[1271b] There is also another defect in his laws worthy
of censure, which Plato has given in his book of Laws;
that the whole constitution was calculated only for
the business of war: it is indeed excellent to
make them conquerors; for which reason the preservation
of the state depended thereon. The destruction
of it commenced with their victories: for they
knew not how to be idle, or engage in any other employment
than war. In this particular also they were mistaken,
that though they rightly thought, that those things
which are the objects of contention amongst mankind
are better procured by virtue than vice, yet they
wrongfully preferred the things themselves to virtue.
Nor was the public revenue well managed at Sparta,
for the state was worth nothing while they were obliged
to carry on the most extensive wars, and the subsidies
were very badly raised; for as the Spartans possessed
a large extent of country, they were not exact upon
each other as to what they paid in. And thus
an event contrary to the legislator’s intention
took place; for the state was poor, the individuals
avaricious. Enough of the Lacedaemonian government;
for these seem the chief defects in it.
CHAPTER X
The government of Crete bears a near resemblance to
this, in some few particulars it is not worse, but
in general it is far inferior in its contrivance.
For it appears and is allowed in many particulars the
constitution of Lacedaemon was formed in imitation
of that of Crete; and in general most new things are
an improvement upon the old. For they say, that
when Lycurgus ceased to be guardian to King Charilles
he went abroad and spent a long time with his relations
in Crete, for the Lycians are a colony of the Lacedaemonians;
and those who first settled there adopted that body
of laws which they found already established by the
inhabitants; in like manner also those who now live
near them have the very laws which Minos first drew
up.
This island seems formed by nature to be the mistress
of Greece, for it is entirely surrounded by a navigable
ocean which washes almost all the maritime parts of
that country, and is not far distant on the one side
from Peloponnesus, on the other, which looks towards
Asia, from Triopium and Rhodes. By means of this
situation Minos acquired the empire of the sea and
the islands; some of which he subdued, in others planted
colonies: at last he died at Camicus while he
was attacking Sicily. There is this analogy between
the customs of the Lacedaemonians and the Cretans,
the Helots cultivate the grounds [1272a] for the one,
the domestic slaves for the other. Both states
have their common meals, and the Lacedaemonians called
these formerly not psiditia but andpia,
as the Cretans do; which proves from whence the custom
arose. In this particular their governments are
also alike: the ephori have the same power with
those of Crete, who are called kosmoi; with
Copyrights
Politics: A Treatise on Government from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
