|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: family. It is notable that never throughout these ages has Lacedaemon,
out of envy of the privilege accorded to her kings, tried to dissolve
their rule; nor ever yet throughout these ages have her kings strained
after greater powers than those which limited their heritage of
kingship from the first. Wherefore, while all other forms of
government, democracies and oligarchies, tyrannies and monarchies,
alike have failed to maintain their continuity unbroken, here, as the
sole exception, endures indissolubly their kingship.[2]
[2] See "Cyrop." I. i. 1.
And next in token of an aptitude for kingship seen in Agesilaus,
before even he entered upon office, I note these signs. On the death
|