§4.1τῇ δὲ ἄλλῃ τῶν παρθένων ἀγωγῇ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς ἐκδόσεις ὁμολογεῖ, τοῦ μὲν Λυκούργου πεπείρους καὶ ὀργώσας νυμφεύοντος, ὅπως ἥ τε ὁμιλία, δεομένης ἤδη τῆς φύσεως, χάριτος ᾖ καὶ φιλίας ἀρχὴ μᾶλλον ἢ μίσους καὶ φόβου παρὰ φύσιν βιαζομένων καὶ τὰ σώματα ῥώμην ἔχῃ πρός τὸ τὰς κυήσεις ἀναφέρειν καὶ τὰς ὠδῖνας, ὡς ἐπʼ οὐδέν ἄλλο γαμουμένων ἢ τὸ τῆς τεκνώσεως ἔργον, τῶν δὲ Ῥωμαίων δωδεκαετεῖς καὶ νεωτέρας ἐκδιδόντων οὕτω γὰρ ἂν μάλιστα καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὸ ἦθος καθαρὸν καὶ ἄθικτον ἐπὶ τῷ γαμοῦντι γίνεσθαι.
Furthermore, in their other training of maidens, their practices regarding marriage are consistent. Lycurgus, on the one hand, gave them in marriage when they were ripe and mature, so that their intercourse, when nature already demanded it, might be a source of pleasure and the beginning of friendship rather than of hatred and fear toward those who force them against nature, and that their bodies might have the strength to sustain pregnancies and childbirth, as if they were married for no other purpose than the work of child-bearing. The Romans, on the other hand, gave in marriage girls of twelve years old or even younger; for they thought that in this way both body and character would become most pure and untouched under the influence of the husband.
§4.2δῆλον οὖν ὅτι τὸ μὲν φυσικώτερον πρὸς τέκνωσιν, τὸ δὲ ἠθικώτερον πρός συμβίωσιν.
It is clear, then, that the former is more natural for child-bearing, and the latter more moral for living together.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐπιστασίαις τε παίδων καὶ συναγελασμοῖς καὶ παιδαγωγίαις καὶ κοινωνίαις, περί τε δεῖπνα καὶ γυμνάσια καὶ παιδιὰς αὐτῶν ἐμμελείαις καὶ διακοσμήσεσιν, οὐδέν τι τοῦ προστυχόντος νομοθέτου βελτίονα τὸν Νομᾶν ὁ Λυκοῦργος ἀποδείκνυσιν, ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν πατέρων ποιησάμενον ἐπιθυμίαις ἢ χρείαις τὰς τῶν νέων ἀγωγάς, §4.3εἴτε τις ἐργάτην γῆς βούλοιτο ποιεῖν τὸν υἱὸν εἴτε ναυπηγὸν ἢ χαλκέα διδάσκειν ἢ αὐλητήν, ὥσπερ οὐ πρός ἓν τέλος ὀφείλοντας ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἄγεσθαι καὶ συνεπιστρέφεσθαι τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ἀλλʼ οἷον εἰς ναῦν ἐπιβάτας ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρας ἥκοντα χρείας καὶ προαιρέσεως ἐν τοῖς κινδύνοις μόνον φόβῳ τοῦ ἰδίου συνίστασθαι πρός τὸ κοινόν, ἄλλως δὲ τὸ καθʼ αὑτὸν σκοπεῖν ἕκαστον.
Nevertheless, in the supervision of children, their clustering, training, and common life, as well as in the harmony and organization of their meals, exercises, and plays, Lycurgus shows Numa to be no better than any ordinary lawgiver, since Numa made the education of the young depend upon the desires or needs of their fathers, whether one wished to make his son a tiller of the soil, or to teach him to be a shipwright, a smith, or a flute-player, as if they ought not from the very beginning to be led toward one single end and to have their characters directed together, but as if they were passengers on a ship, each arriving from a different need and purpose, who associate for the common good only in times of danger through fear for their own lives, but otherwise each looks to his own interest.
§4.4καὶ τοῖς μὲν πολλοῖς οὐκ ἄξιον ἐγκαλεῖν νομοθέταις ἐλλείπουσιν ἢ διʼ ἄγνοιαν ἢ διʼ ἀσθένειαν ἀνδρὶ δὲ σοφῷ βασιλείαν παραλαβόντι δήμου νεωστὶ συνισταμένου καὶ πρός μηδὲν ἀντιτείνοντος, περὶ τί πρῶτον ἦν σπουδάσαι προσῆκον ἢ παίδων ἐκτροφὴν καὶ νέων ἄσκησιν, ὅπως μὴ διάφοροι μηδὲ ταραχώδεις γένοιντο τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ἀλλʼ εἰς ἕν τι κοινὸν ἀρετῆς ἴχνος εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς πλαττόμενοι καὶ τυπούμενοι συμβαίνοιεν ἀλλήλοις;
And while it is not right to blame the majority of lawgivers who fall short either through ignorance or weakness, yet for a wise man who had received the kingship of a newly established people that opposed him in nothing, what should have been his first and most fitting care other than the rearing of children and the training of the young, so that they might not become different and turbulent in their characters, but being from the very beginning fashioned and molded into a single common track of virtue, they might agree with one another?
