Although in the writings commonly ascribed to Homer is to be observed a fairly correct picture of many phases of Greek life, the earliest authentic historical accounts which we have of this people are perhaps those of Aristotle and Plutarch. In the accounts given of the Laced?monians by the last named of these writers, the fact is shown that male influence among the Spartans of the time of Lycurgus had not reached that state of intense and overshadowing domination in which we find the Athenians of the Solonic period submerged.
The early Dorians were ever ready to uphold the ancient customs as opposed to innovations. In the management of public affairs they trusted to the ties of relationship rather than to political organization based on property. The policy of the Athenians, on the contrary, as enunciated by Pericles, was that “it is not the country and the people, but movable and personal property, in the proper sense of the word, which make states great and powerful.” The one policy was essentially Doric, the other Ionic.182
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The exact time at which Lycurgus occupied the position of lawgiver to the Spartans is not known, but it is claimed by Xenophon that he lived shortly after the age of Homer. If the accounts of the Laced?monians which have come down to us in connection with the name of this legislator belong to that early age, if scarcely one ethnical period had elapsed since woman’s influence was supreme in the home and in the group, we would naturally expect to find in their customs, usages, and regulations for the management of society, certain traces of a former state of female independence, and a hint, at least, of those principles of liberty and equality in the establishment of the commonwealth which were the result of female influence; especially would this be true as we are informed that the Spartans were a conservative people, clinging to the prejudices of more ancient times. A glance at Spartan institutions at the time indicated, furnishes ample proof of the fact that the Laced?monians were still to a considerable extent living under conditions which had been established under the archaic rule of the gens.
The Spartan senate as reconstructed by Lycurgus was composed of thirty members including the two kings or military leaders.183 These chiefs were the heads of the several gentes. The Ecclesia, or assembly of the people,287 “contained originally all the free males who dwelt within the city were of a legal age.”184 Hence may be observed the fact that the constitution of the state was the same as that in the Upper Status of barbarism; yet the spectacle of a double monarchy (notwithstanding the fact that it has been designated as a kind of irresponsible generalship)185 shows that the power attached to the office of basileus had become a menace to the liberties of the people; hence this equal division of responsibility and authority.
The Spartan men were warriors who had subjugated the country, making serfs of the original inhabitants. In the time of Lycurgus these gentlemen soldiers constituted an aristocratic class who spent their lives in the performance of public duties, leaving the cultivation of the soil to the serfs. Helots, the name given to the serfs, signifies “captives.” They were the slave population of Laconia.186 The manufacturers and tradespeople of the towns and country districts around Sparta were free, but had been deprived of their political rights. It is evident from these facts that although the constitution of the state had not been changed, the division of the people into classes, a division which since the latter part of the Second Status of barbarism had been threatened, had through spoliation and conquest already taken place. Add to this the fact that property had passed into the hands of private individ288uals, and we shall observe that the conditions had already become favourable for the development of that thirst for wealth and power which characterizes monarchial institutions.
If we carefully note the early condition of Spartan society, and studiously observe the processes involved in the growth of human institutions, we shall be enabled to perceive the nature of the “load” under which the Spartans “groaned” in the time of Lycurgus. The fact has been noted that, throughout an entire ethnical period, human ingenuity had been taxed to the utmost to subdue or keep in check the growing tendency toward usurpation and tyranny, and the spectacle of a double monarchy, or of two military chieftains as they appeared in ancient Sparta, indicates an attempt on the part of the people to divide the power which had become attached to this office, and which was doubtless already menacing the popular rights.
In addition to the turmoil and strife engendered by the thirst for power were the turbulence and frequent insurrections of the serfs, who, it will be remembered, had previously been free, and who were therefore restless and impatient under the tyranny of their Spartan masters.
