Polıteía 47
measure carried by Epitadeus, in effect, legalized the giving of dowries, and it
also made possible a disguised sale of the civic allotment. This enabled citizens
too foolish to foresee the consequences or too eager for private enjoyment of
the pleasures that money can buy to trade the patrimony of their sons for the
means of their own delight.^33 At the same time, the disasters which struck
Sparta in the wars of the period eliminated a good many men and left the land
in the hands of their wives, sisters, and daughters. These women, inured to
“every kind of licence and luxury,” were hardly likely to be eager to confer their
estates on the impoverished sons of the prolific. They were no doubt much
sought after by the surviving Spartiates, both the landless men intent on se-
curing the property needed if they were to make the required contributions
to a sussıtíon and those possessed of an estate but caught in the grips of an
unquenchable thirst for additional wealth. Prosperous Spartiates with only
daughters for heirs would naturally try to find the best possible match, and
money no doubt tended to marry money. But if a girl’s father died before she
was betrothed, her fate may still—prior to the fourth century—have become
the responsibility of the two kings. We do not know whether Sparta’s dyarchs
disposed also of widows, but—while it lasted—the power they possessed to
oversee adoptions and to marry off unbetrothed heiresses was power enough.
These two functions contributed greatly to the influence which the two
kings exercised over the allocation of property, but they by no means ex-
hausted that influence. The two basıleîs had other resources from which to
benefit their political allies. Of all the Spartans, the wealthiest were the two
kings. They owned choice land in many of the towns of the períoıkoı. In addi-
tion, they received anywhere from one-tenth to one-third of the booty cap-
tured in battle; they claimed the hides and chines of whatever animals were
sacrificed; and they took a piglet from every litter raised in Lacedaemon. At
the same time, they benefited from a special tax levied on the citizens and the
períoıkoı; and of course, because of the power they exercised in the conduct of
foreign affairs, they gained more from the gold and silver that flowed into
Sparta from abroad than any other citizens.^34 No one was in a better position
to bestow gifts.
From the coincidence of what the Spartiates desired and what the kings
could provide, it would be easy to suppose, but wrong to conclude, that the
two basıleîs were virtual tyrants within Lacedaemon. To be sure, the dyarchs
were capable of working great harm. Aristotle stresses this fact himself.^35 But