says, of love,if not of mathematics. But besides all this, to promote it yet moreeffectually, those who continued bachelors were in a degree disfranchisedby law； for they were excluded from the sight those public processionsin which the young men and maidens danced naked, and, in winter-time,the officers compelled them to march naked themselves round the marketplace,singing as they went a certain song to their own disgrace, that theyjustly suffered this punishment for disobeying the laws. Moreover,they were denied that respect and observance which the younger menpaid their elders； and no man, for example, found fault with whatwas said to Dercyllidas, though so eminent a commander； upon whoseapproach one day, a young man, instead of rising, retained his seat,remarking, "No child of yours will make room for me."

    In their marriages, the husband carried off his bride by a sort offorce； nor were their brides ever small and of tender years, but intheir full bloom and ripeness. After this, she who superintended thewedding comes and clips the hair of the bride close round her head,dresses her up in man's clothes, and leaves her upon a mattress inthe dark； afterwards comes the bridegroom, in his everyday clothes,sober and composed, as having supped at the common table, and, enteringprivately into the room where the bride lies, unties her virgin zone,and takes her to himself； and, after staying some time together, hereturns composedly to his own apartment, to sleep as usual with theother young men. And so he continues to do, spending his days, and,indeed, his nights, with them, visiting his bride in fear and shame,and with circumspection, when he thought he should not be observedshe, also, on her part, using her wit to help and find favourableopportunities for their meeting, when company was out of the way.In this manner they lived a long time, insomuch that they sometimeshad children by their wives before ever they saw their faces by daylight.Their interviews, being thus difficult and rare, served not only forcontinual exercise of their self-control, but brought them togetherwith their bodies healthy and vigorous, and their affections freshand lively, unsated and undulled by easy access and long continuancewith each other； while their partings were always early enough toleave behind unextinguished in each of them some remaining fire oflonging and mutual delight. After guarding marriage with this modestyand reserve, he was equally careful to banish empty and womanish jealousy.For this object, excluding all licentious disorders, he made it, nevertheless,honourable for men to give the use of their wives to those whom theyshould think fit, that so they might have children by them； ridiculingthose in whose opinion such favours are so unfit for participationas to fight and shed blood and go to war about it. Lycurgus alloweda man who was advanced in years and had a young wife to recommendsome virtuous and approved young man, that she might have a childby him, who might inherit the good qualities of the father, and bea son to himself. On the other side, an honest man who had love fora married woman upon account of her modesty and the well-favourednessof her children, might, without formality, beg her company of herhusband, that he might raise, as it were, from this plot of good ground,worthy and well-allied children for himself. And indeed, Lycurguswas of a persuasion that children were not so much the property oftheir parents as of the whole commonwealth, and, therefore, wouldnot have his citizens begot by the first-comers, but by the best menthat could be found； the laws of other nations seemed to him veryabsurd and inconsistent, where people would be so solicitous for theirdogs and horses as to exert interest and to pay money to procure finebreeding, and yet kept their wives shut up, to be made mothers onlyby themselves, who might be foolish, infirm, or diseased； as if itwere not apparent that children of a bad breed would prove their badqualities first upon those who kept and were rearing them, and well-bornchildren, in like manner, their good qualities. These regulations,founded on natural and social grounds, were certainly so far fromthat scandalous liberty which was afterwards charged upon their women,that they knew not what adultery meant. It is told, for instance,of Geradas, a very ancient Spartan, that, being asked by a strangerwhat punishment their law had appointed for adulterers, he answered,"There are no adulterers in our country." "But," replied the stranger,"suppose there were？" "Then," answered he, "the offender would haveto give the plaintiff a bull with a neck so long as that he mightdrink from the top of Taygetus of the Eurotas river below it." Theman, surprised at this, said, "Why, 'tis impossible to find such abull." Geradas smilingly replied, "'Tis as possible as to find anadulterer in Sparta." So much I had to say of their marriages.

    Nor was it in the power of the father to dispose of the child as hethought fit； he was obliged to carry it before certain triers at aplace called Lesche； these were some of the elders of the tribe towhich the child belonged； their business it was carefully to viewthe infant, and, if they found it stout and well made, they gave orderfor its rearing, and allotted to it one of the nine thousand sharesof land above mentioned for its maintenance, but, if they found itpuny and ill-shaped, ordered it to be taken to what was called theApothetae, a sort of chasm under Taygetus； as thinking it neitherfor the good of the child itself, nor for the public interest, thatit should be brought up, if it did not, from the very outset, appearmade to be healthy and vigorous. Upon the same account, the womendid not bathe the new-born children with water, as is the custom inall other countries, but with wine, to prove the temper and complexionof their bodies； from a notion they had that epileptic and weaklychildren faint and waste away upon their being thus bathed while,on the contrary, those of a strong and vigorous habit acquire firmnessand get a temper by it, like steel. There was much care and art, too,used by the nurses； they had no swaddling bands； the children grewup free and unconstrained in limb and form, and not dainty and fancifulabout their food； not afraid in the dark, or of being left alone；and without peevishness, or ill-humour, or crying. Upon this accountSpartan nurses were often bought up, or hired by people of other countries；and it is recorded that she who suckled Alcibiades was a Spartan；who, however, if fortunate in his nurse, was not so in his preceptor；his guardian, Pericles, as Plato tells us, chose a servant for thatoffice called Zopyrus, no better than any common slave.

