Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness, and faction/Section 7

 

SECT.VII.

 

A Confirmation of these Principles, drawn from the History of free States.

 

1st. Of Sparta.

 

THESE Reasonings, founded on the Nature and Constitution of Man, will receive a strong and unanswerable Confirmation from the History of free States. Hence we shall obtain the clearest Evidences of Fact, that while virtuous Manners and Principles retained their Efficacy and Power, civil Liberty remained unshaken: That as these decayed, Liberty declined: That as soon as these were lost, Liberty was no more; Licentiousness crept in; Faction triumphed; and overwhelmed these degenerate States in one common Ruin.

To this Purpose I shall briefly analyze the Genius of the three most eminent Republics that are recorded in Story: Those of Sparta, Athens, and Rome. The Events are sufficiently known to those who are conversant in ancient History: But the fundamental and leading Causes of these Events deserve a particular Investigation: They will form a concurrent Proof of the Principles here given.

The Republic of Sparta claims the first Place; both on Account of its Antiquity, and Perfection. By its Perfection is meant, not the moral Perfection of its particular Institutions, but of the Means and Principles by which These Institutions were secured.

The leading Institutions which Lycurgus fixed as the Essence of his Commonwealth, were these which follow.

1. He established a Senate of twenty-eight, as an intermediate Power between that of Prince and People... 2. He made an equal Partition of Lands and Goods, among the free Members of the Community... 3. He introduced the Use of Iron Money, instead of Gold and Silver... 4. He banished or prevented all the Arts of Commerce, Elegance, and Luxury... 5. He ordained, that all the Members of the Society should eat together, and partake alike of the same coarse Fare... 6. He established an occasional Community of Wives: So that a Wife was not so much the Property of her Husband, as of the Republic, to the End of Population... 7. With a parallel View, he ordained a Kind of Community of Children: By This, no Father had the Care of his own Child; which, on its Birth, was immediately delivered over to the Officers of the State; and was either preserved or destroyed according to their Decree... 8. A continued Attention to the Preservation of the State, and an unremitted Preparation and Readiness for defensive War, formed the chief Employment of the Spartan State... 9. He committed the Cultivation of their Lands to a large Body of Slaves, who dwelt in the surrounding Country, were deprived of all the natural Rights of Men, and were often laid in Wait for, and butchered in cold Blood by the young Men of Sparta.^[1]

These were the public and essential Institutions of the Spartan Republic: Many of them strange in their Nature: Yet formed for long Duration, through the Means and Principles on which they were established: Which we shall find to be consistent with, and corroborative of the Principles of civil Liberty above laid down.

The first and best Security of civil Liberty, hath been shewn to consist "in impressing the infant Mind with such Habits of Thought and Action, as may correspond with and promote the Appointments of public Law."—This Security was laid by Lycurgus, in the deepest and most effectual Manner, by the Mode of Education which he prescribed to the Spartan Youth.

No Father had a Right to educate his Children according to the Caprice of his own Fancy. They were delivered to public Officers, who initiated them early in the Manners, the Maxims, the Exercises, the Toils, in a Word, in all the mental and bodily Acquirements and Habits, which corresponded with the Genius of the State. Family Connexions had no Place: The first and leading Object of their Affection, was the general Welfare. This Tuition was carefully continued, till they were enrolled in the List of Men: To secure the Manners thus acquired, they were prohibited from travelling into other Countries, lest they should catch Infection from ill Example: On the same Foundation, all Visits from Strangers were forbidden.^[2] Thus were they strongly and unalterably possessed with the Love of their Country.

These severe Manners were confirmed by all the Principles that could strengthen them in the Mind of Man.

The Principle of Religion laid at the very Foundation of the State: For Lycurgus expressly modeled his Commonwealth on the Pretence of a divine Authority. He declared to the People, that its essential Institutions were given him by the Oracle of Delphi, which he went on Purpose to consult.^[3] Again, after he had modeled his Republic, he repaired once more to the sacred Tripod; and enquired, "whether the God approved of the Laws he had established." The Answer was in the Affirmative: And this Reply Lycurgus sent to Sparta.^[4]

This Principle was so intimately blended with that of the State, that their Kings were at the same Time the High Priests of the Community.^[5]—The Religion and Power of an Oath was so strongly impressed on their Minds, that Lycurgus trusted the future Execution of his Laws, to That Oath which the People took, on his last Departure from the City:^[6]—An Oath, which proves, that the Religion of the Country was not at Variance with the Appointments of the State; because it obliged them never to depart from the Institutions of Lycurgus.

