lphi. Upon reaching the temple he sacrificed to
the god, and inquired whether his laws were good, and sufficient for the
prosperity and happiness of his country. Receiving answer from the
oracle that his laws were indeed good, and that the city would become
famous if it kept the constitution of Lykurgus, he wrote down this
prophecy and sent it to Sparta. But he himself, after offering a second
sacrifice to the god, and having embraced his friends and his son,
determined not to release his countrymen from their oath, but to put an
end to his own life, being at an age when, though life was still
pleasant, it seemed time to go to his rest, after having excellently
arranged all his people's affairs. He departed by starvation, as he
thought that a true statesman ought to make even his death of service to
the state, and not like that of a private person, the useless end of an
idle life. His death came in the fulness of time, after he had done an
excellent work, and it was left as the guardian of all the good that he
had done, because the citizens had sworn that they would abide by his
constitution until he returned to them. Nor was he deceived in his
expectations; for the state was by far the most celebrated in Greece,
for good government at home and renown abroad, during a period of five
hundred years, under his constitution, which was kept unaltered by
fourteen kings, counting from himself down to Agis the son of
Archidamus. For the institution of Ephors was not a relaxation, but a
strengthening of the original scheme, and while it seemed popular it
really confirmed the power of the oligarchy.

XXIX. But in the reign of Agis money found its way into Sparta, and,
after money, selfishness and greed for gain came in, on account of
Lysander, who, though himself incorruptible, yet filled his country with
luxury and love of gold, as he brought back gold and silver from the
wars, and disregarded the laws of Lykurgus. Before this, when those laws
were in force, Sparta was like a wise and practised warrior more than a
city, or rather, she with her simple staff and cloak, like Herakles with
his lion-skin and club, ruled over a willing Greece, deposed bad kings
or factions, decided wars, and crushed revolutions; and that, too, often
without moving a single soldier, but merely by sending a commissioner,
who was at once obeyed, even as bees collect and rank themselves in
order when their queen appears. Sparta then had so much order and