Editing Tyrtaeus (section)

==Works==
The ''Constitution'' ({{lang|grc|Πολιτεία λακεδαιμονίοις}}) mentioned by the [[Suda]] is generally treated as an alternative title for the ''Eunomia'' ({{lang|grc|Εὐνομία}}) mentioned by Aristotle and Strabo.{{sfnp|Gerber|1997|p=103}} Surviving only in a few fragments, it seems to have emphasized the role of divine providence in the development of the state and of its government. Eventually the Spartans emerged from the [[Second Messenian War]] with their constitution intact, either because victory made change unnecessary or because "religious propaganda" of the kind promoted by Tyrtaeus stemmed the pressure for change.{{sfnp|Barron|Easterling|1985|pp=130–131}}

According to the ''Suda'', both his ''Constitution'' and his ''Precepts'' ({{lang|grc|Ὑποθῆκαι}}) were composed in elegiac couplets. Pausanias also mentions ''Anapests'', a few lines of which are quoted by [[Dio Chrysostom]] and attributed to Tyrtaeus by a [[scholiast]].<ref>Pausanias [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tyrtaeus-testimonia/1999/pb_LCL258.31.xml 4.15.6] and Dio Chrysostom 2.59; cited by {{harvp|Campbell|1982|p=170}}.</ref> They are generally seen by scholars as belonging to the so-called ''War Songs'' ({{lang|grc|Μέλη Πολεμιστήρια}}) mentioned by the ''Suda''. Presumably written in the Laconian dialect, nothing else of it has survived.{{sfnp|Gerber|1997|p=103}}

According to [[Philodemus]], who presented it as a little-known fact, Tyrtaeus was honoured above others because of his music, not just his verses.<ref>[[Philodemus]]. ''De Musica'', [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tyrtaeus-testimonia/1999/pb_LCL258.29.xml 17 (p. 28 Kemke)]; cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=29}}.</ref> [[Julius Pollux|Pollux]] stated that Tyrtaeus introduced Spartans to three choruses based on age (boys, young and old men),<ref>Pollux ''Vocabulary'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/tyrtaeus-testimonia/1999/pb_LCL258.35.xml 4.107], cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=35}}.</ref> and some modern scholars in fact contend that he composed his elegies in units of five couplets each, alternating between exhortation and reflection, in a kind of responsion similar to Greek [[choral poetry]].{{sfnp|Faraone|2006}} Ancient commentators included Tyrtaeus with [[Archilochus]] and [[Callinus]] as the possible inventor of the [[elegy]].<ref>Didymus ''ap. Orion'', ''Et.Mag.'' p. 57, Scholiast on Ar. ''Birds'' 217, cited by {{harvp|Barron|Easterling|1985|p=129 n. 1}}.</ref>