I acknowledge that I am going to speak at length of the institutions of Sparta, not taking the view, however, that Lycurgus
invented or conceived any of them, but that he imitated as well as he could the government
of our ancestors,See Isoc.
4.39 and note. establishing among the Spartans a democracy tempered with
aristocracy—even such as existed in Athens—,
enacting that the offices be filled, not by lot, but by election,
ordaining that the election of the Elders, who were to supervise all public affairs,
should be conducted with the very same care as, they say, our ancestors also exercised
with regard to those who were to have seats in the Areopagus, and, furthermore, conferring
upon the EldersFor the Spartan Gerousia, Council of
Elders, see Gilbert, Greek Constitutional Antiquities p. 47. the
very same power which he knew that the Council of the Areopagus also had in Athens.
Now that the institutions of Sparta were
established after the manner of our own as they were in ancient times may be learned from
many sources by those who desire to know the truth. But that skill in warfare is something
which the Spartans did not practise earlier than our ancestors or employ to better
advantage than they I think I can show so clearly from the struggles and the wars which
are acknowledged to have taken place in those days that none will be able to contradict
what I say—neither those who are blind worshippers of Sparta nor those who at once admire and envy and strive to imitate the ways
of Athens.
I am going to begin what I shall say on this topic with a statement which will perhaps
be unpleasant for some to hear, although it will not be without profit to have it said.
For if anyone were to assert that Athens and Sparta had been the causes both of the greatest benefits and, after the
expedition of Xerxes, of the greatest injuries to the Hellenes, without doubt he would be
thought by those who know anything about the history of those times to speak the truth.
For they contended with the utmost possible bravery against the power of that King, but,
having done this, although they ought then to have adopted sound measures also for the
tasks which followed upon that achievement, they fell into such a degree, not of folly,
but of madness, that they made peace with the man who had led an army against them and who
had purposed to annihilate both these cities utterly and to enslave the rest of the
Hellenes—
with such a man, I repeat, although they could easily have conquered him on both land and
sea, they drew up a peaceThe Peace of Antalcidas.
for all time, as though he had been their benefactor, whereas, having grown jealous of
each other's merits and fallen into mutual warfare and rivalry, they did not cease
attempting to destroy each other and the rest of the Hellenes until they had placed their
common enemy in a position to reduce Athens, through the power of the Lacedaemonians, and
again Sparta, through the power of Athens, to
a state of the utmost peril.
And although they were so far outstripped in shrewdness by the barbarian, they then
experienced no such resentment as the things which they suffered should have provoked nor
such as it behoved them to feel; nor at the present time are the greatest of the states of
Hellas ashamed to vie with each other in
fawning upon the wealth of the King; nay, Argos
and Thebes joined forces with him in the
conquest of EgyptSee Isoc. 4.161, note. in order that he might be
possessed of the greatest possible power to plot against the Hellenes, while we and the
Spartans, although allied together, feel more hostile to each other than to those with
whom we are each openly at war.
And of this we have a not insignificant proof. For in common we deliberate about nothing
whatsoever, but independently we each send ambassadors to the King, expecting that the one
of these two states to which he inclines in friendship will be invested with the place of
advantage among the Hellenes,See General
Introduction. little realizing that those who court his favour he is wont to
treat insolently while with those who oppose themselves to him and hold his power in
contempt he endeavors by every means to come to terms.Cf.
Isoc. 4.154-155.