[1122]. Plut. Compar. Lycurg. cum. Num. § 3. Aristot. Polit. ii. 9. who observes:—ζῶσι ἀκολαστῶς πρὸς ἅπασαν ἀκολασίαν καὶ τρυφερῶς.—Hermann in his Political Antiquities § 27, reasoning consistently with these ancient authorities, observes that the system of Lycurgus “gradually effaced every characteristic of female excellence from the Spartan women.”
[1123]. βουλόμενος γὰρ ὁ νομοθέτης ὡς πλείστους εἴναι τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας, προάγεται τοὺς πολίτας ὄτι πλείστους ποιεῖσθαι παῖδας· ἔστι γὰρ αὐτοῖς νόμος τὸν μὲν γεννήσαντα τρεῖς υἱοὺς[υἱοὺς] ἄφρουρον εἶναι, τὸν δὲ τέτταρας ἀτελή πάντων.—Arist. Polit. ii. 9. Cf. Ælian. Var. Hist. vi. 6, who substitutes the number five for four.
[1124]. Cf. Xen. de Rep. Lac. i. 6. Plut. Lycurg. § 15.—Ubbo Emmius. Descr. Reip. Lacon. p. 96. seq.
[1125]. According to Justin, indeed, the Spartan legislator abolished the usage of dowries: Virgines sine dote nubere jussit, ut uxores eligerentur, non pecuniæ; severiusque matrimonia sua viri coërcerent, cum nullis dotis frœnis tenerentur, iii. 3. But Aristotle, who had deeply studied the polity of Sparta, gives a very different account:—ἔστι δὲ καὶ τῶν γυναικῶν σχεδὸν τῆς πάσης χώρας τῶν πέντε μερῶν τὰ δύο, τῶν τ᾽ ἐπικλήρων πολλῶν γινομένων, καὶ διὰ τὸ προῖκας διδόναι μεγάλας.—Polit. ii. 9.
[1126]. Athen. xiii. 2.
[1127]. Plut. Lysand. § 30.
[1128]. Athen. xiii. 1.
[1129]. Plut. Agis, § 2. Athen. xiii. 20. It was not without reason, perhaps, that the Ephori interfered with the marriages of their kings, since royalty has everywhere been capricious. But these honest magistrates were sometimes tyrannical in their ordinances and behaviour. Thus, when Anaxandrides married his niece for love, because she had no children he was compelled by them to take a second wife. When the first wife was confined they, fearing imposition, or feigning incredulity, sat about her bed.—Herod. v. 39–41.
[1130]. Athen. xiv. 54.
[1131]. Xenoph. de Rep. Laced. i. 7. 8. 9.