[205] Diodorus, v. 53; v. 59; v. 81; v. 83 and 84; xii. 11; xv. 23.
[206] See Strabo vi. 1.
[207] Κοινὰ ποιοῦντες τὰ κτήματα τοῖς ἀπόροις ἐπὶ τὴν χρῆσιν.
[208] Εὔνουν παρασκευάζουσι τὸ πλῆθος.
[209] Xenophon, Commentarii, i. 2, 61, tells us that the Lacedæmonian Lichas was celebrated for the generosity with which he entertained his guests at dinner; Herodotus, vi. 57, represents individuals as inviting a king to dinner in their own houses; Plutarch, Lycurgus, 12, says that every Spartan who made a sacrifice was excused from the public meals, i.e., he could eat at his own home the animal he had sacrificed. It is, therefore, a great mistake to say that the Spartans always ate in common.
[210] Athenæus, iv. 16.
[211] Herodotus, who knew Sparta very well, says that the public meals were not established till two centuries after the foundation of the city; i. 65. The same will be found in Xenophon, Republ. Laced., v. and in Plutarch, Lycurgus, 10, who says distinctly that before this period the Spartans ate their meals at home. Private property, on the other hand, was established from the very beginning of the city.
[212] Plato, Laws, vi. p. 781; Aristotle, Politics, ii. 7; Alcman, in Strabo, x. 4, 18.
[213] Aristotle, Politics, ii. 7; Plutarch, Lycurgus, 12.
[214] Aristotle, Politics, ii. 6, 21.