corrected what was amiss in the first regulations, and supplied whatever could be wanting. Plato, in more than one passage admires the wisdom of Lycurgus in the establishment of the senate, which was equally beneficial to the kings and people; as by this means the law became the measure of the regal power, and the people's obedience. Or as Plato says in the note at bottom; the laws became the sovereigns of men, and not men the tyrants of the laws [u].

2. The equal Division of Lands, and Prohibition of Gold and Silver Money.

The design of Lycurgus in making an equal distribution of lands amongst the citizens, and banishing luxury, avarice, quarrels, and dissentions from Sparta, at the same time that he prohibited the use of gold and silver, would appear to us a fine scheme of a republic, but impossible to be executed, if we did not learn from history that Sparta subsisted in this state for several ages. Could we conceive, that he could ever have prevailed upon the rich and opulent to give up all their stores and revenues, to blend themselves with the poor in every circumstance, to submit to a painful and severe regimen of life, and in a word, to forbear the use of every thing they considered before as essential to the ease and happiness of life? And yet this Lycurgus brought about.

Such an establishment would be the less surprising, if it had subsisted only during the life of the legislator; but we know it survived him many ages. Xenophon in the panegyric he has left upon Agesilaus, and Tully in one of his orations, takes notice that the Lacedæmonians were the only people in the world, who made no alterations in their discipline and laws for the course of so many ages. Soli, says he, speaking of the Lacedæmonians, toto orbe terrarum septingentos jam annos amplìus unis moribus & nunquam mutatis legibus vi

[u] Νόμος ἐπειδὴ κύριθ. ἐγένετο βασιλεὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ' ἐκ ἄνθρωποι τύραννοι νόμων Plat. Epist. 8.

runt.

OF PROFANE HISTORY.

ount. There is good reason to believe, that in Tully's
time the discipline of Sparta, as well as its power, was
very much enfeebled and diminished: but all historians
agree, that it was kept up in its full force till the reign
of Agis, under whom Lysander, who, though incapa-
ble himself of being dazzled or corrupted by gold, in-
troduced luxury into his country and a fondness for
riches, by carrying thither the immense sums of gold
and silver he had gained by his victories, and thereby
subverting the laws of Lycurgus. This event well
deserves to be here taken notice of.

[] Lysander having got great spoils at the taking
of Athens, sent all the gold and silver to Lacedæmon.
They held a council to debate whether or not they
should receive it; a rare and excellent deliberation,
and the only instance of the kind to be met with in
history! The wisest and most understanding men of
Sparta, adhering strictly to the law, were of opinion
[y] that this gold and silver should be thrown out of
the city with horror and execration, as a fatal plague
and a dangerous allurement to all kinds of mischief.
But others, and the far greater number, proposed a
middle way, and the expedient was followed. They
ordered the gold and silver to be retained, but to be
only employed in the public treasury, and affairs of
state; and that if any private man should be found
to have any of it, he should immediately be put to
death. [2] They were imprudent and blind enough
to imagine, says Plutarch, that it was sufficient to hin-
der gold and silver from entering into their houses,
by placing the law and the fear of punishment as a
centinel at their doors; whilst they left the hearts of
their citizens open to the admiration and desire of
riches, and introduced a strong passion for accumu-

15

paved the way to avarice. The desire of conquest drew after a desire of riches, without which they could no longer think of extending their dominion. The principal end of Lycurgus in the institution of his laws, and especially in the prohibition of gold and silver, was, as Polybius and Plutarch have judiciously observed, to bridle and restrain the ambition of the citizens, to disable them from making any conquests, and to force them in some measure to confine themselves within the narrow precincts of their own country, without carrying their views or pretensions any farther. In short, the government he had established sufficed to defend the frontiers of Sparta, but was insufficient to give her dominion over other cities.

The design of Lycurgus was not to make conquerors. To take away all such thoughts from his citizens, though they dwelt in a country surrounded by the sea, [a] he expressly forbad them the use of navigation, the having a fleet, or fighting by sea. And this prohibition they religiously observed for near five hundred years, till after the defeat of Xerxes. Upon that occasion they resolved to make themselves masters by sea, to keep so formidable an enemy at a distance. But soon perceiving, that these remote and maritime offices of command corrupted the manners of their generals,, they readily gave them up, as we have already observed in the case of king Pausanias.

