Having determined to make an attack upon the prevailing luxury, and to do away with the rivalry for riches, he instituted the common meals. And in answer to those who sought to know why he had established these, and had divided the citizens, when under arms, into small companies, he said, ‘So that they may get their orders promptly, and, in case they cherish any radical designs, the offence may be confined to a small number; also that there may be for all an equal portion of food and drink, and so that not only in drink or food, but in bedding or furniture or anything else whatsoever, the rich man may have no advantage at all over the poor man.’ 1
1 Plutarch amplifies this account in his Life of Lycurgus, chap. x. (45 B).
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.
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