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.      

Contents

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,                        
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