The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians [20]
as the good man; he sits beside him at play; he exercises with him in the same gymnasium, and all as suits his humour. But at Lacedaemon there is not one man who would not feel ashamed to welcome the coward at the common mess-tabe, or to try conclusions with such an antagonist in a wrestling bout. Consider the day's round of his existence. The sides are being picked up in a football match,[2] but he is left out as the odd man: there is no place for him. During the choric dance[3] he is driven away into ignominious quarters. Nay, in the very streets it is he who must step aside for others to pass, or, being seated, he must rise and make room, even for a younger man. At home he will have his maiden relatives to support in isolation (and they will hold him to blame for their unwedded lives).[4] A hearth with no wife to bless it --that is a condition he must face,[5] and yet he will have to pay damages to the last farthing for incurring it. Let him not roam abroad with a smooth and smiling countenance;[6] let him not imitate men whose fame is irreproachable, or he shall feel on his back the blows of his superiors. Such being the weight of infamy which is laid upon all cowards, I, for my part, am not surprised if in Sparta they deem death preferable to a life so steeped in dishonour and reproach.
[2] See Lucian, "Anacharsis," 38; Muller, "Dorians," (vol. ii. 309, Eng. tr.)
[3] The {khoroi}, e.g. of the Gymnopaedia. See Muller, op. cit. iv. 6, 4 (vol. ii. 334, Eng. tr.)
[4] {tes anandrias}, cf. Plut. "Ages." 30; or, {tes anandreias}, "they must bear the reproach of his cowardice."
[5] Omitting {ou}, or translate, "that is an evil not to be disregarded." See Dindorf, ad loc.; Sturz, "Lex. Xen." {Estia}.
[6] See Plut. "Ages." 30 (Clough, iv. 36); "Hell." VI. iv. 16.
X
That too was a happy enactment, in my opinion, by which Lycurgus provided for the continual cultivation of virtue, even to old age. By fixing[1] the election to the council of elders[2] as a last ordeal at the goal of life, he made it impossible for a high standard of virtuous living to be disregarded even in old age. (So, too, it is worthy of admiration in him that he lent his helping hand to virtuous old age.[3] Thus, by making the elders sole arbiters in the trial for life, he contrived to charge old age with a greater weight of honour than that which is accorded to the strength of mature manhood.) And assuredly such a contest as this must appeal to the zeal of mortal man beyond all others in a supreme degree. Fair, doubtless, are contests of gymnastic skill, yet are they but trials of bodily excellence, but this contest for the seniority is of a higher sort--it is an ordeal of the soul itself. In proportion, therefore, as the soul is worthier than the body, so must these contests of the soul appeal to a stronger enthusiasm than their bodily antitypes.
[1] Reading {protheis}. See Plut. "Lycurg." 26 (Clough. i. 118); Aristot. "Pol." ii. 9, 25.
[2] Or, "seniory," or "senate," or "board of elders"; lit. "the Gerontia."
[3] Or, "the old age of the good. Yet this he did when he made . . . since he contrived," etc.
And yet another point may well excite our admiration for Lycurgus largely. It had not escaped his observation that communities exist where those who are willing to make virtue their study and delight fail somehow in ability to add to the glory of their fatherland.[4] That lesson the legislator laid to heart, and in Sparta he enforced, as a matter of public duty, the practice of virtue by every citizen. And so it is that, just as man differs from man in some excellence, according as he cultivates or neglects to cultivate it, this city of Sparta, with good reason, outshines all other states in virtue; since she, and she alone, as made the attainment of a high standard of noble living a public duty.
[4] Is this an autobiographical touch?
And was this not a noble enactment, that whereas other states are content to inflict punishment only in cases where a man does wrong against his neighbour,
[2] See Lucian, "Anacharsis," 38; Muller, "Dorians," (vol. ii. 309, Eng. tr.)
[3] The {khoroi}, e.g. of the Gymnopaedia. See Muller, op. cit. iv. 6, 4 (vol. ii. 334, Eng. tr.)
[4] {tes anandrias}, cf. Plut. "Ages." 30; or, {tes anandreias}, "they must bear the reproach of his cowardice."
[5] Omitting {ou}, or translate, "that is an evil not to be disregarded." See Dindorf, ad loc.; Sturz, "Lex. Xen." {Estia}.
[6] See Plut. "Ages." 30 (Clough, iv. 36); "Hell." VI. iv. 16.
X
That too was a happy enactment, in my opinion, by which Lycurgus provided for the continual cultivation of virtue, even to old age. By fixing[1] the election to the council of elders[2] as a last ordeal at the goal of life, he made it impossible for a high standard of virtuous living to be disregarded even in old age. (So, too, it is worthy of admiration in him that he lent his helping hand to virtuous old age.[3] Thus, by making the elders sole arbiters in the trial for life, he contrived to charge old age with a greater weight of honour than that which is accorded to the strength of mature manhood.) And assuredly such a contest as this must appeal to the zeal of mortal man beyond all others in a supreme degree. Fair, doubtless, are contests of gymnastic skill, yet are they but trials of bodily excellence, but this contest for the seniority is of a higher sort--it is an ordeal of the soul itself. In proportion, therefore, as the soul is worthier than the body, so must these contests of the soul appeal to a stronger enthusiasm than their bodily antitypes.
[1] Reading {protheis}. See Plut. "Lycurg." 26 (Clough. i. 118); Aristot. "Pol." ii. 9, 25.
[2] Or, "seniory," or "senate," or "board of elders"; lit. "the Gerontia."
[3] Or, "the old age of the good. Yet this he did when he made . . . since he contrived," etc.
And yet another point may well excite our admiration for Lycurgus largely. It had not escaped his observation that communities exist where those who are willing to make virtue their study and delight fail somehow in ability to add to the glory of their fatherland.[4] That lesson the legislator laid to heart, and in Sparta he enforced, as a matter of public duty, the practice of virtue by every citizen. And so it is that, just as man differs from man in some excellence, according as he cultivates or neglects to cultivate it, this city of Sparta, with good reason, outshines all other states in virtue; since she, and she alone, as made the attainment of a high standard of noble living a public duty.
[4] Is this an autobiographical touch?
And was this not a noble enactment, that whereas other states are content to inflict punishment only in cases where a man does wrong against his neighbour,