laws and regulations which might deliver Sparta from the evils
under which it had long been suffering. During his absence the
young king had grown up, and assumed the reins of government; but
the disorders of the state had meantime become worse than ever,
and all parties longed for a termination to their present
sufferings. Accordingly the return of Lycurgus was hailed with
delight, and he found the people both ready and willing to submit
to an entire change in their government and institutions. He now
set himself to work to carry his long projected reforms into
effect; but before he commenced his arduous task he consulted the
Delphian oracle, from which he received strong assurances of
divine support. Thus encouraged by the god, he suddenly
presented himself in the market-place, surrounded by thirty of
the most distinguished Spartans in arms. His reforms were not
carried into effect without violent opposition, and in one of the
tumults which they excited, his eye is said to have been struck
out by a passionate youth. But he finally triumphed over all
obstacles, and succeeded in obtaining the submission of all
classes in the community to his new constitution. His last act
was to sacrifice himself for the welfare of his country. Having
obtained from the people a solemn oath to make no alterations in
his laws before his return, he quitted Sparta for ever. He set
out on a journey to Delphi, where he obtained an oracle from the
god, approving of all he had done, and promising prosperity to
the Spartans as long as they preserved his laws. Whither he went
afterwards, and how and where he died, nobody could tell. He
vanished from earth like a god, leaving no traces behind him but
his spirit: and his grateful countrymen honoured him with a
temple, and worshipped him with annual sacrifices down to the
latest times.