Based on your reading of Plutarch's "Lycurgus", and the background information (handout) on Plutarch, explain why you think has written this "biography", and what you understand to be Plutarch's point of view regarding the Spartan constitution. You must give evidence to support your claim.
I am going to answer this in two parts, part 1(explain why you think has written this "biography"), and part 2(what you understand to be Plutarch's point of view regarding the Spartan constitution).
1) I believe Plutarch wrote the biography of Lycurgus to emphasize many things that Lycurgus did that were what people needed in their education, moral beliefs, and tactics about doing things. Plutarch, I believe, was in complete, and is not then mostly agreement with Lycurgus, and wants his generation to see what Lycurgus was trying to set in stone.
2) I believe Plutarch sees the constitution as something that everyone should know, and so an unwritten law for Sparta works well, because every citizen now has it constantly ingrained in them, and it becomes less of a law, but more of a tradition, or common knowledge, like praying before food, or 2+2=4. Plutarch values this, and sees it as a great thing. For instance, he says in his biography of Lycurgus," Lycurgus...was of the opinion that the principles which make the most substantial and important contributions towards the prosperity and excellence of a state remain stable if they are implanted in the characters and training of the citizens,..."
I think you do well, Daran, to focus on the way Plutarch understands the Spartans to not just follow a set of written law codes, but to literally embody the law. Perhaps this form of internalizing a way of life led the Spartans to serve Sparta, the state, above all else, above an individual or external abstracts laws. These were perhaps values and methods he wished to cultivate in his own day?
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