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v. THE

DIAL OGURS .-C FF. FLA 0

Translated into English

With analyses and .zntroductions

By
Be Jowett, MeA.

In five volumes

Vol. Vv 2
D
i
De
Second edition 4 | |

Oxford
At the Clarendon Press

“4H

EN TROD OC LEON:

THE genuineness of the Laws is sufficiently proved (1) by more than
twenty citations of them in the writings of Aristotle, who was residing
at Athens during the last years of the life of Plato, and who returned
to Athens after the death of Plato, at the time when he was himself
writing his Politics and Constitutions ; (2) by the allusion of Isocrates?
—writing 346 B.c., a year after the death of Plato, and not more than
two or three years after the composition of the Laws—who speaks of
the Laws and Republics written by philosophers (sophists); (3) by the
reference (Athen. 226A) of the comic poet Alexis, a younger contem-
porary of Plato (fl. B.c. 356-306), to the enactment about prices, which
occurs in Laws, xi. 917 B, viz. that the same goods should not be sold
at two prices on the same day*; (4) by the unanimous voice of later
antiquity and the absence of any suspicion among ancient writers

2 Oratio ad Philippum Missa, p. 85: TO peéev rais mavnyipeoww évoxAciv Kai mpds
dmavras Aéyev tovs auvtpéxovtas év airais mpds ovdéva A€yew éoTiv, GAX’ dpoiws
oi TowotTo Tov Adywy (sc. speeches in the assembly) dupa TuyxXavovolv CvTEs Tots
vépos kal Tals ToAiTEiais Talis bTO TaY CopioTaY yeypaypéevas.

2 Ov yéyove KpeitTwy vopobéTns TOU TAovatoU
e "Aporovixou' tiOno. yap vuvi vdpov
bo TeV ixOvoTwdrdy BoTis dy TwrdY Tivi
_ byObv trotiphoas dobar’ éXdtTovos
Hs eime Tiphs eis TO SeguwThpiov
evOds anayecOar TovTOY, iva SedorKdres
THs dias dyan@ouw, i) THs éowépas
campovs dravras dmopépwow oixade.
Meineke, Frag. Com. vol. iii, p. 438.

B 2

4 LAWS.

worth speaking of to the contrary; for it is not said of Philippus of
Opus that he composed any part of the Laws, but only that he copied
them out of the waxen tablets, and wrote the Epinomis (Diog. Laert.
iii, 25). That the longest and one of the most excellent writings
bearing the name of Plato should be a forgery, even if the work were
unsupported by external testimony, would be a singular phenomenon
in ancient literature; and although the critical worth of the consensus
of late writers'is generally not to be compared with the express testi-
mony of contemporaries, yet a somewhat greater value may be attributed
to their consent in the present instance, because the admission of the
Laws is combined with doubts about the Epinomis, a spurious writing,
which seems to stand in nearly the same relation to the larger work
in which the Timaeus Locrus stands to the Timaeus. This shows
that the reception of the Laws was not altogether undiscriminating.

The suspicion which has attached to the Laws of Plato in the judg-
ment of some modern writers appears to rest partly (1) on differences in
the style and form of the work, and (2) on differences of thought and
opinion which they observe in them. Their suspicion is increased by
the fact that these differences are accompanied by resemblafices as
striking to passages in other Platonic writings. They are sensible of
a want of point in the dialogue and a general inferiority in the ideas,
plan, manners, and style. ‘They miss the luminous and poetical flow,
‘smoother than a river of oil,’ the dramatic verisimilitude, the life and
variety of the characters, the dialectic subtlety, the Attic purity, the
exquisite urbanity; instead of which they find tautology, obscurity, self-
sufficiency, sermonizing, rhetorical declamation, uncouth forms of
sentences, and peculiarities in the use of words and idioms. They are
unable to discover any unity in the patched, irregular structure. The
speculative element both in government and education is superseded by
a narrow economical or religious vein. The grace and cheerfulness of
Athenian life have disappeared; and a spirit of moroseness and religious
intolerance has taken their place. There is a cynical levity: in them,
and a tone of disappointment and lamentation over human things.
They seem also to observe in them bad imitations of thoughts which
are better expressed in Plato’s other writings. Lastly, they wonder
how the mind which conceived the Republic could have left the Critias,
Hermocrates, and Philosophus incomplete or unwritten, and have de-
voted the last years of life to the completion of the Laws.

INTRODUCTION. 5

The questions which have been thus indirectly suggested may be
considered by us under five or six heads: I, the characters; II, the |
plan; III,.the style; IV, the imitations of other writings of Plato;
V, the more general relation of the Laws to the Republic and the
other dialogues; and VI, to the existing Athenian and Spartan states.

I, Already in the Philebus the character of Socrates has disappeared ;
and in the Timaeus, Sophist, and Politicus his function of chief speaker
is handed over to the Pythagorean philosopher Timaeus, and to the
Eleatic Stranger, at whose feet he sits, and is silent. More and more
Plato seems to have felt in his later writings that the character and
method of Socrates were no longer suited to be the vehicle of his
philosophy. He is no longer interrogative but dogmatic; not ‘a hesi-
tating enquirer,’ but one who speaks with the authority of a legislator.
Even in the Republic we have seen that the dialogue is unreal, and that
the argument which is carried on in the old style with Thrasymachus in
the first book soon passes into the form of exposition.

The Laws are discussed by three representatives of Athens, Crete, and
Sparta. The Athenian, as might be expected, is the protagonist or
chief speaker, while the second place is assigned to the Cretan, who,
as one of the leaders of a new colony, has a special interest in the
conversation. At least four-fifths of the answers are put into his mouth.
The Athenian talks to the two others, although they are his equals in age,
in the style of a master discoursing to his scholars; he frequently praises
himself; he entertains a very poor opinion of their understanding.
Certainly the boastfulness and rudeness of the Laws is the reverse of the
refined irony and courtesy which characterize the earlier dialogues. We
are no longer in such good company as in the Phaedrus and Symposium.

The scene is laid in Crete, and the conversation is held in the course of
a walk from Cnosus to the cave and temple of Zeus, which takes place
on one of the longest and hottest days of the year (iii. 683 C). The
companions are said to start at dawn, and to arrive at the point in
their conversation which terminates the fourth book, about noon (iv.
422 C). The God to whose temple they are going is the lawgiver of
Crete, and may be supposed at this very cave to have given his oracles
to Minos. But the externals of the scene, which are briefly and in-
artistically described, soon disappear, and we plunge abruptly into the
subject of the dialogue. We are reminded by contrast of the higher art
of the Phaedrus, in which the summer’s day, and the cool stream, and the

6 LAWS...

chirping of the grasshoppers, and the fragrance of the agnus castus, and
the legends of the place are present to the imagination throughout the
discourse.

The typical Athenian apologizes for the tendency of his countrymen
‘to spin a very long discussion out of slender materials,’ and in a similar
spirit the Lacedaemonian Megillus also apologizes (cp. Thucyd. iv. 17)
for the Spartan brevity; he admits that long discourses may be some-
times necessary. The family of Megillus is the proxenus of Athens and
Sparta; and he pays a beautiful compliment to the Athenian, significant
of a certain Athenian element which is discernible in the Laws. A good
Athenian, he says, is more than ordinarily good, because he is inspired by
nature and not manufactured by law. The love of listening which is
attributed to the Timocrat in the Republic (viii. 548 E) is also exhibited
in him (iii. 683 C). The Athenian on his side has a pleasure in speaking
to the Lacedaemonian ‘of the struggle in which their ancestors were
jointly engaged against the Persians. A connection with Athens is like-
wise intimated by the Cretan Cleinias. He is the relative of Epimenides,
whom, by an anachronism of seventy or eighty years, he describes as
coming to Athens, not after the attempt of Cylon, but ten years before
the Persian war. The Cretan and Lacedaemonian can hardly be said to
contribute to the argument of which the Athenian is the expounder; they
only supply information when asked about the institutions of their
respective countries. A kind of simplicity or stupidity is ascribed to
them (x. 885 ff., 888 E). At first, they are dissatisfied with the free
criticisms which the Athenian passes upon the laws of Minos and Lycur-
gus, but they acquiesce in his greater experience and knowledge of the
world. ‘They admit that there can be no objection to the enquiry; for
in the spirit of the legislator himself, they are discussing his laws when
there is no one present to hear them. They are unwilling to allow that
the Spartan and Cretan lawgivers can have been mistaken in honouring
courage as the first part of virtue (ii. 667 A), and are puzzled at
hearing for the first time (ii. 661 D) ‘that goods are only evil to the evil.’
Several times they are on the point of quarrelling, and by an effort learn
to restrain their natural feeling (cp. Shakespeare, Henry V, act iii. sc. 2).
In Book vii. (806 D), the Lacedaemonian expresses a momentary irritation
at the accusation which the Athenian brings against the Spartan in-
stitutions, of encouraging licentiousness in their women, but he is
reminded by the Cretan that the permission to criticize them freely has

INTRODUCTION. 7

been given, and cannot be retracted. His only criterion of truth is the
authority of the Spartan lawgiver; he is ‘dumb-foundered’ (i. 636 E) at
the speculations of the Athenian, but inclines to prefer the ordinances of
I ycurgus.

The three interlocutors all of them speak in the character of old men,
which forms a pleasant bond of union between them. They have the
feelings of old men about youth, about the state, about human things
in general. Nothing in life seems to be of much importance to them ;
they are spectators rather than actors, and men in general appear to the
Athenian speaker to be the playthings of the Gods and of circumstances.
Still they have a fatherly care of the young, and are deeply impressed by
sentiments of religion. ‘They would give confidence to the aged by an
increasing use of wine, which, as they get older, is to unloose their
tongues and make them sing. The prospect of the existence of the
soul after death is constantly present to them; though they can hardly
be said to have the cheerful hope and resignation which animates
Cephalus in the Republic. We shall not be wrong in supposing that
Plato is expressing his own feelings in remarks of this sort. For at
the time of writing the first book of the Laws he was at least seventy-four
years of age, if we suppose him, at p. 638 A, to allude to the victory of
the Syracusans under Dionysius the Younger over the Locrians, which
occurred in the year 356. Such a sadness was the natural effect of
declining years and failing powers, which make men ask, ‘after all, what
profit is there in life?’ They feel that their work is beginning to be
over, and are ready to say, ‘all the world is a stage’; or, in the actual
words of Plato, ‘let us play as many good plays as we can,’ though ‘we *
must be sometimes serious, which is not agreeable, but necessary.’
These are feelings which have crossed the minds of reflective persons in
all ages. And there is no reason to connect the Laws any more than
other parts of Plato’s writings with the very uncertain narrative of his
life, or to imagine that this melancholy tone is attributable to disappoint-
ment at having failed to convert a Sicilian tyrant into a philosopher.

II. The plan of the Laws.is more irregular and has less connection
' than any other of the writings of Plato. As Aristotle says in the Politics,
‘ The greater part consists of Laws’; in Books v, vi, xi, xii the
dialogue almost entirely disappears. They seem to be rather the ma-
terials for a work, nearly but not quite complete, than a finished com-
position which may rank with the other Platonic dialogues. To use

2 LADY Ss.

his own image, ‘Some stones are regularly inserted in the building ;
others are lying on the ground ready for use.’ There is probably truth
in the tradition that the Laws were not published until after the death
of Plato. We can easily believe that he has left imperfections, which
would have been removed if he had lived a few years longer. The
arrangement might have been improved; the connection of the argu-
ment might have been made plainer, and the sentences more accurately
framed. Something also may be attributed to the feebleness of old age.
Even a rough sketch of the Phaedrus or Symposium would have had
a very different look. There is, however, an interest in possessing one
writing of Plato which is in the process of creation.

We must endeavour to find a thread of order which will carry us
through this comparative disorder. The first four books are described
by Plato himself as the preface or preamble. Having arrived at the
conclusion that each law should have a preamble, the lucky thought
occurs to him at the end of the fourth book that the preceding discourse
is the preamble of the whole. This preamble or introduction may be
abridged as follows :—

The institutions of Sparta and Crete are admitted by the Lacedae-
monian and Cretan to have one aim only: they were intended by the
legislator to inspire courage in war. To this the Athenian objects that
the true lawgiver should frame his laws with a view to all the virtues and
not to one only. Better is he who has temperance as well as courage,
than he who has courage only; better is he who is faithful in civil broils,
than he who is a good soldier only. Better, too, is peace than war; the
reconciliation than the defeat of an enemy. And he who would attain
all virtue should be trained amid pleasures as well as pains. Hence
there should be convivial intercourse among the citizens, and a man’s
temperance should be tested in his cups, as we test his courage amid
dangers. He should have a fear of the right sort, as well as a courage
of the right sort.

At the beginning of the second book the subject of pleasure leads to
education, which in the early years of life is wholly a discipline imparted
by the means of pleasure and pain. The discipline of pleasure is im-
planted chiefly by the practice of the song and the dance. Of these the
forms should be fixed, and not allowed to depend on the fickle breath of
the multitude. There will be choruses of boys, girls, and grown-up
persons, and all will be heard repeating the same strain, that ‘virtue is

a

INTRODUCTION. 9

happiness.’ One of them will give the law to the rest; this will be the
chorus of aged minstrels, who will sing the most beautiful and the most
useful of songs. They, too, will require a little wine, in order to mellow
the austerity of age, and make them amenable to our laws.

After having laid down the first principle of politics, and briefly dis-
cussed music and festive intercourse, at the commencement of the third
book Plato makes a digression, in which he speaks of the origin of
society. He describes, first of all, the family; secondly, the patriarchal
stage, which is an aggregation of families ; thirdly, the founding of regular
cities, like Ilium; fourthly, the establishment of a military and political
system, like that of Sparta, with which he identifies Argos and Messene,
dating from the return of the Heraclidae. But the aims of states should
be good, or else, like the prayer of Theseus, they may be ruinous to
themselves. This was the case in two out of three of the Heracleid
kingdoms. They did not understand that the powers in a state should
be balanced. ‘The balance of powers saved Sparta, while the excess of
tyranny in Persia and the excess of liberty at Athens have been the ruin
of both.

This discourse on politics is suddenly discovered to have an imme-
diate practical use; for Cleinias the Cretan is about to give laws to a new
colony. ‘The fancy which in the Critias was left incomplete, of locating
the ideal state in the island of Atlantis, is partially realized in the Laws.

At the beginning of the fourth book, after enquiring into the circum-
stances and situation of the colony, the Athenian proceeds to make
further reflections. Chance, and God, and the skill of the legislator, all
co-operate in the formation of states. And the most favourable condition
for the foundation of a new one is when the government is in the hands
of a virtuous tyrant who has the good fortune to be the contemporary of
a great legislator. But a virtuous tyrant is a contradiction in terms; we
can at best only hope to have magistrates who are the servants of reason
and the law. ‘This leads to the enquiry, what is to be the polity of our
new state. And the answer is, that we are to fear God, and honour
our parents, and to cultivate virtue and justice; these are to be our first
principles. Laws must be definite, and we should create in the citizens
a predisposition to obey them. The legislator will teach as well as com-
mand ; and with this view he will prefix preambles to his principal laws.

The fifth book commences in a sort of dithyramb with another and
higher preamble about the honour due to the soul, whence are deduced

10 LAWS.

the duties of a man to his parents and his friends, to the suppliant
and stranger. He should be true and just, free from envy and ex-
cess of all sorts, forgiving to crimes which are not incurable and are
partly involuntary ; and he should have a true taste. The noblest life has
the greatest pleasures and the fewest pains. Having finished the pre-
amble, and touched on some other preliminary considerations, we proceed
to the Laws, beginning with the constitution of the state. This is not
the best or ideal state, having all things common, but only the second
best, in which the land and houses are to be distributed among 5040
citizens divided into four classes. There is to be no gold or silver among
them, and they are to have moderate wealth, and to respect number and
numerical order in all things.

In the first part of the sixth book, Plato completes his sketch of the
constitution by the appointment of officers. He explains the manner in
which guardians of the law, generals, priests, wardens of town and
country, ministers of education, and other magistrates are to be ap-
pointed; and also in what way courts of appeal are to be constituted,
and omissions in the law to be supplied. At this point (p. 772) the Laws
strictly speaking begin, with enactments respecting marriage and the
procreation of children, respecting property in slaves as well as of other
kinds, respecting houses, married life, common tables for men and
women. The question of age in marriage suggests the consideration
of a similar question about the time for holding offices, and for military
service, which had been previously omitted.

Resuming the order of the discussion, which was indicated in the
previous book, from marriage and birth we proceed to education in the
seventh book. Education is to begin at or rather before birth; to be
continued for a time by mothers and nurses under the inspection of the
state; finally, to comprehend music and gymnastics. Under music is
included reading, writing, playing on the lyre, arithmetic, and a know-
ledge of astronomy and mathematics, sufficient to preserve the minds of
the citizens from impiety in after life. Gymnastics are to be practised
chiefly with a view to their use in war. The discussion of education,
which was lightly touched upon in Book ii, is here completed.

The eighth book contains regulations for civil life, beginning with
festivals, games, and contests, military exercises and the like. On such
occasions Plato seems to see young men and maidens meeting together,
and hence he takes occasion to discuss the relations of the sexes, the

INTRODUCTION. 7

evil consequences which arise out of the indulgence of the passions, and
the remedies for them. Then he proceeds to speak of agriculture, of arts
and trades, of buying and selling, and foreign commerce.

The remaining books of the Laws, ix—xii, are chiefly concerned
with criminal offences. In the first class are placed offences against the
Gods, especially sacrilege or robbery of temples: next follow offences
against the state, beginning with thefts. The mention of thefts suggests
a distinction between voluntary and involuntary, curable and incurable
offences. Proceeding to the greater crime of murder, he distinguishes
between mere homicide, manslaughter, and murder with malice pre-
pense; murders by kindred, murders by slaves, wounds with or without
intent to kill, actions done from passion, which are partly voluntary
and partly involuntary, crimes of or against slaves, and insults to parents.
To these various modes of purification or degrees of punishment
are assigned, and the terrors of another world are also invoked against
them.

At the beginning of Book x, all acts of violence, including sacrilege,
are summed up in a single law. The law is preceded by an admonition,
in which the offenders are informed that no one ever did an unholy act,
or said an unlawful word, retaining his belief in the existence of the
Gods; but either he denied their existence, or he believed that they
took no care of man, or that they might be turned from their course by
sacrifices and prayers. ‘The remainder of the book is devoted to the
refutation of these three classes of unbelievers, and concludes with the
means to be taken for their reformation, and the announcement of their
punishments if they continue obstinate and impenitent.

The eleventh book is taken up with laws and admonitions relating
to individuals, which follow one another without any exact order.
There are laws concerning deposits and the finding of treasure;
concerning slaves and freedmen; concerning retail trade, bequests,
divorces, enchantments, poisonings, magical arts, and the like. In
the twelfth book the same subjects are continued. Laws are passed
concerning violations of military discipline, concerning the censorship
of magistrates, and of the citizens living and dead; concerning oaths
and the violation of them, and the punishments of those who neglect
their duties as citizens. Foreign trade is then discussed, and the
permission to be accorded to citizens of travelling in foreign parts;
the classes of strangers who may visit the city are spoken of, and

12 LAWS.

the manner in which they are to be received. Laws are added
respecting sureties, searches for property, right of possession by
prescription, abduction of witnesses, theatrical competition, plots against
the state, and bribery in offices. Rules are also given respecting
tribute, respecting economy in sacred rites, respecting judges, their
duties and sentences, and respecting sepulchral places and ceremonies.
Here (at p. 960) the laws end. Lastly, a nocturnal council is instituted
for the preservation of the state, consisting of older and younger
members, who are to exhibit in their lives that virtue which is the
basis of the state, to know the one in many, and to be educated in
divine and every other knowledge, which will enable them to fulfil
their office.

III. The style of the Laws differs in several important respects from
the other dialogues of Plato: (1) in the want of character, power, and
lively illustration ; (2) in the frequency of mannerisms (cp. Introduction
to the Philebus); (3) in the form and rhythm of the sentences; (4) in
the use of words. On the other hand, there are many passages (5)
which are characterized by a sort of ethical grandeur; ‘and (6) in which,
perhaps, a greater insight into human nature, and a greater reach of
practical wisdom is shown, than in any other of Plato’s writings.

1. The discourse of the three old men is described by themselves as
an old man’s game of play, which is compared to a game of draughts.
Yet there is little of the liveliness of a game in their mode of treating
the subject. They do not throw the ball to and fro, but two out of
the three are listeners to the third, who is constantly asserting his
superior wisdom and opportunities of knowledge, and apologizing (not
without reason) for his own want of clearness of speech. He will
‘carry them over the stream’; he will answer for them when the
argument is too difficult for them to follow; he is afraid of their
ignorance of mathematics, but admits that gymnastic is likely to be
more intelligible to them ;—he has repeated his words several times,
and yet they cannot understand him (ii. 664 C). The subject did not
properly take the form of dialogue, and also the dramatic vigour of
Plato had passed away. The old men speak as they might be expected
to speak, and in this there is a touch of dramatic truth, as well as
judgment in the treatment of the subject. Plato has given the Laws
that form which was most suited to his own powers of writing in the
decline of life. There is no regular plan—none of that consciousness

INTRODUCTION. 13

of what has preceded and what is to follow, which makes a perfect
style,—but there are several attempts at a plan; the argument is ‘ pulled
up,’ and frequent explanations are offered why a particular topic was
introduced.

