powerful and warlike kingdom.[N] The institutions of government in
this commonwealth were very peculiar, and among the most extraordinary
of them all was the arrangement made in respect to the kingly power.
There were two dynasties, or lines of kings, reigning conjointly. The
division of power between the two incumbents who reigned at any one
time may have been somewhat similar to that made in Rome between the
consuls. But the system differed from that of the consular government
in the fact that the Spartan kings were not elected magistrates, like
the Roman consuls, but hereditary sovereigns, deriving their power
from their ancestors, each in his own line.

[Footnote N: For the situation of Sparta, see map.]

The origin of this extraordinary system was said to be this: at a very
early period of the Spartan history, a king died suddenly, leaving two
children twins, as his heirs, but without designating either one of
them as his successor. The Spartans then applied to the mother of the
two children to know which of them was the first-born. She pretended
that she could not tell. They then applied to the oracle at Delphi,
asking what they should do. The response of the oracle directed them
to make both the children kings, but to bestow the highest honors upon
the oldest. By this answer the Spartans were only partially relieved
from their dilemma; for, under the directions of the oracle, the
necessity of determining the question of priority in respect to the
birth of the two children remained, without any light or guidance
being afforded them in respect to the mode of doing it.

At last some person suggested that a watch should be set over the
mother, with a view to ascertain for which of her children she had the
strongest affection. They supposed that she really knew which was the
first-born, and that she would involuntarily give to the one whom she
regarded in that light the precedence in the maternal services and
duties which she rendered to the babes. This plan succeeded. It was
discovered which was the first-born, and which was the younger; and
the Spartans, accordingly, made both the children kings, but gave the
highest rank to the former, as the oracle had directed. The children
both lived, and grew up to be men, and in due time were married. By a
singular coincidence, they married twin-sisters. In the two families
thus arising originated the Spartan lines of kings that reigned
jointly over the kingdom for many succ