COMMENTO A PLUTARCO: Agide, 6, 1-2

Abstract

In describing the attempt of the Spartan king Agis to restore the way of life dictated to Sparta by Lycurgus, Plutarch uses the term eleutheria (freedom) neither in its normal political sense nor in the socio-economic sense attested in the Siceliot society, but in a particular meaning adapted to the Spartiate elite, in which it is connected with the concept of areté (virtue). Eleutheria is the total adhesion to the ethos and the lifestyle of the Lycurgan kosmos, so to realize the areté of the Spartiates, consisting of war ardor, forbearance, sophrosyne, practice of the noble activities and abstention from the vulgar ones. Restoration of economic equality through the recovery of ownership of the kleros was instrumental in the renovation of the Spartan areté and eleutheria.