The fictions of the Laws have no longer that verisimilitude which
we find in the Phaedrus and the Timaeus, or even in the Politicus.
We can hardly suppose that an educated Athenian would have placed
the visit of Epimenides to Athens ten years before the Persian war
(i. 642 D); or have imagined that a war with Messene prevented the
Lacedaemonians from coming to the rescue of Hellas (iii. 692 D).
The narrative of the origin of the Dorian institutions (ili. 685 foll.), said
to be due to fear of the growing power of the Assyrians and the
assertion that Troy was a part of the Assyrian empire, are evidently
audacious inventions, which may be compared with the tale of the
island of Atlantis in the poem of Solon, but are not accredited by
similar arts of deception. Nor is there anywhere in the Laws that
lively evapyeta, that vivid mse en scéne, which is as characteristic of Plato
as of some modern novelists.

~The old men are afraid of the ridicule which ‘will fall on their heads
more than enough’ (vi. 781 D, vii. 790 A, 800 B), and they do not often
indulge in a joke. In one of the few which occur, the book of the
Laws if left incomplete is compared to a monster wandering about
without a head (vi. 752 A). But we no longer breathe the atmosphere
of humour which pervades the earlier writings of Plato, and which
makes the broadest Aristophanic joke as well as the subtlest refinement
of wit possible ; and hence an impression of baldness and feebleness is
left upon our minds. Some of the descriptions in the Laws, which to
us are most amusing, as, for example, of children roaring for the first
three years of life; or of the Athenians walking into the country with
fighting-cocks under their arms; or of the slave doctor who knocks
about his patients finely (iv. 720C; cp. viii. 857 D), and the gentleman
doctor who civilly persuades them; or of the way of keeping order in the
theatre, seem not to have been intended to suggest anything ludicrous.
The irony of the earlier dialogues, of which some traces occur in the
tenth book, is replaced by a severity which hardly condescends to regard
human things. ‘Let us say, if you please, that man is of some account ;
but I was speaking of him in comparison with God.’

The imagery and illustrations are poor in themselves, and are not

14 LAWS.

assisted by the surrounding phraseology. We have seen how in the
Republic, and in the earlier dialogues, figures of speech such as ‘the
wave, ‘the drone,’ ‘the chase,’ ‘the bride,’ appear and reappear at
intervals. Notes are struck which are repeated from time to time, as
in a strain of music. There is none of this subtle art in the Laws.
The illustrations, such as the two kinds of doctors, ‘the three kinds
of funerals,’ the fear potion, the puppet, the painter leaving a successor
to restore his picture, the ‘young man standing to consider where three
ways meet, the ‘channel of discourse from which he will not divert
the water,’ can hardly be said ‘to do much credit to his invention.’
The citations from the poets have lost that fanciful character which
gave them their charm in the earlier dialogues. We are tired of images
taken from the arts of navigation, or archery, or weaving, or painting,
or medicine, or music. Yet the comparisons of life to a tragedy
(vii. 817), or of the working of mind to the revolution of the self-
moved (x. 897), or of the aged parent to the image of a God dwelling
in the house (xi. 931), or the reflection that ‘man is made to be
the plaything of God, and that this rightly considered is the best of
him’ (vii. 803 C), have great beauty.

2. The clumsiness of the dialogue leads to frequent mannerisms and
repetitions. The perfection of the Platonic dialogue consists in the
accuracy with which the question and answer are fitted into one another,
and the regularity with which the steps of the argument succeed one
another. This finish of style is no longer discernible in the Laws.
There is a want of variety in the answers; nothing can be drawn out
of the respondents but ‘ Yes’ or ‘No’; the insipid form ‘What do you
mean?’ is constantly recurring. Again and again the speaker is
charged, or charges himself, with obscurity; and he repeats again and
again that he. will explain his views more clearly. In several passages
the Athenian praises himself in the most unblushing manner, very
unlike the irony of the earlier dialogues, as when he declares ‘that the
laws are a divine work given by some inspiration of the Gods,’ and
‘that youth should commit them to memory instead of the compositions
of the poets. The prosopopoeia which is adopted by Plato in the
Protagoras and other dialogues is repeated until we are weary of it.
The legislator is always addressing the speakers or the young of the
state, and the speakers are constantly making addresses to the legislator.
A tendency to.a paradoxical manner of statement is also observable.

INTRODUCTION. 15

‘We must have drinking,’ ‘we must have a virtuous tyrant,—this is
too much for the duller wits of the Lacedaemonian and Cretan, who
at first start back in surprise. More than in any other writing of Plato
the tone is hortatory ; the laws are sermons as well as laws; they are
considered to have a religious sanction, and to rest upon a religious
sentiment in the mind of the citizens. The mannerism of attributing
the words of the Athenian to the Lacedaemonian and Cretan, who are
supposed to have made them their own, is still maintained. Re-
sumptions of subjects which have been half disposed of in a previous
passage constantly occur: the arrangement has neither the clearness
of art nor the freedom of nature. Irrelevant remarks are made here
and there, or illustrations used which are not properly fitted in. The
dialogue is generally weak and laboured, and is in the later books fairly
given up; apparently, because unsuited to the subject of the work.
The long speeches or sermons of the Athenian, often extending over
several pages, have never the grace and harmony which are exhibited
in the earlier dialogues. For Plato is incapable of sustained composition ;
his genius is dramatic rather than oratorical; he can converse, but he
cannot speak. Even the Timaeus, which is one of his most finished
works, is full of abrupt transitions. There is the same kind of difference
between the dialogue and the continuous discourse of Plato as between
the narrative and speeches of Thucydides.

3. The perfection of style is variety in unity, freedom, ease, clearness,
the power of saying anything, and of striking any note in the scale of
_human feelings without impropriety; and such is the divine gift of
language possessed by Plato in the Symposium and Phaedrus. From
this there are many fallings-off in the Laws: first, in the structure of
the sentences, which are rhythmical and monotonous,—the formal and
sophistical manner of the age is superseding the natural genius of
Plato: second, they are often of enormous length, and the latter end
frequently appears to forget the beginning of them,—they seem never
to have received the second thoughts of the author; either the emphasis
is wrongly placed, or there is a want of point in a clause; or an
absolute case occurs which is not properly separated from the rest of
the sentence; or words are aggregated in a manner which fails to show
their relation to one another; or the connecting particles are omitted
at the beginning of sentences: the use of the relative and antecedent
is more indistinct, the changes of person and number more frequent,

16 LAWS.

examples of pleonasm, tautology, and periphrasis, unmeaning antitheses
of positive and negative, and other affectations, are more numerous
than in the other writings of Plato; there is also a more common and
sometimes unmeaning use of qualifying formulae, os mos eimety, xara
Siva, and of double expressions, mavrn mavras, ovdduas oddauh, Oras
kal 6my—these are too numerous to be attributed to errors in the text ;
again, there is an over-curious adjustment of verb and participle, noun
and epithet—many forms of affected variety in cadence and expression
take the place of natural variety: thirdly, the absence of metaphorical
language is remarkable—the style is not devoid of ornament, but the
ornament is of a debased rhetorical kind, patched on to instead of
growing out of the subject; there is a great command of words, and
a laboured use of them; forced attempts at metaphor occur in several
passages,— e. g. vill. 844 A, mapoyerevew Adyos; 1x. 858 C, ra pev TiOdueva
ra dé mapariOeueva; Vi. 773 D, olvos kodatépevos tard vndortos érépov Oeov ; the
plays on the word véuos = vod diavopy, iv. 714 A, On érépa, lil. oo B:
fourthly, there is a foolish extravagance of language in other passages,
‘the swinish ignorance of arithmetic,’ vii. 819 D; ‘the justice and
suitableness of the discourse on laws,’ vii. 811 C; over-emphasis at
ix. 861 D; ‘best of Greeks,’ vii. 820, said of all the Greeks, and the
like: fifthly, poor and insipid illustrations are also common, e.g.
i. 638 C, 639 A, ii. 644 E: sixthly, we may observe an unmeaning use
of climax and hyperbole, vii. 808 A, aicypov Aéyew ypi mpos adrods SoddAdv
re kal SovAnv kai wraida Kat et mas oldy Te GAnv Thy oikiav; i. 636 B, Soxet roiro
Td émiTndevpa Kata drow Tas wep ra adpodicia Hdovas od pdvoy avOparev are
kat Onpiay Suepbapkeva.

4. The peculiarities in the use of words which occur in the Laws
have been collected by Zeller and Stallbaum: first, in the use of nouns,
such as ddAodnpia, amenaitnots, yAvkvOupia, Opacvéevia, peyaddvora, raoupyia,
d.abérnp, kdpos. Secondly, in the use of adjectives, such as dicrwp, Biddoros,
€xOodords, nibeos, xpéuos, and of adverbs, such as dwéutl, dvarel, vyrowwel.
Thirdly, in the use of verbs, such as diocew (digeuev eimeiv, iv. 709 A),
etOnpoveto bar, maparrodiferOa, thyedeiv, tntav. These words however, as
Stallbaum remarks, are formed according to analogy, and nearly all of
them have the support of some poetical or other authority.

_ Zeller and Stallbaum have also collected forms of words in the Laws,
differing from the forms of the same words which occur in other places:
e.g. BrdBos for BAdBy, aos for aBiwros, aydpioros for dyapis, Sotdecos for

ee ee

INTRODUCTION. 17

SovArkos, maidewos for madixds, eLaypd for eEaypiaivw, iheotwar for iAdcKopar,
and the Ionic word cadpoucrds, meaning ‘correction. Zeller has noted
a fondness for substantives, ending in pa and ovs, such as yeopynpa, oud-
mavpa, emOtipnua, (npiopa, Kop@dnua, ouirnua; BrAdyes, Aowddpnors, Tapay-
yehots, and others; also a use of substantives in the plural, which are
commonly found only in the singular, pavia, aéedrnres, POdvar, PoBor,
dices. Also, a peculiar use of prepositions in composition, as in
éveipyw, amoBAdntw, Suavopoberéw, Suetpntar, SuevdaBeioOa, and others :—
also a frequent use of the Ionic datives plural in aoe and oor.

To these peculiarities he has added a list of peculiar expressions and
constructions. The most characteristic are the following, viii. 841 D,
dOura mah\ak@v oméppata; ix. 855 C, dpoppo Spar; iii. 690 D, dca atpara
mpos Gpxovtas; Vi. 744 B, of kata wéAw Karpoi; podos, used in several places
of ‘the discourse about laws’; and connected with this the frequent use
of mapapiOiov and mapapvéeioda in the general sense of ‘addressing’;
vil. 823 E, aipvdos gpws ; xii. 960 B, drada: mpdEes ; vi. 752A, wvdos axehanros ;
vi. 755 D, 700s evOtmopov. He remarks also on the frequent use of the
abstract for the concrete; e.g. tmnpeoia for tmnpera, pvyai for puyddes,
pnxavai in the sense of contrivers, SovAeia for SodAa, Baordetae for Bacreis,
pavopeva knoevpara for yuvaika pawvopevny; 7 xpeia Tov waidwy in the sense
of indigent children, and zaidev ikavétns; rd os tis dmewpias for 7 ciwOvia
dretpia; Kumapitt@y vn te Kal KdddAn Oavydowa for Kumdpirto pddra vYnra
kai kadai. He further notes some curious uses of the genitive case,
e.g. PiAias dpodoyia, paviar dpyjs, Aatmapyiar yOovas, Xetm@vwv avurrodnaiat ;
and of the dative, duiria €yOpos, vopobeciar éemitpédmos; and also some
rather uncommon periphrases, Opéupara Neidov, évyyevvntwp réxvev for
ddoxos, Movons AeEs for moinows, (wypaper maids, avOpomav oméppata and
the like; the fondness for particles of limitation, especially rs and ye,
aw tit xdpiot, Tois ye Suvayevors and the like; the pleonastic use
of raviv, Of as, Of ws eros eimeiv, Of éxdorore; and the periphrastic
use of the preposition mepi. Lastly, he observes the tendency to
hyperbata or transpositions of words; and to rhythmical uni-
formity as well as grammatical irregularity in the structure of the
sentences. |

For nearly all the expressions which are adduced by Zeller as
arguments against the genuineness of the Laws, Stallbaum finds some
sort of authority. There is no real ground for suspecting their
genuineness, because several words occur in them which are not

VOD. V3 c

18 AWS.

found in the other writings of Plato. An imitator will often preserve
the usual phraseology of a writer better than he would himself. But,
on the other hand, the mere fact that authorities may be quoted in
support of most of these uses of words, does not show that the diction
is not peculiar. Several of them seem to be poetical or dialectical,
and exhibit an attempt to enlarge the limits of Greek prose, by the
introduction of Homeric and tragic expressions. Most of them do
not appear to have retained any hold on the later language of Greece.
Like several ‘experiments in language’ of the writers of the Elizabethan
age, they were afterwards lost; and though occasionally found in
Plutarch, and imitators of Plato, they have not passed current in
Aristotle or the common dialect of Greece.

5. Unequal as the style of the Laws is, they contain a few passages
which are very grand and noble. For example, the address to the
poets at vii. 817: ‘Best of strangers, we also are poets of the best
and noblest tragedy; for our whole state is an imitation of the best
and noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truth of tragedy.’
Or again, the sight of young men and maidens in friendly intercourse
with one another, suggesting the dangers to which youth is liable from
the violence of passion (viii. 835-841); or the eloquent denunciation
of unnatural lusts in the same passage; or the charming thought that
the best legislator ‘orders war for the sake of peace and not peace for
the sake of war’ (i. 628 FE, foll.); or the pleasant allusion ‘O Athenian—
inhabitant of Attica, I will not say, for you seem to me worthy to be
named after the Goddess Athene because you go back to first principles’
(i. 626 D); or the pithy saying ‘many a victory has been and will be
suicidal to the victors, but education is never suicidal’ (i. 641 C); or the
fine expression that ‘the walls of a city should be allowed to sleep in
the earth, and that we should not attempt to disinter them’ (vi. 778 D);
or the remark that ‘God is the measure of all things in a sense far
higher than any man can be’ (iv. 716 C); or that ‘a man should be from
the first a partaker of the truth, that he may live a true man as long
as possible’ (v. 730 C); or the principle repeatedly laid down, ‘that the
sins of the fathers are not to be visited on the children,’ e. g. ix. 856 C;
or the description of the funeral rites of those blessed persons who depart
in innocence (xii. 947 B, foll.); or the noble sentiment, that we should
do more justice to slaves than to equals, (vi. 777D); or the curious
observation, founded, perhaps, on his own experience, that there are

INTRODUCTION. 19

a few ‘divine men in every state however corrupt, whose conversation
is of inappreciable value’ (xii. 951 C); or the acute remark, that public
opinion is to be respected, because the judgments of mankind about
virtue are better than their practice (xii. 950 B); or the deep religious
and also modern feeling which pervades the tenth book (whatever may
be thought of the arguments); the sense of the duty of living as a part
of a whole, and in dependence on the will of God (x. 903 D, E), who
takes care of the smallest things as well as the greatest (x. goo C) ; and
the picture of parents praying for their children (x. 887 D, foll.) (not as
we may say, slightly altering the words of Plato, as if there were no
reality in the Gentile religions, but as if there were the greatest), are very
striking to us. We must remember that the Laws are not, like the
Republic, an ideal state, but are supposed to be on the level of human
motives and feelings; hence there is an attempt made to show that the
pleasant is also just. But, on the other hand, the priority of the soul
to the body, and of God to the soul, is always insisted upon as the
true incentive to virtue; especially with great force and eloquence at the
commencement of Book v. And the work of legislation is carried
back to the first principles of morals.

6. There is none of Plato’s writings which shows so deep an insight
into the sources of human evil as the Laws. That ‘cities will never
cease from ill until they are better governed,’ is the text of the Laws as
well as of the Politicus and Republic. ‘The remark that the balance of
power preserves states (ili. 691, 692); the reflection that no one ever
passed his whole life in disbelief of the Gods (x. 888 C); the idea,
original to the Greek, that the characters of men are best seen in
convivial intercourse (i. 649 B); the observation that the people must be
allowed to share not only in the government, but in the administration
of justice (trial by jury); the desire to make laws, not with a view
to courage only but to all virtue; the clear perception that education
begins with birth, or even as he would say before birth (vii. 789 A); the
attempt to purify religion; the modern reflections, that punishment is
not vindictive (ix. 854 E), and that limits must be set to the power of
bequest (Xi. 922, 923); the impossibility of undeceiving the victims of
quacks and jugglers (xi. 933 A); the necessity of sanitary measures
(vi. 761 B); above all, perhaps, the distinct consciousness that under
the actual circumstances of mankind the ideal cannot be carried out
(v. 739 B, 746 B), and yet may be a guiding principle—will appear

Cs

20 LAWS.

to us, if we remember that we are still in the dawn of politics, to
show a great depth of political wisdom.

IV. The Laws of Plato contain numerous passages which closely re-
semble other passages in his writings, as for example, the comparison of
philosophy to a yelping she-dog, both in the Republic and in the Laws
(Laws, xii. 967 D; Rep. x. 607C): the remark that no man can practise
two trades (Laws, viii. 846D; Rep. iii. 394 E, etc.): or the advantage of the
middle condition (Laws, v. 736E ; Rep. iv. 421 foll.) : or the moulds (rv7o1)
of religion (Laws, vii. 800 foll.; Rep. ii. 379 foll.): or the remark (Laws,
xii. 945 E) that ‘ the relaxation of justice makes many cities out of one,’
which may be compared with the Republic (Rep. iv. 422 E): or the de-
scription of lawlessness ‘creeping in little by little in the fashions of music’
(Laws, iii. yor foll.; Rep. iv. 424 E). These are a few out of many ex-
amples which may be adduced of resemblances in the Laws to the other
writings of Plato. ‘They are far more numerous than the resemblances
between other parts of his writings. No dialogues so nearly approach one
another in thought as the Republic and the Politicus or the Laws, not-
withstanding their differences. And at first sight a suspicion arises that
the repetition shows the unequal hand of the imitator. For why should
a writer say over again, in a more imperfect form, what he had already said
in his most finished style and manner? And yet it may be urged on the
_ other side that an author whose original powers are beginning to decay
will be very liable to repeat himself, as in conversation, so in books. He
may have forgotten what he had written before ; he may be unconscious
of the decline of his own powers. Hence arises a question of great
interest, bearing on the genuineness of ancient writers. Is there any
criterion by which we can distinguish the genuine from the spurious
imitation, or, in other words, the repetition of a thought or passage
by an author himself from the appropriation of it by another? ‘The
question has, perhaps, never been fully discussed; and, though a real
one, does not admit of a precise answer. A few general considerations
on the subject may be offered :—

(a) Is the difference such as might be expected to arise at different
times of life or under different circumstances >There would be nothing
surprising in a writer, as he grew older, losing something of his own
originality, and falling more and more under the spirit of his age. ‘What
a genius I had when I wrote that book!’ was the pathetic exclamation
of a famous English author, when in old age he chanced to take up one

| INTRODUCTION. 21
1 DP pt pote hn ob’

of his early works. There would be nothing surprising again in his losing
somewhat of his powers of expression, and becoming less capable of
framing language into a harmonious whole. There would also be a
strong presumption that if the variation of style was uniform, it was
attributable to some natural cause, and not to the arts of the imitator.
The imitation might be the result of feebleness and of want of activity of
mind. As in the well-known instance of Milton’s ‘ Paradise Regained,’
the decline of power which impaired the execution of a work might also
enfeeble an author’s judgment about the child of his old age. In other
words, he might be a worse writer and a worse critic of his own
writings. But the natural weakness of a great author would be different
from the artificial weakness of an imitator; whereas the forger would
be unable to maintain this equality in the appearance of his writings.
He would fill his work with irregular patches, sometimes taken verb-
ally from the writings of the author whom he personated, but rarely
acquiring his spirit. His imitation would be obvious, irregular, super-
ficial. ‘The patches of purple would be easily detected among his
threadbare and tattered garments. He would rarely take the pains to
put the same thought into other words. Speaking of ancient forgers
generally, we may say that they were far from being masters in the
art of deception, and had rarely any motive for being so.