§4.5ὃ δὴ πρός τε τὰ ἄλλα καὶ σωτηρίαν νόμων ὠφέλησε τὸν Λυκοῦργον.
This indeed, among other things, helped Lycurgus to preserve his laws.
μικρὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τῶν ὅρκων φόβος, εἰ μὴ διὰ τῆς παιδείας καὶ τῆς ἀγωγῆς οἷον ἀνέδευσε τοῖς ἤθεσι τῶν παίδων τοὺς νόμους, καὶ συνῳκείωσε τῇ τροφῇ τὸν ζῆλον τῆς πολιτείας, ὥστε πεντακοσίων ἐτῶν πλείω χρόνον τὰ κυριώτατα καὶ μέγιστα διαμεῖναι τῆς νομοθεσίας, ὥσπερ βαφῆς ἀκράτου καὶ ἰσχυρῶς καθαψαμένης.
For the fear of oaths was of little account, unless through education and training he had, as it were, bound the laws to the characters of the children, and made the zeal for the constitution closely associated with their nurture, so that for more than five hundred years the most sovereign and important parts of his legislation remained, like an unmixed dye that has strongly taken hold.
§4.6Νομᾷ δὲ ὅπερ ἦν τέλος τῆς πολιτείας, ἐν εἰρήνῃ καὶ φιλίᾳ τὴν Ῥώμην ὑπάρχειν, εὐθὺς συνεξέλιπε·
For Numa, on the other hand, the very end of his constitution, which was for Rome to remain in peace and friendship, immediately perished with him.
καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἐκείνου τὸν ἀμφίθυρον οἶκον, ὃν κεκλεισμένον αὐτὸς συνεῖχεν, ὥσπερ ὄντως ἐν αὐτῷ τιθασεύων καθειργμένον τὸν πόλεμον, ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἀναπετάσαντες αἵματος καὶ νεκρῶν τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐνέπλησαν· καὶ οὐδὲ ὀλίγον χρόνον ἡ καλλίστη καὶ δικαιοτάτη κατάστασις ἔμεινεν, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τὸ συνδετικὸν ἐν αὑτῇ, τὴν παιδείαν, οὐκ ἔχουσα.
After his death, the double-doored temple, which he himself had kept closed, as if he were truly keeping war shut up and tamed within it, was flung open on both sides and filled Italy with blood and corpses; and not even for a short time did that most beautiful and just constitution endure, since it did not possess within itself the binding force, which is education.
§4.7τί οὖν,
φήσει τις,
οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον ἡ Ῥώμη προῆλθε τοῖς πολεμικοῖς;
What then, someone will say, did Rome not advance to a better state through her military achievements?
ἐρωτῶν ἐρώτημα μακρᾶς ἀποκρίσεως δεόμενον πρός ἀνθρώπους τὸ βέλτιον ἐν πλούτῳ καὶ τρυφῇ καὶ ἡγεμονίᾳ μᾶλλον ἢ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ πρᾳότητι καὶ τῇ μετὰ δικαιοσύνης αὐταρκείᾳ τιθεμένους, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο Λυκούργῳ που δόξει βοηθεῖν, τὸ Ῥωμαίους μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ Νομᾶ κατάστασιν ἐξαλλάξαντας ἐπιδοῦναι τοῖς πράγμασι τοσοῦτον, §4.8Λακεδαιμονίους δὲ ἅμα τῷ πρῶτον ἐκβῆναι τὴν Λυκούργου διάταξιν, ἐκ μεγίστων ταπεινοτάτους γενέσθαι καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἡγεμονίαν ἀποβαλόντας κινδυνεῦσαι περί ἀναστάσεως, ἐκεῖνο μέντοι τῷ Νομᾷ μέγα καὶ θεῖον ὡς ἀληθῶς ὑπάρχει, τὸ ξένῳ τε μεταπέμπτῳ γενέσθαι καὶ πάντα πειθοῖ μεταβαλεῖν, καὶ κρατῆσαι πόλεως οὔπω συμπεπνευκυίας, μήτε ὅπλων δεηθέντα μήτε βίας τινός, ὡς Λυκοῦργος ἐπὶ τὸν δῆμον ἦγε τοὺς ἀρίστους, ἀλλὰ σοφίᾳ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ πάντας προσαγαγόμενον καὶ συναρμόσαντα.
A question that requires a long answer for people who place 'the better' in wealth, luxury, and empire, rather than in safety, gentleness, and self-sufficiency accompanied by justice. Nevertheless, this too will seem to support Lycurgus in some way, namely, that the Romans, by changing the state established under Numa, made such great progress in their affairs, whereas the Lacedaemonians, as soon as they first departed from the ordinance of Lycurgus, fell from the highest to the lowest estate, and having lost the hegemony of the Greeks, were in danger of utter destruction. This, however, is truly great and divine in Numa: that he was a stranger called from abroad, and yet changed everything by persuasion alone, and ruled a city not yet in harmony, needing neither weapons nor any force (whereas Lycurgus led the nobles against the people), but by wisdom and justice winning over and harmonizing them all.