    Lycurgus was of another mind； he would not have masters bought outof the market for his young Spartans, nor such as should sell theirpains； nor was it lawful, indeed, for the father himself to breedup the children after his own fancy； but as soon as they were sevenyears old they were to be enrolled in certain companies and classes,where they all lived under the same order and discipline, doing theirexercises and taking their play together. Of these, he who showedthe most conduct and courage was made captain； they had their eyesalways upon him, obeyed his orders, and underwent patiently whatsoeverpunishment he inflicted； so that the whole course of their educationwas one continued exercise of a ready and perfect obedience. The oldmen, too, were spectators of their performances, and often raisedquarrels and disputes among them, to have a good opportunity of findingout their different characters, and of seeing which would be valiant,which a coward, when they should come to more dangerous encounters.Reading and writing they gave them, just enough to serve their turn；their chief care was to make them good subjects, and to teach themto endure pain and conquer in battle. To this end, as they grew inyears, their discipline was proportionately increased； their headswere close-clipped, they were accustomed to go barefoot, and for themost part to play naked.

    After they were twelve years old, they were no longer allowed to wearany undergarments, they had one coat to serve them a year； their bodieswere hard and dry, with but little acquaintance of baths and unguents；these human indulgences they were allowed only on some few particulardays in the year. They lodged together in little bands upon beds madeof the rushes which grew by the banks of the river Eurotas, whichthey were to break off with their hands without a knife； if it werewinter, they mingled some thistle-down with their rushes, which itwas thought had the property of giving warmth. By the time they werecome to this age there was not any of the more hopeful boys who hadnot a lover to bear him company. The old men, too, had an eye uponthem, coming often to the grounds to hear and see them contend eitherin wit or strength with one another, and this as seriously and withas much concern as if they were their fathers, their tutors, or theirmagistrates； so that there scarcely was any time or place withoutsome one present to put them in mind of their duty, and punish themif they had neglected it.

    Besides all this, there was always one of the best and honestest menin the city appointed to undertake the charge and governance of them；he again arranged them into their several bands, and set over eachof them for their captain the most temperate and boldest of thosethey called Irens, who were usually twenty years old, two years outof the boys； and the oldest of the boys, again, were Mell-Irens, asmuch as to say, who would shortly be men. This young man, therefore,was their captain when they fought and their master at home, usingthem for the offices of his house； sending the eldest of them to fetchwood, and the weaker and less able to gather salads and herbs, andthese they must either go without or steal； which they did by creepinginto the gardens, or conveying themselves cunningly and closely intothe eating-houses； if they were taken in the fact, they were whippedwithout mercy, for thieving so ill and awkwardly. They stole, too,all other meat they could lay their hands on, looking out and watchingall opportunities, when people were asleep or more careless than usual.If they were caught, they were not only punished with whipping, buthunger, too, being reduced to their ordinary allowance, which wasbut very slender, and so contrived on purpose, that they might setabout to help themselves, and be forced to exercise their energy andaddress. This was the principal design of their hard fare； there wasanother not inconsiderable, that they might grow taller； for the vitalspirits, not being overburdened and oppressed by too great a quantityof nourishment, which necessarily discharges itself into thicknessand breadth, do, by their natural lightness, rise； and the body, givingand yielding because it is pliant, grows in height. The same thingseems, also, to conduce to beauty of shape； a dry and lean habit isa better subject for nature's configuration, which the gross and over-fedare too heavy to submit to properly. Just as we find that women whotake physic whilst they are with child, bear leaner and smaller butbetter-shaped and prettier children； the material they come of havingbeen more pliable and easily moulded. The reason, however, I leaveothers to determine.

    To return from whence we have digressed. So seriously did the Lacedaemonianchildren go about their stealing, that a youth, having stolen a youngfox and hid it under his coat, suffered it to tear out his very bowelswith its teeth and claws and died upon the place, rather than letit be seen. What is practised to this very day in Lacedaemon is enoughto gain credit to this story, for I myself have seen several of theyouths endure whipping to death at the foot of the altar of Dianasurnamed Orthia.

    The Iren, or under-master, used to stay a little with them after supper,and one of them he bade to sing a song, to another he put a questionwhich required an advised and deliberate answer； for example, Whowas the best man in the city？ What he thought of such an action ofsuch a man？ They used them thus early to pass a right judgment uponpersons and things, and to inform themselves of the abilities or defectsof their countrymen. If they had not an answer ready to the question,Who was a good or who an ill-reputed citizen, they were looked uponas of a dull and careless disposition, and to have little or no senseof virtue and honour； besides this, they were to give a good reasonfor what they said, and in as few words and as comprehensive as mightbe； he that failed of this, or answered not to the purpose, had histhumb bit by the master. Sometimes the Iren did this in the presenceof the old men and magistrates, that they might see whether he punishedthem justly and in due measure or not, and when he did amiss, theywould not reprove him before the boys, but, when they were gone, hewas called to an account and underwent correction, if he had run farinto either of the extremes of indulgence or severity.

    Their lovers and favourers, too, had a share in the young boy's honouror disgrace； and there goes a story that one of them was fined bythe magistrate, because the lad whom he loved cried out effeminatelyas he was fighting. And though this sort o