LYCURGUS AND THE SPARTAN LAWS. 51

code, and Lycurgus, to whom Sparta owed it, with
which we are now concerned.

First, who was Lycurgus and in what age did he
live? Neither of these questions can be closely an-
swered. Though his laws are historical, his biogra-
phy is legendary. He is believed to have lived
somewhere about 900 or 1000 Bc. that age of
legend and fable in which Homer lived, and what
we know about him is little more to be trusted than
what we know about the great poet. The Greeks
had stories of their celebrated men of this remote
age, but they were stories with which imagination
often had more to do than fact, and though we may
enjoy them, it is never quite safe to believe them.

As for the very uncertain personage named Ly-
curgus, we are told by Herodotus, the Greek his-
torian, that when he was born the Spartans were
the most lawless of the Greeks, Every man was a
law unto himself, and confusion, tumult, and injustice
everywhere prevailed. Lycurgus, a noble Spartan,
sad at heart for the misery of his country, applied
to the oracle at Delphi, and received instructions as
to how he should act to bring about a better state
of affairs.

Plutarch, who tells so many charming stories
about the ancient Greeks and Romans, gives us the
following account. According to him the brother
of Lycurgus was king of Sparta. When he died
Lycurgus was offered the throne, but he declined
the honor and made his infant nephew, Charilaus,
king. Then he left Sparta, and travelled through
Crete, Ionia, Egypt, and several more remote coun-