(b) But, secondly, the imitator will commonly be least capable of un-
derstanding that which is really the most characteristic part of a great
writer, In every man’s writings there is something like himself and
unlike others, which gives individuality. To appreciate this latent quality
would require a kindred mind, and minute study and observation. There
are a class of similarities which may be called undesigned coincidences,
which are so remote as to be incapable of being borrowed from one
another, and yet when they are compared find a natural explanation in
their being the work of the same mind. The imitator might imitate the
turns of style—he might repeat images or illustrations, but he could not
enter into the inner circle of Platonic philosophy. He would understand
that part of it which became popular in the next generation, as for
example, the doctrine of ideas or of numbers: he might criticise and
condemn communism. But the higher flights of Plato about the science
of dialectic, or the unity of virtue, or a person who is above the law,
would have been unintelligible to him. :

(c) The argument from imitation assumes a different character when

a2 LAWS.

the supposed imitations are associated with other passages having the
impress of original genius (cp. Introd. to Appendix, Vol. II). Then all
the probabilities that can be urged on behalf of similar passages being
the work of an original writer are greatly increased by their juxtaposition
with other passages which certainly are so. The great excellence, not
only of the whole, but even of the parts of writings, is a strong proof of
their genuineness—for although the great writer may fall below, the forger
or imitator cannot rise much above himself. Whether we can attribute
_ the worst parts of a work to a forger and the best to a great writer,—as
for example, in the case of some of Shakespeare’s works,—depends upon
the probability that they have been interpolated, or have been the joint
work of two writers; and this can only be established by a comparison
of other writings of the same class. If the interpolation or double
authorship of Greek writings in the time of Plato could be shown to be
common, then a question, perhaps insoluble, would arise, not whether the
whole but whether parts of the Platonic dialogues are genuine, and, if
parts only, which parts. And although Hebrew prophecies and Homeric
poems and Laws of Manu may have grown together in early times,
there is no proof of any such tendency in the later ages of Greece after
authorship had become a regular profession.

It must be admitted that these principles, although real, are difficult of
application. Yet a criticism may be worth making which rests only on
probabilities or impressions. Great disputes will arise about the merits
of different passages, about what is really characteristic and original or
trivial and borrowed. Many have thought the Laws to be one of the
greatest of Platonic writings, while in the judgment of Mr. Grote they
hardly rise above the level of the forged epistles. The manner in which
a writer would or would not have written at a particular age must be
acknowledged to be a matter of conjecture. But enough has been said
to show that similarities of a certain kind, whether criticism is able to
detect them or not, may be such as must be attributed to an original
writer, and not to a mere imitator. .

(d) Applying these principles to the case of the Laws, we have now
to point out that they contain the class of latent refined similarities which
are indicative of genuineness. ‘That these are found in a work which
contains many beautiful and remarkable passages, will be admitted by
any one who refers back to § III. 6. We may therefore begin by claim-
ing this presumption in their favour. Such undesigned coincidences, as

INTRODUCTION. 23

we may venture to call them, are the following. The conception of
justice as the union of temperance, wisdom, courage (Laws, i. 631C; Rep.
iv. 433 foll.): the latent idea of dialectic implied in the notion of dividing
laws after their kinds (Laws, i. 630 E); and again (xii. 965 C), the ex-
aggerated approval of the method of looking at one idea gathered from
many things, ‘than which a truer was never discovered by any man’: or
again the description of the Laws as parents (Laws, ix. 859 A; ce Vil.
538 D): the assumption that religion has been already settled by the
oracle of Delphi (Laws, v. 738 B; Rep. iv. 427 B), to which an appeal is
also made for the decision of disputes: the notion of the battle with self,
a paradox for which Plato in a manner apologises both in the Laws and
the Republic (Laws, i.627 B; Rep. iv. 430 E, foll.): the remark (Laws, ix.
859 D) that just men, even when they are deformed in body, may still
be perfectly beautiful in respect of the excellent justice of their minds
(cp. Rep. iii. 402 D, E): the argument that ideals are none the worse
because they cannot be carried out (Rep. v. 472 D; Laws, v. 746 B): the
near approach to the idea of good in ‘ the principle which is common to
all the four virtues,’ a truth which the guardians must be compelled to
recognise (Laws, xii. 965 D; cp. Rep. vii. 534 D): or again the recog-
nition by reason of the right pleasure and pain, which had previously
been matter of habit (Laws, ii. 653 B; Rep. iii. 402 A): or the blasphemy
of saying that the excellency of music is to give pleasure (Laws, ii. 665 D ;
Rep. vi. 509 A, B): again the story of the Sidonian Cadmus (Laws, ii.
663 E), is a variatio of the Phoenician tale of the earth-born men (Rep.
iii. 414): the danger of altering the modes of music in the Republic
(iv. 424 C) may be compared with the danger of altering the plays
of children in the Laws (vii. 797 B): the apology for delay and diffuse-
ness which occurs not unfrequently in the Republic, is carried to an excess
in the Laws: the remarkable thought (Laws, x. 899 A) that the soul of
the sun is better than the sun, agrees with the relation in which the idea
of good stands to the sun in the Republic, and with the substitution
of mind for the idea of good in the Philebus: the passage about the
tragic poets (Laws, vii. 817 A, foll.) agrees generally with the treatment of
them in the Republic, but is more finely conceived, and worked out in
a nobler spirit. Some lesser similarities of thought and manner should
not be omitted, such as the mention of the thirty years old students in
the Republic (vii. 539 B), and the fifty years old choristers in the Laws
(i. 670 A); or the image of the wax from which the citizens are to be

24 LAWS.

made in the Laws as in the Republic ; or the number of the tyrant (729),
which is nearly equal with the number of days and nights in the year
(730), compared with the ‘slight correction’ of the sacred number 5040,
which, ‘if two families be deducted may be divided by all the numbers
from one to twelve’ (Laws, vi. 771 C); or once more, we may compare
the ignorance of solid geometry of which he complains in the Republic
(vii. 528 C), and the puzzle about fractions (vii. 524 E) with the difficulty
in the Laws about commensurable and incommensurable quantities,
(Laws vii. 819, 820)—and the malicious emphasis on the word yvuvatkesos
(Laws, vii. 790 A) with the use of the same word (Rep. v. 469 E.) These
and similar passages tend to show that the author of the Republic is also
the author of the Laws. They are echoes of the same voice, coincidences
too subtle to have been invented by the ingenuity of any imitator. The
force of the argument is increased, if we remember that no passage in
the Laws is exactly copied,—nowhere do five or six words occur together
which are found together elsewhere in Plato’s writings.

Several passages in the Laws have parallels with other writings of
Plato as well as with the Republic. In general, as we might expect, such
resemblances occur chiefly in the dialogues, which, on other grounds,
we may suppose to be of later date. The punishment of evil is to
be like evil men (Laws, v. 728 B), as he says also in the Theaetetus
(176 E). Compare again the dependence of tragedy and comedy on
one another, of which he gives the reason in the Laws (vii. 816 D)—
“For serious things cannot be understood without laughable, nor
opposites at all without opposites, if a man is really to have intelligence
of either ;’ here he puts forward the principle which is the ground-
work of the thesis of Socrates (Symp. 223 C), ‘that the genius of
tragedy is the same as that of comedy, and that the writer of comedy
ought to be a writer of tragedy also.’ There is a truth and right which
is above Law (Laws, ix. 875 C), as we learn also from the Politicus. That
men are the possession of the Gods (Laws, x. 902C), is a reflection which
likewise occurs in the Phaedo (62 B). The remark, whether serious or
ironical (Laws, xii. 948 C), that ‘the sons of the Gods naturally believed
in the Gods, because they had the means of knowing about them,’ is
found in the Timaeus (40D). The reign of Cronos, who is the divine
tuler (Laws, iv. 713 B), is the reminiscence of the Politicus (269 A, foll.).
It is remarkable that in the Sophist and Politicus (Soph. 232 E), Plato,
speaking in the character of the Eleatic stranger, has already put on

INTRODUCTION. 28

the old man. The madness of the poets, again, is a favourite notion
of Plato’s, which occurs also in the Laws (iv. 719 C), as well as in the
Phaedrus (245 A) and elsewhere. There are traces in the Laws (iii.
685 A, foll.) of the same desire to base speculation upon history which
we find in the Critias. Once more there is a striking parallel with the
paradox of the Gorgias (472 FE, foll.), that ‘if you do evil, it is better to
be punished than to be unpunished, in the Laws (ii. 661 D), ‘To live
having all goods without justice and virtue is the greatest of evils if life
be immortal, but not so great if the bad man lives but a short time.’

The point to be considered is whether these are the kind of parallels
which would be the work of an imitator. Would a forger have had the
wit to select the most peculiar and characteristic thoughts of Plato;
would he have caught the spirit of his philosophy; would he, instead
of openly borrowing, have half concealed his favourite ideas; would
he have formed them into a whole such as the Laws; would he have
given another the credit which he might have obtained for himself?
Without pressing such arguments as absolutely certain, we must
acknowledge that such a comparison affords a new ground of real
weight for believing the Laws to be a genuine writing of Plato.

V. The relation of the Republic to the Laws is clearly set forth by
Plato in Book v. 739. The Republic is the best state, the Laws is the
best possible under the existing conditions of the Greek world. The
Republic is the ideal, in which no man calls anything his own, which
may or may not have existed in some remote clime, under the rule of
some God, or son of a God (who can say?), but is, at any rate, the
pattern of all other states and the exemplar of human life. The Laws
distinctly acknowledge what the Republic partly admits, that the ideal is
inimitable by us, but that we should lift up our eyes to the heavens and
try to regulate our lives according to the divine image. The citizens
are no longer to have wives and children in common, and are no longer
to be under the government of philosophers. But the spirit of com-
munism or communion is to continue among them ; the sexes are to
be as nearly on an equality as possible; they are to meet at common
tables, and to share warlike pursuits (if the women will), and to have
a common education. The legislator has taken the place of the philo-
sopher, but a council of elders is retained, who are to fulfil the duties
of the legislator when he has passed out of life. The addition of
younger persons to this council by cooptation is an improvement on

26 LAILS.

the governing body of the Republic. The scheme of education in
the Laws is obviously of a far lower kind than that which he has
conceived in the Republic. There he would have his rulers trained
in all knowledge meeting in the idea of good, of which the different
branches of mathematical science are but the handmaidens or minis-
ters; here he stops short with the preliminary sciences, and they
are to be studied partly with a view to their practical usefulness,
which in the Republic he holds cheap; and still more with a view to
avoiding impiety, of which in the Republic he says nothing. Yet in the
Laws there remain traces of the old educational ideas. He is still for
banishing the poets; and as he finds the works of prose writers equally
dangerous, he would substitute for them the study of his own Laws. He
insists strongly on the importance of mathematics as an educational
instrument. He is no more reconciled to the Greek mythology than in
the Republic, though he would rather say nothing about it out of a pious
reverence for antiquity; and he is equally willing to have recourse to
fictions, provided they have a moral tendency. He harps back upon
a golden age in which the sanctity of oaths was respected and in which
men living nearer the Gods were more disposed to believe in them ; but
we must legislate for the world as it is, now that the old beliefs have
passed away (xii. 948 C). Though he is no longer fired with dialectical
enthusiasm, he would compel the guardians to ‘look at one idea gathered
from many things,’ and to ‘perceive the principle which is the same
in all the four virtues’ (xii. 965 C). He still recognizes the enormous
influence of music, in which every citizen is to be trained for three years ;
and he seems to attribute the existing degeneracy of the Athenian state
and the laxity of morals partly to musical innovation, manifested in the
unnatural divorce of the instrument and the voice, and partly to the
influence of the mob who ruled at the theatres. He assimilates the
education of the two sexes, as far as possible, both jn music and
gymnastic, and, as in the Republic, he would give to gymnastic a purely
military character. In marriage, his object is still to produce the finest
children for the state. As in the Politicus, he would unite .in wedlock
dissimilar natures—the passionate with the dull, the courageous with
the gentle. And the virtuous tyrant of the Politicus, who has no place in
the Republic, again appears (iv. 709 E). In this, as in all his writings,
he has the strongest sense of the degeneracy and incapacity of the
rulers of his own time.

INTRODUCTION. 27

In the Laws, the philosophers, if not banished, like the poets, are at
least ignored ; and religion takes the place of philosophy in the regula-
tion of human life. It must however be remembered that the religion
of Plato is coextensive with morality, and is that purified religion and
mythology of which he speaks in the second book of the Republic.
There is no real discrepancy in the two,works. In a popular treatise,
he speaks of religion rather than of philosophy; just as he appears
to identify virtue with pleasure, and rather seeks to find the common
element of the virtues than to maintain his old paradoxical thesis that
they are one, or that they are identical with knowledge. ‘The dialectic
and the idea of good, which even Glaucon in the Republic could
not understand, would be obviously out of place in a more popular
work.

Some confusion occurs in the passage in which Plato speaks of the
Republic, occasioned by his reference to a third state, which he proposes
(D.V.) hereafter to expound (v. 739 B, foll.). Like many other thoughts
in the Laws, the allusion is obscure from not being worked out. The
passage is explained by Aristotle (Polit. iv. 1), who supposes -Plato to
mean by the third state, neither the best absolutely, nor the best under
existing conditions, but an imaginary state, inferior to either, destitute,
as he supposes, of the necessaries of life: apparently such a beginning
of primitive society as he describes in Laws iii. Aristotle, however, had
no more power of divining the obscure hint than we have. And it is
not improbable that Plato may have meant by his third state an historical
sketch, bearing the same relation to the Laws which the unfinished
Critias would have borne to the Republic; or he may, perhaps, have
intended to describe a state more nearly approximating than the Laws
to existing Greek states.

The Politicus is a mere fragment when compared with the Laws,
yet combining a second interest of dialectic as well as politics, which
is wanting in the larger work. Several points of similarity and contrast
may be observed between them. In some respects the Politicus is even
more ideal than the Republic, looking back to a former state of para-
disiacal life, in which the Gods ruled over mankind, as the Republic
looks forward to a coming kingdom of philosophers. Of this kingdom
of Cronos there is also mention in the Laws (iv. 713 B). Again, in the
Politicus, the Eleatic Stranger rises above law to the conception of the
living voice of the lawgiver, who is able to provide for individual cases.

28 LAWS.

A similar thought is repeated in the Laws (ix. 875 C): ‘If in the order
of nature, and by divine destiny, a man were able to apprehend the truth
about these things, he would have no need of laws to rule over him; for
there is no law or order above knowledge, nor can mind without impiety
be deemed the subject or slave of any, but rather the lord of all.’ The
union of opposite natures, who form the warp and the woof of the
political web, is a favourite thought expressed under the same figure
of speech in both dialogues.

VI. The Republic may be described as the Spartan constitution ap-
pended to a government of philosophers. But in the Laws an Athenian
element is also introduced. Many enactments are taken from the
Athenian; the four classes are borrowed from the constitution of Cleis-
thenes, which Plato regards as the best form of Athenian government,
and the guardians of the law bear a certain degree of resemblance to the
archons. Life is to wear, as at Athens, a joyous and festive look; there
are to be Bacchic choruses, and men of mature age are encouraged in
moderate potations. On the other hand, the common meals, the public
education, the crypteia are borrowed from Sparta and not from Athens,
and the superintendence of private life, which was to be practised by the
governors, has also its prototype in Sparta. The extravagant dislike
which Plato shows both to a naval power and to democracy is the
reverse of Athenian.

The best-governed Hellenic states traced the origin of their laws to
individual lawgivers. There can be no doubt that these were real per-
sons, though we are uncertain how far they originated or only modified
the institutions which are ascribed to them. But the lawgiver, though
not a myth, was a fixed idea in the mind of the Greek,—as fixed as the
Trojan war or the earth-born Cadmus. This was what ‘Solon meant
or said’ was the form in which the Athenian expressed his own con-
ception of right and justice, or argued a disputed point of law. And
the constant reference in the Laws of ‘Plato to the lawgiver is altogether
in accordance with Greek modes of thinking and speaking.

There is also, as in the Republic, a Pythagorean element. The highest
branch of education is arithmetic ; to know the order of the heavenly
bodies, and to reconcile the apparent contradiction of their movements,
is an important part of religion ; there is to be measure in the lives of the
citizens, and also in their vessels and coins; the great blessing of the
state is the number 5040. Plato is deeply impressed by the antiquity of

INTRODUCTION. 29

Egypt, and the unchangeableness of her ancient forms of song and
dance. And he is also struck by the progress which the Egyptians had
made in the mathematical sciences,—in comparison of them the Greeks
appeared to him to be little better than swine. Yet he censures the Egyptian
meanness and inhospitality to strangers. He has traced the growth of.
states from their rude beginning in a philosophical spirit; but of any
life or growth of the Hellenic world in future ages he is silent. He
has made the reflection that past time is the maker of states; but he
does not argue from the past to the future, that the process is always
going on, or that the institutions of nations are relative to their stage of
civilization. If he could have stamped indelibly upon Hellenic states
the will of the legislator, he would have been satisfied. The utmost
which he expects of future generations is that they should supply the
omissions, or correct the errors which younger statesmen detect in his
enactments. When institutions have been once subjected to this process
of criticism, he would have them fixed for ever.

JE Pini AN BICE.

BOOK I. Stranger, let me ask a question of you—Was God or man
the author of your laws? ‘God, Stranger. In Crete, Zeus is said to have
been the author of them, in Sparta, as Megillus will tell you, Apollo.’
You believe, as Homer says, that Minos went every ninth year to con-
verse with his Olympian sire, and gave you laws which he brought from
him? ‘Yes; and there was Rhadamanthus, his brother, who is reputed
among us to have been the justest of men—he assisted in the work.’
That is a reputation worthy of the son of Zeus. And as you and
Megillus have been trained under their laws, I may ask you to give me
an account of them. We can talk about them in our walk from Cnosus
to the cave and temple of Zeus. Iam told that the distance is con-
siderable, but probably there are shady places under the trees, at which,
being no longer young, we may often rest and talk. ‘ Yes, Stranger,
a little onward there are lofty groves of cypresses which are wonderfully
beautiful, and green meadows in which we may repose.’

My first question is, why has the law ordained that you should have
common meals, and practise gymnastics, and bear arms? ‘My answer
is, that our common meals are the life of the camp transferred to the

30 LAWS.

city; and we carry bows and arrows because our island home is rugged,
and does not admit of cavalry. The legislator thought that war was the
natural state and serious occupation of all mankind, and that peace is only
a pretence; no possessions seemed to him to have any value which were
not secured against enemies, and hence he arranged all our institutions
with a view to war.’ And do you think that superiority in war is the
true aim of government? ‘Certainly I do, and my Spartan friend will
agree with me.’ And.are there wars not only of state against state, but
of village against village, of family against family, of individual against
individual? ‘Yes.’ Andis aman his own enemy? ‘There you come
to first principles, like a true votary of the goddess Athene; and this
is all the better, for you will the sooner recognise the truth of what
I am saying—that all men everywhere are the enemies of all, and each
individual of every other and of himself.” What do you mean? ‘I
mean what I say; and, further, that there is a victory and defeat—
the best and the worst—which each man sustains, not at the hands of
another, but of himself’ And does this extend to states and villages
as well as to individuals? ‘Certainly; there is a better in them which
conquers the worse. Whether the worse ever really conquers the
better, is a question of words which may be left for the present; but
your meaning is, that bad citizens do, under certain circumstances,
overcome the good, and that the state is then conquered by herself, and
that when they are defeated the state is victorious. Or, again, in a
family there may be several brothers, the offspring of a single pair, and
the bad may be a majority; and when the bad majority conquer the
good minority, the family are worse than themselves. The use of the
terms better or worse than him or themselves may be doubtful, but about
the thing meant there can be no dispute. ‘Very true.’ Such a struggle
might be determined by a judge. And which would be the better judge,
he who destroys the worse and lets the better rule, or he who lets the
better rule and makes the others voluntarily obey; or, thirdly, he who
reconciles the two parties, and gives them laws which they mutually
observe? ‘The last, clearly.’ But of such a legislator the object would
not be war. ‘ That is true.’ And as there are two kinds of war, one
within a state and one without, of which the internal is by far the worse,
will not the legislator direct his attention to this latter rather than to the
other? He will reconcile the contending parties, and unite them against
their external enemies. ‘Certainly.’ Every legislator will aim at the

eS a Se

INTRODUCTION. 31

greatest good, and the greatest good is not victory in war, whether civil
or external, but mutual peace and good-will, as in the body, health is
preferable to the purgation of disease. And the legislator who makes
war his object instead of peace, or who pursues war except for the sake
of peace, is not a true statesman. ‘And yet I am greatly mistaken,
Stranger, if the laws of Crete and Sparta do not exclusively aim at war.’
Perhaps so; but that is no reason why we should quarrel with one
another about your legislators instead of gently questioning them, for
they are in earnest quite as much as we are. The poet Tyrtaeus
(you have heard of his poems in Crete, and my Lacedaemonian friend
is perfectly saturated with them)—he was an Athenian by birth, and
a Spartan citizen ;—well, he says, ‘I sing not, I care not about any man,
however rich or happy, unless he is brave in war.’ Now I should like,
in the name of us all, to ask the poet a question. O Tyrtaeus, I would
say to him, are there not two kinds of war? Cleinias and Megillus and
I are agreed with you in praising those who excel in war; but which
kind of war do you mean? that dreadful war which is termed civil,
or the:milder sort which is waged against foreign enemies? ‘It is a
milder sort.’ You say that you abominate those who are not eager to
taste their enemies’ blood, and you seem to mean chiefly their foreign
enemies? He will assent to this? ‘Certainly.’ Now we say that there
are men better far than the heroes whom you, Tyrtaeus, celebrate, con-
cerning whom another poet, Theognis the Sicilian, says that in a civil
broil they are worth their weight in gold and silver. For in a civil war,
not only courage, but justice and temperance and wisdom are required,
and all virtue is better than a part. ‘The mercenary soldier is ready to
stand firm and die at his post; but he is a violent, senseless sort of
animal. And the inspired legislator, or even the uninspired, will make
laws with a view to the highest virtue; and this is not brute courage,
but loyalty in the hour of danger. The virtue of Tyrtacus, although
needed at the time when he sang, is really of a very fourth-rate descrip-
tion. ‘Stranger, you are degrading our legislator to the level of the
barbarians.’ Nay, I think that we should be degrading not him, but
ourselves, if we believe that the laws of Lycurgus and Minos had a view
to war only. A divine lawgiver must surely have had regard to all the
different kinds of virtue, and he must have arranged his laws in classes
corresponding to them, and not in the modern fashion, which only makes
them after the want of them is felt, about matters of inheritance, assault,

32 LAWS.

and the like. As you truly said, virtue is the business of the legislator ;
but you went wrong when you referred all legislation to a part: of virtue,
and to an inferior part. For the object of laws, whether the Cretan
or any other, is to make men happy. Now happiness or good is of
two kinds—there are divine and there are human goods. And he who
has the divine has the human ‘added to him’; but he who has lost
the greater is deprived of both. The lesser goods are health, beauty,
strength, and, lastly, wealth; not the blind God, but one who has the
eye of sense; for sense or mind is the most divine of all goods. Then,
comes temperance, and from the union of these with courage, which is
the fourth or last, springs justice. These take precedence, and with
a view to them the legislator will arrange all his ordinances, the human
going back to the divine, and the divine to their leader mind. There
will be enactments about marriage, about education, about all the states
and feelings and experiences of men and women, at every age, in weal
and woe, in war and peace; upon all the law will fix a stamp of praise
and blame. ‘There will also be regulations about property and expen-
diture, about contracts, about rewards and punishments, until the round
of life is finished with the funeral rites and honours of the dead. The
law will appoint guardians to preside over these things, some who walk
by intelligence, others having true opinion only; and mind will har-
monize the ordinances of the legislator, and show them to be in unison
with the virtues. Now I want to know whether these are the principles
observed in the laws of Lycurgus and Minos, or, as I should rather
say, of Apollo and Zeus. We must go through the virtues, beginning
with courage, and then we will show that what has preceded has relation
to virtue.

