The most abundant source is the Parallel Life of Plutarco. It includes Likurgo’s simple but effective path against corruption and unjust enrichment. The Spartan president resorted to the source of the problem: money. He then removed the gold and silver coins, and ordered heavy iron coins to be made. Giving a very low value to the new currencies, it caused a kind of hyper-inflation and “the Spartans had to replace their coins with those of horse-drawn”.

“Only with this change did Lacedemonia free himself from the most diverse crimes, who would steal, who would turn to bribery or who would use the fireworks if the result could not be concealed, if it did not ignite greed and produce no benefits? […] Those who had more than others did not serve them at all and did not have the opportunity to proudly show their prosperity.”

But he also wanted to put off luxury and craving for excesses beyond money, and to do so he regulated the food of the citizens. “They all ate together and in the same way, so that no one would gain weight blindly, so that bodies would not be wasted, so that no one would always behave like a sick person.”

All the Spartans met three times a day in a communal dining room, where the ilotas gave them sisitias or food. That is, in that new paradise of equality, food was served by the slaves. No one is perfect, not even the Likur.

And yet, he tried to do it until the end of his life, always according to the story that is at the limit of the legend. Before embarking on a trip, he swore to the Spartans that they would respect the established laws until their return from the trip. He left when he got the oath, but never returned. He took his life out of order for the Spartans to comply with the law.