Lycurgus

, a king of Nemæa, in Peloponnesus. He was raised from the dead by Æsculapius. Statius , Thebiad , bk. 5 , li. 638 .――A giant killed by Osiris in Thrace. Diodorus , bk. 1 .――A Metamorphoses , bk. 4 , li. 22 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 3 , li. 14 .— Horace , bk. 2 , ode 19.――A son of Hercules and Praxithea daughter of Thespius. Apollo dor us , bk. 2 , ch. 7 .――A son of Pheres the son of Cretheus. Apollo dor us , bk. 1 , ch. 9 .――An orator of Athens, surnamed Ibis , in the age of Demosthenes, famous for his justice and impartiality when at the head of the government. He was one of the 30 orators whom the A then i ans refused to deliver up to Alexander. Some of his orations are extant. He died about 330 years before Christ. Diodorus , bk. 16 .――A king of Tegea, son of Aleus, by Neæra the daughter of Pereus. He married Cleophile, called also Eurynome, by whom he had Amphidamas, . Apollo dor us , bk. 3 , ch. 9 .— Homer , Iliad , bk. 7 .――A celebrated lawgiver of Sparta, son of king Eunomus and brother to Polydectes. He succeeded his brother on the Spartan throne; but when he saw that the widow of Polydectes was pregnant, he kept the kingdom not for himself, but till Charilaus his nephew was arrived to years of maturity. He had previously refused to marry his brother’s widow, who wished to strengthen him on his throne by destroying her own son Charilaus, and leaving him in the peaceful po e ion of the crown. The integrity with which he acted, when guardian of his nephew Charilaus, united with the disappointment and the resentment of the queen, raised him many enemies, and he at last yielded to their satire and malevolence, and retired to Crete. He travelled like a philosopher, and visited Asia and Egypt without suffering himself to be corrupted by the licentiousne and luxury which prevailed there. The confusion which followed his departure from Sparta now had made his presence totally nece ary, and he returned home at the earnest solicitations of his countrymen. The disorders which reigned at Sparta induced him to reform the government; and the more effectually to execute his undertaking, he had recourse to the oracle of Delphi. He was received by the prieste of the god with every mark of honour, his intentions were warmly approved by the divinity, and he was called the friend of gods, and himself rather god than man. After such a reception from the most celebrated oracle of Greece, Lycurgus found no difficulty in reforming the abuses of the state, and all were equally anxious in promoting a revolution which had received the sanction of heaven. This happened 884 years before the christian era. Lycurgus first established a senate, which was composed of 28 senators, whose authority preserved the tranquillity of the state, and maintained a due and just equilibrium between the kings and the people, by watching over the intrusions of the former, and checking the seditious convulsions of the latter. All distinctions were destroyed, and by making an equal and impartial division of the land among the members of the commonwealth, Lycurgus banished luxury, and encouraged the useful arts. The use of money, either of gold or silver, was totally forbidden, and the introduction of heavy bra and iron coin brought no temptations to the dishonest, and left every individual in the po e ion of his effects without any fears of robbery or violence. All the citizens dined in common, and no one had greater claims to indulgence or luxury than another. The intercourse of Sparta with other nations was forbidden, and few were permitted to travel. The youths were entrusted to the public master as soon as they had attained their seventh year, and their education was left to the wisdom of the laws. They were taught early to think, to answer in a short and laconic manner, and to excel in sharp repartee. They were instructed and encouraged to carry things by surprise, but if ever the theft was discovered they were subjected to a severe punishment. Lycurgus was happy and succe ful in establishing and enforcing these laws, and by his prudence and administration the face of affairs in Lacedæmon was totally changed, and it gave rise to a set of men distinguished for their intrepidity, their fortitude, and their magnanimity. After this, Lycurgus retired from Sparta to Delphi, or, according to others, to Crete, and before his departure he bound all the citizens of Lacedæmon by a solemn oath, that neither they nor their posterity would alter, violate, or abolish the laws which he had established before his return. He soon after put himself to death, and he ordered his ashes to be thrown into the sea, fearful lest, if they were carried to Sparta, the citizens would call themselves freed from the oath which they had taken, and empowered to make a revolution. The wisdom and the good effect of the laws of Lycurgus have been firmly demonstrated at Sparta, where for 700 years they remained in full force, but the legislator has been censured as cruel and impolitic. He has shown himself inhumane in ordering mothers to destroy such of their children whose feeblene or deformity in their youth seemed to promise incapability of action in maturer years, and to become a burden to the state. His regulations about marriage must nece arily be censured, and no true conjugal felicity can be expected from the union of a man with a person whom he perhaps never knew before, and whom he was compelled to choose in a dark room, where all the marriageable women in the state a embled on stated occasions. The peculiar dre which was appointed for the females might be termed improper; and the law must for ever be called injudicious, which ordered them to appear naked on certain days of festivity, and wrestle in a public a embly promiscuously, with boys of equal age with themselves. These things indeed contributed as much to corrupt the morals of the Lacedæmonians, as the other regulations seemed to be calculated to banish di ipation, riot, and debauchery. Lycurgus has been compared to Solon, the celebrated legislator of Athens, and it has been judiciously observed, that the former gave his citizens morals conformable to the laws which he had established, and that the latter had given the A then i ans laws which coincided with their customs and manners. The office of Lycurgus demanded resolution, and he showed himself inexorable and severe. In Solon artifice was requisite, and he showed himself mild and even voluptuous. The moderation of Lycurgus is greatly commended, particularly when we recollect that he treated with the greatest humanity and confidence Alcander, a youth who had put out one of his eyes in a seditious tumult. Lycurgus had a son called Anti or us, who left no i ue. The Lacedæmonians showed their respect for their great legislator, by yearly celebrating a festival in his honour, called Lycurgidæ or Lycurgides. The introduction of money into Sparta in the reign of Agis the son of Arch i dam us was one of the principal causes which corrupted the innocence of the Lacedæmonians, and rendered them the prey of intrigue and of faction. The laws of Lycurgus were abrogated by Philopœmen, B.C. 188, but only for a little time, as they were soon after re-established by the Romans. Plutarch , Lives .— Justin , bk. 3 , ch. 2 , . — Strabo , bks. 8, 10, 15, . — Dionysius of Halicarna us , bk. 2 .— Pausanias , bk. 3 , ch. 2 .