"Lycurgus is beloved of the gods, and is himself divine. The laws
which he has framed are perfect, and under them a commonwealth shall
arise which shall hereafter become the most famous in the world."

This response, having been made known in Sparta, impressed every one
with a very high sense of the authority of Lycurgus, and disposed all
classes of people to acquiesce in the coming change. Lycurgus did not,
however, rely entirely on this disposition. When the time came for
organizing the new government, he stationed an armed force in the
market-place one morning at a very early hour, so that the people,
when they came forth, as usual, into the streets, found that Lycurgus
had taken military possession of the city. The first feeling was a
general excitement and alarm. Charilaus, the king, who, it seems, had
not been consulted in these movements at all, was very much terrified.
He supposed that an insurrection had taken place against his
authority, and that his life was in danger. To save himself, he fled
to one of the temples as to a sanctuary. Lycurgus sent to him,
informing him that those engaged in the revolution which had taken
place intended no injury to him, either in respect to his person or
his royal prerogatives. By these assurances the fears of Charilaus
were allayed, and thenceforth he co-operated with Lycurgus in carrying
his measures into effect.

This is not the place for a full account of the plan of government
which Lycurgus introduced, nor of the institutions which gradually
grew up under it. It is sufficient to say that the system which he
adopted was celebrated throughout the world during the period of its
continuance, and has since been celebrated in every age, as being the
most stern and rugged social system that was ever framed. The
commonwealth of Sparta became, under the institutions of Lycurgus,
one great camp. The nation was a nation of soldiers. Every possible
device was resorted to to inure all classes of the population, the
young and the old, the men and the women, the rich and the poor, to
every species of hardship and privation. The only qualities that were
respected or cultivated were such stern virtues as courage, fortitude,
endurance, insensibility to pain and grief, and contempt for all the
pleasures of wealth and luxury. Lycurgus did not write out his system.
He would not allow it to be written out. He preferred to put it in
operation, and then leave it to perpetuate itself, as a m