Lycurgus armed his citizens with bucklers and lances, only for their own defence, not to enable them to commit wrongs with the greater impunity. [b] He made

[α] Απείρητο δὲ αὐτοῖς ναύταις εἶναι καὶ ναυμαχεῖν. Plut. in Moribus Laced.

[6] Οὐ μὴν τοῦ τόγε Λυκέργω και φάλαιον ἦν τότε πλείσων ἡγεμένην ἀπολιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν ἀλλ ̓ ὥσπερ ἑνὸς

ἀνδρὸς

no less than a private man, can never hope for solid and lasting happiness by any other means but virtue. Men of corrupt manners, [c] adds Plutarch, who think nothing more valuable than riches, and a powerful and large dominion, may give the preference to those vast empires, which have subdued the world by violence; but Lycurgus was convinced that nothing of this kind was necessary to make a people happy. Equity, moderation, liberty, and peace, were the principal end of his policy, which has so justly been the admiration of all the ages, as it was an utter enemy to all wrong, violence, ambition, or a desire of ruling and extending the bounds of the Spartan republic. Reflections of this kind, which are frequent in Plutarch's lives, and are the greatest and most valuable beauty, may very much contribute to give youth a true notion of the solid glory of a state really happy, and may early undeceive them in the mistakes they are apt to form of the vain grandeur of those empires, which have swallowed up the kingdoms of the earth, and those famous conquerors, who owe their rise to usurpation and violence.

3. The excellent Education of Youth.

The long duration of the laws established by Lycurgus, is certainly a very wondeful circumstance; but the method he made use of to make them so lasting, is no less worthy of our admiration; and this was the extraordinary care he took in training up the children of the Lacedæmonians to an exact and severe

ἀνδρὸς βίῳ καὶ πόλεως ὅλης νομίζων εὐδαιμονίαν ἀπ' ἀρετῆς ἐγγίνεσθαι καὶ ὁμονοίας τῆς πρὸς αὐτὴν, προς τοῦτο

་

ριοι καὶ αὐτάρκεις γενόμενοι και ωρο νοῦντες ἐπὶ πλεῖςον χρόνον διατελῶσι Plut. in Vit. Lycurg.

discipline. For, as Plutarch makes him observe, the religion of an oath would be but a feeble tie, if the laws were not imprinted in their manners by education and habitude, and a regard for his institutions sucked in almost with their milk. And thus we see his ordinances lasted for above five hundred years, [d] like a strong dye, that had penetrated quite through the substance. [e] Tully makes the same remark, and imputes the courage and virtue of the Spartans, not so much to their good natural disposition, as to the excellent education they received at Sparta. Cujus civitatis spectata ac nobilitata virtus, non solùm natura corroborata, verùm etiam disciplina putatur. Which shews us how nearly the state is concerned to see its youth brought up in a manner proper to inspire them with a love for the laws of their country.

It was the great principle of Lycurgus, [f] which Aristotle repeats in express terms, that as children belong to the state, they should be brought up by the state, and according to the intention of the state. For this reason he required them to be educated publicly and in common, and not left to the fancy of parents, [g] who generally, through a blind indulgence, and mistaken tenderness, enervate at once both the body and mind of their children. At Sparta they were inured from their infancy to labour and fatigue, by the exercises of hunting and running; they were taught to bear hunger and thirst, heat and cold. And what mothers can hardly be persuaded to believe, al these severe and painful exercises tended to mak them healthful and robust, capable of supporting th fatigues of war, to which they were all destined, an actually did so.

- [α] "Ωσπερ βαφῆς ἀκράτε καὶ ἰσ-
χυρᾶς καθαψαμένης.

[e] Orat. pro Flacco, n. 63.
[f] Our xen voμiv autor au-

του τινα είναι τῶν πολιτῶν, ἀλλὰ
πάντας τῆς πόλεως. Δεῖ δὲ τῶν κοι-

νῶν κοινὴν ποιεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν ἄσκησι Arist. 1. S. Polit.

[g] Mollis illa educatio, qua indulgentiam vocamus, nervos on nes & mentis & corporis frangi Quint. l. 1. c. 2ο