Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus relates how Lycurgus came to power in Sparta and the various constitutional reforms he instituted and for which he is famous. These include the introduction of the Gerousia or Senate of Elders or ephors to stand as a moderating force between the kings and the people. He also embarked on an ambitious project of land redistribution, and reform in currency so as to make it heavy and hard to transport in order to discourage commercialism. He instituted a society-wide practice of common meals (phiditia), as well as a rigorous system of education for the young in order to train them to be effective warriors. Women were notoriously more independent in Sparta than in the rest of the ancient Greek world, but the system is shown to have defects, most notably in the treatment of the helots or rural slaves in Sparta. Lycurgus’ constitution is said to have lasted 500 years, contributing to its reputation as an example of good constitutional design, both in the ancient world and subsequently.

The author first addresses the contents and the nature of the proems of the Histories, secondly the arrangement of Ephorus’ work and, thirdly, the main contents of each of the thirty books that formed it.

The relation between the opening section of Plato’s Laws and Xenophon’s Constitution of the Lacedaemonians usually goes unnoticed. I draw attention to its importance for understanding Plato’s project in the dialogue. Section 1 shows that the view proposed by Plato’s Athenian Visitor that Lycurgus made virtue in its entirety the goal of his statecraft was anticipated in Xenophon’s treatise. It has to be treated as an interpretation of the Spartan politeia alternative to that advanced by the Athenian’s interlocutors, which Plato could hope to be taken seriously as such. The second section focuses on the legislative programme the Athenian says he had hoped to hear ascribed to the Cretan and Spartan lawgivers. Plato can expect recognition by the reader that the programme is properly Spartan and Cretan by virtue of its echoes of the programme attributed to Lycurgus by Xenophon. The third section argues that in making law primarily concerned with fostering the proper development, conduct, and treatment of human beings at every stage of the life cycle, above all by provision for sound customary practices and the like, Plato adopts the approach to law making taken by Xenophon’s Lycurgus.

The chapter is divided into three sections. In the first section I discuss Plutarch’s life and work in the general context of the first century CE. Following this, I provide a short analysis of six of Plutarch’s Lives, Lycurgus, Numa, Alexander, Caesar, Antony and Phocion, to demonstrate the key themes highlighted by scholars of his thought, and to introduce readers to accounts which figure among the most prominent as references in Western intellectual traditions. In the concluding section I offer a comparison and contrast between Cicero’s On Duties and the themes of Plutarch’s Lives and his moral essays devoted to questions of public life. This comparison highlights what distinguishes Plutarch’s contribution and signals his unique contribution to traditions of political reflection on public life and public service.