Plutarch, Lycurgus, chapter 6

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οὕτω δὲ περὶ ταύτην ἐσπούδασε τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁ Λυκοῦργος ὥστε μαντείαν ἐκ Δελφῶν κομίσαι περὶ αὐτῆς, ἣν ῥήτραν καλοῦσιν. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως: ‘Διὸς Συλλανίου ¹ καὶ Ἀθανᾶς Συλλανίας ² ἱερὸν ἱδρυσάμενον, φυλὰς φυλάξαντα καὶ ὠβὰς ὠβάξαντα, τριάκοντα γερουσίαν σὺν ἀρχαγέταις καταστήσαντα, ὥρας ἐξ ὥρας ἀπελλάζειν μεταξὺ [p. 222] Βαβύκας τε καὶ Κνακιῶνος, οὕτως εἰσφέρειν τε καὶ ἀφίστασθαι δάμῳ δὲ τὰν κυρίαν ἦμεν καὶ [2] κράτος’ ἐν τούτοις τὸ μὲν φυλὰς φυλάξαι καὶ ὠβὰς ὠβάξαι διελεῖν ἐστι καὶ κατανεῖμαι τὸ πλῆθος εἰς μερίδας, ὧν τὰς μὲν φυλάς, τὰς δὲ ὠβὰς προσηγόρευκεν. ἀρχαγέται δὲ οἱ βασιλεῖς λέγονται, τὸ δὲ ἀπελλάζειν ἐκκλησιάζειν: ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς πολιτείας εἰς τὸν Πύθιον ἀνῆψε. τὴν δὲ Βαβύκαν Χείμαρρος,³ καὶ τὸν Κνακιῶνα νῦν Οἰνοῦντα προσαγορεύουσιν: Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ τὸν μὲν Κνακιῶνα ποταμόν, τὴν δὲ Βαβύκαν γέφυραν. [3] ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τούτων τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἦγον, οὔτε παστάδων οὐσῶν οὔτε ἄλλης τινὸς κατασκευῆς, οὐθὲν γάρ ᾤετο ταῦτα πρὸς εὐβουλίαν εἶναι, μᾶλλον δὲ βλάπτειν, φλυαρώδεις ἀπεργαζόμενα καὶ χαύνους φρονήματι κενῷ τὰς διανοίας τῶν συμπορευομένων, ὅταν εἰς ἀγάλματα καὶ γραφὰς ἢ προσκήνια θεάτρων ἢ στέγας βουλευτηρίων ἠσκημένας περιττῶς ἐκκλησιάζοντες ἀποβλέπωσι. τοῦ δὲ πλήθους ἀθροισθέντος εἰπεῖν μὲν οὐδενὶ γνώμην τῶν ἄλλων ἐφεῖτο, τὴν δ̓ ὑπὸ τῶν γερόντων καὶ τῶν βασιλέων προτεθεῖσαν ἐπικρῖναι κύριος ἦν ὁ δῆμος, [4] ὕστερον μέντοι τῶν πολλῶν ἀφαιρέσει καὶ προσθέσει τὰς γνώμας διαστρεφόντων καὶ παραβιαζομένων, Πολύδωρος καὶ Θεόπομπος οἱ βασιλεῖς τάδε τῇ ῥήτρᾳ παρενέγραψαν: ‘αἰ δὲ σκολιὰν ὁ δᾶμος ἕλοιτο, τοὺς πρεσβυγενέας καὶ ἀρχαγέτας ἀποστατῆρας ἦμεν,’ τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι μὴ κυροῦν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅλως ἀφίστασθαι καὶ [p. 224] διαλύειν τὸν δῆμον, ὡς ἐκτρέποντα καὶ μεταποιοῦντα τὴν γνώμην παρὰ τὸ βέλτιστον. ἔπεισαν δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν πόλιν ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ ταῦτα προστάσσοντος, ὥς που Τυρταῖος ἐπιμέμνηται διὰ τούτων

Φοίβου ἀκούσαντες Πυθωνόθεν οἴκαδ᾽ ἔνεικαν
μαντείας τε θεοῦ καὶ τελέεντ᾽ ἔπεα:
ἄρχειν μὲν βουλῆς θεοτιμήτους βασιλῆας,
οἷσι μέλει Σπάρτας ἱμερόεσσα πόλις,
πρεσβύτας τε γέροντας, ἔπειτα δὲ δημότας
ἄνδρας,
εὐθείαις ῥήτραις ἀνταπαμειβομένους.

1 Συλλανίου, Συλλανίας Bekker adopts the corrections of Bryan to Ἑλλανίου and Ἑλλανίας.

2 Συλλανίου, Συλλανίας Bekker adopts the corrections of Bryan to Ἑλλανίου and Ἑλλανίας.

3 Χείμαρρος this, or some other later name, is thought to have fallen from the text by Sintenis2, after E. Curtius, Peloponnesus, ii. p. 315; Coraës and Bekker have τὴν δὲ Βαβύκαν καὶ τὸν Κνακιῶνα, with the MSS.

Plutarch. Plutarch's Lives. with an English Translation by. Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1.

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Commentary references to this page (2):
- W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 1.56
- W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 1.65
Cross-references to this page (9):
- Harper's, Rhetrae
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), CI´VITAS
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), ECCLE´TI
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), GENOS
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), GEROU´SIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), LACO´NIA
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), SPARTA
- Smith's Bio, Lycurgus
- Smith's Bio, Polydo'rus
Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (14):
- LSJ, Ἑλλήν-ιος
- LSJ, ἀφίστημι
- LSJ, ἀνάπτω
- LSJ, ἀπελλάζω
- LSJ, ἀπο-στα^τήρ
- LSJ, ἀρχηγ-έτης
- LSJ, φλυα_ρ-ώδης
- LSJ, φυ_λ-άζω
- LSJ, φυ_λή
- LSJ, παρα-βι^άζομαι
- LSJ, πρεσβυ^-γενής
- LSJ, ῥήτρ-α
- LSJ, σκολιός
- LSJ, ὠβ-ά

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Plutarch, Lycurgus
Bernadotte Perrin, Ed.

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Plutarch, Lycurgus Bernadotte Perrin, Ed.

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Plutarch, Lycurgus
Bernadotte Perrin, Ed.