Megillus, the Lacedaemonian, wishes that the Athenians should criti-
cise Cleinias and the Cretan laws. Yes, is the reply, and I will criticise
you and myself, as well as him. Tell me, Megillus, were not the
common meals and gymnastic training instituted by your legislator
with a view to war? ‘Yes, they were; and hunting comes third in
the order of importance, and fourth the endurance of pain in gymnastic
exercises and the institution of the crypteia. Marvellous is the power
of enduring pain among our youth; they go about the country night
and day without shoes on their feet, or beds to lie upon, and are their
own servants ; they wrestle and practise gymnastic exercises under the
heat of a blazing sun, and they have many similar practices.’ Well, but

INTRODUCTION. 33

is courage only a combat against fear and pain, and not against pleasure
and flattery-? ‘ Against both, I should say.’ And which is worse, to be
Overcome by pain or to be overcome by pleasure? ‘The latter.’ But
did the divine lawgivers of Crete and Sparta legislate for a courage which
is lame of one leg, able only to meet the attacks of pain, but not of
pleasure, or able to meet both? ‘For a courage which is able to meet
both, I should say.’ But if that is the case, where are the institutions
which train your citizens to be equally brave against pleasure and pain,
and superior to the enemies which are within as well as without them?
‘We confess that neither in Sparta nor in Crete are there any institutions
worth mentioning which are of this character. I am not surprised, and
will therefore only request forbearance on the part of us all, in case the
love of truth should lead any of us to censure the laws of the others. Re-
member that I am more in the way of hearing criticisms of your laws than
you can be; for in any well-ordered state, although an old man may some-
times speak of them in private to a ruler or elder, a similar liberty is not
allowed to the young. But now being alone we shall not offend your
legislator by a friendly examination of his laws. ‘Take any freedom
which you like.’

My first observation is, that your lawgiver ordered you to abstain from
amusements and to endure hardships, because he thought that those who
had not this discipline would run away from those who had. But he
ought to have considered further, that those who had never been taught
to resist pleasure would be equally at the mercy of those who could, and
who are often among the worst of mankind. Pleasure, like fear, would
overcome them, and take away their courage and freedom. ‘ There
seems to be truth in that ; but I should not like to be hasty in giving my
assent to you.’

Next as to temperance, what institutions have you which are adapted
to promote temperance? ‘There are the common meals and gymnastic
exercises.’ These are partly good and partly bad, and, as in medicine,
what is good at one time and for one person, is bad at another time and
for another person. Now, although gymnastics and common meals do
good, they are also a cause of sedition, and they appear to encourage un-
natural love. The evil effect of them may be seen at Miletus, in Boeotia,
and at Thurii. And the Cretans, who are supposed to be addicted to
such love, are said to have invented the tale of Zeus and Ganymede in
order to justify their evil practices by the example of the God who was

VOL, V. i aes

34 EAMAS.

their lawgiver. Leaving the story, we may observe that all law has to
do with pleasure and pain ; these are two fountains which are ever flow-
ing in human nature, and he who drinks of them when and as much as
he ought, is happy, and he who indulges in them to excess, is miserable.
‘I do not know how to answer you, but I still incline to think that the
Lacedaemonian lawgiver was right in forbidding pleasure, if I may judge
from the result. For there is no drunken revelry in Sparta, and any one
found in a state of intoxication is severely punished; he is not excused
as an Athenian would be at Athens on account of a festival. I myself
have seen the Athenians drunk at the Dionysia—and happening to be at
our colony, Tarentum, on a similar occasion, I have beheld the whole city
in a state of intoxication.’ Yes, I admit that these festivals should be
properly regulated. And I may reply, Yes, Spartans, that is not your
vice ; but look at home and remember the licentiousness of your women.
And to all such accusations, whether brought against the Tarentines, or
us, or you, each of us may reply in turn :—‘ Wonder not, Stranger; there
are different customs in different countries.’ And this may be a sufficient
answer ; but we are speaking about the wisdom of lawgivers and not about
the customs of men. To return to the question of drinking: shall we
have total abstinence, as you have, or hard drinking, like the Scythians
and Thracians, or moderate potations like the Persians? ‘Give us
arms, and we send all these nations flying before us.’ My good friend,
be modest ; you know that victories and defeats often arise from un-
known causes, and afford no proof of the goodness or badness of insti-
tutions. The stronger overcomes the weaker, as the Athenians have
overcome the Ceans, or the Syracusans the Locrians, which latter appear
nevertheless to be the best governed state in Magna Graecia. People
are apt to praise or censure practices without enquiring into the nature
of them. This is the way with drink: one person has a cloud of
witnesses, who sing the praises of wine; another declares that sober
men defeat drunkards in battle; and he again is refuted in turn. I should
like to conduct the argument on some other method; for here are two
cities on one side, and, if you regard numbers, there are ten thousand
on the other. ‘Iam ready to pursue any method which is likely to lead
us to the truth.” Let me put the matter thus: Somebody praises the
useful qualities of a goat; another has seen goats running about wild in
a garden, and blames a goat or any other animal who happens to be
without a keeper. There is no sense in this. ‘Certainly not.’ Is a pilot

INTRODUCTION. 35

who is sea-sick a good pilot? ‘No.’ Or is.a general who is sick and
drunk with fear and ignorant of war a good general? ‘A general of old
women he ought to be.’ But can any one form an estimate of any
society, which is intended to have a ruler, and which he only sees in an
unruly and lawless state? ‘Not if he has never seen the orderly state
also.’ There is a convivial form of society—is there not? ‘Yes.’ And
has this convivial society ever been rightly ordered? Of course you
Spartans have never seen anything of the kind, but I have had wide
experience, and made many enquiries about such societies, and have
hardly ever found anything right or good in them. ‘ We acknowledge
Our want of experience, and desire to learn of you.’ Will you admit
that in all societies there must be a leader? ‘Yes.’ And in time of
war he must be a man of courage and absolutely devoid of fear, if this
were possible. ‘ Yes, he would be the right man.’ But we are talking
now of a general who shall preside at meetings of friends—and this sort
of meeting having a tendency to be uproarious, ought above all others to
have a governor. ‘Very good.’ He should be a sober man and a man
of the world, who will keep, make, and increase the peace of the society ;
a drunkard in charge of drunkards would be singularly fortunate if. hie

avoided doing a serious mischief. ‘He certainly would.’ Suppose the ©

case of a person censuring such meetings—he may be right in his
censure, but there is also a possibility that he may have known them
only in their disorderly state, when the master of the feast is drunk with
the rest; and no one expects a drunken general or pilot to beahe saviour
of an army or of a ship. ‘That remark is true; but although I see
the advantage of an army having a good general, I do not equally see
the good of a feast being well managed.’ If you mean to ask what
good accrues to the state from the right training of a single youth or a
single chorus, I should reply, not much; but if you ask what is the good
of education in general, I answer, that education makes good men, and that
good men act nobly and overcome their enemies in battle. And though
victory makes men insolent and is often suicidal to the victors, educa-
tion is never suicidal. ‘You seem to mean that the regulation of con-
vivial meetings is a part of education; how will you prove this?’ I will
tell you. But first let me offer a word of apology. We Athenians are
universally reputed among the Hellenes to be fond of talking, whereas
the Lacedaemonian is celebrated for brevity, and the Cretan is considered
to be sagacious and reserved. Now, I fear that I may be charged with
D2

36 LAWS.

eliciting a long discourse out of slender materials. For drinking cannot
be rightly ordered without correct principles of music, and music runs
up into education generally, and if I am to discuss all these matters, I
cannot avoid being tedious ; I will, therefore, offer you the alternative of
passing on to another part of our subject. ‘Do you know, Athenian,
that our family is your proxenus at Sparta, and that from my boyhood I
have regarded Athens as a second country, and having often fought your
battles in my youth, I have become attached to you, and love the sound
of the Attic dialect? And nowI bethink me of the saying, that the best
Athenians are more than ordinarily good, because they are genuinely and
naturally good; therefore, be assured that I shall be glad to hear you
talk as much as you please.’ ‘I, too,’ adds Cleinias, ‘ have something
to say about the Cretans, Stranger, which may give you confidence.
You must have heard of Epimenides; he was a Cretan saint and hero,
who came and offered sacrifices in your city by the command of an
oracle ten years before the Persian war. The Athenians were in dread
of the Persians, and he prophesied to them that the Persian host would
not come for ten years, and would go away again, having suffered more
harm than they had inflicted. Now, Epimenides was of my family, and
when he visited Athens he formed ties of friendship with your fore-
fathers.’ I see that you are willing to listen, and I have the will to
speak, if I had only the ability. But, first, I must define the nature and
power of education, and by this road we will travel on to the God
Dionysus. * The man who is to be good at anything must have early
training ;—he who is to be a workman should have his box of tools
when he is a child; the future soldier should learn to ride; the young
carpenter should be: taught to measure and use the rule,—all the
thoughts and pleasures of children should bear on their after profes-
sion :—Do you agree with me? ‘Certainly. And we must remember
further that the education of which we speak is not the education
of a trainer, or of the captain of a ship, but of a perfect citizen who
knows how to rule and how to obey; and such an education aims at
virtue, and not at wealth or strength or mere cleverness. To the good
man, education is of all things the most precious, and is also in constant
need of renovation. ‘We agree. And we have before agreed that
good men are those who are able to control themselves, and bad men
are those who are not. Let me offer you an illustration which will assist
our argument. Man is one; but in one and the same man are two

INTRODUCTION. 37

foolish counsellors who contend within him—pleasure and pain, and of
either he has expectations which may be termed hope and fear; and he
is able to reason about good and evil, and reason, when affirmed by the
state, becomes law. ‘We cannot follow you.’ Let me put the matter in
another way: Every creature is the puppet of the Gods—whether he is
a mere plaything or has any serious use we do not know; but this we
know, that he is drawn different ways by cords and strings: there
is a soft golden cord which draws him towards virtue—this is the
law of the state. And there are other cords made of iron and hard
materials drawing him other ways. The golden reasoning influence has
nothing of the nature of force, and therefore requires ministers. I am
giving an illustration of the doctrine that cities and citizens both conquer
and are conquered by themselves. The individual follows reason, and
the city law, which is embodied reason, either derived from the Gods or
from the legislator. When this is made plain, education will be more
clearly understood, and in particular the relation of education to con-
vivial intercourse. And now let us try the experiment of setting wine
before the puppet. ‘Very well.” You admit that wine stimulates the
passions? ‘Yes.’ And does wine equally stimulate the reasoning
faculties? ‘No; it brings the soul back to a state of childhood” In
such a state a man has the least control over himself, and is, therefore,
worst? ‘Very true.’ The drunkard is, like the aged, in a second
childhood? ‘Good.’ Then, can we ever bring ourselves to believe
that drinking is right? ‘If you say so, I suppose that something may
be. urged on behalf of the paradox.’ And Iam ready to maintain my
position. ‘We should like to hear you prove that a man ought to make
a beast of himself.’ Are you speaking of the degradation of the soul?
‘We are.’ And how about the body? Would any man willingly de-
grade or weaken that? ‘Certainly not.’ And yet if he goes to a doctor,
does he not make himself ill in the hope of getting well, for no one would
like to be always taking medicine, or always to be in training? ‘ Very
true. And may not convivial meetings have a similar remedial use?
‘Certainly.’ And if they have any such use, are they not to be preferred
to other modes of training because they are painless? ‘ But have they
any such use?’ Let us see: are there not two kinds of fear—fear of evil
and fear of public opinion? ‘There are. The latter kind of fear is
- opposed both to the fear of pain, and also to the love of pleasure. This
is called by the legislator reverence, and is greatly encouraged by him

38 LAWS.

and by every good man; and shamelessness, which is the opposite of
this, is the worst fault both of individuals and of states. This sort of
fear or reverence is the chief cause of victory and safety in war, or at
least one of the two chief causes, fearlessness of enemies being the
other. ‘True.’ Then every one should be both fearful and fearless?
‘Yes.’ The right sort of fear is infused into a man when he comes face
to face with shame, or cowardice, or the temptations of pleasure, and has
to conquer them. He learns to take up arms against himself, over whom
he must win many victories, if he is ever to be made perfect. ‘That is
reasonable enough.’ And now, suppose that the Gods had given man-
kind a drug, of which the effect was to exaggerate every sort of evil and
danger, so that the bravest man entirely lost his presence of mind and
became a coward for a time:—would such a drug have any value?

‘But is there such a drug?’ No: but suppose that there were; might
~ not the legislator use such a mode of testing courage and cowardice?
‘To be sure he might.’ You mean to say that the legislator would in-
duce fear in order to implant fearlessness; and would give rewards and
punishments to those who behaved well or the reverse, under the influ-
ence of the drug? ‘Certainly he would. And this mode of training,—
whether practised in the case of one or many, whether in the solitude of
the desert, out of sight of man, or in the presence of a large company,—
if a man have sufficient confidence in himself to drink the potion amid
his boon companions, leaving off in time and not taking too much,—
would equally test his temperance. ‘Very true.’ Let us return to the
lawgiver and say to him, Well, lawgiver, no such fear-producing potion
has been given by God or invented by man, for ‘ witchcraft has no place
at our feasts,’ but a potion which will make men fearless has been given
to men. ‘ Yes, you mean wine.’ Yes; has not wine an effect the con-
trary of that which I was just now describing? First mellowing and
humanizing a man, and then filling him with brave hopes, making him
fearless and ready to say or do anything? ‘Certainly.’ Let us not
forget that there are two qualities which should be cultivated in the
soul—first, the greatest fearlessness ; and, secondly, the greatest fear.
‘Yes; you were saying that both are parts of reverence. Courage and
fearlessness are trained amid fears; but we have still to consider how
fear is to be trained. For we desire to attain fearlessness and confidence
without the insolence and boldness which commonly attend them. And
do not love, ignorance, avarice, wealth, beauty, strength, while they stim-

INTRODUCTION. 39

ulate courage, also madden and intoxicate the soul, and are they not
the causes of ten thousand crimes? What better and more innocent
test of them can be devised than festive intercourse? Would you
make a bargain with a man in order to try the experiment whether
he is honest? or would you ascertain whether he is licentious by
putting your wife or daughter into his hands? Neither Cretan nor
any other man would deny that the test proposed is fairer, speedier,
and safer than any other. And such a test will be most useful in the
political science, which desires to know human natures and characters.
Very true.’

BOOK II. And are there any other uses of well-ordered potations?
There are ; but, in order to explain them, I must repeat what I mean by
right education, which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regu-
lation of convivial intercourse. ‘A high assumption.’ I believe that
virtue and vice are originally present to the mind of children in the form
of pleasure and pain; later in life only do they arrive at reason and fixed
principles, and happy is he who, even when he is old, possesses them,
and the blessings which they confer. When pleasure and pain, and love
and hate, are rightly implanted in the yet unconscious soul, and after the
attainment of reason are discovered to be in harmony with her, this
harmony of the soul is virtue, and the preparatory stage, anticipating
reason, I call education. But the finer sense of pleasure and pain is
apt to be impaired in the course of life; and therefore the Gods, pitying
the toils and sorrows of mortals, have allowed them to have holidays,
and given them the Muses and Apollo and Dionysus for leaders and
playfellows. All young creatures are full of motion and frolic and
utterance of the delight which is in them; but man only is capable of
taking pleasure in rhythmical and harmonious movements. With these
education begins; and the uneducated is he who has never known the
discipline of the chorus, and the educated is he who has. The chorus
is partly dance and partly song, and therefore the educated must sing and
daiice well. But when we say he sings and dances well, we mean that
he sings and dances what is good. And if he thinks that to be good
which is really good, he will have a much higher music and harmony in
him, and be a far greater master of imitation in sound and gesture than
he who has not this knowledge. ‘Yes, Stranger, he will be far better
educated than the other.’ Then, if we know what is good and bad in

40 LAWS.

song and dance, we shall know what education is? ‘Very true.’ The
next enquiry will relate to the figure, melody, song, and dance. Will the
same figures or sounds be equally well adapted to the manly and the
cowardly? ‘How can they be, when the very colours of their faces are
different?’ Figures and melodies have a rhythm and harmony which
are adapted to the expression of different feelings (I may remark, by the
way, that the term ‘ colour,’ which is a favourite word of music-masters, is
not really applicable to music). And one class of harmonies is akin to
courage and all virtue, the other to cowardice and all vice. ‘ We agree.’
And do all men equally like all dances? ‘Far otherwise.’ How i8
this? Do some figures appear to be beautiful which are not? For no
one will admit that he prefers the forms of vice to the forms of virtue, or
that the choice of one or the other of them is a matter of opinion. Yet
some persons say that the merit of music is to give pleasure. But this
is impiety. ‘There is, however, a more plausible account of the matter
given by others, who make their likes or dislikes the criterion of excel-
lence. Sometimes nature crosses habit, or conversely, and then they
say that such and such fashions or gestures are pleasant, but they do not
like to exhibit them before men of sense, although they enjoy them in
private. ‘Very true.’ And do vicious measures and strains do any
harm, or good measures any good to the lovers of them? ‘JI think that
they must.’ Say, rather, Iam certain that they must have the effect of
any indulgence shown to the vices of men, which are often censured by
us gently and playfully, and with a sort of suspicion that the indulgence
will one day be required by ourselves. And there can be no greater
evil than this. ‘I know of none.’ Then in a city which has good laws,
the poet will not be allowed to make the songs of the people just as he
likes, or to corrupt the minds of youth as he pleases? ‘Such a liberty
is not to be thought of.’ And yet he may do this anywhere except in
Egypt. ‘What is the custom of Egypt?’ You will wonder when I
tell you; ages ago they discovered the great truth which I am now
asserting, that the youth of a people should be educated in forms and
strains of virtue. These they fixed and consecrated in their temples ; and
no sculptor or painter is allowed to deviate from them. They are
literally the same which they were ten thousand years ago. And this
practice of theirs suggests the reflection that legislation about music is
not an impossible thing. But the particular enactments must be the
work of some divine man or God, as in Egypt their ancient chants are

