Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians

XV

I wish to explain with sufficient detail the nature of the covenant between king and state as instituted by Lycurgus; for this, I take it, is the sole type of rule[1] which still preserves the original form in which it was first established; whereas other constitutions will be found either to have been already modified or else to be still undergoing modifications at this moment.

[1] Or, "magistracy"; the word {arkhe} at once signifies rule and

governmental office.

Lycurgus laid it down as law that the king shall offer in behalf of the state all public sacrifices, as being himself of divine descent,[2] and whithersoever the state shall despatch her armies the king shall take the lead. He granted him to receive honorary gifts of the things offered in sacrifice, and he appointed him choice land in many of the provincial cities, enough to satisfy moderate needs without excess of wealth. And in order that the kings also might camp and mess in public he appointed them public quarters; and he honoured them with a double portion[3] each at the evening meal, not in order that they might actually eat twice as much as others, but that the king might have wherewithal to honour whomsoever he desired. He also granted as a gift to each of the two kings to choose two mess-fellows, which same are called Puthioi. He also granted them to receive out of every litter of swine one pig, so that the king might never be at a loss for victims if in aught he wished to consult the gods.

[2] I.e. a Heracleid, in whichever line descended, and, through

Heracles, from Zeus himself. The kings are therefore "heroes,"

i.e. demigods. See below; and for their privileges, see Herod. vi.

56, 57.

[3] See "Ages." v. 1.

Close by the palace a lake affords an unrestricted supply of water; and how useful that is for various purposes they best can tell who lack the luxury.[4] Moreover, all rise from their seats to give place to the king, save only that the ephors rise not from their thrones of office. Monthly they exchange oaths, the ephors in behalf of the state, the king himself in his own behalf. And this is the oath on the king's part: "I will exercise my kingship in accordance with the established laws of the state." And on the part of the state the oath runs: "So long as he[5] (who exercises kingship) shall abide by his oaths we will not suffer his kingdom to be shaken."[6]

[4] See Hartman, "An. Xen. N." p. 274; but cf. "Cyneget." v. 34;

"Anab." V. iii. 8.

[5] Lit. "he yonder."

[6] Lit. "we will keep it for him unshaken." See L. Dindorf, n. ad

loc. and praef. p. 14 D.

These then are the honours bestowed upon the king during his lifetime [at home][7]-honours by no means much exceeding those of private citizens, since the lawgiver was minded neither to suggest to the kings the pride of the despotic monarch,[8] nor, on the other hand, to engender in the heart of the citizen envy of their power. As to those other honours which are given to the king at his death,[9] the laws of Lycurgus would seem plainly to signify hereby that these kings of Lacedaemon are not mere mortals but heroic beings, and that is why they are preferred in honour.[10]

[7] The words "at home" look like an insertion.

[8] Lit. "the tyrant's pride."

[9] See "Hell." III. iii. 1; "Ages." xi. 16; Herod. vi. 58.

[10] Intentionally or not on the part of the writer, the concluding

words, in which the intention of the Laws is conveyed, assume a

metrical form:

{oukh os anthropous all os eroas tous Lakedaimonion basileis protetimekasin.}

See Ern. Naumann, op. cit. p. 18.