Plutarch (first century Greek philosopher/chronologer) lived in the golden age of The Roman Empire, a contemporary with Epictetus and the Apostle Paul. Plutarch’s “Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans” was the source material for Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and “Antony and Cleopatra.” This reading compares and contrasts the lives of four ancient leaders: Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius (the second king of Rome after Romulus), Julius Caesar and Alexander. I’ve finished the first reading in “Lycurgus” in Dryden’s translation of Plutarch’s “Lives” from an undated Modern Library publication (there is a cryptic note penciled in the table of contents, gifting the book on October 19, 1951).
Plutarch highlights four contributions of Lycurgus, “the lawgiver of Sparta,” such as the establishing a Senate of 28 members to strike a balance between absolute monarchy and absolute democracy; and, addressing arrogance, envy, luxury and crime head-on by redistributing land and wealth among the Spartans, focusing societal energy to useful production and common meals. A very Spartan existence, if you will, that was so concentrated on war-readiness, that slaves were not only given the duty of tilling the ground, but served as training targets for young warriors practicing their ambush and battlefield techniques. Survivors were publicly paraded in temples with honors. . . then disappeared. Lycurgus eventually left Sparta and died by intentional starvation.
