Aristotle's Conception of the Spartan Constitution

Aristotle's Conception of the Spartan Constitutioff ROGER A. DE LAIX I. THE POLITICS In Book II of the Politics Aristotle begins his discussion of Sparta with two primary considerations: whether her constitutional structure has any admirable features in comparison with the best state, and whether it presently has any provisions opposed to the system that the founder originally had in mind. In this two-fold approach, which is never absent from Aristotle's mind throughout his discussion of Sparta in Books II and VII, we can see his intention to deal with Sparta on both the ideal and historical levels; that is, he will have reference to her original constitution in comparing it to the ideal or best state, and to her present constitution in analyzing how it has degenerated from the ideals of its founder. In most of his ensuing discussion the first point of comparison remains implicit but tacit; the latter point receives detailed consideration. Following this statement of his objectives, Aristotle proceeds to criticize partieular aspects of the Spartan system: the problem of the slaves (E"ua.(oTe;), the licentiousness of the Spartan women, the materialism (qg~oXO~l~ta~a) of the Spartiates , the unequal distribution of wealth, the corruptness of the executive directors (~cpo~ot) and the council of elders (TeQOVO~a), the weakness of the hereditary kingship, the management of the common messes and public finances, and a criticism overriding all of these, brought out previously by Plato in his work the Laws, the fact that the Spartan system is too militaristically oriented. On this last point Aristotle is especially worth quoting: Another criticism that may be made against the fundamental principle of the lawgiver is one that Plato has made in the Laws. The entire system of the laws is directed towards one part of virtue only, military valor, because this is serviceable for conquest. Owing to this they remained secure while at war, but began to decline when they had won an empire, because they did not know how to live a peaceful life, and had been trained in no other form of training more important than the art of war. And another error 1 Among the general works that consider some of the problems discussed in this paper, W. Jaeger, Aristotle, Fundamentals of the History of his Development, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1948), and R. Weil, Aristote et l'histoire: Essai sur la Politique (Paris, 1960) deserve special mention. Both are of the so-called "genetic school" in their attempts to discover early and late strata in the composition (genesis) of the Politics. The genetic view is, however, rejected by E. Barker, The Polities of Aristotle (Oxford, 1946) xlii ff. Also useful for its full discussion of the changing view of Spartan institutions reflected in Greek writers is F. Ollier's Le mirage spartiate (Paris, 1933). And, more particularly, the monograph of E. Braun, Die Kritik der Lakedaimonischen Verfassung in den Politik des Aristoteles (Klagenfurt, 1956), offers much useful analysis of the relevant passages of the Politics. [211 22 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY no less serious than that one is this: they think that the coveted prizes of life are won by valor more than by cowardice, and in this they are right, yet they imagine wrongly that these prizes are worth more than the valor that wins them. (1271b 1 f.)~ Considering the overall impression of this criticism, we see, just as Aristotle had stated, that it entails the use of two standards: The criticism of the existing institutions depends largely on the fact that they do not work as intended, while the general criticism borrowed from Plato reflects the fact that the original Spartan system was not well conceived in comparison to the ideal or best state. Thus, in Book II of the Politics there is a fully developed dichotomy of approach. Our immediate purpose will be to see if this prevails elsewhere in the Politics as well, or if not, why this should be so. Elsewhere in Book II itself one finds, at least at first glance, a different view of Sparta. At one point Aristotle is engaged in criticism of Plato's Laws, and refers to the following...