The Principle of Honour was not at Variance, but co-operated with and sustained That of Religion. Plutarch is very particular, on their early and continued Encouragement of this Principle. Their Songs (which made a Part of their Education) tended to inflame their Minds with honest Ambition. "Their Subject was generally the Praise of such Men as had dy'd in Defence of their Country; or in Derision of Those who had shrunk from the public Service. The old Men talked high of what they had done: The younger Part echo'd back their Song; declaring their Resolution, not to disgrace the Valour of their Forefathers.^[7]"

The Principle of natural Conscience was so intimately interwoven with those of their Religion and Honour, that it affords a striking Proof how far natural Conscience depends on these other Principles. If natural Conscience were in itself a well-regulated and sufficient Guide; could any Thing have been more odious to its Dictates, than Prostitution, Adultery, Thieving, and Assassination? Yet all these did the severe Spartans practise, not only without Remorse, but with Self-Approbation; the infant Mind being before-hand modeled to this preposterous System of imagined Duty. For, on the very ruling Principles of the State, their Daughters were debauched, their Wives were common, their Victuals were stolen, their Slaves were murdered.^[8]

Thus was the famed Republic of Sparta strongly fortify'd, by the united and concurrent Power of Manners and Principles, all pointing to the same End, the Strength and Duration of the State: Of Manners and Principles, which in their particular Application, seemed to sacrifice the Happiness of Individuals to the Preservation of the Whole: And while they were most abhorrent from the Maxims of improved human Nature, secured the Institutions of a savage Policy.

From this View of the Spartan Commonwealth, these farther Remarks may naturally arise.

1. It hath been Matter of Surprize to those who have written on this famed Republic, "by what Means Lycurgus should be able to perswade the Spartans, not only to change the Form of their Government, but to quit their private Possessions, their Manner of Life, the Use of Money, the Advantages of Commerce, the Property of their Wives, the Care of their Children; and adopt a contrary System, so abhorrent from the Desires of civilized Man." And indeed, supposing the Fact, it should seem a Paradox utterly unaccountable.—The true Solution seems of a quite different Nature.—Plutarch leads me to it.—"There is so much Uncertainty (saith he) in the Accounts which Historians have left us of Lycurgus, that scarce any Thing is asserted by one, which is not contradicted by others. Their Sentiments are quite different as to the Family he came of, the Voyages he undertook, the Place and Manner of his Death: But most of all, when they speak of the Laws he made, and the Commonwealth he founded.—They cannot be brought to agree, as to the very Age when he lived.—Timæus conjectures, that there were two of his Name, and in different Times; but that the one being more famous than the other, Men gave to Him the Glory of both their Exploits.^[9]"—Hence it appears, that the true History of this Lawgiver was lost in the Darkness of fabulous and obscure Ages: And that, as to the Beginnings of this Commonwealth, we have nothing to depend on, but the traditionary Rumours of a barbarous and lying Period. Now this seems to be fairly weighed down by the internal Evidence arising from the Nature of the Establishment itself. For it was indeed "the Establishment of barbarous Manners, carried into Permanency by political Institutions." That Mankind should be carry'd back to This, from a State of Humanity and Civilization;—that they should quit private Property, Money, Commerce, Decency, domestic Comforts, Wives and Children, and give them up to the Possession of the Public, is a Contradiction to all the known Powers and Passions of the human Mind. To effect a Change of Government only, is a Work sufficient for the Abilities of the greatest Legislator: But to overturn all the pre-established Habits of the Head and Heart, to destroy or reverse all the fixed Associations, Maxims, Manners, and Principles, of a whole civilized Community; were a Labour, which might well be ranked among the most extravagant Legends of fabulous Greece.

On the other Hand, to bring forward a Tribe of untaught Savages one Degree towards Civilization, and there to fix them;—to assign equal Portions of Land to those among whom Lands laid in Common;—to introduce Iron Money, where no Money had been in Use;—to prohibit Commerce, where Commerce was almost unknown;—to make the Girls dance naked in Public, where they had never known the decent Use of Cloaths;—to allow of Theft and Homicide under certain Limitations, where Both had been practised without Limitation;—to make Wives at Times a public Property, where promiscuous Concubinage had prevailed; to give Children a public Education, where no Education had taken Place;—These might all seem the natural and practicable Efforts of a Pagan Legislator.

Thus, the Formation of the Spartan Republic seems clearly accounted for. A Tribe of untaught Savages, were brought forward by Lycurgus one Degree towards Civilization and Humanity, and There fixed by severe Institutions.

The Fate of Agis, their patriot King, confirms this Solution. He, with a Degree of public Virtue seldom seen in any Station, attempted to bring back the corrupt State to its first rigorous Institutions. But That which Lycurgus could establish among untaught Savages, Agis found impracticable, among a corrupted People. He was seized, imprisoned, and murdered by a Faction, in his Attempt to restore Freedom to a degenerate Republic.

2. If the Argument here alledged be just, concerning the first Institution of this Republic; it follows (what, indeed, seems probable in its own Nature) that the strongest political Institutions may be formed on the savage State of Man. In this Period the Legislator hath few or no prior Institutions to contend with; and therefore can form a System of Legislation consistent with itself in all its Parts. While the Lawgiver who reforms a State already modeled and corrupted, must content himself with such partial Regulations, as the Force of prior Establishments and public Habits will admit.

