Spartan Constitution. 51 of Sparta to consist of the four Kwfxai^ and the 7roXt9 itself, the hill on which was the temple of Minerva ^aX/c/oi^ro? (Vol. II, p. 550. and see Pans. iii. 17 ad init.). It seems in- deed evident that 'Hhe Kcojuai lay around the 7roX(9 properly so called (the words of Miiller, Vol. ii. p. 50) : in which case the ttoXij could not be included in them, but must have formed the centre and head of a fifth division of the town. Dr Arnold however, silently adopting Mtiller's hypothesis, states it thus : " The five ephori were probably coeval with the first settlement of the Dorians in Sparta, and were merely the municipal magistrates of the five demi which composed the city, Messoa, Pitana, Limnae, Cynosura and the Aegidae, p. 64<6. Now (to pass over the word SfjinoL applied to the Kw/mai of Sparta, as they were originally called, or (pvKai^ as they afterwards became), whence does it appear that the Aegidas was a territorial division of the town of Sparta ? Herodotus calls the A^iyGihaL a (pvKrj /uLeyaXr] in Sparta, i. e. a numerous yevo^^ or (ppaTpla (see MUller Orch. p. 329 11- Boeckh. ib. p. 609. Hermann Griech. Staats- alt. L 24. n. 9) ; and there is no reason for supposing that it ever became a local name. As to the time at which Dr Arnold derives the ephors from the five Kcojuai^^^ Miiller is of opinion that " the Aegidae did not become a Doric phra- tria or oba till after the taking of Amyclae (Orch. p. 374). It must however, in order to support Dr Arnold's hypothesis, be assumed that the Aegidae became from a yevo^ a local division at the first conquest. But as he has given no re- ferences, it is impossible to understand the grounds of his opinion without further explanation. The extension or creation of the Ephoralty is attributed
- This argument as to the origm of the Ephors assumes that their number was
always the same: but (as has been rightly suggested to me), although the Ephors may have existed from the beginning, yet we have no proof that they were always five in number : their number, as well as their powers, may have been augmented in the time of Theopompus. On the other hand, it is to be observed that no mention is made of an increase in the number of Ephors, as in that of the Roman tribunes : in later times indeed, when the power and duties of the Ephors had been greatly increased
- five minor Ephors were added, who were probably the assistants of the other five, but
without sharing the chief part of their authority. See Timaeus Lex. Plat, in v. ecfjopoi. In Etymol. Magn. p. 403. 55. cited by Ruhnken for <^(popoi upxcvres rjaau duSp€£ d' ev AaK€oatf.wi/L, read dvope^s e, i. e. <?■ for 9.
