When he arrived there, he offered sacrifice to the gods, and consulted the oracle, whether his laws were sufficient to promote virtue, and secure the happiness of the state. Apollo answered, that the laws were excellent, and that the city which kept to the constitution he had established, would be the most glorious in the world. This oracle Lycurgus took down in writing, and sent it to Sparta. He then offered another sacrifice, and embraced his friends and his son, determined never to release his citizens from their oath, but voluntarily there to put a period to his life; while he was yet of an age when life was not a burden, when death was not desirable, and while he was not unhappy in any one circumstance. He, therefore, destroyed himself by abstaining from food, persuaded that the very death of lawgivers should have its use, and their exit, so far from being insignificant, have its share of virtue, and be considered as a great action. To him, indeed, whose performances were so illustrious, the conclusion of life was the crown of happiness, and his death was left guardian of those invaluable blessings he had procured his countrymen through life, as they had taken an oath not to depart from his establishment till his return. Nor was he deceived in his expectations. Sparta continued superior to the rest of Greece, both in its government at home and reputation abroad, so long as it retained the institution of Lycurgus: and this it did during the space of five hundred years, and the reign of fourteen successive kings, down to Agis the son of Archidamus. As for the appointment of the Ephori, it was so far from weakening the constitution, that it gave it additional vigour, and though it seemed to be established in favour of the people, it strengthened the aristocracy.
But in the reign of Agis money found its way into Sparta, and with money came its inseparable attendant – avarice. This was by means of Lysander; who, though himself incapable of being corrupted by money, filled his country with the love of it, and with luxury too. He brought both gold and silver from the wars, and thereby broke through the laws of Lycurgus. While these were in force, Sparta was not so much under the political regulations of a commonwealth, as the strict rules of a philosophic life; and as the poets feign of Hercules, that only with a club and lion's skin he travelled over the world, clearing it of lawless ruffians and cruel tyrants; so the Lacedæmonians with a piece of parchment and coarse coat kept Greece in a voluntary obedience, destroyed usurpation and tyranny in the states, put an end to wars, and laid seditions asleep, very often without either shield or lance, and only by sending one ambassador; to whose directions all parties concerned immediately submitted. Thus bees, when their prince appears, compose their quarrels and unite in one swarm. So much did justice and good government prevail in that state, that I am surprised at those who say the Lacedæmonians knew indeed how to obey, but not how to govern: and on this occasion quote the saying of king Theopompus, who, when one told him that Sparta was preserved by the good administration of its kings, replied, "Nay, rather by the obedience of their subjects." It is certain that people will not continue pliant to those who know not how to command; but it is the part of a good governor to teach obedience. He who knows how to lead well, is sure to be well followed: and as it is by the art of horsemanship that a horse is made gentle and tractable, so it is by the abilities of him that fills the throne that the people become ductile and submissive. Such was the conduct of the Lacedæmonians, that people did not only endure, but even desired to be their subjects. They asked not of them either ships, money or troops, but only a Spartan general. When they had received him, they treated him with the greatest honour and respect; so Gylippus was revered by the Sicilians, Brasidas by the Chalcidians, Lysander, Callicratidas, and Agesilaus by all the people of Asia. These, and such as these, wherever they came, were called moderators and reformers, both of the magistrates and people, and Sparta itself was considered as a school of discipline, where the beauty of life and political order were taught in the utmost perfection. Hence Stratonicus seems facetiously enough to have said, that he would order "the Athenians to have the conduct of mysteries and processions; the Eleans to preside in games, as their particular province; and the Lacedæmonians to be beaten, if the other did amiss." This was spoken in jest: but Antisthenes, one of the scholars of Socrates, said (more seriously) of the Thebans, when he saw them pluming themselves upon their success at Leuctra, "They were just like so many school-boys rejoicing that they had beaten their master."
It was not, however, the principal design of Lycurgus that his city should govern many others, but he considered its happiness like that of a private man, as flowing from virtue and self-consistency: he therefore so ordered and disposed it, that by the freedom and sobriety of its inhabitants, and their having a sufficiency within themselves, its continuance might be the more secure. Plato, Diogenes, Zeno, and other writers upon government, have taken Lycurgus for their model: and these have attained great praise, though they left only an idea of something excellent. Yet he who, not in idea and in words, but in fact produced a most inimitable form of government, and by showing a whole city of philosophers, confounded those who imagine that the so much talked of strictness of a philosophic life is impracticable; he, I say, stands in the rank of glory far beyond the founders of all the other Grecian states. Therefore Aristotle is of opinion, that the honours paid him in Lacedæmon were far beneath his merit. Yet those honours were very great; for he has a temple there, and they offer him a yearly sacrifice, as a god. It is also said, that when his remains were brought home, his tomb was struck with lightning: a seal of divinity which no other man, however eminent, has had, except Euripides, who died and was buried at Arethusa in Macedonia. This was matter of great satisfaction and triumph to the friends of Euripides, that the same thing should befall him after death, which had formerly happened to the most venerable of men, and the most favoured of heaven. Some say, Lycurgus died at Cirrha; but Apollothemis will have it, that he was brought to Elis and died there; and Timæus and Aristoxenus write, that he ended his days in Crete; nay, Aristoxenus adds, that the Cretans show his tomb at Pergamia, near the high road. We are told, he left an only son named Antiorus: and as he died without issue, the family was extinct. His friends and relations observed his anniversary, which subsisted for many ages, and the days on which they met for that purpose they called Lycurgidæ. Aristocrates, the son of Hipparchus, relates, that the friends of Lycurgus, with whom he sojourned, and at last died in Crete, burned his body, and, at his request, threw his ashes into the sea. Thus he guarded against the possibility of his remains being brought back to Sparta by the Lacedæmonians, lest they should then think themselves released from their oath, on the pretence that he was returned, and make innovations in the government. This is what we had to say of Lycurgus.
SIR THOMAS MORE'S UTOPIA
BOOK I
Henry the Eighth, the unconquered King of England, a prince adorned with all the virtues that become a great monarch, having some differences of no small consequence with Charles the most serene prince of Castile, sent me into Flanders, as his ambassador, for treating and composing matters between them. I was colleague and companion to that incomparable man Cuthbert Tonstal, whom the king with such universal applause lately made Master of the Rolls; but of whom I will say nothing; not because I fear that the testimony of a friend will be suspected, but rather because his learning and virtues are too great for me to do them justice, and so well known, that they need not my commendations unless I would, according to the proverb, "Show the sun with a lanthorn." Those that were appointed by the prince to treat with us met us at Bruges, according to agreement; they were all worthy men. The Margrave of Bruges was their head, and the chief man among them; but he that was esteemed the wisest, and that spoke for the rest, was George Temse, the Provost of Casselsee; both art and nature had concurred to make him eloquent: he was very learned in the law; and as he had a great capacity, so by a long practice in affairs he was very dextrous at unravelling them. After we had several times met without coming to an agreement, they went to Brussels for some days to know the prince's pleasure. And since our business would admit it, I went to Antwerp. While I was there, among many that visited me, there was one that was more acceptable to me than any other, Peter Giles, born at Antwerp, who is