offence against the law they inflict chastisement without warning and
without hesitation.

[6] Or, "before the expiration of their term of office." See Plut.
"Agis," 18 (Clough, iv. 464); Cic. "de Leg." iii. 7; "de Rep." ii.
33.

But of all the many beautiful contrivances invented by Lycurgus to
kindle a willing obedience to the laws in the hearts of the citizens,
none, to my mind, was happier or more excellent than his unwillingness
to deliver his code to the people at large, until, attended by the
most powerful members of the state, he had betaken himself to
Delphi,[7] and there made inquiry of the god whether it were better
for Sparta, and conducive to her interests, to obey the laws which he
had framed. And not until the divine answer came: "Better will it be
in every way," did he deliver them, laying it down as a last ordinance
that to refuse obedience to a code which had the sanction of the
Pythian god himself[8] was a thing not illegal only, but profane.

[7] See Plut. "Lycurg." 5, 6, 29 (Clough, i. 89, 122); Polyb. x. 2, 9.

[8] Or, "a code delivered in Pytho, spoken by the god himself."



IX

The following too may well excite our admiration for Lycurgus. I speak
of the consummate skill with which he induced the whole state of
Sparta to regard an honourable death as preferable to an ignoble life.