8. The Dorians now gradually conquered, and established themselves in many cities of the peninsula; forming, if not the whole population, at least the only part of it that enjoyed any power, as the Achæans that remained were reduced to slavery. No long time, however, elapsed ere the city of Sparta usurped an authority over the whole country, which it ever afterwards preserved; the other towns, formerly considerable, becoming unfortified, defenceless, and insignificant.
Relation between the Spartan citizens of the capital as a ruling body, and the Lacedæmonians, or περίοικοι, inhabitants of the country, as subjects who paid tribute and military service. Even in the time of Agis, the successor of Eurysthenes, this subjection was effected by force; the inhabitants of Helos were made slaves, as a punishment for their opposition; while the others, by the sacrifice of their political freedom, preserved their personal liberty, however confined it might be.
Repeated wars of the Spartans.
9. The history of the two following centuries, to the time of Lycurgus, exhibits nothing but the repeated wars of the Spartans with their neighbours the Argives; their domestic broils, occasioned by the too unequal division of property, by the feuds, and the diminished power of the kings, and which lasted until Lycurgus, the uncle and guardian of the minor king, Charilaus, about the year 880, gave to Sparta that constitution to which she was principally indebted for her subsequent splendour.
Illustration of the principal features in the Spartan constitution. Some preliminary observations are necessary. (a) As the legislation of Lycurgus occurred at so early a period, and as his laws were not written, but conveyed in apophthegms, (ῥήτραι,) which were confirmed by the oracle of Delphi, many things of later origin have been attributed to Lycurgus. (b) Much that is rightly attributed to him was not original, but deduced from ancient Dorian institutions, which being now upon the decline, were reestablished by force of law. Hence it follows, that the legislation of Lycurgus must naturally have had many points of resemblance with that of the Cretans, likewise of Dorian origin, although much, as we are told, was directly borrowed from them. (c) The principal object of the laws of Lycurgus was to ensure the existence of Sparta by creating and supporting a vigorous and uncorrupted race of men. Hence those laws had a more peculiar reference to private life and physical education, than to the constitution of the state, in which the legislator appears to have introduced but few alterations.
In reference to the constitution: 1. The relation which had hitherto existed between the Spartans as a dominant people, and the Lacedæmonians as subjects, was preserved. 2. The two kings, from the two ruling families, were likewise continued, as leaders in war and first magistrates in peace. On the other hand, 3. to Lycurgus is attributed the institution of a senate, (γερούσια,) consisting of twenty-eight members, none of whom could be less than sixty years old, who were to be chosen by the people for life, and were to constitute the king's council in public affairs. 4. Whether the college of the five Ephori annually chosen, was originally instituted by Lycurgus, or at some later period, is a question impossible to decide, but of little importance, since the great power of this college, to which every thing was finally referred as the highest tribunal of the state, was certainly assumed after the time of Lycurgus. 5. Besides the above, there were likewise the popular assemblies, convened according to the division into φύλας and ὤβας, at which none but Spartans could assist: their privileges extended no further than to approve or reject the measures proposed to them by the kings and the senate.
In the laws relating to private life, Lycurgus aimed at making the Spartans a society of citizens, equal as far as possible with respect to their property and mode of life, and each deeply impressed with the conviction that he was the property of his country, to which he was bound to yield an unconditional obedience. Hence, 1. The new division of land, 9000 portions to the Spartans, and 30,000 to the Lacedæmonians; permission being given to dispose of those portions by entail or gift, but not by sale. 2. The removal as far as possible of every species of luxury, particularly by means of the daily public tables (συσσίτια) of all the citizens, according to their divisions, in which the commons were settled by law. 3. The complete organization of domestic society in relation both to husband and wife, parents and children, which was so framed as to further, even at the cost of morality, the grand political object, the production of vigorous and healthy citizens. 4. Hence, finally, the condition of the slaves, comprehended under the general name of helots, who, although they may be regarded nearly as serfs, were likewise the property of the state, which had the right of claiming their services in war.—Easy, however, as it is to enumerate thus generally the principal heads of the Spartan constitution, the want of sufficient documents renders it difficult and oftentimes impossible to answer a crowd of questions, which present themselves on our penetrating more deeply into the subject. Still, however, its long duration, (nearly four hundred years,) without any observable change, is more remarkable even than the constitution itself. More remarkable, inasmuch as the Spartans soon after this time appear as conquerors. Indeed, it could no longer be expected that any durable peace should exist in Greece, while the centre of the country was occupied by a military commonwealth, whose citizens must have been, by the restlessness common to man, impelled to war, since all the occupations of household life and of agriculture were left to the care of slaves.
Besides the works mentioned above, p. 119.
Heyne, De Spartanorum republica Judicium; inserted in Commentat. Soc. Gotting. vol. ix. Intended to correct the partial opinions of De Pauw.
Wars of the Spartans in Peloponnesus.