The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians

Name: The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians
Author: Xenophon

Xenophon

Classical literature; Greece -- Politics and government -- Early works to 1800

THE POLITY OF THE ATHENIANS AND THE LACEDAEMONIANS

By Xenophon

Translation by H. G. Dakyns





     Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
     pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
     and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
     and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
     years before having to move once more, to settle
     in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.

     The Polity of the Lacedaemonians talks about the
     laws and institutions created by Lycurgus, which
     train and develop Spartan citizens from birth to
     old age.




  PREPARER'S NOTE

  This was typed from Dakyns' series, "The Works of Xenophon," a
  four-volume set. The complete list of Xenophon's works (though
  there is doubt about some of these) is:

  Work                                   Number of books

  The Anabasis                                         7
  The Hellenica                                        7
  The Cyropaedia                                       8
  The Memorabilia                                      4
  The Symposium                                        1
  The Economist                                        1
  On Horsemanship                                      1
  The Sportsman                                        1
  The Cavalry General                                  1
  The Apology                                          1
  On Revenues                                          1
  The Hiero                                            1
  The Agesilaus                                        1
  The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians   2

  Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into
  English using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The
  diacritical marks have been lost.



     The Polity of the Lacedaemonians talks about the
     laws and institutions created by Lycurgus, which
     train and develop Spartan citizens from birth to
     old age.




THE POLITY OF THE ATHENIANS



I

Now, as concerning the Polity of the Athenians, (1) and the type or
manner of constitution which they have chosen, (2) I praise it not,
in so far as the very choice involves the welfare of the baser folk as
opposed to that of the better class. I repeat, I withhold my praise so
far; but, given the fact that this is the type agreed upon, I propose
to show that they set about its preservation in the right way; and that
those other transactions in connection with it, which are looked upon as
blunders by the rest of the Hellenic world, are the reverse.

 (1) See Grote, "H. G." vi. p. 47 foll.; Thuc. i. 76, 77; viii. 48;
    Boeckh, "P. E. A." passim; Hartman, "An. Xen. N." cap. viii.;
    Roquette, "Xen. Vit." S. 26; Newman, "Pol. Arist." i. 538; and
    "Xenophontis qui fertur libellus de Republica Atheniensium," ed.
    A. Kirchhoff (MDCCCLXXIV), whose text I have chiefly followed.

 (2) Lit. "I do not praise their choice of the (particular) type, in so
    far as..."

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians

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