Although wealth had greatly increased in Sparta during the ages immediately preceding the Lycurgan system, yet that the disorders which prevailed were in no wise attributable to luxury and enervation is shown in the fact as given by Aristotle,289 that the men during their frequent campaigns had become inured to the rigours and hardships of a soldier’s life. He says:
For, during the wars of the Laced?mons, first against the Argives, and afterwards against the Arcadians and Messenians, the men were long away from home, and on the return of peace, they gave themselves into the legislator’s hands, already prepared by the discipline of a soldier’s life (in which there were many elements of virtue), to receive his enactments.187
It is indeed plain that the state of disorder which prevailed at Sparta in the time of Lycurgus can be accounted for in no other way than that the people were no longer able to keep in check the constantly increasing egoism and selfishness developed within the governing classes.
The extent to which all wise regulations are attributed to the governing head is plainly apparent in the view taken of the management of Sparta which Herodotus and Plutarch ascribe to Lycurgus, but which in the very nature of the case must have originated from other sources.
It is in no wise probable that Lycurgus instituted any such radical changes in the constitution of the state as have been ascribed to him by the above writers, for, as we have seen, prior to his appearance as lawgiver the government was administered by a military chieftain or basileus, a senate, and an assembly of the people. In order290 to strengthen their authority, the kings had made common cause with the assembly of the people, and through this means had drawn to themselves nearly all the powers originally vested in that body; while the senate, destitute of support, had gradually yielded up its functions to them.
Before accepting the statements of these writers, attributing to Lycurgus that almost unparalleled degree of genius by means of which was originated an entirely new set of institutions, all the accessible facts relative to these institutions should without prejudice be closely scrutinized, especially as they involve principles and actions which could scarcely have been forced upon a people through an arbitrary stretch of power in the hands of a single individual.
Doubtless the principal changes in the government inaugurated by Lycurgus were, first, the importance which he caused to be attached to the assembly of the people, and second, the restoration of the senate. By strengthening this body, which was originally composed of the heads of the gentes, the gentile organization was in a measure restored to its original dignity. The extreme anxiety felt in the time of Lycurgus lest the people’s rights be invaded, is shown in the fact that the three administrative functions of the government were supplemented by five ephors chosen annually as agents of the people, whose chief prerogative it was to scrutinize the acts of the chief magistrate and other guardians of the commonwealth. Al291though the office of the ephors is much older than the Lycurgan legislation,188 it had previously been abolished, or had sunk into disuse. The ephors of Lycurgus were “probably appointed for the special purpose of watching over the Lycurgan discipline, and punishing those who neglected it.”189
Later, however, when through the greed for gain and the inordinate thirst for power, the ephors in their turn had drawn to themselves the greater share of the powers belonging to the state, the military commander, or so-called king, became responsible to them for his conduct even while directing the army in the field. He received his orders from them, and although in cases of emergency he was authorized to exercise the power of life and death, according to Xenophon, they could accuse the king and compel him to defend his acts or suffer the penalty of death. By a gradual process of usurpation the ephors had, “by the time of Thucydides, completely superseded the king as the directors of affairs at Sparta.”
The fact has been observed that the authority of the senate, a body which in earlier times had been composed of the heads of the genets, who were elected by all the people, and who held their office only during good behaviour, had, in the time of Lycurgus, through the growth of the monarchial and aristocratic party become weakened; and292 that, as the kings had drawn to themselves the powers formerly belonging to the popular assembly, the people were no longer represented, but had been obliged to surrender their independence to the authority of the military leaders. It is altogether likely, therefore, that the load under which the Spartans are said to have groaned, and from which Lycurgus is supposed to have released them, was the undue assumption of power by the basileus and the aristocratic party; and that the chief service which he lent to the state was the sanction which he gave to those principles of equality and liberty which had been recognized and practised at a time when the gens as the unit of human society was still in its original vitality and strength, and when woman’s influence was therefore in the ascendency.
Most modern writers agree in the opinion that Lycurgus instituted no fundamental changes in the constitution of the state; indeed all the accessible facts relative to this subject go to prove that the attempt at legislative reform in the time of this lawgiver did not begin with him; but, on the contrary, that all along the line of development, for an entire ethnical period, there had been a struggle between the people on the one hand and the constantly increasing power exercised by their rulers on the other.