INTRODUCTION. a

said to be the composition of the goddess Isis. The melodies which
have a natural truth and correctness should be embodied in a law, and
then the desire of novelty is not strong enough to change the old
fashions. Is not the origin of music as follows? We rejoice when we
think that we prosper, and we think that we prosper when we rejoice,
and at such times we cannot rest, but our young men dance dances and
sing songs, and our old men, who have lost the elasticity of youth,
regale themselves with the memory of the past, while they contemplate
the life and activity of the young. ‘Most true.’ People say that he
who gives us most pleasure at such festivals is to be crowned and
receive the prize: are they right? ‘ Possibly.’ Let us not be hasty in
deciding, but first imagine a festival at which there are no distinct
trials or contests; the lord of the festival, having assembled the citizens,
makes a proclamation that he shall be crowned victor who gives the most
pleasure, from whatever source derived. We will further suppose that
there are various exhibitions of rhapsodists and musicians, tragic and
comic poets, and we do not disdain marionette-players,—which of the
innumerable pleasure-makers will win? ‘I cannot say unless I see
them.’ Shall I answer for you? ‘Very good.’ The marionette-players
will please the children; youths will be advocates of comedy; young
men, educated women, and people in general will prefer tragedy; we
old men are lovers of Homer and Hesiod. Now which of them is right?
If you and I are asked, we must say that the old men are right, and that
the Epic recitation which they approve is the best of all. ‘ Very true.’
I am ready to admit that the excellence of music is to be measured
by pleasure ; but then the pleasure must be that of the good and edu-
cated, or better still, of one supremely virtuous and educated man. And
the true judge, who is to lead the theatre and not be led by them, will
have need of both wisdom and courage. For out of that mouth which
has just appealed to the Gods in proof of his integrity, he ought not
to give a false judgment, and he should be the enemy of all pandering
to the popular taste. The ancient and common custom of Hellas, which
still prevails in Italy and Sicily, left the judgment to the spectators, but
this custom has been the ruin of the poets, and has degraded the theatre.
For the spectators have their pleasures lowered to themselves. What is
the inference from all this? The inference, at which we arrive for the
fourth time, is that education is the training of the young idea in what
the law affirms and the elders approve. And as the soul of a child

42 LAWS.

is too young to be trained in earnest, a kind of education has been
invented which tempts him with fair and beauteous words and songs,
as the sick are tempted by pleasant meats and drinks. ‘ But is this the
practice of states in general, or only of Crete and Lacedaemon? For in
any other state, as far as I know, dances and music are constantly
changed at the pleasure of the hearers. Their institutions are the reverse
of the Egyptian.’ I am afraid that I misled you; not liking to be always
finding fault with mankind as they are, I described them as they ought
to be. But let me understand: you would say (would you not?) that
such customs exist among the Cretans and Lacedaemonians, and that
the rest of the world would be improved by adopting them? ‘Much
improved.’ And you would compel your poets to declare that the
righteous are happy, and that the wicked man, even if he be as rich as
Midas, is unhappy? Or, in the words of Tyrtaeus, ‘I sing not, I care
not about him’ who is a great warrior not having justice; if he be unjust
‘I would not have him look calmly upon death or be swifter than the wind’ ;
and may he be deprived of every good. For even if he have the goods
which men regard, these are not really goods: first health; beauty next;
thirdly wealth; and there are others. A man may have every sense
purged and improved; he may be a tyrant, and do what he likes, and
live for ever: But you and I will maintain that sight and hearing and
immortality are goods to the just and evils to the unjust, and that the
evil is lessened by the comparative shortness of life. If a man had
health and wealth, and the power of a tyrant, and was insolent and
unjust, his life would still be miserable; he might be fair and rich, and
do what he liked, but he would live basely, and if basely evilly, and if
evilly painfully. ‘There 1 cannot agree with you.’ Then may heaven
give us the spirit of agreement, for I am as convinced of the truth of
what I say as of the existence of the island of Crete; and, if I were
a lawgiver, I would exercise a censorship over the poets, and I would
punish them if they said that the wicked are happy, or that the unjust is
the gainful. And these are not the only matters in which I should make
my citizens speak in a different strain from the Cretans or Lacedae-
monians, or the world in general. ‘Tell me,’ I would say to your
legislators, ‘ did the Gods who gave you laws, affirm the most just life to
be also the pleasantest?’ If they say ‘no,’ which is an answer I should
not like to put into the mouth of God, I would again ask the legislator
which is the happier, the just or the pleasant life? And if he replies the

INTRODUCTION. 43

_pleasanter, then I should say to him, ‘O my father, did you not tell me
that I should live as justly as possible; and if to be just is to be happy,
what is that principle of happiness or good which is superior to pleasure?
Is the approval of gods and men to be deemed good and honourable,
but unpleasant, and their disapproval the reverse? Or is the neither
doing nor suffering evil good and honourable, although not pleasant?
But you cannot make men like what is not pleasant, and therefore you
must make them believe that the just is pleasant. The business of
the legislator is to clear up this mist and confusion which reigns in the
minds of men as of children. He will, therefore, show the just and the
unjust to be identical with the pleasurable and the painful, from the point
of view of the just man. This is the judgment of the better soul and of
the truth, and even if not the truth, is the best and most moral of fictions;
and the legislator who desires to propagate this fiction, may be encou-
raged by remarking that mankind have believed the story of Cadmus and
the dragon’s teeth, and therefore he may be assured that he can make
them believe anything, and effect the desired uniformity in hymns and
tales, if he pleases, and need only consider what fiction will do the
greatest good. That the happiest is also the holiest, this shall be our
strain, which shall be sung by all three choruses alike. First will enter
the choir of children, who will lift up their voices on high; and after
them the young men, who will pray the God Paean to be gracious to the
youth, and to testify to the truth of their words; then will come the
chorus of elder men, between thirty and fifty or sixty ; and, lastly, there
will be the old men, preaching the same virtues in tales and discourses, as
with the voice of anoracle. ‘Ido not understand about the third chorus :
will you be a little plainer?” You remember how I spoke at first of the
_ restless nature of young creatures, who jumped about and called out
in a disorderly manner, and I said that no other animal attained any
perception of rhythm; but that to us the Gods gave Apollo and the
Muses and Dionysus to be our playfellows. Of the two first choruses I
have already spoken, and I have now to speak of the third, or Dionysian
chorus, which is composed of those who are between thirty and sixty
years old. ‘ Will you explain?’ We are agreed (are we not?) that

men, women, and children should be always charming themselves with
_ Strains of virtue, and that there should be a variety in the strains, that they
may not weary of them? Now the fairest and most useful of strains
will be uttered by the elder men, and therefore we cannot let them off.

44 Pett VY Ac

But then how can we make them sing? For a discreet elderly man is
ashamed to hear the sound of his own voice in private, and still more in
public. The only way is to give them drink ; this will mellow the sour-
ness of age. Children should be forbidden by law to drink wine; youths
may take a little; but when men have reached forty years, they may be
initiated into the mystery of drinking, and they will become softer and
more impressible. When a man’s heart is warm within him, he will be
more ready to charm himself with song. And what songs shall he sing?
‘At Crete and Lacedaemon we only know choral songs.’ Yes; that is
because your way of life is military. Your young men are like wild colts
feeding in a herd together; no one takes the individual colt and rubs
him down, and tries to give him the qualities which would make a man
a statesman as well as a soldier. He who was thus trained would be
a greater warrior than those of whom Tyrtaeus speaks, for he would
be courageous, and yet he would know that courage was not first but
fourth in the scale of virtue. ‘Once more, I must say, Stranger, that
you run down our lawgivers.’ Not intentionally, my good friend, but
whither the argument leads I follow; and I am trying to find some style
of poetry which we may assign to those who are ashamed of the com-
mon sort. ‘Very good.’ In all things which have a charm, either this
charm is their good, or they have some accompanying truth or advan-
tage. For example, in eating and drinking there is pleasure and also
profit, that is to say, health; and in learning there is a pleasure and also
truth. There is a pleasure or charm, too, in the imitative arts, as well
as a law of proportion or equality; but the pleasure which they afford,
however innocent, is not the criterion of their truth. The test of plea-
sure can only be applied to that which has no other good or evil, no
truth or falsehood. But that which has truth must be judged of by the
standard of truth, and therefore imitation and proportion are to be judged
of by their truth, and by that only. ‘Certainly.’ And music is imitative?
‘Yes.’ Then music is not to be judged by the criterion of pleasure, and
the Muse whom we seek is the muse not of pleasure but of truth, for
imitation has a truth? ‘Doubtless.’ And if so, the judge must know
what is being imitated before he decides on the quality of the imitation,
and he who does not know what is true will not know what is good.
‘He will not.’ Will any one be able to imitate the human body, if he
does not know the number, proportion, colour, or figure of the limbs?
‘How can he?’ But suppose we know some picture or figure to be an

INTRODUCTION. 45

exact resemblance of a man, should we not also require to know whether
the picture is beautiful or not? for not every one can tell in what the
beauty of a figure consists. ‘Quite right.’ The judge of the imitation,
then, is required to know, first the original, secondly the truth, and
thirdly the merit of the execution? ‘That appears to be the case.’
Then let us not weary in the attempt to bring music to the standard of
the Muses and of truth. ‘The Muses are not like human poets; they
never spoil or mix rhythms or scales, or mingle instruments and human
voices, or confuse the manners and strains of men and women, or of
freemen and slaves, or of rational beings and brute animals. They do
not practise the baser sorts of musical arts, such as the ‘matured judg-
ments,’ of whom Orpheus speaks, would ridicule. But modern poets
separate metre from music, and melody and rhythm from words, and
-use the instrument alone without the voice. The consequence is, that
the meaning of the rhythm and of the time become doubtful. I am
endeavouring to show how our fifty-year-old choristers are to be trained,
and what they are to avoid. For the multitude are ridiculous judges of
the proprieties of these matters; he who is only made to step in time by
sheer force cannot be a critic of music. ‘He cannot.’ Then our newly-
appointed minstrels must be trained in music sufficiently to understand
the nature of rhythms and systems; and they should select such as are
suitable to men of their age, and will enable them to give and receive
innocent pleasure. This is a knowledge which goes beyond that either
of the poets or of their auditors. For although the poet must under-
stand rhythm and music, he need not necessarily know whether the
imitation is good or not, which was the third point required in a judge;
but our chorus of elders must know all three, if they are to be the
instructors of our youth.

And now we will resume the original argument, which may be
summed up as follows: A convivial meeting is apt to grow tumultuous
as the drinking proceeds; every man becomes light-headed, and is ready
to be an emperor. ‘Doubtless.’ And did we not say that the souls
of the drinkers when fired with wine are made softer and more malleable
at the hand of the legislator? the docility of childhood returns to them?
At times however they become too valiant and disorderly, drinking out
of their turn, and interrupting one another. And the business of the
legislator is to infuse into them that divine fear, which we call shame, in
Opposition to this disorderly boldness. But in order to discipline them

46 LAWS.

there must be guardians of the law of drinking, and sober generals who
shall take charge of the private soldiers; they are as necessary in drink
as in war, and he who disobeys these Dionysiac commanders will be
equally disgraced. ‘Very good.’ If a drinking festival were well
regulated, men would go away, not as they now do, greater enemies,
but better friends. Of the greatest gift of Dionysus I hardly like to
speak, lest I should be misunderstood. ‘ What is that?’ According to
our tradition Dionysus was driven mad by his stepmother Heré, and
in order to revenge himself he inspired others with Bacchic madness.
But these are stories which I do not like to repeat. However I do
acknowledge that all men are born in an imperfect state, and during the
first few years of life are mad, irrational, restless, roaring creatures: this,
as you will remember, has been already said by us when treating of the
origin of music and gymnastic. ‘I remember.’ And that Apollo and
the Muses and Dionysus gave us harmony and rhythm? ‘ Very true.’
The other story implies that wine was given to punish us and make
us mad; but we say that wine is a balm and a cure; a spring of modesty
in the soul, and of health and strength in the body. Again, the work
of the chorus is co-extensive with the work of education; rhythm and
melody answer to the voice, and the motions of the body correspond
to all three, and the sound enters in and educates the soul in virtue?
‘Yes.’ And the movement of the body which is termed dancing, when
studied according to regular rules, becomes gymnastic. Shall we now
proceed to speak of this? ‘What Cretan or Lacedaemonian would
approve of your omitting gymnastic?’ Your question implies assent;
and you will have no difficulty in understanding a subject which is
familiar to you. Gymnastic is based on the natural tendency of every
animal to rapid motion; to this man adds a sense of rhythm, which
is awakened by music; and music and dancing together form the choral
arts. But before proceeding I must add a crowning word about
drinking, which may be extended to other pleasures. There is a lawful
use of all of them ; but if a state or individual is inclined to drink at will,
I cannot allow them. I would go further than Crete or Lacedaemon and
have the law of the Carthaginians, which is to the effect that no slave
of either sex should drink wine at all, and no soldier while he is on
a campaign, and no ruler or general or pilot or judge or counsellor while
he is on duty, and that no one should drink by daylight or on a bridal
night. And there are so many other occasions on which wine ought to

ees 3

~~

INTRODUCTION. 47

be prohibited, that there will not be many vines grown or vineyards
required in the state.

BOOK III. If aman wants to know the origin of states and societies,
he should behold them from the point of view of time. Thousands and
thousands of cities have come into being and passed away again in
infinite ages, rising and falling, waxing and waning; and if we could
ascertain the cause of these changes in states, that would probably
explain their origin. What do you think of ancient traditions about
deluges and destructions of mankind, and the preservation of a remnant?
‘Every one believes in them.’ Then let us suppose the world to have
been destroyed by a deluge. The survivors would be shepherds dwelling
in the tops of mountains,—small sparks of the human race, who would
be isolated, and unacquainted with the arts and vices of civilization. We
may further suppose that cities on the plain and on the coast have been
utterly destroyed, and that all inventions and implements, and every sort
of knowledge, have perished. ‘Why, yes, my friend; and if all things
were as they now are, nothing would have ever been invented. All our
famous discoveries, like those of Daedalus, have been made within the
last thousand years, and many of them are but of yesterday.’ Yes,
Cleinias, and you must not forget the name of your friend Epimenides,
who was really of yesterday; he practised the lesson of moderation and
abstinence which Hesiod only preached. ‘Yes, that is our tradition.’
After the great destruction we may imagine that the earth was a vast
desert, in which there were a herd or two of oxen and a few goats,
hardly enough to support those who tended them; while of politics and
governments the survivors would know nothing. And out of this state
of things have arisen arts and laws, and a great deal of virtue and
a great deal of vice; little by little the world has come to be what the
world is. At first, the few inhabitants may be supposed to have had
a natural fear of descending into the plains; although they would want to
have intercourse with one another, they would have great difficulty in
getting about, having lost the arts, and having no means of extracting
metals from the earth, or of felling timber; for even if there were any
tools found in the mountains, these would have soon been worn out, and
they could get no more until in the course of generations the art of
metallurgy had been rediscovered. Faction and war would be extin-
guished among them, for being solitary they would incline to be friendly;

48 LAWS.

and having abundance of pasture and plenty of milk and flesh, they would
have nothing to quarrel about. We may assume that they had also dwell-
ings and abundance of clothing, for the weaving and plastic arts do not
require the use of metals. In those days they were neither poor nor rich,
and there was no insolence or injustice among them; for they were of
noble natures, and lived up to their principles, and believed what they were
told; knowing nothing of land or naval warfare, or of legal practices or
party conflicts, they were simpler and more temperate, and also more just
than the men of our day. ‘Very true.’ Iam showing whence the need
of lawgivers arises, for in primitive ages they had none, and did not want
them. Men lived according to the customs of their fathers, under a sort
of patriarchal government, which still exists both among Heilenes and bar-
barians, and is described in Homer as existing among the Cyclopes :—

‘They have no laws, and they dwell in rocks or on the tops of mountains, and

every one is the judge of his wife and children, and they do not trouble themselves
about one another.’
‘That is a charming poet of yours, though I know little of him, for in
Crete foreign poets are not much read.’ ‘He is well known in Sparta,,
though his description of life and manners is Ionian rather than Dorian,
and he seems to take your view of primitive society... May we not sup-
pose that government arose out of scattered families who survived the
destruction, and were under the rule of a patriarch, because they had
originally descended from a single father and mother? ‘That is very
probable.’ At a later period they increased in number, and tilled the
ground, and protected themselves by walls and common households
against wild beasts; each family had different laws and customs, which
they received from their first parents. They would naturally like their
own laws better than those of another family, and would be already
formed by them when they met in a common society: thus legislation
imperceptibly began among them. In the next stage the associated
families would appoint plenipotentiaries or lawgivers, who would review
their laws and choose the best of them. They would change the
patriarchal or dynastic form into aristocracy or monarchy. ‘That would
be the next step.’ In the third stage various forms of government would
arise. This state of society is described by Homer, who in speaking
of the foundation of Dardania says :—

‘Dardania was built at the foot of many-fountained Ida, for Ilium, the city of the
plain, as yet was not.’

INTRODUCTION. 49

Such is the history of primeval society which is given in this passage,
and also in the account of the Cyclopes by the inspired writer, who is
not only a charming poet but a true prophet. ‘Proceed with your
tale.’ Ilium was built in a fair wide plain, on a low hill, which was
surrounded by streams descending from Ida. This shows that many
ages must have passed; for the men who remembered the deluge would
never have placed their city at the mercy of the waters amid numerous
streams, trusting to not very high hills either. When mankind began
to multiply, many other cities were built in similar but less elevated
situations, and even by the shores of the ocean, for the fear of the sea
had been lost. These cities carried on a war against Troy which lasted
ten years, and, in the meantime, while the chiefs of the army were at
Troy, their homes fell into confusion. The youth revolted and refused
to receive their own fathers; deaths, murders, exiles ensued. Under the
new name of Dorians, which they received from their chief Dorieus, the
exiles returned: the rest of the story is part of the history of Sparta.

Thus, after a digression which carried us away into the subject of
music and drinking, we again come back to the settlement of Sparta
which in laws and institutions is the sister of Crete. We have seen the
rise of a first, second, and third state, which in infinite time have grown
out of each other ; and now we arrive at a fourth state, and out of the
comparison of all four we propose to gather the nature of laws and
governments, and the changes which may be desirable in them. ‘If,’
replies the Spartan, ‘the speculations on which we are about to enter are
likely to be as profitable as those which have preceded, I would go a long
way to hear them, and think the longest day too short for such an
employment.’

Let us imagine the time when Lacedaemon, and Argos, and Messené,
and the countries about them were all subject, Megillus, to your ancestors.
Afterwards, they distributed the army into three portions, and made three
cities—Argos, Messené, Lacedaemon. ‘Yes.’ Temenus was the king
of Argos, Cresphontes of Messené, Procles and Eurysthenes of Lace-
daemon. ‘Just so.’ And they all swore to assist any one of their
number whose kingdom was subverted? ‘Yes.’ But did we not say,
what we seem now to have forgotten, that kingdoms or governments can
only be subverted by themselves? ‘That is true.’ Yes, and not only
true, but proved by facts: there were certain conditions upon which
the three kingdoms were to assist one another; the government was to

VOL. V.. E

50 LAWS.

be mild and the people obedient, and the kings and people were to unite

in assisting either of the two others when they were wronged; am I not: ~

correct? ‘Quite correct.’ The condition that the two states should
unite against a third which transgressed, was a great source of security.
‘Clearly.’ Most persons say that lawgivers should make such laws as the
people like; but we say that a physician might as well bid his patients to
use only such remedies as are agreeable to them, whereas he is often too
glad if he can effect a cure at the cost of a considerable amount of pain.
‘Very true.’ The early lawgivers had a great advantage—they were
saved from the reproach which attends a division of land and abolition of
debts. No one could quarrel with the Dorians for dividing the territory,
and they had no debts of long standing. ‘They had not. Then what
was the reason why their legislation signally failed? ‘How failed?’
Why, there were three kingdoms, and two of them quickly lost their
original constitution. ‘What was the reason of their failure?’ That is a
question which we cannot refuse to answer, if we mean to proceed with
our old man’s game of enquiring into laws and institutions. And the
Lacedaemonian institutions are more worthy of enquiry than any other,
having been evidently intended to be a protection not only to the
Peloponnese, but to all the Hellenes against the Barbarians ; for Ilium
was a part of the great Assyrian Empire, which was feared in those days
just as we now fear the great King. The second capture of Troy
was deeply resented by the Assyrians, who sought to retaliate; and, in
order to meet this danger, the royal Heraclid brothers devised their
military constitution, which was a far better organised plan than the old
Trojan expedition; and the Dorian Heraclidae themselves were far
superior to the old Achaeans, who had taken part in that expedition, and
had been conquered by them. ‘Certainly. Such a scheme, undertaken
by men who had shared with one another toils and dangers, sanctioned
by the Delphian oracle, under the guidance of the Heraclidae, seemed to
have a promise of permanence. ‘Naturally.’ And yet this promise of
permanence has entirely failed. Instead of the three being one, they
have always been at war; had they been united, in accordance with
the original intention, they would have been invincible. .
And what caused their ruin? Did you ever observe that there are
beautiful ‘things of which men often say, ‘What wonders they would
have effected if rightly used!’ and yet, after all, this may be a mistake.
And so I say of the Heraclidae and their expedition, which I may

INTRODUCTION. 1

perhaps have been justified in admiring, but which nevertheless suggests
to me the general reflection —‘ What wonders might not strength and

military resources have accomplished, if the possessor had only known

how to use them!’ Apply this remark to the case which we are con-
sidering: if the generals of the army had only known how to arrange
their forces, might they not have given their subjects everlasting freedom
and dominion, and the power of doing what they would in all the world,
and have themselves obtained glory? ‘Very true.’ Suppose a person to
express his admiration of wealth or rank, does he not do so under the
idea that by the help of these he will attain his desires? All men wish
to obtain the control of all things, and what they desire to obtain for
themselves they desire to obtain for those dear to them. ‘ Certainly.’
We ask for our friends what they ask for themselves. ‘True.’ Dear
is the son to the father, and yet the son will pray to obtain what the
father will pray that he may not obtain. ‘Before the son has come to
years of discretion, you mean?’ Yes; and when the father has passed
them, the son, like Hippolytus, may have reason to pray that the vow of
his father may not be fulfilled. ‘I understand. You mean to say that

a ma. should pray to have right desires, before he prays that his desires ;
may be fulfilled; and that wisdom is the first thing for which states
and individuals ought to pray?’ Yes; and you will remember my
saying that this was to be the first object of the legislator; but you said
that defence in war came first. And to this I replied, that there were
four virtues, whereas you acknowledged one only—courage, and not
wisdom which is the guide of all the rest. And JI repeat in jest if you
like, or in earnest if you like, and I would rather that you should receive
my words in earnest—that ‘the prayer of a fool is full of danger.’ I
will prove to you, if you will allow me, that the ruin of those states was
not caused by cowardice or ignorance in war, but by ignorance of
human nature and evil ways of another sort. ‘Go on, Stranger: at- :
tention will show better than compliments that we prize your words.’ I
maintain that ignorance is the ruin of states; and if this be true, the
legislator should seek to implant in them wisdom, and banish ignorance;
and the greatest ignorance is the love of what is known to be evil, and the
hatred of what is known to be good; this is the last and greatest conflict
of pleasure and reason in the soul. I say the greatest, because affect-
ing the greater part of the soul. For the passions are in the indi-
vidual what the people are in a state. And when they become opposed

Hee

52 LAWS.

to reason or law, and instruction is no longer of any use—that is the
last and greatest ignorance of states; the errors and faults of craftsmen
are more venial. ‘I understand and agree.’ Let this, then, be our
first principle:—That the citizen who does not know how to choose
between good and evil, must not be entrusted with authority; he may
have great quickness and power of calculation, and many accomplish-
ments, and yet be really ignorant. On the other hahd, he who has
this knowledge may be unable either to read or write; nevertheless, he
shall be counted wise and permitted to rule. For how can there be
even a shadow of wisdom where there is no harmony ?—wisdom is the
greatest harmony, and he who is devoid of wisdom is the ruin of states
and households: let this be laid down. ‘Very good.’ The first claim
of authority will be that of parents to rule over their children; the
second, that of the noble to rule over the ignoble; thirdly, the elder
must govern the younger; in the fourth place, the slave must obey his
master; fifthly, there is the power of the stronger, which is indeed a rule
not to be disobeyed, and which the poet Pindar declares to be according
to nature; sixthly, there is the rule of the wiser, which is also according
to nature, as I must inform Pindar, if he does not know, and is the rule
of law over obedient subjects. ‘ Most true.’ And there is a seventh kind
of rule which the Gods love,—in this the ruler is elected by lot.

