Sparta  was  father  and  mother,   cradle   and  grave. Naturally,
we  look  to  'see  by  what   process  of  dominant   and  forceful


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legislation  this  result  was  accoinplished. Lycurgus  left
the  duplicate   sovereignty  to  which  the  race  was  accustomed
unchanged,  but  balanced-  its  despptic  tendencies  and  restrainsfld
its  |ealouB  rivalries  by   a  Senate   of  twenty-eight  Elders,
called  the   Geronsia,  to  which  was  confided  the   general  ad-
ministration of  affairs. The   two  kings  were  members  of  this
Body,  and  the   Thirty  constituted  the   governing  and  the
judicial  authority  of  the   State. They  initiated  all  admin-
istrative measures,  and  watched  over  the  order  and  conduct
of  the  citizens,  but  were  required  to  be   chosen  by  the
latter   and  to  be  at   least   sixty  years  of  age. They  were
elected  by  a  process  which  Aristotle  derides,  but  which,
after  all  ,  seems  to  have  been  a  rude  way  of  ascertaining  the
will  of  the  majority. The  candidate   greeted  by  the   loudest
shouting  of  the  citizens  as  he  passed  among  them  was  the
successful  competitor. But  the  kings  and  the   Senate  were
not  wholly  independent   of  the  citizens. Lycurgus  ordained
that  the  latter   should  meet   in  a  body  in  the   open  air,   and
should  vote  to  confirm  or  annul  the  measures  proposed  by  the
Thirty. This  General  Assembly  could  not  discuss  or  debate,
still  less  raodifjy  or  amend,   the  law  proposed. They  could
simply  say  yes   or  no. They  had  merely  a  veto  pov;er. The
governmental   system  thus  established  was  not   at  all  new,
except   in  the  precision  of  its  terms  and  the   definite


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character   of  its  details. All  through  the    Iliad  and  the
Odyssey  we   seethe  King  surrounded  by  his  council  of  Chiefs
and  taking  the   sense    of  his  people,   as  stood  Moses  with  his
Elders  and  the   congregation  of    Israel,   and  the  Hindu  Rajal
with  his  Brahmin  sages  for  advisers,   and  as  we   shall  soon
see   the   Germanic  Chieftain  talcing  the  vote    of  his  tribe
by  the   clashing  of  their  arms. What   Lycurgus  did  was  to
regulate  and  limit  these    old  habits  and  bring  them  within
the  domain  of  positive   law,  assigning  to  each  element   of
the  Constitution  its  definite  place   and  power. 