Politics: A Treatise on Government
members of that body have been guilty both of bribery and partiality in
many public affairs; for which reason it had been much better if they
had been made answerable for their conduct, which they are not. But it
may be said the ephori seem to have a check upon all the magistrates.
They have indeed in this particular very great power; but I affirm that
they should not be entrusted with this control in the manner they are.
Moreover, the mode of choice which they make use of at the election of
their senators is very childish. Nor is it right for any one to solicit
for a place he is desirous of; for every person, whether he chooses it
or not, ought to execute any office he is fit for. But his intention was
evidently the same in this as in the other parts of his government.
For making his citizens ambitious after honours, with men of that
disposition he has filled his senate, since no others will solicit for
that office; and yet the principal part of those crimes which men are
deliberately guilty of arise from ambition and avarice.
We will inquire at another time whether the office of a king is useful
to the state: thus much is certain, that they should be chosen from a
consideration of their conduct and not as they are now. But that the
legislator himself did not expect to make all his citizens honourable
and completely virtuous is evident from this, that he distrusts them as
not being good men; for he sent those upon the same embassy that were at
variance with each other; and thought, that in the dispute of the kings
the safety of the state consisted. Neither were their common meals at
first well established: for these should rather have been provided at
the public expense, as at Crete, where, as at Lacedaemon, every one was
obliged to buy his portion, although he might be very poor, and could by
no means bear the expense, by which means the contrary happened to what
the legislator desired: for he intended that those public meals should
strengthen the democratic part of his government: but this regulation
had quite the contrary effect, for those who were very poor could not
take part in them; and it was an observation of their forefathers, that
the not allowing those who could not contribute their proportion to the
common tables to partake of them, would be the ruin of the state. Other
persons have censured his laws concerning naval affairs, and not without
reason, as it gave rise to disputes. For the commander of the fleet is
in a manner set up in opposition to the kings, who are generals of the
army for life.
[1271b] There is also another defect in his laws worthy of censure,
which Plato has given in his book of Laws; that the whole constitution
was calculated only for the business of war: it is indeed excellent to
make them conquerors; for which reason the preservation of the state
depended thereon. The destruction of it commenced with their victories:
for they knew not how to be idle, or engage in any other employment
than war. In this particular also they were mistaken, that though they
rightly thought, that those things which are the objects of contention
amongst mankind are better procured by virtue than vice, yet they
wrongfully preferred the things themselves to virtue. Nor was the public
revenue well managed at Sparta, for the state was worth nothing while
they were obliged to carry on the most extensive wars, and the subsidies
were very badly raised; for as the Spartans possessed a large extent of
country, they were not exact upon each other as to what they paid in.
And thus an event contrary to the legislator's intention took place;
for the state was poor, the individuals avaricious. Enough of the
Lacedaemonian government; for these seem the chief defects in it.
CHAPTER X
The government of Crete bears a near resemblance to this, in some few
particulars it is not worse, but in general it is far inferior in its
contrivance. For it appears and is allowed in many particulars the
constitution of Lacedaemon was formed in imitation of that of Crete;
and in general most new things are an improvement upon the old. For they
say, that when Lycurgus ceased to be guardian to King Charilles he
went abroad and spent a long time with his relations in Crete, for the
Lycians are a colony of the Lacedaemonians; and those who first settled
there adopted that body of laws which they found already established by
the inhabitants; in like manner also those who now live near them have
the very laws which Minos first drew up.
This island seems formed by nature to be the mistress of Greece, for it
is entirely surrounded by a navigable ocean which washes almost all the
maritime parts of that country, and is not far distant on the one side
from Peloponnesus, on the other, which looks towards Asia, from Triopium
and Rhodes. By means of this situation Minos acquired the empire of
the sea and the islands; some of which he subdued, in others planted
colonies: at last he died at Camicus while he was attacking Sicily.
There is this analogy between the customs of the Lacedaemonians and
the Cretans, the Helots cultivate the grounds [1272a] for the one, the
domestic slaves for the other. Both states have their common meals, and
the Lacedaemonians called these formerly not _psiditia_ but _andpia_,
as the Cretans do; which proves from whence the custom arose. In this
particular their governments are also alike: the ephori have the same
power with those of Crete, who are called _kosmoi_; with this difference
only, that the number of the one is five, of the other ten. The senators
are the same as those whom the Cretans call the council. There was
formerly also a kingly power in Crete; but it was afterwards dissolved,
and the command of their armies was given to the _kosmoi_. Every one
also has a vote in their public assembly; but this has only the power of
confirming what has already passed the council and the _kosmoi_.
