The Decline and Fall of Civilisations by Kerry Bolton

Author:Kerry Bolton [Bolton, Kerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Decline and Fall of Civilisations
Publisher: Black House Publishing Ltd
Published: 2018-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

Sparta

If any culture was ideally placed to resist the forces of internal decay it was Sparta. This came closest to Plato’s ideal state. Iconic as the epitome of austerity and discipline, where the hardest course was embraced as the best, women were esteemed as mothers, and men as soldiers. Luxury was eschewed, foreign influences rejected, and the accumulation of wealth was prohibited. There was no cash nexus to influence politics. Gold and silver were prohibited. Coins were made of heavy iron, which was worthless for trading. Mercantile activities were forbidden. Nothing was imported. Meals were communal, each Spartan being assigned to a table to which s/he contributed food from their own generous allotment of land. Black broth was the preferred meal of the older men. Homes were austere and furniture simple. The Spartans were regarded as the custodians of the Greek ethos and the bulwark against Persia. Plutarch wrote of the laws of the Spartans as an example for other Greeks. He noted that Sparta regarded booty from conquest as a corrupting influence:

“It was forbidden them to be sailors and to fight on the sea. Later, however, they did engage in such battles, and, after they had made themselves masters of the sea, they again desisted, since they observed that the character of the citizens was deteriorating sadly. But they changed about again, as in all else. For example, when money was amassed for the Spartans, those who amassed it were condemned to death; for to Alcamenes and Theopompus, their kings, an oracle had been given: ‘Eager desire for money will bring the ruin of Sparta’”.95

The founding laws of Lycurgus (circa 800-900B.C.) were eroded over centuries. The small Spartan strata was denuded by continual warfare, until during the last days of Sparta there were just 700 Spartans remaining. Plutarch states of the decline:

“Yet, nevertheless, when Lysander had taken Athens, he brought home much gold and silver, and they accepted it, and bestowed honours on the man. As long as the Spartan State adhered to the laws of Lycurgus and remained true to its oaths, it held the first place in Greece for good government and good repute over a period of five hundred years. But, little by little, as these laws and oaths were transgressed, and greed and love of wealth crept in, the elements of their strength began to dwindle also, and their allies on this account were ill-disposed toward them. But although they were in this plight, yet after the victory of Philip of Macedon at Chaeroneia, when all the Greeks proclaimed him commander both on land and sea, and likewise, in the interval following, proclaimed Alexander, his son, after the subjugation of the Thebans [335BC], the Spartans only, although they dwelt in an unwalled city, and were few in number because of their continual wars, and had become much weaker and an easy prey, still keeping alive some feeble sparks of the laws of Lycurgus, did not take any part in the campaigns of these or of

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