Now, turning to the legislator who is fancying that his task is to be an
easy one, we playfully say to him:—You see, legislator, the many and
inconsistent claims to authority; here is a spring of troubles which you
must stay: And first of all you must help us to consider how the kings
of Argos and Messené destroyed that famous empire of olden time—did
they forget the saying of Hesiod, that ‘the half is better than the whole’?
And do we suppose that the ignorance of this truth is less fatal to kings
than to peoples? ‘ Probably the evil is increased by their way of life.’
The kings of those days transgressed the laws and violated their oaths.
Their deeds did not agree with their words, and their folly, which seemed
to them wisdom, was the ruin of the state. And what ought the legis-
lator to have done in order to prevent this evil? —The remedy is easy to
see now, but was not easy to foresee at the time. ‘ What is the remedy?’
The institutions of Sparta may teach you, Megillus. Wherever there is
excess, whether the sail has too much wind, or the body too much food,
or the mind too much power, there is a probability of a downfall. No
man is able to resist the temptation of arbitrary power. The despot is

INTRODUCTION, 53

quickly corrupted, and grows hateful to his dearest friends. In‘order to
guard against this evil, the God who watches over Sparta gave you two
kings instead of one, that they might balance and moderate one another;
and further to lower the pulse of your body politic, some human wisdom,
mingling with the divine power, tempered the strength and _ self-suffi-
ciency of youth with the moderation of age in the institution of your
senate. A third saviour bridled your rising and swelling power by
ephors, whom he assimilated to officers elected by lot: and thus the
kingly power was preserved. Had the constitution been arranged by
Cresphontes and Temenus, not even the portion of Sparta would have
been preserved; for they had no political experience, and were foolish
enough to imagine that a youthful spirit might be bound by oaths. Now
that God has instructed us in the arts of legislation, there is no merit in
seeing all this, or in learning wisdom after the event. But if the coming
danger could have been foreseen, and the union preserved, then no
Persian or other enemy would have dared to despise Hellas; and indeed
there was not so much credit to us in defeating the enemy, as discredit in
our disloyalty to one another. For of the three cities one only fought on
behalf of Hellas; and of the two others, one, Argos, which in old days
had the precedence, refused to aid; and the other, Messenia, was
actually at war with her: and if the Lacedaemonians and Athenians had
not united, the Hellenes would have been absorbed in the Persian
empire, and mingled with the barbarians. We lay these remarks of ours
at the feet of the legislator, and proceed to enquire what else could have
been done, reminding him of what we were saying before, that a state
can only be free and wise and harmonious where there is a balance of
powers. There are many words by which we express the aims of the
legislator, who is equally desirous to promote temperance, wisdom,
friendship, and the like; but we need not therefore be disturbed, for
these names have all the same meaning. ‘I should like to hear at
which of them in your opinion the legislator should aim.’ Hear me,
then. There are two mother forms of states—one monarchy, and the
other democracy: the Persians have the first, and the Athenians the
second. Most other governments are made up of a union of the two;
and any good government must include both of them. There was
a time when both the Persians and Athenians had more the character
of a constitutional state than they now have. In the days of Cyrus the
Persians were freemen as well as lords of others, and their soldiers were

54 LAWS:

free and equal, and they used and honoured all the talent which they
could find, and so the nation waxed in freedom and friendship and
communion of soul. But Cyrus, though a great and_ patriotic general,
never troubled himself about the education of his family, or the order of
his household. He was a soldier from his youth upward, and left his
children who were born in the purple to be educated by women, who
honoured and flattered them, never allowing any desire which they had
to be thwarted. ‘A rare education, truly!’ Yes, such an education as
women, and especially princesses who had recently grown rich, might
be expected to give in a country where the men were solely occupied
with war and danger. ‘Likely enough. Their father had possessions
of men and animals, and never considered that he was about to make
them over to a race who had been brought up in a very different school,
not like the Persian mountaineer, who was well able to take care of
himself and his own. He never remembered that his children had
been brought up in the Median fashion, under the superintendence of
women and eunuchs. The consequence was that the son of Cyrus slew
his brother, and lost the kingdom by his own folly. Observe, again, that
Darius, who restored the kingdom, was not born a king, and had not
received a royal education. He was one of the seven chiefs, and when
he came to the throne he divided the empire into seven provinces, of
which there yet remain traces; and he made equal laws, and implanted
friendship among the people. Hence his subjects were greatly attached
to him, and cheerfully extended the borders of his empire. Next fol-
lowed Xerxes, who had received the same royal education as Cambyses ;
and this has been the fate of nearly every succeeding sovereign. We
are tempted to say to him, ‘O Darius, how could you with all your
experience, have made such a mistake!’ The ruin of Xerxes was
not fate or fortune, but the evil life which is generally led by the sons
of very rich and royal persons; and this is what the legislator has
seriously to consider. Justly may the Lacedaemonians be praised for
not giving special honour to any one in a state because he surpasses
another in wealth any more than because he surpasses him in swiftness,
strength, or beauty, if he be without virtue, or have virtue without tem-
perance. ‘Explain.’ No one would like to live in the same house
with a very courageous man who had no control over himself, nor with
an artizan who was clever at his profession, but a rogue. Nor can justice
and wisdom ever be separated from temperance. But considering these

INTRODUCTION. 58

qualities with reference to the meed of honour and dishonour which is
to be assigned to them in states, would you say, on the other hand, that
temperance without the other virtues, isolated in the soul of a man, is
worth anything or nothing? ‘I cannot tell.’ You have answered well.
It would be absurd to speak of temperance as belonging to the class of
honoured or of dishonoured qualities, because all other things in their
various classes require temperance to be added to them; having the
addition, they are honoured not in proportion to that, but to their own
excellence. And ought not the legislator to determine these classes?
‘Certainly. Suppose then, as we are playing at legislation, that,
without going into details, we make three great classes of them. ‘ By
all means.’ Most honourable are the goods of the soul, always assuming
temperance as a condition of them; secondly, those of the body; thirdly,
external possessions. Any man who inverts or adds to these classes is
no friend to the state.

These remarks were suggested to me by the history of the Persian
kings; and to them I will now return. The ruin of their empire was
caused by the loss of freedom and the growth of despotism, which

destroyed the good-will of the people, and the disinterestedness of the

government. Hatred and spoliation took the place of friendship; the
people never fought heartily for their masters; their countless myriads
were useless on the field of battle. They resorted to mercenaries as
their only salvation, and were thus compelled by their circumstances
to proclaim the stupidest of falsehoods—that virtue is a trifle in
comparison of money. ‘ Very true.’

But enough of the Persians: a different lesson is taught by the oppo-
site extreme of the Athenians, whose example shows that a limited
freedom is far better than an unlimited. Ancient Athens, at the time of
the Persian invasion, had such a limited freedom.. They were divided
into four classes, arranged according to a property census, and the love
of order was their queen; moreover, the fear of the approaching host
made them obedient and willing citizens. For, ten years previously,
Darius had sent Datis and Artaphernes, commanding them under pain
of death to subjugate the Eretrians and Athenians. A report came to
Athens that all the Eretrians had been ‘netted’; this report, which may
or may not have been true, terrified the Athenians, and they sent all
over Hellas for assistance. None came to their relief except the Lace-
daemonians, who arrived a day too late, when the battle of Marathon

56 LAWS.

had been already fought. In process of time Xerxes came to the
throne, and the Athenians heard of nothing but the bridge of the
Hellespont, and the canal of Athos, and the innumerable host and
fleet. They knew that these were intended to avenge the defeat of
Marathon. Their case seemed desperate, for there was no one to help
them; no Hellene was likely to assist them by land, and at sea they
were attacked by more than a thousand vessels ;—their only hope,
however slender, was in victory; so they relied upon themselves and
upon the Gods. Their common danger, and the influence of their
old constitution, greatly tended to promote harmony among them:
Reverence and fear—that fear which the coward never knows—made
them fight for their country and for their country’s shrines and sepulchres.
If they had not had such a fear, they would have been dispersed all
over the world. ‘Your words, Athenian, are worthy of your country.’
Yes; and you, who have inherited the virtues of your ancestors, are
worthy to hear them. Let me ask you to take the moral of my tale.
The Persians have lost their liberty in absolute slavery, and we in
absolute freedom. In ancient times the Athenian people were not the
masters, but the servants of the laws. ‘Of what laws?’ In the first
place, there were laws about music, and the music was of various kinds :
there was one kind which consisted of hymns, another of lamentations ;
there was also the paean and the dithyramb, each of them having their
own laws (véyor) or strains, as they were termed. The regulation of
such matters was not left to the whistling and clapping of a tasteless
crowd; there was silence while the judges decided, and the boys, and the
audience in general, were kept in order by raps of a stick. But after a
while there arose a new race of poets, men of genius certainly, how-
ever careless of musical truth and propriety, who made pleasure the
only criterion of excellence. That was a test which the spectators could
apply for themselves; the whole audience instead of being mute became
vociferous, and a theatrocracy took the place of an aristocracy. Could
the judges have been free, there would have been no great harm done;
a musical democracy would have been well enough—but conceit has
been our ruin. Everybody knows everything, and is ready to say any-
thing; the age of reverence is gone, and the age of irreverence and
licentiousness has succeeded. ‘Most true.” And with this freedom
comes disobedience to rulers, parents, elders; in the latter days to the
law also; the end returns to the beginning, and the old Titanic nature

INTRODUCTION. Wi

reappears—men have no regard for the Gods or for oaths; and the evils
of the human race seem as if they would never cease. Whither are
we running away? Once more we must pull up the argument with bit
and curb, lest, as the proverb says, we should fall off our ass. ‘Good.’
Our purpose in what we have been saying, is to show that the legislator
ought to aim at securing for a state three things—freedom, friendship,
wisdom. ‘Just so.’ And we chose two states ;—one was the type of
freedom, and the other of despotism; and we showed that their highest
pinnacle of fortune coincided with the greatest moderation of their re-
spective forms of government. In a similar spirit we spoke of the
Dorian expedition, and of the settlement in the plains of Troy; and of
music, and wine, and of all that preceded.

And now, has all this discussion been of any use? ‘Stranger, I can
answer that question; for by a singular coincidence the Cretans are
about to send out a colony, And the settlement of this colony has been
committed to the Cnosians, who have appointed ten commissioners, of
whom I am one, to give laws to the colonists. We may give them any
laws which we please—Cretan or foreign. And therefore let us make
a selection from what has been said for the benefit of the infant colony.’
I like your proposal, and I place myself at your service. ‘ Very good.’

BOOK IV. And now what is this city? I do not ask what is or
is to be the name of the place; for a river or some local deity will
determine that. But I want to know what the situation is, whether
maritime or inland. ‘The new city, Stranger, is about eleven miles
from the sea.’ Are there good harbours? ‘Excellent.’ And is the
surrounding country self-supporting? ‘Almost.’ Any neighbouring
states? ‘No; and that is the reason for choosing the place, which has
been deserted from time immemorial.’ And is there a fair proportion
of hill and plain and wood? ‘Like the rest of Crete in that, more hill
than plain.’ Then there is some hope for your citizens; had the city
been on the sea, and dependent for support on other countries, a more
than human power would have been required to preserve you from
corruption. The distance of eleven miles is not enough, but is better
than nothing ; and I must be satisfied. For the sea, although an agree-
able, is a dangerous companion, and a highway of strange morals and
manners as well as of commerce. But as the country is moderately
fertile there will be no great exports or imports, or returns of gold and

58 LAWS.

silver, which are the ruin of states. Is there timber for ship-building ?
‘There is no pine or fir, and not much cypress; and very little stone-
pine or planewood for the interior of ships.’ That is good. ‘Why?’
Because the city will be unable to imitate the bad ways of her enemies.
‘What is the bearing of that remark?’ ‘To explain my meaning, I would
ask you just to remember what I said about the Cretan laws, which,
as you and I agreed, had an eye to war only; and I maintained that
they ought to have included all virtue. And I hope that you in your
turn will retaliate upon me if I am false to my own principle. For I
consider that the lawgiver should go straight to the mark of virtue and
justice, and disregard wealth and every other good when separated from
virtue. What further I mean, when I speak of the imitation of enemies,
I will illustrate by the story of Minos, which is so ancient that I hope
our Cretan friend will not be offended at the mention of it. Minos,
who was a great sea king, imposed upon the Athenians a cruel tribute,
for in those days they were not a maritime power; they had no timber
for ship-building, and therefore they could not ‘imitate their enemies’ ;
and better far, as I maintain, would it have been for them to have lost
many times over the lives which they devoted to the tribute than to have
turned soldiers into sailors. Naval warfare is not a very praiseworthy
art; men should not be taught, after running on shore, to throw away
their arms, and to hurry back to their ships, as they do now; bad
customs ought not to be gilded with fine words. And retreat is always
bad, as we are taught in Homer, when he introduces Odysseus, setting
forth to Agamemnon the danger of ships being at hand when soldiers
are disposed to fly. An army of lions trained in such ways would fly
before a herd of deer. Further, the rewards of valour have to be dis-
tributed among pilots and oarsmen, who do not deserve such honours,
and the undue awarding of honours is the ruin of states. ‘Still, in
Crete we say that the battle of Salamis was the salvation of Hellas.’
And -that is the prevailing opinion. But I and Megillus say that the
battle of Marathon began the deliverance, which the battle of Plataea
completed ; and that these battles made men better, whereas the battles
of Salamis and Artemisium made them no better. And we further affirm
that not the mere continuance of existence is the great political good of
individuals or states, but the continuance of the best existence. ‘Cer-
tainly.’ Let us then endeavour to follow this principle in colonization
and legislation.

INTRODUCTION. 59

And first, let me ask you who are to be the colonists? May any one
come from any city of Crete which is overpeopled? for you would surely
not send a general invitation to all Hellas. Yet I observe that in Crete
there are people who have come from Argos and Aegina and other
places. ‘Our expedition is drawn from all Crete, and we invite Pelopon-
nesians of Argos to join. As you observe, there are Argives among the
Cretans; for example, the Gortynians, who are the best of all Cretans,
have come from Gortys in Peloponnesus.’

Colonization is in some ways easier when the colony is drawn from
one country, and goes out in a swarm like bees, owing to the pressure of
population, or revolution, or war. There is an advantage in this mode of
procedure, and also there are disadvantages. The advantage is, that the
new colonists have a common language and laws, and a spirit of friend-
ship diffused among them. But then again, they are less willing to obey
the hand of the legislator; they are too fond of the laws and customs
which have been the ruin of them at home. <A mixed multitude is more
tractable, although there is a difficulty in making them pull together.
There is nothing, however, which perfects the virtue of men like legis-
lation and colonization. And yet I have a word to say on the other side,
which may seem to be depreciatory of legislators. ‘ What is that?’

I was going to make the saddening reflection, that accidents of all
sorts are the true legislators; wars and pestilences and famines and the
constant recurrence of bad seasons. He who observes the course of
events will be inclined to say that almost all human things are chance ;
and this may certainly be said about navigation and medicine, and the art
of the general. But there is another thing which may equally be said.
‘What is it’? That God governs all things, and that chance and oppor-
tunity co-operate with Him. But according to a third view, art has part
with them, for surely when there is a storm there must be an advantage
in having a pilot. And of legislation we may say the same: however
great the coincidence of fortunate circumstances, the hand of the legis-
lator is still required. ‘Most true.’ All artists would pray for certain
conditions under which to exercise their art. ‘Certainly.’ And the
legislator would do the same? ‘I believe that he would.’ Come, legis-
lator, let us say to him, and what are the conditions which you would
have? Shall we put the conditions into his mouth? ‘Yes.’ He will
say, Grant me a city which is in the possession of a tyrant; and let the
tyrant be young, thoughtful, teachable, courageous, magnanimous; and

60 BAYS:

let him have the crowning condition of all virtue, which is temperance—
not prudence, but that natural temperance which is the gift of children
and animals, and is hardly reckoned among goods—with this he must be
endowed, if the state is to acquire the form most conducive to happiness
in the speediest manner. And I must add one other quality to the
tyrant’s virtues: he must be fortunate, and his good fortune must consist
in his being the contemporary of a great legislator. When the God has
done this, he has done the best which he can for a state; not so well if
he has given them two legislators instead of one, and less and less well if
he has given them a great many. An orderly tyranny most easily passes
into the perfect state; in the second degree, a monarchy ; in the third
degree, democracy; an oligarchy is worst of all. ‘I do not understand.’
I suppose that you have never seen a city which is subject to a tyranny?
‘And I have no desire to see one. You would have seen what I am
describing, if you ever had. The tyrant can speedily change the man-
ners of a state, and affix the stamp of praise or blame on any action
which he pleases ; for the citizens are eager to follow the example which
he sets them. And this is the quickest way of making changes ; but
there is a counterbalancing difficulty. ‘What is that?’ The difficulty is
to find the divine love of temperance and justice existing in any power-
ful forms of government, whether in a monarchy or an oligarchy of birth -
or of wealth. Nestor, who was the most eloquent and temperate of man-
kind, lived in the times of Troy, but there is no one like him now. If
there is, has been, or ever shall be again, such an one among us, blessed
is he, and blessed are they who listen to his words. And this may be
said of power in general; where power and wisdom and temperance
meet in one there are the best laws and constitutions. I am endeavouring
to show you how easy under the conditions supposed, and how difficult
under any other, is the task of giving a city good laws. ‘How do you
mean?’ We shall see, if we try the experiment of giving a constitution
to our new state, which wi!l be an excellent amusement for our second
childhood. ‘Proceed. What constitution shall we give—democracy,
oligarchy, or aristocracy?’ ‘To which of these classes, Megillus, do you
refer your own state? ‘The Spartan constitution seems to me to con-
tain all these elements ; our state is a democracy and also an aristocracy ;
the power of the Ephors is tyrannical, and we have an ancient monarchy.’
‘And the same,’ adds Cleinias, ‘may be said of Crete.’ The reason
is that you have polities, but other states are mere aggregations of

