Even to this day the
Perioeci, or subject population of Crete, are governed by the original
laws which Minos is supposed to have enacted. The island seems to be
intended by nature for dominion in Hellas, and to be well situated; it
extends right across the sea, around which nearly all the Hellenes are
settled; and while one end is not far from the Peloponnese, the
other almost reaches to the region of Asia about Triopium and
Rhodes. Hence Minos acquired the empire of the sea, subduing some of
the islands and colonizing others; at last he invaded Sicily, where he
died near Camicus.
The Cretan institutions resemble the Lacedaemonian. The Helots are
the husbandmen of the one, the Perioeci of the other, and both Cretans
and Lacedaemonians have common meals, which were anciently called by
the Lacedaemonians not 'phiditia' but 'andria'; and the Cretans have
the same word, the use of which proves that the common meals
originally came from Crete. Further, the two constitutions are
similar; for the office of the Ephors is the same as that of the
Cretan Cosmi, the only difference being that whereas the Ephors are
five, the Cosmi are ten in number. The elders, too, answer to the
elders in Crete, who are termed by the Cretans the council. And the
kingly office once existed in Crete, but was abolished, and the
Cosmi have now the duty of leading them in war.
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