Politics

​And there are common meals (syssitia) among both, and in ancient times at least the Laconians called them not “phiditia” but “andreia” (men’s meals), just as the Cretans do, by which indeed it is clear that they have come from there. Furthermore, there is the organization of the constitution. For on the one hand the ephors have the same power as those called “kosmoi” (orderers) in Crete, except that the ephors are five in number, whereas the kosmoi are ten; and the elders (gerontes) are equal to the elders whom the Cretans call the “boule” (council); and royalty existed formerly, but then the Cretans abolished it, and the kosmoi hold the leadership in war; and all participate in the assembly (ekklesia), but it has authority over nothing except to vote jointly on what has been resolved by the elders and the kosmoi. Now, the matters concerning the common meals are in a better state for the Cretans than for the Laconians. For in Lacedaemon each person contributes the appointed amount per head, and if not, the law prevents him from participating in the constitution, just as was said also before; whereas in Crete it is done on a more communal basis; for from all the produce and livestock produced from public land, and from the taxes which the perioikoi bring in, a portion is assigned, on the one hand, to the gods and the public services, and on the other, to the common meals, so that all are fed from the common stock—women, children, and men alike. And the legislator has devised many things directed toward frugality of diet as being beneficial, and toward the separation of women, so that they should not bear many children, by establishing sexual intercourse with males, concerning which whether it is bad or not bad, there will be another opportunity to consider. That, then, the matters concerning the common meals are better ordered for the Cretans than for the Laconians is clear; but the matters concerning the kosmoi are even worse than those of the ephors. For the evil which the office of the ephors has belongs also to these men, (for anyone who happens to come along gets in), but what is beneficial there for the constitution does not exist here. For there, because the election is from all, the people, by participating in the greatest office, wish the constitution to remain; but here they do not elect the kosmoi from all but from certain families, and the elders from those who have served as kosmoi, concerning whom one might say the same words as about those in Lacedaemon; for the lack of accountability and the life tenure is a reward greater than their merit, and to rule not according to written laws but by their own judgment is hazardous. And the fact that the people remain quiet although not participating is no sign of things being well ordered. For there is no profit for the kosmoi as there is for the ephors, since they live far off in an island from those who would corrupt them.