Spartans held with respect to the Perioeci, or on account of the disposition and administration of the sovereign power within the Spartan body : so that it would have equally been called an oligarchy if there had been no such class as that of the Periœci.
In the first place it may be observed that the ancient
speculative writers are not uniform in their language with
respect to the Spartan government; and though (as Dr Arnold
says) " every one knows that the Spartan government was
an oligarchy, and that it was the head of the oligarchical
interest throughout Greece" (p. 640), yet its constitution is
sometimes called by other names. Thus Plato doubts whether it ought not to be called a (
Greek characters)} or despotism, on
account of the arbitrary power of the Ephors, or a royal
government on account of the kings; while at other times
no state seemed more democratical : " although (he adds)
not to call it an aristocracy (i. e. a government of the {{greek missing, or best) is altogether absurd." Leg. iv. p. 712. So too
Isocrates says in one place that the Spartans established
among themselves an equal democracy (p. 270, cf. p. 152 A.),
and in another that the Spartan government was a democracy mixed with aristocracy (p. 265. A). To the like effect
are the remarks of Aristotle: " Some persons contend that
the best form of government is one mixed of all the forms:
wherefore they praise the Lacedaemonian constitution, some
saying that it is composed of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy — a monarchy on account of the kings, an oligarchy
on account of the councillors, a democracy on account of the
Ephors : others saying that it is a despotism ((Greek characters)) on
account of the Ephors, and a democracy on account of the
public tables, and the other regulations as to the ordinary
mode of life. Pol. ii. 6. In another place Aristotle says that " the test of a well-mixed constitution is the uncertainty of its name : thus the Spartan constitution is sometimes called a democracy, because the rich and poor are treated in the same manner, as to education, dress, and food; and because the people have a share in the two highest offices, by electing the one and being eligible to the other : sometimes an oligarchy, because it has many oligarchical institutions, such as
that none of the magistrates are chosen by lot, that a few