; INTRODUCTION, 61

citizens, which are named after their several ruling powers; whereas
a state, if an ‘ ocracy’ at all, should be called a theocracy. A tale of old
will explain my meaning. In the primeval world there is a tradition
of a golden age, in which all things were spontaneous and abundant.
Cronos, the lord of the world, knew that man was not able to endure
the temptations of power, and therefore he appointed demons or demi-
gods, who are of a superior race, to have dominion over him, as he has
dominion over the animals. They took care of us with great ease and
pleasure to themselves, and no less to us; and the tradition says that
only when God, and not man, is the ruler, can the human race cease
from ill. This was the way of human life under Cronos, which should be
imitated by us as far as the principle of immortality dwells in us, and is
imitated by us when we live according to law and the dictates of right
reason. But in an oligarchy or democracy, when the governing principle
is athirst for pleasure, there is no possibility of salvation. The laws are
trampled under foot. Are there not often said to be as many forms
of laws as there are governments, and that they have no concern either
with any virtue or with all virtue, but are relative to the state in which
you live? Which is as much as to say that ‘ might makes right.’ ‘ What
do you mean?’ I mean that governments make their own laws, and
that every government regards first of all the law of self-preservation.
‘Very true. And he who transgresses this law is regarded as an evil-
doer, and punished accordingly. ‘ Naturally.’ This was the evil of
which we were speaking when we said that parents should rule their
children, the elder the younger, the noble the ignoble ; and there were
other principles of government, including ‘the law justifying violence’

of Pindar. ‘To which of them is our state to be entrusted? For many

a government is only a victorious faction which has a monopoly of
power, and refuses any share in the government to the conquered, lest
when they return to power they should remember their wrongs. Such
governments are not polities, but parties; nor are any laws good which
are made in the interest of particular classes only, and not of the whole.
And in our state I mean to protest against making any man a ruler be-
cause he is rich, or strong, or noble. But he who is the most obedient to
the laws, and who wins the victory of obedience, shall be the minister or
servant of them according to the degree of his obedience. When I call
the ruler the servant or minister of the law, this is not a mere paradox,
but I mean to say that upon a willingness to obey the law the very

62 LAWS.

existence of the state depends. ‘Truly, Stranger, you have a keen —
vision. Why, yes; every man when he is old has his intellectual vision :
most keen. And now shall we call in our colonists and make a speech
to them? Friends, we say to them, God holds in His hand the beginning,
middle, and end of all things, and He moves in a straight line towards
the full accomplishment of His will. Justice always follows Him, and
punishes those who fall short of His laws. He who would be happy is
obedient to Him; but he who is lifted up with pride, or money, or
honour, or beauty, is soon deserted by God, and, being deserted, he
takes to him others who are like himself, and dances about in wild
disorder. But in a short time he is utterly destroyed, and his family
and city with him. Wherefore, seeing these things, what ought we to
do or think? ‘Every man ought to follow God.’ There is an old
saying, that like agrees with like, and God is the measure of all things in
a sense far higher than any man. ‘Those who would be dear to Him
must be like Him, and the temperate man is the friend of God because
he is like Him, and the intemperate man is not his friend, because. he is
not like Him. And the inference is, that the best of all things for a
good man is to pray and sacrifice to the Gods; but the bad man has a
polluted soul, and from one who is polluted neither a good man nor God
is right in receiving gifts. And therefore the unholy waste their service
upon the Gods, but the good are accepted of them. I have told you the
mark at which we ought to aim. You will say, how? and with what
weapons? In the first place we affirm, that after the Olympian Gods
and the Gods of the state, honour should be given to the Gods below,
and to them should be offered everything in even numbers and of the
second choice ; while the auspicious odd numbers and everything of the
first choice are reserved for the Gods above. Next to the Gods, demi-
gods or spirits must be honoured, and then heroes, and after them family
gods, who will have their seats of local worship and their ritual according
to law. Further, the honour due to parents should not be forgotten; all
that children have is derived from them, and they owe to them a debt of
nurture. Their children should never utter an unbecoming word before
‘them; for there is an avenging angel who hears them when they are
angry, and the child should consider that the parent to whom he owes
life, when he has been wronged has a right to be angry with him. After
their death let them have sepulchral rites according to their wealth and
rank; as they did to their fathers, so let us do to them; and there shall

INTRODUCTION. 63

be an annual commemoration of them. He does best who preserves
their memory without incurring any very great expense. Living on this
wise, we shall be accepted of the Gods, and shall pass our days in good
hope. The law will determine all our various duties towards relatives
and friends and other citizens, and the whole state will be happy and
prosperous. If the legislator would persuade as well as command, he
will add prefaces to his laws which will predispose our citizens to virtue.
I want them to be in the right frame of mind when the legislator speaks
to them. Even a little accomplished in the way of gaining the hearts of
men is of great value. For most men do not wish to be made good
speedily. Their case rather proves the saying of Hesiod:
‘Long and steep is the first half of the way to virtue,
But when you have reached the top the other half is easy.’

‘Those are excellent words.’ Yes; but will you allow me to tell you the
effect which the preceding discourse has had upon me? I will express
my meaning in an address to the lawgiver :—O lawgiver, if you know
what we ought to do and say, you can surely tell us—and were not you
just now saying that the poet ought not to be allowed-to do what he likes ?
And the poet may reply, that when he sits down on the tripod of the
Muses he is not in his right mind, and that being a mere imitator he may
be allowed to say two opposite things, and cannot tell which of them is
true. But this licence cannot be allowed to the lawgiver. For example,
let us suppose that there are three kinds of funerals; one of them is ex-
cessive, another mean, a third moderate, and you say that the last is
always to be approved. Now, if I had a rich wife, and she told me to
bury her, and I were to sing of her burial, 1 should praise the extravagant
kind ; a poor man would approve a funeral of the meaner sort, and a man
of the middle class would find a moderate funeral suited to his resources.
But you, as legislator, would have to determine the meaning of the words
excessive, mean, moderate. ‘Very true.’ And is our lawgiver to have
no preamble or interpretation of his laws, never offering a word of advice
to his subjects, after the manner of some doctors? For of doctors are
there not two kinds? the one gentle and the other rough, doctors and
doctors’ assistants, freemen who learn themselves and teach their pupils,
and slaves who learn medicine at the bidding of their masters? ‘ Of
course there are.’ And did you ever observe that the gentlemen doctors
practise upon freemen, and that slave doctors confine themselves to
slaves? The latter go about the country and wait for the slaves at the

64 LAWS.

dispensaries. None of them holds any parley with his patients about
their diseases or the remedies of them; they practise by the rule of
thumb, and give their decrees, as if they knew all about the disorder, in
a very arbitrary manner. When they have doctored one patient they run
off to another, whom they treat with equal assurance, their duty being to
relieve the master of the care of his sick slaves. But the other doctor,
who practises on freemen, has quite another mode of proceeding. He
takes counsel with his patient and learns from him, and never does any-
thing until he has persuaded him of what he is doing. He trusts to
influence rather than force. Now is not the use of both methods far
better than the use of either alone? And both together may be advan-
tageously employed by us in legislation.

We may illustrate our proposed way of proceeding by an example.
The laws relating to marriage are the first of laws, and will therefore be
the best for us to begin with. The simple law would be as follows :—A
man shall marry between the ages of thirty and thirty-five ; if he do not,
he shall pay a fitting penalty. The double law would add the reason
why: Forasmuch as man desires immortality, which he attains by the
procreation of children, none should deprive himself of his share in this
good. He who obeys the law is blameless, but he who disobeys must
not be a gainer by his celibacy; and therefore he shall pay a fine, and
shall not be allowed to receive honour from the young. That is an
example of what I call the double law, which may enable us to judge how
far the addition of persuasion to threats is desirable. ‘ Lacedaemonians
in general, Stranger, are in favour of brevity ; in this case, however, I
prefer length. But Cleinias is the real lawgiver, and therefore I think
that he should be first consulted.” ‘Thank you, Megillus.’ Whether
words are to be many or few, is a foolish question :—the best and not
the shortest forms are always to be approved. And no legislator has
ever thought of the advantage which he might derive from the employ-
ment of the two sources of power, which answer to the two sorts of
doctors, persuasion as well as force. And I have something else to say
about the matter. ‘What is that?’ A strange thought arises in my mind.
Here have we been from the early dawn until noon, discoursing about
laws, and all which we have been saying is only the preamble of them.
I tell you this, because I want you to observe that songs and strains have
all of them preludes, but that laws, though called by the same name
(vopor), have never any prelude. Now I am disposed to give preludes to

et EES

ei?” *

* a ued clack ah

INTRODUCTION. 6s

laws, dividing them into two parts—one containing the despotic com-
mand, which I described under the image of the slave doctor—the other
the persuasive part, which I term the preamble. The legislator should
give preludes or preambles to his laws. ‘That shall be the way in my
colony.’ I am glad that you agree with me; the law should be clearly
explained at the beginning. All laws might have, but will not equally
require a preamble; this must be left to the lawgiver, as the preamble
of a strain or speech is left to the orator or musician. ‘ Most true: and
now, having a preamble, let us make a second and better beginning.’
Enough has been said of Gods and parents, and we may proceed to
consider persons—their souls, bodies, properties,—their occupations and
amusements; and so arrive at the nature of education.

The first word of the Laws somewhat abruptly introduces the thought
which is present to the mind of Plato throughout the work, namely,
that Law is of divine origin. In the words of a great English writer—
‘Her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world.’
Though the particular laws of Sparta and Crete had a narrow and
imperfect aim, this is not true of divine laws, which are based upon
the principles of human nature, and not framed to meet the exigencies
of the moment. They have their natural divisions, too, answering to the
kinds of virtue (i. 630 E); very unlike the discordant enactments of an
Athenian assembly or of an English Parliament. Yet we may observe

- two inconsistencies in Plato’s treatment of the subject: first, a lesser one,

inasmuch as he does not clearly distinguish the Cretan and Spartan laws,
of which the exclusive aim is war, from those other laws of Zeus and
Apollo which are said to be divine, and to comprehend all virtue.
Secondly, we may retort on him his own complaint against Sparta and
Crete, that he has himself given us a code of laws, which for the most
part have a military character; and that we cannot point ‘to obvious

examples of similar institutions which are concerned with pleasure.’ The

military spirit which is condemned by him in the beginning of the Laws,
reappears in the eighth and ninth books.

The mention of Minos the great lawgiver, and of Rhadamanthus the
righteous administrator of the law, suggest the two divisions of the laws
into enactments and appointments of officers (cp. vi. 751). The legis-
lator and the judge stand side by side, and their functions cannot be
wholly distinguished. For the judge is in some sort a legislator, at

VOL. Vv: F

66 LAWS.

any rate in small matters (cp. ix. 875 E, foll.) ; and his decisions growing

oo SL kaplan aa cai a eal

into precedents, must determine the innumerable details which arise out

of the conflict of circumstances. These are what Plato proposes to

leave to a younger generation of legislators. The action of courts of |

law in making law seems to have escaped him, probably because the
Athenian law courts were popular assemblies; and, except in a
mythical form, he can hardly be said to have had before his eyes the
ideal of a judge. In reading the Laws of Plato, or any other ancient
writing about Laws, we should consider how gradual the process is by
which not only a legal system, but the administration of a court of law,
becomes perfected.

There are other subjects on which Plato breaks ground, as his manner
is, in the first book. First, he gives a sketch of the subject of laws;
they are to comprehend the whole of human life, from infancy to age,
and from birth to death, although the proposed plan is far from being
regularly executed in the books which follow, partly owing to the neces-

sity of describing the constitution as well as the laws of his new colony.

Secondly, he touches on the power of music, which may exercise so
ereat an influence on the character of men for good or evil; he refers
especially to the great offences—on which he afterwards dilates at length,
and which he has already condemned in the Republic—of separating the
words from the music, and varying the modes and rhythms. ‘Thirdly,
he reprobates in energetic terms the prevalence of unnatural loves in
Sparta and Crete, which he seems to attribute to the practice of syssitia
and gymnastic exercises, when not accompanied by any higher training.
To this subject he again returns in the sixth book. Fourthly, the virtues
are shown to be inseparable from one another, even if not absolutely one ;
this, too, is a principle which he re-asserts at the conclusion of the work.
As in the beginnings of Plato’s other writings, we have here several
‘notes’ struck, which form the preludes of longer discussions, although
the hint is less ingeniously given, and the promise more imperfectly
fulfilled than in the earlier .dialogues.

The distinction between ethics and politics has not yet dawned upon
Plato’s mind. ‘To him, law is still floating in a region between the two.
He would have desired that all the acts and laws of a state should have
regard to all virtue. But he did not see that politics and law are subject
to their own conditions, and are distinguished from ethics by natural
differences. The actions of which politics take cognisance are neces

INTRODUCTION. 67

sarily collective or representative; the actions of which law takes cog-
nisance are necessarily external, and they affect others as well as the
agents. But Plato has never made this analysis. He fancies that the
life of the state is as plastic, and can be as easily fashioned, as that of
the individual. He is favourable to a balance of power, but never seems
to have considered that power might be so balanced as to produce an
absolute immobility in the state. Nor is he alive to the evils of con-
founding vice and crime; or to the necessity of governments abstaining
from excessive interference with their subjects. He would have set no
limits to the power of legislation.

Yet this confusion of ethics and politics has also a better and a truer
side. If unable to grasp some important distinctions, Plato is at any
rate seeking to elevate the lower to the higher; he does not pull down
the principles of men to their practice, or narrow the ideal of what the
state may be to the immediate necessities of politics. Political ideals of
freedom and equality, of a divine government which has been or will be
in some other age or country, have greatly tended to educate and en-
noble the human race. And if not the first author of such ideals (for
they are as old as Hesiod), Plato has done more than any other writer
to impress them on the world. ‘To those who censure his idealism
we may reply in his own words—‘ He is not the worse painter who draws
a beautiful figure, because no such figure ever had a real existence.’

A new thought about education suddenly occurs to him, and for a
time exercises a sort of fascination over his mind, though in the later
books of the Laws forgotten or overlooked. As true courage is allied to
temperance, so there must be an education which shall train mankind to
resist pleasure as well as to endure pain. No one can be on his guard
against that of which he has no experience. The perfectly trained
citizen should have been accustomed to look pleasure in the face, and
to measure his strength against her. This education in pleasure is to
be given partly by festive intercourse, chiefly by the song and dance.
Youth are to learn music and gymnastics; their elders are to be trained
and tested at drinking parties. According to the old proverb, 7 vino
veritas, they will then be open and visible to the world in their true
characters ; and also they will be more amenable to the laws, and more
easily moulded by the hand of the legislator. ‘The first reason is curious
enough, though not important; the second can hardly be thought
deserving of much attention. Yet if Plato means to say that society

BZ

68 LAWS,

is one of the principal instruments of education in after life, he has —

expressed in an obscure fashion a principle which is true, and to his
contemporaries was also new. He seems to be carried away by the
really original thought which had occurred to him, and which he has
not yet learned to present to his mind in an abstract form. He is sen-
sible that moderation is better than total abstinence, and that asceticism
is but a one-sided training. He makes the sagacious remark, ‘that
those who are able to resist pleasure may often be among the worst of
mankind. He is as much aware as any modern utilitarian that the
love of pleasure is the great motive of human action. This cannot be
eradicated, and must therefore be regulated, and the pleasure must be of
the right sort. Such reflections seem to be the real, though imperfectly
expressed, groundwork of the discussion. As in the juxtaposition of the
Bacchic madness and the great gift of Dionysus, or where he speaks of
the senses in which pleasure is and is not the object of imitative art,
or in the illustration of the failure of the Dorian institutions from the
vow of ‘Theseus—we have to gather his meaning as well as we can from
the connection.

The feeling of old age is discernible in this as well as in several other
passages of the Laws. Plato has arrived at the time when men sit still
and look on at life; and he is willing to allow himself and others the
few pleasures which remain to them. Wine is to cheer them now that
their limbs are old and their blood runs cold. ‘They are the best critics
of dancing and music, but cannot be induced to join in song unless they
have been enlivened by drinking. Youth has no need of the stimulus of
wine, but age can only be made young again by its healing influence.
Total abstinence for the young, moderate and increasing potations for
the old, is Plato’s principle. The fire, of which there is too much in the
one, has to be brought to the other. Drunkenness, like madness, had a
sacredness and mystery to the Greek; if, on the one hand, as in the case
of the Tarentines (i. 637 B), it degraded a whole population, it was also
a mode of worshipping the god Dionysus, which was to be practised on
certain occasions. Moreover, the intoxication produced by the fruit of
the vine was very different from the grosser forms of drunkenness which
prevail among some modern nations.

The physician in modern times would restrict the old man’s use of
wine within narrow limits. He would tell us that you cannot restore
strength by a stimulus. Wine may call back the vital powers in disease,

INTRODUCTION. 69

but cannot reinvigorate old age. In his maxims of health and longevity,
though aware of the importance of a simple diet, Plato has omitted to
dwell on the perfect rule of moderation. His commendation of wine is
probably a passing fancy, and may have arisen out of his own habits or
tastes. If so, he is not the only philosopher whose theory has been based
upon his practice.

Like the importance which he attaches to festive entertainments, his
depreciation of courage to the fourth place in the scale of virtue, appears
to be somewhat rhetorical and exaggerated. But he is speaking of
courage in the lower sense of the term, not as including loyalty or
temperance. He does not insist, as in the Protagoras, on the unity of
the virtues; or as in the Laches, on the identity of wisdom and courage.
But he endeavours to show how they all depend upon their leader mind,
and how, out of the union of wisdom and temperance with courage,
springs justice. Elsewhere he is disposed to regard temperance rather
as a condition of all virtue than as a particular virtue. He generalizes
temperance, as in the Republic he generalizes justice. The nature of the
virtues is to run up into one another, and in the Laws Plato makes but
a faint effort to distinguish them. He still quotes the poets, somewhat
enlarging, as his manner is, or playing with their meaning. ‘The martial
poet Tyrtaeus, and the oligarch Theognis, furnish him with happy illus-
trations of the two sorts of courage. The fear of fear, the division of
goods into human and divine, the acknowledgment that peace and re-
conciliation are better than military superiority, the analysis of temperance
into resistance of pleasure as well as endurance of pain, the distinction
between the education which is suitable for a trade or profession, and for
the whole of life, are important and probably new ethical conceptions.
Nor has Plato forgotten his old paradox, that to be punished is better
than to be unpunished, when he says, that to the bad death is the only
mitigation of his evil. He is not less ideal in many passages of the Laws
than in the Gorgias or Republic. But his wings are heavy, and he is
unequal to any sustained flight.

There is more attempt in the first book to carry out the dramatic
interest than in the later parts of the work. The outburst of martial
spirit in the Lacedaemonian, at p. 638 A, ‘O best of men’; the anger
which the Cretan expresses at the supposed insult to his lawgiver; the
cordial acknowledgment on the part of both of them that laws should
nct be discussed publicly by those who live under their rule; the diffi-

70 LAWS.

is’ Sod

culty which they alike experience in following the speculations of the

Athenian, are highly characteristic.

In the next book, Plato pursues further his notion of educating by
a right use of pleasure. He begins by conceiving an endless power of
youthful life, which is to be reduced to rule and measure by harmony
and rhythm. Men differ from the lower animals in that they are capable
of musical discipline. But music, like all art, must be truly imitative,
and imitative of what is true and good. Art and life agree in rejecting
pleasure as the criterion of good. True art is inseparable from the highest
and most ennobling ideas. Plato is the enemy of songs without words,
which he supposes to have some confusing or enervating effect on the
mind of the hearer; and he is also opposed to the modern degeneracy
of tragedy, which he would probably have illustrated, like Aristophanes,
from Euripides and Agathon. From this passage we seem to gather a

more perfect conception of art than from any other of Plato's writings.

He understands that art is at once imitative and ideal, an exact repre-
sentation of truth, and also a representation of the highest truth. The
same double view of art may be gathered from a comparison of the third
and tenth books of the Republic, but is here more clearly and pointedly
expressed. We are inclined to suspect exaggeration of the influence
which is attributed by him to the song and the dance. But we must
remember also the susceptible nature of the Greek, and the perfection to
which these arts were carried by him.

In speaking of the chorus of elders, Plato takes occasion to revert to
his old proposal of the use of wine. There is not much point in this,
which may be regarded as an illustration of an illustration. The use of
wine was a particular instance of social intercourse, and this is a particular
instance of the use of wine.

At the beginning of the third book, Plato abruptly asks the question,
What is the origin of states? The answer is, Infinite time. We have
already seen—in the Theaetetus, where he supposes that in the course

of ages every man has had numberless progenitors, kings and slaves, |

Greeks and barbarians; or in the Critias, where he says that nine
thousand years have elapsed since the ancient Athenian empire passed
away—that Plato is no stranger to the conception of long periods of
time. He supposes human society to have been interrupted by natural
convulsions; and beginning from the last of these, he traces the steps

INTRODUCTION. 71

by which the family has passed into the state, and the original scattered
‘society has received the impress of a military civilization. His con-
ception of the origin of states is far truer in the Laws than in the
‘Republic; but it must be remembered that here he is giving an histo-
rical, there an ideal account of the growth of society.

