Many years after this, Lycurgus instituted that body of laws, which rendered both the legislature and the republic so famous in history: and since the constitution of Lycurgus seems to have been the true groundwork of our own, we insert some few particulars in respect to it; for the ruins of institutions are even more important subjects of contemplation than those of the walls in which they were engendered. The following account is taken from Rollin. We have not space, however, for the whole of his observations; we shall select, therefore, only the most important ones. Of all the institutions, made by Lycurgus, the most considerable was that of the senate; which, by tempering and balancing the too absolute power of the kings by an authority of equal weight and influence with theirs, became the principal support and preservation of the state. For whereas, before, it was ever unsteady, and tending one while to tyranny, by the violent proceedings of the kings; at other times towards democracy, by the excessive power of the people, the senate served as a kind of counterpoise to both; which kept the state in a due equilibrium, and preserved it in a firm and steady situation; the twenty-eight senators, of which it consisted, siding with the king, when the people were aiming at too much power; and, on the other hand, espousing the interests of the people whenever the kings attempted to carry their authority too far. Lycurgus having thus tempered the government, those that came after him thought the power of the senate too absolute; and, therefore, as a check upon them, they devised the authority of the Ephori. These were five in number, and remained but one year in office. They were all chosen out of the people, and in that respect considerably resembled the tribunes of the people among the Romans. Their authority extended to the arresting and imprisoning the persons of their kings. This institution began in the reign of Theopompus, whose wife reproached him, that he would leave his children the regal authority in a worse condition than he had received it. "No!" said he, "on the contrary, I shall leave it them in a much better condition; as it will be more permanent and lasting." The Spartan government then was not purely monarchical. The nobility had a share in it, and the people were not excluded. Each part of this body politic, in proportion as it contributed to the public good, found in it their advantage.