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Nor Does The Way In Which Ephors Live Conform To The Aims Of The ...

Nor does the way in which Ephors live conform to the aims of the constitution. They live a life of ease, while the rest have a very high standard of strictness in living, so high indeed that they really cannot live up to it but secretly get round the law and enjoy the more sensual pleasures..
Thus, Aristotle did not find much favour in the Ephor system, in terms of it being open to bribery and, actually, having bribery almost as a necessary part of the democratic process. As Dickins (1912) argues, Spartan politics were governed, mainly, through conflict between Spartan Kings and the Ephors, with, he argues, vacillations in Spartan policy being due to vagaries of the ongoing conflict. As Dickins (1912) argues, the development of the Ephorate system was gradual, with the Ephorate being subordinate up to 550, but beyond 550, the Ephors moving to a position of dominance across the state, profoundly, as Dickins argues, modifying its political and social composition. Until the reign of Agis III and Cleomenes III, the Ephors were dominant, argues Dickins (1912) with these two Kings trying to bring Royal order back to Sparta, but, ultimately as Dickins (1912) argues, the conflict between the Ephors and the Spartan Royalty led to massive problems for Spartan society, which led, ultimately, to the loss at the Battle of Leuctra, as we will see, as the Spartan army was not as strong as previously, and so could not fight as strongly as it had previously to defend its territory. As we will see, following the Battle of Leuctra, the Spartans gradually declined, and lost power over the land they held.
Further criticism by Aristotle of Spartan governance comes from further reading of his Politics in which he reveals that the Spartan state, whilst trying to attain equality for all members actually is hypocritical, in that the helots (slaves) can never have equality, as they are bound by repression in to a life of servitude. As Aristotle argues, aswell, the Spartan state saw men as fighters, and women, as a consequence, as in control of affairs (and, indeed, at some point in Spartan history with women in control of most of the Spartan land). As Aristotle says, the differences between male and female opinion sometimes led to disagreements in decisions reached. As Aristotle argues, further, the state of Sparta, when the decision was made to govern by Ephor, moved from an aristocracy to a democracy, but the Ephors judicial authority and function was entirely out of operation to their status within Sparta society, and, as such, the Ephor were, for Aristotle, as we have seen, a mistake. This is in direct contrast to Xenophon, who sees no imperfection in the Ephors or in Sparta governance in general.


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