Politics

​For the entire organization of the laws is directed toward a part of virtue, namely military virtue; for this is useful for conquering. Therefore they were preserved while making war, but were ruined once they had acquired empire, because of not knowing how to use leisure, and because of not having practiced any other training more authoritative than military training. And there is an error no less than this: for they think that the goods fought over are acquired through virtue rather than vice, and this is well indeed; however, in supposing that these goods are better than virtue, they are not well. And things are also in a bad state for the Spartans regarding public funds. For there is nothing in the common treasury of the city, although they are compelled to wage great wars, and they contribute poorly; for because the most of the land belongs to the Spartans, they do not examine each other’s contributions. And the opposite of what is beneficial has turned out for the legislator; for he has made the city penniless, but private individuals avaricious. Concerning, then, the constitution of the Lacedaemonians, let this much have been said; for these are the things one might especially criticize. On the other hand, the Cretan constitution is close to this one, and though it is in a few small ways not worse, for the most part it is less polished. For the Laconian constitution indeed seems and is said to have imitated the Cretan in most respects; and most ancient institutions are less fully articulated than more recent ones. For they say that Lycurgus, when he left the guardianship of King Charilaus and went abroad, then spent most of his time in Crete on account of their relationship; for the Lyctians were colonists of the Laconians, and those who came to the colony found the organization of laws existing among those who inhabited the place at that time. Therefore even now the perioikoi use them in the same manner, on the ground that Minos first established this organization of laws. The island also seems both naturally suited for Greek dominion and well situated; for it lies over the entire sea, as almost all of the Greeks are settled around the sea. For on one side it is a short distance from the Peloponnese, and on the other from Asia, near the region of Triopium and Rhodes. Therefore Minos also held the empire of the sea, and of the islands he subdued some and colonized others, and finally, after attacking Sicily, ended his life there near Camicus. And the Cretan organization has an analogy to the Laconian. For the helots cultivate the land for the Laconians, and the perioikoi for the Cretans,