Politics   

Part X
The Cretan constitution nearly resembles the Spartan, and in some few
points is quite as good; but for the most part less perfect in form.
The older constitutions are generally less elaborate than the later,
and the Lacedaemonian is said to be, and probably is, in a very great
measure, a copy of the Cretan. According to tradition, Lycurgus, when
he ceased to be the guardian of King Charillus, went abroad and spent
most of his time in Crete. For the two countries are nearly connected;
the Lyctians are a colony of the Lacedaemonians, and the colonists,
when they came to Crete, adopted the constitution which they found
existing among the inhabitants. Even to this day the Perioeci, or
subject population of Crete, are governed by the original laws which
Minos is supposed to have enacted. The island seems to be intended by
nature for dominion in Hellas, and to be well situated; it extends
right across the sea, around which nearly all the Hellenes are
settled; and while one end is not far from the Peloponnese, the other
almost reaches to the region of Asia about Triopium and Rhodes. Hence
Minos acquired the empire of the sea, subduing some of the islands and
colonizing others; at last he invaded Sicily, where he died near
Camicus.
The Cretan institutions resemble the Lacedaemonian. The Helots are the
husbandmen of the one, the Perioeci of the other, and both Cretans and
Lacedaemonians have common meals, which were anciently called by the
Lacedaemonians not 'phiditia' but 'andria'; and the Cretans have the
same word, the use of which proves that the common meals originally
came from Crete. Further, the two constitutions are similar; for the
office of the Ephors is the same as that of the Cretan Cosmi, the only
difference being that whereas the Ephors are five, the Cosmi are ten
in number. The elders, too, answer to the elders in Crete, who are
termed by the Cretans the council. And the kingly office once existed
in Crete, but was abolished, and the Cosmi have now the duty of
leading them in war. All classes share in the ecclesia, but it can
only ratify the decrees of the elders and the Cosmi.
The common meals of Crete are certainly better managed than the
Lacedaemonian; for in Lacedaemon every one pays so much per head, or,
if he fails, the law, as I have already explained, forbids him to
exercise the rights of citizenship. But in Crete they are of a more
popular character. There, of all the fruits of the earth and cattle
raised on the public lands, and of the tribute which is paid by the
Perioeci, one portion is assigned to the Gods and to the service of
the state, and another to the common meals, so that men, women, and
children are all supported out of a common stock. The legislator has
many ingenious ways of securing moderation in eating, which he
conceives to be a gain; he likewise encourages the separation of men
from women, lest they should have too many children, and the
companionship of men with one another- whether this is a good or bad
thing I shall have an opportunity of considering at another time. But
that the Cretan common meals are better ordered than the Lacedaemonian
there can be no doubt.
On the other hand, the Cosmi are even a worse institution than the
Ephors, of which they have all the evils without the good. Like the
Ephors, they are any chance persons, but in Crete this is not
counterbalanced by a corresponding political advantage. At Sparta
every one is eligible, and the body of the people, having a share in
the highest office, want the constitution to be permanent. But in
Crete the Cosmi are elected out of certain families, and not out of
the whole people, and the elders out of those who have been Cosmi.
The same criticism may be made about the Cretan, which has been
already made about the Lacedaemonian elders. Their irresponsibility
and life tenure is too great a privilege, and their arbitrary power of
acting upon their own judgment, and dispensing with written law, is
dangerous. It is no proof of the goodness of the institution that the
people are not discontented at being excluded from it. For there is no
profit to be made out of the office as out of the Ephoralty, since,