The Cretans conducted their public meals better than the Lacedaemonians,
for at Lacedaemon each individual was obliged to furnish what was
assessed upon him; which if he could not do, there was a law which
deprived him of the rights of a citizen, as has been already mentioned:
but in Crete they were furnished by the community; for all the corn and
cattle, taxes and contributions, which the domestic slaves were obliged
to furnish, were divided into parts and allotted to the gods, the
exigencies of the state, and these public meals; so that all the men,
women, and children were maintained from a common stock. The legislator
gave great attention to encourage a habit of eating sparingly, as very
useful to the citizens. He also endeavoured, that his community might
not be too populous, to lessen the connection with women, by introducing
the love of boys: whether in this he did well or ill we shall have some
other opportunity of considering. But that the public meals were better
ordered at Crete than at Lacedaemon is very evident.
The institution of the _kosmoi_, was still worse than that of the
ephori: for it contained all the faults incident to that magistracy and
some peculiar to itself; for in both cases it is uncertain who will be
elected: but the Lacedaemonians have this advantage which the others
have not, that as all are eligible, the whole community have a share
in the highest honours, and therefore all desire to preserve the state:
whereas among the Cretans the _kosmoi_ are not chosen out of the people
in general, but out of some certain families, and the senate out of the
_kosmoi_. And the same observations which may be made on the senate at
Lacedaemon may be applied to these; for their being under no control,
and their continuing for life, is an honour greater than they merit; and
to have their proceedings not regulated by a written law, but left to
their own discretion, is dangerous. (As to there being no insurrections,
although the people share not in the management of public affairs, this
is no proof of a well-constituted government, as the _kosmoi_ have no
opportunity of being bribed like the ephori, as they live in an [1272b]
island far from those who would corrupt them.) But the method they take
to correct that fault is absurd, impolitic, and tyrannical: for very
often either their fellow-magistrates or some private persons conspire
together and turn out the _kosmoi_. They are also permitted to resign
their office before their time is elapsed, and if all this was done by
law it would be well, and not at the pleasure of the individuals, which
is a bad rule to follow. But what is worst of all is, that general
confusion which those who are in power introduce to impede the ordinary
course of justice; which sufficiently shows what is the nature of the
government, or rather lawless force: for it is usual with the principal
persons amongst them to collect together some of the common people and
their friends, and then revolt and set up for themselves, and come
to blows with each other. And what is the difference, if a state is
dissolved at once by such violent means, or if it gradually so alters in
process of time as to be no longer the same constitution? A state like
this would ever be exposed to the invasions of those who were powerful
and inclined to attack it; but, as has been already mentioned, its
situation preserves it, as it is free from the inroads of foreigners;
and for this reason the family slaves still remain quiet at Crete, while
the Helots are perpetually revolting: for the Cretans take no part in
foreign affairs, and it is but lately that any foreign troops have
made an attack upon the island; and their ravages soon proved the
ineffectualness of their laws. And thus much for the government of
Crete.
CHAPTER XI
The government of Carthage seems well established, and in many respects
superior to others; in some particulars it bears a near resemblance
to the Lacedaemonians; and indeed these three states, the Cretans, the
Lacedaemonians and the Carthaginians are in some things very like
each other, in others they differ greatly. Amongst many excellent
constitutions this may show how well their government is framed, that
although the people are admitted to a share in the administration, the
form of it remains unaltered, without any popular insurrections, worth
notice, on the one hand, or degenerating into a tyranny on the
other. Now the Carthaginians have these things in common with the
Lacedaemonians: public tables for those who are connected together by
the tie of mutual friendship, after the manner of their Phiditia; they
have also a magistracy, consisting of an hundred and four persons,
similar to the ephori, or rather selected with more judgment; for
amongst the Lacedaemonians, all the citizens are eligible, but amongst
the Carthaginians, they are chosen out of those of the better sort:
there is also some analogy between the king and the senate in both these
governments, though the Carthaginian method of appointing their kings
is best, for they do not confine themselves to one family; nor do
they permit the election to be at large, nor have they any regard to
seniority; for if amongst the candidates there are any of greater merit
than the rest, these they prefer to those who may be older; for as their
power is very extensive, if they are [1273a] persons of no account,
they may be very hurtful to the state, as they have always been to
the Lacedaemonians; also the greater part of those things which become
reprehensible by their excess are common to all those governments which
we have described.
Now of those principles on which the Carthaginians have established
their mixed form of government, composed of an aristocracy and
democracy, some incline to produce a democracy, others an oligarchy: for
instance, if the kings and the senate are unanimous upon any point in