SPARTA.
B.C. 1000-272
Sparta.--Some account of the city.--The Spartan kings.--Origin of
the system.--Oracle at Delphi.--A difficulty.--The two lines of
kings.--A diarchy.--Dissensions.--Lycurgus.--His family.--Death of
his father.--Lycurgus assumes the crown.--Atrocious proposal.--Plan
arranged for disposing of the child.--Generous conduct of
Lycurgus.--Serious difficulties encountered.--Resentment
of the queen.--Lycurgus resolves on exiling himself from
Sparta.--Adventures of Lycurgus during his absence.--Account of
Charilaus.--His inefficiency.--Discontent of the people.--Lycurgus
is invited to return.--He finally complies.--He consults the oracle
at Delphi.--The response.--Charilaus is terrified.--He flies to a
sanctuary.--Nature and effects of the institutions of Lycurgus.--The
character and spirit of the Spartans.--Message sent to
Pyrrhus.--Account of Cleonymus.--Areus becomes king.--Affair of
Cleonymus and Chelidonis.--Appeal to Pyrrhus.--Pyrrhus determines to
march into Greece.
The war in which Pyrrhus was invited to engage, at the time referred
to at the close of the last chapter, arose out of a domestic quarrel
in one of the royal families of Sparta. Sparta was one of the
principal cities of the Peloponnesus, and the capital of a very
powerful and warlike kingdom.[N] The institutions of government in
this commonwealth were very peculiar, and among the most extraordinary
of them all was the arrangement made in respect to the kingly power.
There were two dynasties, or lines of kings, reigning conjointly. The
division of power between the two incumbents who reigned at any one
time may have been somewhat similar to that made in Rome between the
consuls. But the system differed from that of the consular government
in the fact that the Spartan kings were not elected magistrates, like
the Roman consuls, but hereditary sovereigns, deriving their power
from their ancestors, each in his own line.
[Footnote N: For the situation of Sparta, see map.]
The origin of this extraordinary system was said to be this: at a very
early period of the Spartan history, a king died suddenly, leaving two
children twins, as his heirs, but without designating either one of
them as his successor. The Spartans then applied to the mother of the
two children to know which of them was the first-born. She pretended
that she could not tell. They then applied to the oracle at Delphi,
asking what they should do. The response of the oracle directed them
to make both the children kings, but to bestow the highest honors upon
the oldest. By this answer the Spartans were only partially relieved
from their dilemma; for, under the directions of the oracle, the
necessity of determining the question of priority in respect to the
birth of the two children remained, without any light or guidance
being afforded them in respect to the mode of doing it.
At last some person suggested that a watch should be set over the
mother, with a view to ascertain for which of her children she had the
strongest affection. They supposed that she really knew which was the
first-born, and that she would involuntarily give to the one whom she
regarded in that light the precedence in the maternal services and
duties which she rendered to the babes. This plan succeeded. It was
discovered which was the first-born, and which was the younger; and
the Spartans, accordingly, made both the children kings, but gave the
highest rank to the former, as the oracle had directed. The children
both lived, and grew up to be men, and in due time were married. By a
singular coincidence, they married twin-sisters. In the two families
thus arising originated the Spartan lines of kings that reigned
jointly over the kingdom for many successive generations. To express
this extraordinary system of government, it has sometimes been said
that Sparta, though governed by kings, was not a monarchy, but a
_diarchy_.
The diarchy, however, as might have been expected, was found not to
work very successfully in practice. Various dissensions and
difficulties arose; and at length, about two hundred years after the
original establishment of the two lines, the kingdom became almost
wholly disorganized. At this juncture the celebrated lawgiver Lycurgus
arose. He framed a system of laws and regulations for the kingdom,
which were immediately put in force, and resulted not only in
restoring the public affairs to order at the time, but were the means,
in the end, of raising Sparta to the highest condition of prosperity
and renown.
Lycurgus was indebted for his success in the measures which he adopted
not merely to the sagacity which he exercised in framing them, and the
energy with which he carried them into effect: he occupied personally
a very peculiar position, which afforded him great facilities for the
performance of his work. He was a member of one of the royal families,
being a younger son of one of the kings. He had an elder brother named
Polydectes. His father died suddenly, from a stab that he received in
a fray. He was not personally engaged in the fray himself as one of
the combatants, but only went into it to separate other persons, who
had by some means become involved in a sudden quarrel. In the
struggle, he received a stab from a kitchen knife, with which one of
the combatants was armed, and immediately died.
Polydectes, of course, being the eldest son, succeeded to the throne.
