Lycurgos also provided for the continual cultivation
of virtues even to old age, by fi xing the election to the
council of elders as a last ordeal at the goal of life, thus
making it impossible for a high standard of virtuous
living to be disregarded even in old age.... Moreover
he laid upon them, like some irresistible necessity, the
obligation to cultivate the whole virtue of a citizen.
Provided they duly perform the injunctions of the law,
the city belonged to them each and all, in absolute
possession, and on an equal footing....
I wish to explain with suffi cient detail the nature of
the covenant between king and state as instituted by
Lycurgos; for this, I take it, is the sole type of rule which
still preserves the original form in which it was fi rst
established; whereas other constitutions will be found
either to have been already modifi ed or else to be still
undergoing modifi cation at this moment. Lycurgos
laid it down as law that the king shall off er on behalf
of the state all public sacrifi ces, as being himself of
divine descent, and wherever the state shall dispatch
her armies the king shall take the lead. He granted
him to receive honorary gifts of the things off ered insacrifi ce, and he appointed him choice land in many of
the provincial cities, enough to satisfy moderate needs
without excess of wealth. And in order that the kings
might also encamp and mess in public he appointed
them public quarters, and he honored them with a
double portion each at the evening meal, not in order
that they might actually eat twice as much as others
but that the king might have the means to honor
whomsoever he wished....
Close by the palace a lake aff ords an unrestricted supply
of water; and how useful that is for various purposes
they best can tell who lack the luxury. Moreover, all rise
from their seats to give place to the king, save only that
the ephors rise not from their throne of offi ce. Monthly
they exchange oaths, the ephors on behalf of the state,
the king himself on his own behalf. And this is the
oath on the king’s part: “I will exercise my kingship in
accordance with the established laws of the state.” And
on the part of the state (the ephors) the oath runs: “So
long as he (who exercises kingship), shall abide by his
oath we will not suff er his kingdom to be shaken.”From: Fred Fling, ed., A Source Book
of Greek History (Boston: D. C. Heath,
1907), pp. 66–75.(cont inues)Now, after the death of his father Aigeos, forming in his
mind a great and wonderful design, he gathered together
all the inhabitants of Attica into one town, and made
them one people of one city, whereas before they lived
dispersed and were not easy to assemble upon any aff air
for the common interest. Nay, diff erences and even wars
often occurred between them, which he by his persuasions
appeased, going from township to township and from
tribe to tribe. And those of a more private and mean
condition readily embracing such good advice, to those
of greater power he promised a commonwealth without
monarchy—a democracy, or people’s government—in
which he should only be continued as their commander
in war and the protector of their laws, all things else
being equally distributed among them; and by this means
brought a part of them over to his proposal.
He then dissolved all the distinct statehouses, council
halls, and magistracies, and built one common state-
house and council hall on the site of the present uppertown, and gave the name of Athens to the whole state,
ordaining a common feast and sacrifi ce, which he
called Pan-Athenaia, or the sacrifi ce of all the united
Athenians. He instituted also another sacrifi ce called
Metoikia, or Feast of Migration, which is yet celebrated
on the sixteenth day of Hecatombaion. Th en, as he had
promised, he laid down his regal power and proceeded
to order a commonwealth, entering upon this great
work not without advice from the gods.... Farther yet
designing to enlarge his city, he invited all strangers to
come and enjoy equal privileges with the natives....
Yet he did not suff er his state, by the promiscuous
multitude that fl owed in, to be turned into confusion
and he left without any order or degree, but he was the
fi rst that divided the Athenian Commonwealth into
three distinct ranks, the noblemen, the farmers, and
the artisans. To the nobility he committed the care of
religion, the choice of magistrates, the teaching and
dispensing of the laws, and interpretation and directionPlutarch: excerpt from Th e Life of Th eseus, ca. 110 c.e.
Greece540 government organization: primary source documents