Concerning the measures instituted by Lycurgus, and the way in which the political power was distributed by him, we are assured that it was293 according to a Rhetra of this legislator given under the direction of the Pythian Apollo:
Build a temple to Jupiter Hellanius and Minerva Hellania; divide the tribes, and institute thirty obas; appoint a council, with its princes; convene the assembly between Babyca and Cnacion; propose this, and then depart; and let there be a right of decision and power to the people.190
By this decree the assembly was invested with authority to reject or accept any proposed measures of the council and princes. Later, however, when the chiefs and the military leaders would draw to themselves a portion of the power which had been delegated to the people, we find subjoined to the original document of the priestess the following clause: “But if the people should follow a crooked opinion, the elders and the princes shall dissent.” Or, according to Plutarch: “If the people attempt to corrupt any law, the senate and chiefs shall retire,” meaning that “they shall dissolve the assembly and annul the alterations.”191
According to the testimony of Plutarch, when Lycurgus entered upon the duties of lawgiver he went to Crete, and while there examined the laws of that people; those of them which he considered wise and suited to the needs of a commonwealth and which were based on principles involving the294 highest interests of the people, he incorporated into his system. Now the Cretans were a branch of the Doric stock,192 and as among them descent and rights of succession were still traced through women, it would seem that they had preserved much of that simplicity of manner which characterizes primitive society. Upon his return from Crete Lycurgus made an equal division of the land, and as he could not induce the people to surrender their treasures, he prohibited the use of gold and silver currency and substituted iron in its place. To a great quantity and weight of this metal he assigned a slight value, so that to lay up a small amount of wealth a whole room was required, and for the removal of a moderate sum of money a yoke of oxen must be employed. When this became current many kinds of injustice ceased in Laced?monia. “Who would steal or take a bribe, who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty, when he could neither be dignified by the possession of it, nor if cut in pieces be served by its use?”193 There is little evidence in support of the statement of Plutarch that Lycurgus attempted to establish a community of goods among the Spartans. Although he caused the landed possessions which had been parcelled out to individuals to be returned to the state, too much interest had already become attached to personal possessions to have made a division of this kind of wealth possible.
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A legislator may not enact laws with the expectation of seeing them enforced which are not in accord with the temper of the people, and the degree of success which attended the legislation ascribed to Lycurgus proves that the great mass of the people were in sympathy with many of the measures which he proposed for the government of Sparta.
It is plain that the object of the person or persons, whom history has named Lycurgus, was a return to the simpler manners and purer customs of a more primitive age, which the growth of the aristocratic spirit and the accumulation of wealth in masses in the hands of the few threatened entirely to subvert; and, as a community of goods was at this time impossible, he, or they, sought to level the distinctions between rich and poor by exalting virtue and moral excellence above the mere possession of wealth and hereditary titles.
It is the opinion of some writers that although Lycurgus did not inaugurate a new set of institutions, nor materially change the constitution of the state, the great service which he rendered to the Spartans was the remarkable system of discipline which he is supposed to have inaugurated. Of this Mr. Rawlinson says: “It must always remain one of the most astonishing facts in history, that such a system was successfully imposed upon a state which had grown up without it.”194 Of the fact, however, that the state had not grown296 up without it there is ample evidence. On this subject Curtius remarks:
It is certain that the Spartan discipline in many respects corresponds to the primitive customs of the Dorians, and that by constant practice, handed down from generation to generation, it grew into the second nature of the members of the community.195
From the facts at hand it is quite evident that Lycurgus did not originate that system of discipline through which it is claimed Spartan greatness was achieved. The fact has been noted that when he entered upon the duties of lawgiver he sailed for Crete, and, “having been struck with admiration of some of their laws,” he resolved to make use of them in Sparta.196 As the discipline of Lycurgus constitutes the principal feature of the government ascribed to him, and as his models were for the most part drawn from the Cretans, it is only reasonable to suppose that this remarkable system was itself, in part at least, copied from them. It appears that among the Cretans, as among all peoples among whom female influence is in the ascendency, the children belonged to the mother, and that women owned, or at least controlled, their own households; they did not, therefore, follow the fathers of their children to their homes. In Crete,297 “the young Dorians were left in the houses of their mothers till they grew up into youths.”197 As Cretan mothers had charge of their sons until they were grown up, it is not unlikely that the discipline which Lycurgus attempted to copy was a system inaugurated under matriarchal usages, but which in Sparta in the time of Lycurgus may have become somewhat relaxed. However, that the primitive discipline of the Dorian people was not extinct among the Spartans of this time is observed in the warlike character of the males, and in the express testimony of Aristotle that Spartan men had become inured to hardships by means of their frequent campaigns. To restore, or rather to intensify this discipline, seems to have been the object of Lycurgus; yet that he lacked greatly in judgment is shown by the measures which he put into execution. We are informed that
Spartan boys were as early as their eighth year taken into public training, and assigned their places in their respective divisions, where they had to go through all the exercises introductory to military service, and accustom their bodies to endurance and exercise, in exact obedience to the forms acquired by the state through its officers.198
This interference with the natural development of the Spartan youth was not without its effect upon his character; and especially so as the policy adopted was such as to narrow his mental horizon, and confine his ideas within the scope of Spartan possibilities.