He, however, very soon died, leaving a wife, but no children. About
eight months after his death, however, a child was born to his widow,
and this child, according to the then received principles of
hereditary descent, was entitled to succeed his father.
As, however, at the time of Polydectes's death the child was not born,
Lycurgus, the brother, was then apparently the heir. He accordingly
assumed the government--so far as the government devolved upon the
line to which his brother had belonged--intending only to hold it in
the interim, and to give it up ultimately when the proper heir should
appear. In the mean time, the widow supposed very naturally that he
would like to retain the power permanently. She was herself also
ambitious of reigning as queen; and she accordingly made to Lycurgus
the atrocious and unnatural proposal to destroy the life of her child,
on condition that he would marry her, and allow her to share the
kingdom with him. Lycurgus was much shocked at receiving such a
proposition, but he deemed it best, for the time being, to appear to
accede to it. He accordingly represented to the queen that it would
not be best for her to make the attempt which she had proposed, lest
she should thereby endanger her own safety. "Wait," said he, "and let
me know as soon as the child is born; then leave every thing to me. I
will do myself whatever is required to be done."
Lycurgus, moreover, had attendants, provided with orders to keep
themselves in readiness when the child should be born, and, if it
proved to be a son, to bring the babe to him immediately, wherever he
might be, or however he might be engaged. If it proved to be a
daughter, they were to leave it in the hands of the woman who had
charge of the queen. The babe proved to be a son. The officers took
it, accordingly, and brought it at once to Lycurgus. The unnatural
mother, of course, understood that it was taken away from her to be
destroyed, and she acquiesced in the supposed design, in order, by
sacrificing her child, to perpetuate her own queenly dignity and
power. Lycurgus, however, was intending to conduct the affair to a
very different result.
At the time when the attendants brought the new-born babe to
Lycurgus's house, Lycurgus was engaged with a party of friends whom he
had invited to a festival. These friends consisted of nobles,
generals, ministers of state, and other principal personages of the
Spartan commonwealth, whom Lycurgus had thus assembled in
anticipation, probably, of what was to take place. The attendants had
been ordered to bring the child to him without delay, wherever they
might find him. They accordingly came into the apartment where
Lycurgus and his friends were assembled, bringing the infant with
them in their arms. Lycurgus received him, and holding him up before
the company, called out to them, in a loud voice, "Spartans, I present
to you your new-born king!" The people received the young prince with
the most extravagant demonstrations of joy; and Lycurgus named him
Charilaus, which means, "Dear to the people."
The conduct of Lycurgus on this occasion was thought to be very
generous and noble, since by bringing the child forward as the true
heir to the crown, he surrendered at once all his own pretensions to
the inheritance, and made himself a private citizen. Very few of the
sons of kings, either in ancient or modern times, would have pursued
such a course. But, though in respect to his position, he abased
himself by thus descending from his place upon the throne to the rank
of a private citizen, he exalted himself very highly in respect to
influence and character. He was at once made protector of the person
of the child and regent of the realm during the young king's minority;
and all the people of the city, applauding the noble deed which he had
performed, began to entertain toward him feelings of the highest
respect and veneration.
It proved, however, that there were yet very serious difficulties,
which he was destined to meet and surmount before the way should be
fully open for the performance of the great work for which he
afterward became so renowned. Although the people generally of Sparta
greatly applauded the conduct of Lycurgus, and placed the utmost
confidence in him, there were still a few who hated and opposed him.
Of course, the queen herself, whose designs he had thwarted, was
extremely indignant at having been thus deceived. Not only was her own
personal ambition disappointed by the failure of her design, but her
womanly pride was fatally wounded in having been rejected by Lycurgus
in the offer which she had made to become his wife. She and her
friends, therefore, were implacably hostile to him. She had a brother,
named Leonidas, who warmly espoused her cause. Leonidas quarreled
openly with Lycurgus. He addressed him one day, in the presence of
several witnesses, in a very violent and threatening manner. "I know
very well," said he, "that your seeming disinterestedness, and your
show of zeal for the safety and welfare of the young king, are all an
empty pretense. You are plotting to destroy him, and to raise yourself
to the throne in his stead; and if we wait a short time, we shall see
you accomplishing the results at which you are really aiming, in your
iniquitous and hypocritical policy."
On hearing these threats and denunciations, Lycurgus, instead of
making an angry reply to them, began at once calmly to consider what
it would be best for him to do. He reflected that the life of the
child was uncertain, notwithstanding every precaution which he might
make for the preservation of it; and if by any casualty it should die,
his enemies might charge him with having secretly murdered it. He
resolved, therefore, to remove at once and forever all possible
suspicion, present or prospective, of the purity of his motives, by
withdrawing altogether from Sparta until the child should come of age.
