To whom was the king accountable?
To the people:--the ephors were the people's representatives! This part of the Spartan constitution has not, I think, been sufficiently considered in what seems to me its true light; namely, that of a representative government.

The ephoralty was the focus of the popular power.

Like an American Congress or an English House of Commons, it prevented the action of the people by acting in behalf of the people.

To representatives annually chosen, the multitude cheerfully left the management of their interests [136].

Thus it was true that the ephors prevented the encroachments of the popular assembly;--but how?
by encroaching themselves, and in the name of the people! When we are told that Sparta was free from those democratic innovations constant in Ionian states, we are not told truly.