Second+Review+of+Lycurgus

If you were faced with reforming your hometown, what laws would you set? Also which areas would you regulate? Would you attempt to make your country a new utopia or would you only seek to improve previous conditions. Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver was faced with all of these questions in his attempt to reform Sparta, which he approached with ideas that were both good and not-so-good.

On the positive side, Lycurgus puts a strong emphasis on education, banishes the arts, and establishes the common mess. In fact he refers to education as the greatest and noblest task of the lawgiver. Lycurgus’ trust in the education of his people is made evident by his decision to prohibit the use of written laws, assigning the function of law making to education. Lycurgus wages war on extravagance with the banishment of superfluous arts. Lycurgus feels that art should be useful and that art without a purpose is pointless. Lastly Lycurgus establishes a common mess where everyone rich or poor is forced to dine together as one. The common mess also serves as a place where the Spartans enjoy each others company, discuss politics, and guide boys into manhood. At the mess Spartans feel free to speak their minds because by law whatever is said there stays there.

On the negative side, the regulation of births and marriages along with the separation of children from their parents and the promotion of stealing are all areas where Lycurgus seems a little out of touch. Lycurgus feels that in order to have a successful society that the best of the males must be paired with the best of the females. He compares this process to the breeding of dogs and horses and how their owners insist on pairing the best with the best. Lycurgus acknowledges that as a result of this selective process, mates would have to be shared to ensure the process worked. The sharing of mates would force inbreeding to occur, and the population would suffer from deformities. Lycurgus also feels that children should be separated from their parents and that boys are the property of the state. This situation would result in a society without true compassion or feeling since children didn’t have parents to love or care about them. Lastly, the promotion of stealing is something that should never occur in a society in order to have a realistic chance at being productive. This would be in a sense breeding thieves.

Lycurgas, the Spartan lawgiver, was faced with the task of reforming Sparta, which he accomplished with various ideas some good but others not so good. . On the positive side, he puts a strong emphasis on education, banishes the arts, and establishes the common mess. On the negative side, the regulation of births and marriages along with the separation of children from their parents and the promotion of stealing are all area’s where Lycurgas seems to be wrong.

Posted by Marx