Receiving answer from the
oracle that his laws were indeed good, and that the city would become
famous if it kept the constitution of Lykurgus, he wrote down this
prophecy and sent it to Sparta. But he himself, after offering a second
sacrifice to the god, and having embraced his friends and his son,
determined not to release his countrymen from their oath, but to put an
end to his own life, being at an age when, though life was still
pleasant, it seemed time to go to his rest, after having excellently
arranged all his people's affairs. He departed by starvation, as he
thought that a true statesman ought to make even his death of service to
the state, and not like that of a private person, the useless end of an
idle life. His death came in the fulness of time, after he had done an
excellent work, and it was left as the guardian of all the good that he
had done, because the citizens had sworn that they would abide by his
constitution until he returned to them. Nor was he deceived in his
expectations; for the state was by far the most celebrated in Greece,
for good government at home and renown abroad, during a period of five
hundred years, under his constitution, which was kept unaltered by
fourteen kings, counting from himself down to Agis the son of
Archidamus. For the institution of Ephors was not a relaxation, but a
strengthening of the original scheme, and while it seemed popular it
really confirmed the power of the oligarchy.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178