Polity Athenians and Lacedaemonians Part 9

(5) Lit. "he yonder."

(6) Lit. "we will keep it for him unshaken." See L. Dindorf, n. ad loc. and praef. p. 14 D.

These then are the honours bestowed upon the king during his lifetime (at home) (7)--honours by no means much exceeding those of private citizens, since the lawgiver was minded neither to suggest to the kings the pride of the despotic monarch, (8) nor, on the other hand, to engender in the heart of the citizen envy of their power. As to those other honours which are given to the king at his death, (9) the laws of Lycurgus would seem plainly to signify hereby that these kings of Lacedaemon are not mere mortals but heroic beings, and that is why they are preferred in honour. (10)

(7) The words "at home" look like an insertion.

(8) Lit. "the tyrant's pride."

(9) See "h.e.l.l." III. iii. 1; "Ages." xi. 16; Herod. vi. 58.

(10) Intentionally or not on the part of the writer, the concluding words, in which the intention of the Laws is conveyed, a.s.sume a metrical form:

{oukh os anthropous all os eroas tous Lakedaimonion basileis protetimekasin.}

See Ern. Naumann, op. cit. p. 18.