3. The long united State of this Republic afford a Proof against a political Maxim commonly received, "That Divisions are necessary to a free State; and that inward Tranquillity is a certain Symptom of its approaching Ruin." For, from the History of Sparta, it appears, that during the Space of at least five hundred Years, intestine Divisions were unknown. This common and mistaken Maxim (adopted by almost all political Writers ^[10]) hath been founded on a Supposition, that where Opinion is free, it must ever be divided. The Spartan Commonwealth presents a clear Proof of the Reverse: That Opinion may be free, yet still united. But this free Union can only be the happy Effect of an early and rigorous Education; by which the growing Minds of the Community are voluntarily led, by public Institutions, into one common Channel of Habit, Principle, and Action... Plutarch tells us, that the Effect of this entire Union was so conspicuous in Sparta, that "the Commonwealth resembled one great and powerful Person, actuated by one Soul, rather than a State composed of many Individuals.^[11]"

4. It appears, that the Institutions of the Spartan Republic were admirably calculated for each other's Support, while their perfect Union was maintained: And further, that when an Inroad was made into any one of them, the Ruin of the Whole was inevitable.

"Its Institutions were admirably calculated for each other's Support, while their perfect Union was maintained." Because they tended strongly to prevent the first Inroads of Temptation to the Mind, the very first Impulses of selfish Passion. The equal Partition of Lands and Goods took away all Hope of Superiority in Wealth: The Introduction of Iron Money rendered Wealth cumbersome and untractable: The Prohibition of Commerce prevented the Materials of Luxury: The Banishment of elegant Arts prevented the first Conception of them. Their public Meals eaten in common, cut off the Hope, nay, prevented the Desire of all private Indulgence of the Palate, the Disorders of Intemperance. To secure these rigid Institutions, the public Education of their Children was ordained, lest private Passion should mix its Alloy, with the rigorous Appointments of the State. Thus the Republic was so round and compact in all its Parts, that it might seem to defy the Attacks of the most powerful Enemy.

"But supposing an Inroad made into any one of its capital Institutions, the Ruin of the Whole was inevitable." For its several Parts receiving their Strength from each other, were therefore mutually dependent; and the Whole being an austere Contradiction to the natural Appetites of Man, the least Inroad of Indulgence naturally led on to more forcible Temptations. Thus, Inequality of Possessions brought in Wealth and Poverty. Wealth brought in Luxury: Poverty gave Birth to Envy and Avarice. Licentiousness and Faction thus crept in; and the Fall of Sparta was inevitable.

Yet even amidst the Decays of this Republic, the Force of a rigorous Education essentially mixed with the Principles of the State, was still conspicuous. The Power of Manners and Maxims thus imbibed was so untractable, even in the declining Periods of the Spartan Commonwealth, that Philopæmen, after many fruitless Attempts to annihilate its Influence, declared, "that the only effectual Method of destroying Sparta, must be in dissolving the Education of their Youth.^[12]"

This Analysis is clearly confirmed by Plutarch in the following Passages. "Since we may blame the Legislators of common Rank, who, through Want of Power or Wisdom, commit Mistakes in the Formation of fundamental Laws; how much more may we censure the Conduct of Numa, who for the Reputation of his Wisdom only, being called by the general Voice of an unsettled People to be their King, did not in first Place constitute Laws for the Education of Children, and Discipline of Youth? For Want of which, Men become seditious and turbulent, and live not peaceable in their Families and Tribes: But when they are inured from their Cradle to good Principles, and imbibe from their Infancy the Rules of Morality, they receive such Impressions of Virtue, as convinces them of that Advantage which mutual Concord brings to a Commonwealth. This, with many others, was one of the Policies of Lycurgus: And was of singular Force in the Confirmation and Establishment of his Laws:"—"Hence the Spartans having sucked in these Principles with their Milk, were possessed with a most reverend Esteem of all his Institutions: So that the Fundamentals of his Laws continued in Force for above five hundred Years, without any Violation.^[13]"

Such then was the Force of concurrent Manners and Principles, all centering on one Point, impressed on the infant Mind, and continued by a Variety of rigorous Institutions.—Thus, the Strength of the Spartan Republic, like the firm-compacted Weight of the Macedonian Phalanx, bore down every opposing Power.

1. This Enormity, practised with Impunity by the young Men of Sparta, hath been held unaccountable: But seems to have been allowed on the same warlike Principle with That other Allowance "of stealing Victuals." Both were probably established as the Means of preparing them for the Exercise of Stratagem in War.
2. Plutarch: in Lycurgo.
3. Plutarch: in Lycurgo.
4. Ib.
5. Ib.
6. Plutarch: in Lycurgo.
7. Plutarch: in Lycurgo.
8. Ib.
9. Plutarch: in Lycurgo.
10. Among others, by Machiavel and Montesquieu.
11. In Lycurgo.
12. Plutarch: in Philopæm.
13. Comparison of Numa and Lycurgus.