κατειλημμένων δὲ τοῖς ἐθισμοῖς ἤδη τῶν κυριωτάτων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς πολιτείας ἐκτεθραμμένης ἱκανῶς καὶ δυναμένης φέρειν ἑαυτὴν καὶ σώζειν διʼ ἑαυτῆς, ὥσπερ ὁ Πλάτων φησὶν ἐπὶ τῷ κόσμῳ γενομένῳ καὶ κινηθέντι τὴν πρώτην κίνησιν εὐφρανθῆναι τὸν θεόν, οὕτως ἀγασθεὶς καὶ ἀγαπήσας τὸ τῆς νομοθεσίας κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος ἐν ἔργῳ γενομένης καὶ ὁδῷ βαδιζούσης, ἐπεθύμησεν, ὡς ἀνυστὸν ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης προνοίας, ἀθάνατον αὐτὴν ἀπολιπεῖν καὶ ἀκίνητον εἰς τὸ μέλλον.
When his principal institutions were at last firmly fixed in the customs of the people, and his civil polity had sufficient growth and strength to support and preserve itself, just as Plato says that Deity was rejoiced to see His universe come into being and make its first motion, so Lycurgus was filled with joyful satisfaction in the magnitude and beauty of his system of laws, now that it was in operation and moving along its pathway. He therefore ardently desired, so far as human forethought could accomplish the task, to make it immortal, and let it go down unchanged to future ages.
συναγαγὼν οὖν ἅπαντας εἰς ἐκκλησίαν, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα μετρίως ἔχειν ἔφη καὶ ἱκανῶς πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν καὶ ἀρετὴν τῆς πόλεως, ὃ δὲ κυριώτατόν ἐστι καὶ μέγιστον οὐκ ἂν ἐξενεγκεῖν πρότερον πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἢ χρήσασθαι τῷ θεῷ. δεῖν οὖν ἐκείνους ἐμμένειν τοῖς καθεστῶσι νόμοις καὶ μηδὲν ἀλλάσσειν μηδὲ μετακινεῖν ἕως ἐπάνεισιν ἐκ Δελφῶν αὐτός· ἐπανελθὼν γάρ ὅ τι ἂν τῷ θεῷ δοκῇ ποιήσειν.
Accordingly, he assembled the whole people, and told them that the provisions already made were sufficiently adapted to promote the prosperity and virtue of the state, but that something of the greatest weight and importance remained, which he could not lay before them until he had consulted the god at Delphi. They must therefore abide by the established laws and make no change nor alteration in them until he came back from Delphi in person; then he would do whatsoever the god thought best.
ὁμολογούντων δὲ πάντων καὶ κελευόντων βαδίζειν, ὅρκους λαβὼν παρὰ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν γερόντων, ἔπειτα παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων πολιτῶν, ἐμμενεῖν καὶ χρήσεσθαι τῇ καθεστώσῃ πολιτείᾳ μέχρις ἂν ἐπανέλθῃ ὁ Λυκοῦργος, ἀπῆρεν εἰς Δελφούς.
παραγενόμενος δὲ πρὸς τὸ μαντεῖον καὶ τῷ θεῷ θύσας, ἠρώτησεν εἰ καλῶς οἱ νόμοι καὶ ἱκανῶς πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν καὶ ἀρετὴν πόλεως κείμενοι τυγχάνουσιν.
When they all agreed to this and bade him set out on his journey, he exacted an oath from the kings and the senators, and afterwards from the rest of the citizens, that they would abide by the established polity and observe it until Lycurgus should come back; then he set out for Delphi. On reaching the oracle, he sacrificed to the god, and asked if the laws which he had established were good, and sufficient to promote a city’s prosperity and virtue.
ἀποκριναμένου δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς νόμους καλῶς κεῖσθαι καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐνδοξοτάτην διαμενεῖν τῇ Λυκούργου χρωμένην πολιτείᾳ, τὸ μάντευμα γραψάμενος εἰς Σπάρτην ἀπέστειλεν. αὐτὸς δὲ τῷ θεῷ πάλιν θύσας καὶ τοὺς φίλους ἀσπασάμενος καὶ τὸν υἱόν, ἔγνω μηκέτι τοῖς πολίταις ἀφεῖναι τὸν ὅρκον, αὐτοῦ δὲ καταλῦσαι τὸν βίον ἑκουσίως, ἡλικίας γεγονὼς ἐν ᾗ καὶ βιοῦν ἔτι καὶ πεπαῦσθαι βουλομένοις ὡραῖόν ἐστι, καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἱκανῶς πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἔχειν δοκούντων.
Apollo answered that the laws which he had established were good, and that the city would continue to be held in highest honour while it kept to the polity of Lycurgus. This oracle Lycurgus wrote down, and sent it to Sparta. But for his own part, he sacrificed again to the god, took affectionate leave of his friends and of his son, and resolved never to release his fellow-citizens from their oath, but of his own accord to put an end to his life where he was. He had reached an age in which life was not yet a burden, and death no longer a terror; when he and his friends, moreover, appeared to be sufficiently prosperous and happy.
ἐτελεύτησεν οὖν ἀποκαρτερήσας, ἡγούμενος χρῆναι τῶν πολιτικῶν ἀνδρῶν μηδὲ τὸν θάνατον ἀπολίτευτον εἶναι μηδὲ ἀργὸν τὸ τοῦ βίου τέλος, ἀλλʼ ἐν ἀρετῆς μερίδι καὶ πράξεως γενόμενον. αὑτῷ τε γὰρ ἐξειργασμένῳ τὰ κάλλιστα τὴν τελευτὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπιτελείωσιν εἶναι τῆς εὐδαιμονίας, καὶ τοῖς πολίταις ὧν διὰ τοῦ βίου παρεσκεύασε καλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν φύλακα τὸν θάνατον ἀπολείψειν, ὀμωμοκόσι χρῆσθαι τῇ πολιτείᾳ μέχρις ἂν ἐκεῖνος ἐπανέλθῃ.
He therefore abstained from food till he died, considering that even the death of a statesman should be of service to the state, and the ending of his life not void of effect, but recognized as a virtuous deed. As for himself, since he had wrought out fully the noblest tasks, the end of life would actually be a consummation of his good fortune and happiness; and as for his fellow-citizens, he would make his death the guardian, as it were, of all the blessings he had secured for them during his life, since they had sworn to observe and maintain his polity until he should return.
καὶ οὐ διεψεύσθη τῶν λογισμῶν τοσοῦτον ἐπρώτευσεν ἡ πόλις τῆς Ἑλλάδος εὐνομίᾳ, καὶ δόξῃ, χρόνον ἐτῶν πεντακοσίων τοῖς Λυκούργου χρησαμένη νόμοις, οὓς δεκατεσσάρων βασιλέων μετʼ ἐκεῖνον εἰς Ἆγιν τὸν Ἀρχιδάμου γενομένων οὐδεὶς ἐκίνησεν. ἡ γάρ τῶν ἐφόρων κατάστασις οὐκ ἄνεσις ἦν, ἀλλʼ ἐπίτασις τῆς πολιτείας, καὶ δοκοῦσα πρὸς τοῦ δήμου γεγονέναι σφοδροτέραν ἐποίησε τὴν ἀριστοκρατίαν.
And he was not deceived in his expectations, so long did his city have the first rank in Hellas for good government and reputation, observing as she did for five hundred years the laws of Lycurgus, in which no one of the fourteen kings who followed him made any change, down to Agis the son of Archidamus. For the institution of the ephors did not weaken, but rather strengthened the civil polity, and though it was thought to have been done in the interests of the people, it really made the aristocracy more powerful.
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