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From all the evidence to be gathered about the individual whom historians call Lycurgus, it would appear that he was a fanatic, who, doubtless feeling deeply the disorders which had fastened themselves upon society, attempted to manage not only the affairs of the state, but to impose his authority also upon individual conduct.
Of the position occupied by women at the time when Lycurgus is said to have been lawgiver at Sparta, there seems to be much evidence going to show that they were in the possession of a remarkable degree of liberty, and that they were possessed of great power and influence. We have seen that while the men of Sparta were away from their homes engaged in warfare, the country had become wealthy and prosperous. Not only was the land controlled by women, but nearly two-fifths of it was theirs by actual possession.199 Therefore, when Aristotle informs us that when Lycurgus “wanted to bring the women under his laws, they resisted, and he gave up the attempt,”200 we are by no means surprised. Indeed, Aristotle himself says that this license of the Laced?monian women existed from the earliest times, and was only what might be expected.201 It is altogether likely that in the time of Lycurgus, Spartan women had not been brought under subjection to male authority.
According to the accounts given by Aristotle and Plutarch, under regulations made by Lycurgus, the men dined on the plainest fare at the299 public table, or mess, while the women remained within their own homes. That a considerable degree of success crowned this legislator’s efforts to control the conduct and private life of men, from the facts at hand may not be doubted; among the women, however, the case seems to have been altogether different. Of the Spartans, Aristotle says: “In the days of their greatness many things were managed by their women. But what difference does it make whether women rule, or the rulers are ruled by women.”202 Because, however, the Spartan women preferred to remain within their own homes, and refused to allow their private affairs to be controlled by Lycurgus, Aristotle accuses them “of intemperance and luxury.” He says:
For a husband and a wife, being each a part of every family, the state may be considered as about equally divided into men and women; and, therefore, in those states in which the condition of the women is bad, half the city may be regarded as having no laws. And this is what has actually happened at Sparta, the legislator wanted to make the whole state temperate, and he has carried out his intentions in the case of the men, but he has neglected the women, who live in every sort of intemperance and luxury.203
So far, however, from the Spartan women refusing to concur in those movements which were in operation to make the whole state hardy and tem300perate, we have ample evidence going to prove that it was women themselves who in former times had encouraged the healthful and moderate exercise of body and limb among the youth of both sexes. Indeed, from natural inferences to be drawn from the facts at hand, it is probable that these exercises which had originated among the primitive Dorians, while under the matriarchal system, had not only been encouraged, but practised, by women while their husbands and fathers were absent on their campaigns.
We have seen that, according to Aristotle, women refused to unite in those movements in operation in the time of Lycurgus for the strengthening and general improvement of the youth. Plutarch, on the contrary, ascribes all the physical strength and vigour of mind possessed by Spartan women to the wise regulations of Lycurgus; and, notwithstanding the fact that, according to his own testimony, they were possessed of great liberty and power, he imputes to this legislator the inauguration of all those practices for the promotion of perfect freedom among women which were so salutary in producing or continuing a healthful state of public morals.
It is plain that the position occupied by Spartan women presented difficulties to the minds of Aristotle and Plutarch which they were wholly unable to explain. With regard to the supposition of Plutarch that the exercises performed by the young wome............