Aristotle: Constitution of Sparta

Audience

The audience of Lycurgus's reforms is the Spartan population itself. The people needed new laws, and this constitution gave it to them. It seems with a number of these reforms that Lycurgus is speaking to both the people in positions of power as well as those in the lower ranks. A number of the reforms were directed at strengthening the military and thus society as a whole in Sparta. Aristotle's intended audience is a bit different, in that he is speaking to other societies and imploring them not to make the same mistakes as the Spartans when creating a constitution. Sparta was revered in its time as having an effective constitution, but Aristotle wants to show others that this may not have been the case in all matters.