He accordingly made arrangements for placing the young king under
protectors who could not be suspected of collusion with him for any
guilty purpose, and also organized an administration to govern the
country until the king should be of age. Having taken these steps, he
bade Sparta farewell, and set out upon a long and extended course of
travels.
He was gone from his native land many years, during which period he
visited all the principal states and kingdoms of the earth, employing
himself, wherever he went, in studying the history, the government,
and the institutions of the countries through which he journeyed, and
in visiting and conversing with all the most distinguished men. He
went first to Crete, a large island which lay south of the AEgean Sea,
its western extremity being not far from the coast of Peloponnesus.
After remaining for some time in Crete, visiting all its principal
cities, and making himself thoroughly acquainted with its history and
condition, he sailed for Asia Minor, and visited all the chief
capitals there. From Asia Minor he went to Egypt, and, after finishing
his observations and studies in the cities of the Nile, he journeyed
westward, and passed through all the countries lying on the northern
coast of Africa, and then from Africa he crossed over into Spain. He
remained long enough in each place that he visited to make himself
very thoroughly acquainted with its philosophy, its government, its
civilization, its state of progress in respect to the arts and usages
of social life--with every thing, in fact, which could have a bearing
upon national prosperity and welfare.
In the mean time, the current of affairs at Sparta flowed by no means
smoothly. As years rolled on, and the young prince, Charilaus,
advanced toward the period of manhood, he became involved in various
difficulties, which greatly embarrassed and perplexed him. He was of a
very amiable and gentle disposition, but was wholly destitute of the
strength and energy of character required for the station in which he
was placed. Disagreements arose between him and the other king. They
both quarreled, too, with their nobles and with the people. The people
did not respect them, and gradually learned to despise their
authority. They remembered the efficiency and the success of
Lycurgus's government, and the regularity and order which had marked
the whole course of public affairs during his administration. They
appreciated now, too, more fully than before, the noble personal
qualities which Lycurgus had evinced--his comprehensiveness of view,
his firmness of purpose, his disinterestedness, his generosity; and
they contrasted the lofty sentiments and principles which had always
governed him with the weakness, the childishness, and the petty
ambition of their actual kings. In a word, they all wished that
Lycurgus would return.
Even the kings themselves participated in this wish. They perceived
that their affairs were getting into confusion, and began to feel
apprehension and anxiety. Lycurgus received repeated messages from
them and from the people of Sparta, urging him to return, but he
declined to accept these proposals, and went on with his travels and
his studies as before.
At last, however, the Spartans sent a formal embassy to Lycurgus,
representing to him the troubled condition of public affairs in
Sparta, and the dangers which threatened the commonwealth, and urging
him in the most pressing manner to return. These embassadors, in their
interview with Lycurgus, told him that they had kings, indeed, at
Sparta, so far as birth, and title, and the wearing of royal robes
would go, but as for any royal qualities beyond this mere outside
show, they had seen nothing of the kind since Lycurgus had left them.
Lycurgus finally concluded to comply with the request. He returned to
Sparta. Here he employed himself for a time in making a careful
examination into the state of the country, and in conversing with the
principal men of influence in the city, and renewing his acquaintance
with them. At length he formed a plan for an entire organization of
the government. He proposed this plan to the principal men, and,
having obtained the consent of a sufficient number of them to the
leading provisions of his new constitution, he began to take measures
for the public promulgation and establishment of it.
The first step was to secure a religious sanction for his proceedings,
in order to inspire the common people with a feeling of reverence and
awe for his authority. He accordingly left Sparta, saying that he was
going to consult the oracle at Delphi. In due time he returned,
bringing with him the response of the oracle. The response was as
follows:
"Lycurgus is beloved of the gods, and is himself divine. The laws
which he has framed are perfect, and under them a commonwealth shall
arise which shall hereafter become the most famous in the world."
This response, having been made known in Sparta, impressed every one
with a very high sense of the authority of Lycurgus, and disposed all
classes of people to acquiesce in the coming change. Lycurgus did not,
however, rely entirely on this disposition. When the time came for
organizing the new government, he stationed an armed force in the
market-place one morning at a very early hour, so that the people,
when they came forth, as usual, into the streets, found that Lycurgus
had taken military possession of the city. The first feeling was a
general excitement and alarm. Charilaus, the king, who, it seems, had
not been consulted in these movements at all, was very much terrified.
He supposed that an insurrection had taken place against his
authority, and that his life was in danger. To save himself, he fled
to one of the temples as to a sanctuary. Lycurgus sent to him,
informing him that those engaged in the revolution which had taken
place intended no injury to him, either in respect to his person or
his royal prerogatives. By these assurances the fears of Charilaus
were allayed, and thenceforth he co-operated with Lycurgus in carrying
his measures into effect.
This is not the place for a full account of the plan of government
which Lycurgus introduced, nor of the institutions which gradually
grew up under it. It is sufficient to say that the system which he
adopted was celebrated throughout the world during the period of its
continuance, and has since been celebrated in every age, as being the
most stern and rugged social system that was ever framed. The
commonwealth of Sparta became, under the institutions of Lycurgus,
one great camp. The nation was a nation of soldiers. Every possible
device was resorted to to inure all classes of the population, the
young and the old, the men and the women, the rich and the poor, to
every species of hardship and privation. The only qualities that were
respected or cultivated were such stern virtues as courage, fortitude,
endurance, insensibility to pain and grief, and contempt for all the
pleasures of wealth and luxury. Lycurgus did not write out his system.
He would not allow it to be written out. He preferred to put it in
operation, and then leave it to perpetuate itself, as a matter of
usage and precedent. Accordingly, after fully organizing the
government on the plan which he had arranged, and announcing the laws,
and establishing the customs by which he intended that the ordinary
course of social life should be regulated, he determined to withdraw
from the field and await the result. He therefore informed the people
that he was going away again on another journey, and that he would
leave the carrying forward of the government which he had framed for
them and initiated in their hands; and he required of them a solemn
oath that they would make no change in the system until he returned.
In doing this, his secret intention was _never_ to return.
Such was the origin, and such the general character of the Spartan
government. In the time of Pyrrhus, the system had been in operation
for about five hundred years.[O] During this period the state passed
through many and various vicissitudes. It engaged in wars, offensive
and defensive; it passed through many calamitous and trying scenes,
suffering, from time to time, under the usual ills which, in those
days, so often disturbed the peace and welfare of nations. But during
all this time, the commonwealth retained in a very striking degree the
extraordinary marks and characteristics which the institutions of
Lycurgus had enstamped upon it. The Spartans still were terrible in
the estimation of all mankind, so stern and indomitable was the spirit
which they manifested in all the enterprises in which they engaged.
[Footnote O: The precise time at which the events connected with the
early history of Sparta really occurred is not satisfactorily
determined, so that the dates placed at the heads of the pages can
only be regarded as approximations.]
It was from Sparta that the message came to Pyrrhus asking his
assistance in a war that was then waging there. The war originated in
a domestic quarrel which arose in the family of one of the lines of
kings. The name of the prince who made application to Pyrrhus was
Cleonymus. He was a younger son of one of the Spartan kings. He had
had an older brother named Acrotatus. The crown, of course, would have
devolved on this brother, if he had been living when the father died.
But he was not. He died before his father, leaving a son, however,
named Areus, as his heir. Areus, of course, claimed the throne when
his grandfather died. He was not young himself at this time. He had
advanced beyond the period of middle life, and had a son who had grown
up to maturity.
Cleonymus was very unwilling to acquiesce in the accession of Areus to
the throne. He was himself the son of the king who had died, while
Areus was only the grandson. He maintained, therefore, that he had the
highest claim to the succession. He was, however, overruled, and Areus
assumed the crown.
Soon after his accession, Areus left Sparta and went to Crete,
intrusting the government of his kingdom, in the mean time, to his
son. The name of this son was Acrotatus. Cleonymus, of course, looked
with a particularly evil eye upon this young man, and soon began to
form designs against him. At length, after the lapse of a considerable
period, during which various events occurred which can not be here
described, a circumstance took place which excited the hostility which
Cleonymus felt for Acrotatus to the highest degree. The circumstances
were these:
Cleonymus, though far advanced in life, married, about the time that
the events occurred which we are here describing, a very young lady
named Chelidonis. Chelidonis was a princess of the royal line, and was
a lady of great personal beauty. She, however, had very little
affection for her husband, and at length Acrotatus, who was young and
attractive in person, succeeded in winning her love, and enticing her
away from her husband. This affair excited the mind of Cleonymus to a
perfect phrensy of jealousy and rage. He immediately left Sparta, and,
knowing well the character and disposition of Pyrrhus, he proceeded
northward to Macedon, laid his case before Pyrrhus, and urged him to
fit out an expedition and march to the Peloponnesus, with a view of
aiding him to put down the usurpers, as he called them, and to
establish him on the throne of Sparta instead. Pyrrhus immediately saw
that the conjuncture opened before him a prospect of a very brilliant
campaign, in a field entirely new, and he at once determined to embark
forthwith in the enterprise. He resolved, accordingly, to abandon his
interests in Macedon and march into Greece.