Modern enquirers, like Plato, have found in infinite ages the expla-
nation not only of states, but of languages, men, animals, the world
itself; they have also detected in later institutions the vestiges of a patri-
archal state still surviving. Thus far Plato speaks as ‘the spectator
of all time and all existence,’ who may be thought by some divine
instinct to have guessed at truths which were hereafter to be revealed.
He is far above the vulgar notion that Hellas is the civilized world, or
that civilization only began when the Hellenes appeared on the scene.
But as he approaches more historical times, in preparing the way for his
-own theory of mixed government, he argues very falsely and imperfectly.
He is desirous of showing the imperfection of the Dorian institutions,
and hence he is led to attribute them to the Argives and Messenians.
The decay of one of these Greek tribes, and the destruction of the
other, are adduced by him as a manifest proof of their failure. But
there is no more reason to suppose that the Dorian rule of life ever
prevailed in Argos and Messene, than to assume that Dorian institutions
-were framed to protect the Greeks against the power of Assyria; or that
the empire of Assyria was in any way affected by the Trojan war (this
was not a part of any legend); or that the return of the Heraclidae was
only the return of Achaean exiles, who received a new name from their
leader Dorieus. Such fancies were chiefly based, as far as they had any
foundation, on the use of analogy, which played a great part in the dawn
of historical and geographical research. Because there was a Persian
empire which was the natural enemy of the Greek, there must also have
been an Assyrian empire, which had a similar hostility; and not only the
fable of the island of Atlantis, but the Trojan war, derived some features
from the Persian struggle. The river Nile answered to the Ister, and
the valley of the Nile to the Red Sea (Herod. ii. 119). In the Republic,
Plato is flying in the air regardless of fact and possibility—in the Laws,
he is making history by analogy. In the one, he appears to be like
some modern philosophers, absolutely devoid of historical sense ; in the
other, he is on a level not with Thucydides, or the critical historians of
Greece, but with Herodotus, or even with Ctesias.

72 LAY sy:

The chief object of Plato in tracing the origin of society, is to show q
the point at which regular government superseded the patriarchal i
authority, and laws common to many families took the place of the ’
old customs. The customs were systematized by legislators, and new _
forms of government began to spring up. According to Plato, the only ©
sound principle on which any of them was based was a mixture or —
balance of power. ‘The balance of power had saved Sparta, when the ~
two other Heraclid cities fell into disorder. Here, again, is probably —
the first trace of a great political idea, which has exercised a vast .
influence both in ancient and modern times. And yet we might fairly
ask, a little parodying the language of Plato—O legislator, is unanimity
only mutual jealousy; or is the balance of powers in a state better than
the harmony of them?

In the fourth book we approach the realities of politics, and Plato
begins to ascend to the height of his great argument. The reign of
Cronos has passed away, and various forms of government have

succeeded, which are all based on self-interest and _ self-preservation. |

Right and wrong, instead of being measured by the will of God, are
created by the law of the state. The strongest assertions are made of
the purely spiritual nature of religion—‘ Without holiness no man is
accepted of God’; and of family duties, ‘ Honour thy father and thy
mother, if thou wouldst have a family.’ The legislator must teach these
precepts as well as command them. He is to be the educator as well as
the lawgiver of future ages, and the laws are themselves to form a part
of the education of the state. Unlike the poet, he must be definite and
rational; he cannot say one thing at one time, and another thing at
another—he must know what he is about. And yet legislation has
a poetical or rhetorical element, and must find words which will wing
their way to the hearts of men. Laws must be promulgated before they ©
are put in execution, and mankind must be reasoned with before they
are punished. The legislator will begin by entreating courteously those
who are willing to hear his voice. Upon the rebellious only does the
heavy blow descend. A sermon and a law in one, blending the secular
punishment with the religious sanction, appeared to Plato a new idea
which might have a great result in reforming the world. The experi-
ment had never been tried of reasoning with mankind; the laws of
others had never had any preambles, and Plato seems to have great
pleasure in contemplating his discovery.

INTRODUCTION. 73

In these quaint forms of thought and language, great principles of
morals and legislation are enunciated by him for the first time. They
all go back to mind and God, who holds the beginning, middle, and end
of all things in His hand. The adjustment of the divine and human
elements in the world is conceived in the spirit of modern popular
philosophy, differing not much in the mode of expression. At first sight
the legislator appears to be impotent, for all things are the sport of
chance. But we admit also that God governs all things, and that chance
and opportunity co-operate with Him (compare the saying, that chance
is the name of the unknown cause). Lastly, while we acknowledge that
God and chance govern mankind, and provide the conditions of human
action, experience will not allow us to deny a place to art. We know
that there is a use in having a pilot, though the storm may overwhelm
him; and a legislator is required to provide for the happiness of a state,
although he will pray for favourable conditions under which he may
exercise his art.

BOOK V. Hear now, all ye who heard the laws about Gods and
ancestors: Of all human possessions the soul is most divine, and most
truly a man’s own. For in every man there are two parts—a better
which rules, and an inferior which serves—and the ruler is to be pre-
ferred to the servant. And Ef tell every one next after the Gods to
honour his own soul, and he can only honour her by making her better.
A man does not honour his soul by flattery, or gifts, or self-indulgence,
or conceit of knowledge, nor when he blames others for his own errors ;
nor when he indulges in pleasure or refuses to bear pain; nor when he
thinks that life at any price is a good, because he fears the world below,
which, far from being an evil, may be the greatest good: nor when he
prefers beauty to virtue—not reflecting that the soul which came from
heaven is more honourable than the body which is earth-born; nor when
he desires money, of which no amount is equal in value to virtue—in
a word, when he counts that which the legislator pronounces evil to be
good, he misbehaves towards his soul, which is the divinest part of him.
He does not consider the real punishment of evil, which is, that he
grows like evil men, and is compelled to fly from the company of the
good: and he who is joined to evil men, must do and suffer what such
men by nature do and say to one another, which suffering is not
justice but retribution. For justice is noble, but retribution is only the

m4 LAWS.

attendant of injustice. And whether a man escapes or whether he
is punished, he is equally miserable; for in the one case he is not
cured, and in the other case he is destroyed that the rest of the world
may be saved. |

The glory of man is to follow the better and improve the inferior.
And the soul is that part of man which is most inclined to avoid the evil
and dwell with the good. Wherefore also the soul is second only to the
Gods in honour, and in the third place the body is to be esteemed, which
often has a false honour. For honour is not to be given to the fair or
the strong, or the swift, or the tall, or the healthy, any more than to the
opposite of these, but to the mean states; and the same of property and
external goods. No man should heap up riches that he may leave
them to his children. ‘The best condition is a middle one, in which
there is a freedom without luxury. And the best inheritance of children
is modesty. But modesty cannot be implanted by admonition only—
the elders must set the example.

He who honours his kindred and family, may fairly expect that the
Gods will give him children. He who would have friends must think
much of their favours to him, and little of his tothem. He who prefers
to an Olympic, or any other victory, the service of the laws, is also the
best servant of his country. Engagements with strangers are to be
deemed most sacred, because the stranger having no law to protect him
is immediately under the protection of the God of strangers. A prudent
man will avoid sinning against the stranger; and still more careful
should he be of sinning against the suppliant, which is an offence never
passed over by the Gods.

I will now speak of those particulars which are matters of praise
and blame only, and which, although the law is not cognisant of them,
greatly affect the disposition to obey the law. ‘Truth has the first
place among the gifts of Gods and men; for truth is faithfulness, and
unfaithfulness is the voluntary love as ignorance is the involuntary
reception of a lie: and he is not to be trusted who loves voluntary
falsehood, and he who loves involuntary falsehood is a fool. He who
would lead a happy life must begin early, that he may partake of truth
as long as possible. For he who is untruthful is in old age miserable
and desolate, and has not a friend to close his eyes. Good is he who
does no injustice—better who prevents others from doing any—best of
all who joins the rulers in punishing injustice. And this is true of goods

——

INTRODUCTION. ‘i

and virtues in general; he who has and communicates them to others
is the best of all; he who would, if he could, is second best; he who
has them and is jealous of imparting them to others is to be blamed,
but the good or virtue which he has is to be valued still, Let every man
contend in the race without envy; for the unenvious man increases the
strength of the city; himself foremost in the race, he harms no one with
calumny. Whereas the envious man is weak himself, and drives his
rivals to despair with his slanders, thus depriving the city of proper
training for the contest of virtue, and tarnishing her glory. Every man
should be gentle, but he should also be passionate; for against incurable
and malignant evil he must fight, and to this end passion is required.
But there is another kind of evil which is remediable, and ought to be
dealt with more in sorrow than anger. He who is unjust is to be pitied
in any case; for no man does evil or allows evil to exist or continue
voluntarily in the highest part of his soul: and we can afford to forgive
as well as pity the evil which can be cured: and therefore he who deals
with the curable sort has need of gentleness—he should keep his temper,
and not get into feminine rages; but the incurable shall have the
vials of our wrath poured out upon him. The greatest of all evils is
one which a man is always excusing in himself and never correcting —
that is to say, self-love; which is thought to be natural and enforced as
a duty, and yet is the cause of many errors. The lover of himself is
blinded about the object of his affections; he is perverted in his judg-
ments about good and evil, and prefers his own interests to the truth;
for the truly great man is not a lover of himself but of justice. Self-
love is the source of that ignorant conceit of knowledge which is always
doing and never succeeding. Wherefore let every man avoid self-love,
and condescend to follow the guidance of his betters. There are lesser
matters of which a man should remind himself; for wisdom is like
a stream, ever flowing in and out, and recollection is the flowing in of
failing knowledge. Let no man be given to excess either of laughter or
of tears; but let him control his feelings at the crisis of his fate, either
when he is on ‘sunlit heights’ or falling over a precipice, believing that
the Gods will diminish the evils and increase the blessings of good
men. These are the thoughts which should ever occupy a good man’s
mind; he should feel the frailty of human life, and the probability of
reverses, and should remember both in play and in seriousness, and
remind others of the alternations of fortune, and await the end in hope.

46 LAWS.

So much of man’s relation to God. But man is man, and dependent
on’pleasure and pain; and therefore to acquire a true taste respecting
either is a great matter. And what is a true taste? This can only be
explained by a comparison of one life with another. Pleasure is an
object of desire, pain of avoidance; and the absence of pain is to be
preferred to pain, but not to pleasure. There are infinite kinds and
degrees of both of them, and we choose the life which has more pleasure
and avoid that which has less; but we do not choose that life in which
the elements of pleasure are either feeble or equally balanced. All the
lives which we desire are pleasant, and if we choose any others, our
choice is due to inexperience.

Now there are four lives—the temperate, the rational, the courageous,
the healthful; and to these let us oppose four others—the intemperate,
the cowardly, the foolish, the diseased. The temperate life has gentle
pains and pleasures, the intemperate life has violent delights, and still
more violent desires. And the pleasures of the temperate exceed the
pains, while the pains of the intemperate exceed the pleasures. But
if this is true, none are voluntarily intemperate, but all who lack tem-
perance are either ignorant or wanting in self-control: for men always
choose the life which exceeds in pleasure. The wise, the healthful,
the courageous life have a similar advantage—they also exceed their
opposites in pleasure. And, generally speaking, the life of virtue
is far more pleasurable and honourable, fairer and happier far, than
the life of vice. Let this be the preamble of our laws; the strain will
follow.

As in a web the warp is stronger than the woof, so should the rulers
be stronger than their half-educated subjects: in the constitution of
a state there are two parts, the appointment of the rulers, and the rules
which are prescribed for them. But, before proceeding to discuss them,
there are some preliminary matters which have to be considered.

As of animals, so also of men, a selection must be made. The legis-
lator must purify them, and if he be not a despot he will find even the
mildest form of purification a difficult task. This milder process is as
follows: When men are poor and show a disposition to attack the pro-
perty of the rich, the legislator will despatch them to another land, and
this is euphemistically termed the sending out of a colony. But our
case will not require this remedy. We shall only need to purify the
streams before they meet. This may often be a difficult process, but in

HN toe OCCT LOW: ri

theory we may suppose the operation performed, and the desired purity
attained. Evil men we will hinder from coming, and receive the good
as friends with open arms.

Like the old Heracleid colony, we are fortunate in escaping the
abolition of debts and the distribution of land, which are difficult and
dangerous questions; the legislator may pray and hope, and may perhaps
lessen the difficulty a little in a long period of years, but only when there
is abundance of land. His aim will be to create a kindly spirit between
creditors and debtors. ‘Those who have should give to those who are
in want; they should deem poverty to be not the diminution of a man’s
property, but the increase of his desires. Good will is the basis of a
state: upon this alone can the political superstructure be safely reared.
Among citizens there should be no outstanding quarrels: a legislator
of sense will not proceed a step in the arrangements of a state until
they are settled. For him to introduce fresh bones of contention would
be the height of folly.

Let us now proceed to the distribution of our state, and determine the
size of the territory and the number of the allotments. The territory
should be sufficient to maintain the citizens in moderation, and the
population should be numerous enough to defend themselves, and
sometimes to aid their neighbours. We will fix the number of citizens
at 5040, to which the number of houses and portions of land shall
correspond. Let the number be divided into two parts and then into
three; and again into four and five, and any number of parts up to ten.
For the whole number is very convenient for the purposes of dis-
tribution, and is capable of fifty-nine divisions; ten of these proceed
without interval from one to ten. Here are numbers enough for war
and peace, and for all contracts and dealings. These properties of
numbers are true, and should be ascertained with a view to use.

No man of sense will make any alterations in religious institutions,
when they have been once settled by the oracles of Delphi and Dodona.
All sacrifices, and altars, and temples, whatever may be their origin,
whether derived from Tyrrhenia or Cyprus, or some other place, should
remain as they are, and be supported by grants of land. Every division
should have a patron God or hero; to these a portion of the domain
should be appropriated, and at their temples those who are charged with
their support should meet together from time to time, in their several
divisions, for the sake of mutual help and friendship. All the citizens of

78 sy Oe Bey ae

a state should be known to one another; for when there is darkness and
not light in the daily intercourse of life, there can be no justice or right
administration. Every man should be true and simple, and should not
allow others to take advantage of him.

And now the game opens, and we begin to move the pieces. At first
sight, our constitution may appear unsuitable to a legislator who has not
despotic power ; but on second thoughts will be deemed to be if not the
very best, the second best. For there are three forms of government,
a first, a second, and a third best, out of which Cleinias has now to
choose. The first and highest form is that in which friends have all
things in common, including wives and property,—in which they have
common fears, hopes, desires, and do not even call their eyes or their
hands their own. This is the ideal state; than which there never can
be a truer or better—a state, whether inhabited by Gods or men, which
will make the dwellers therein blessed. Here is the pattern on which we
must ever fix our eyes; but we are now concerned with another, which
is next in degree, and we will afterwards proceed to a third.

Inasmuch as our citizens are not fitted either by nature or education
to receive the saying, Friends have all things in common, let them
retain their houses and private property, but use them in the service of
their country, who is their God and parent. Their first care should be
to preserve the number of their lots. This may be secured in the
‘following manner: where there is a family the lot shall be left to the
best-beloved child, who will become the heir of all the family interests
and duties, to Gods, home and country. Of the remaining children, the
females must be given in marriage according to the law, to be hereafter
enacted; childless males will have children assigned to them. How to
equalize families and allotments will be one of the chief cares of the
supreme council. When parents have too many children they may give
to those who have none, or couples may abstain from having children,
or take special care to obtain them; or if the number of citizens becomes
excessive, we may have recourse to our old plan of a colony. If, on the
other hand, a war, or flood, or plague diminish the number of the allot-
ments, new citizens will have to be introduced; and you certainly ought
not to introduce those who are ill-born and ill-educated. Still there may
be cases in which you cannot avoid doing so, for even God cannot fight
against necessity.

Wherefore we will say to our citizens: Good friends, honour order

pace amamali

INTRODUCTION. 70

and equality, and above all the number 5040. Secondly, respect the
original division, which must not be infringed by buying and selling ; for
the law says that the land which a man has is sacred—God gave him
the lot, and He will assuredly punish the alienation of His gift. And
those who alienate either house or lot, shall be cursed by priests and
priestesses once and again, and their curses shall be written down on
tablets of cypress for the instruction of posterity. The all-seeing eye of
the chief magistrate will be upon them, and he will punish those who
disobey God and the law.

To appreciate the benefit of such an institution a man requires to be
well educated; for he certainly will not make a fortune in our state. No
man will be allowed to exercise any illiberal occupation. The law also
provides that no man shall have gold or silver, but only some coin for
daily use, which will not pass current in other countries. The common
Hellenic currency is to be used in defraying the. expenses of expeditions,
or of embassies, or when a man is on foreign travels; but he who uses
it is to deliver up what is over on his return home to the treasury from
which the issue came, on pain of losing the sum in question; and he
who does not inform against him is to be mulcted in an equal sum. No
money is to be given or taken as a dowry, or to be lent on interest, or
lent at all, except to an honest man. The law will not protect a man
in recovering either interest or principal. All these regulations imply
that the aim of the legislator is not to make the city as rich as possible,
or as mighty as possible, but the greatest virtue and the greatest hap-
piness are to be his principles. Now men can hardly be at the same
time very virtuous and very rich. Over-much honesty is not consistent
with excess of wealth. And why is this? Because he who makes
twice as much and saves twice as much as he ought, receiving where
he ought not and not spending where he ought, will be at least twice
as rich as he who makes money where he ought, and spends where he
ought. On the other hand, an utterly bad man is generally profligate
and poor, while he who acquires honestly, and spends what he acquires
on noble objects, can rarely be very rich. A very rich man is not a
good man, and therefore not a happy one. Now the object of our laws
is to make the citizens as friendly and happy as possible, which they
will be, not when there are the most wrongs and suits, but when there
are the fewest. And, therefore, we say that there is to be no silver or
gold in the state, nor the meaner sort of trade which is carried on by

80 LAWS.

usury or the rearing of stock, nor money-making, which will lead men
to neglect that for the sake of which money is made, that is to say, the
soul first and afterwards the body;—which are not good for much
without music and gymnastic. Money is to be held in honour last or
third; the highest interests being those of the soul, and in the second
class are to be ranked those of the body. ‘This is the true order of
legislation, which would be inverted by placing health before tem-
perance, or wealth before health. Let our citizens take the lot upon
these conditions.

It might be well if every man could come to the colony having equal
property; but equality is impossible, and therefore we must avoid causes
of offence by valuations of properties, and proportionate taxation. To
this end, let us make four classes in which the citizens may be placed
according either to their original property, or to the changes of their
fortune. The greatest of evils is revolution; and this, as the law will
say, is caused by extremes of poverty or wealth. The limit of either
shall be the lot, which must not be diminished, and may be increased
fourfold, but not more. He who exceeds the limit shall be deprived of
the surplus, which shall be divided between the informer and the Gods,
and he shall pay as much again out of his own property. All property
other than the lot must be inscribed in a register, so that any disputes
which arise may be easily determined.

The city shall be in a suitable situation, and in the centre of the
country, and shall be divided into twelve wards. First, we will erect an
acropolis, encircled by a wall, within which shall be placed the temples of
Hestia, and Zeus, and Athené. From this shall be drawn lines dividing
the city, and also the entire country, into twelve sections containing 5040
lots. Each lot shall be subdivided into two parts, and there shall be
a residence on both. The distance of one part of the lot shall be com-
pensated by the nearness of the other; the badness and goodness by
the greater or less size. Twelve of the lots will be assigned to the
twelve Gods, and they will give their names to the tribes. The divisions
of the country shall correspond to those of the town.

The objection will naturally arise, that all the advantages of which we
have been speaking will never concur. The citizens will not tolerate
a settlement in which they are deprived of gold and silver, and have
the number of their families regulated, and the sites of their houses fixed
by law. They will say that our city is a mere image of wax. And the

INTRODUCTION. SI

legislator will answer ‘I know it, but I maintain that we ought to set
forth an ideal which is as perfect as possible. If difficulties arise in the
execution of the plan, we must avoid them and carry out the remainder.
But the legislator must first be allowed to complete his idea without
interruption.’

- The number twelve, which is the number of division, runs through all
parts of the state, phratries, villages, ranks of soldiers, coins and measures
wet and dry, which are all to be made commensurable with one another.
There is no meanness in requiring that the smallest vessels should have
a common measure, which may be used in all measurements of height
and depth, as well as of sounds and motions, upwards or downwards,
or round and round. And the use of such a measure should be duly
imposed by the legislator on all the citizens. No instrument of edu-
cation is more valuable than arithmetic; nothing more tends to sharpen
and improve and inspire the dull intellect. But such an education pre-
supposes a lofty and generous spirit; there must be no meanness in the
mind of the student. Otherwise, what should make a wise man will go
to the formation of a rogue; and this evil tendency may be actually
observed among the Egyptians and Phoenicians, who, notwithstanding
their knowledge of arithmetic, are degraded in their general character ;
whether this defect in them is to be attributed to misfortune or to the
disastrous influence of their education. And do not let us be deceived
into thinking that we can disregard physical causes, or that there are not
great differences in the power of regions to produce good men: heat
and cold, and water and food, are certainly productive of many and great
effects on the souls and bodies of men; and greater still are the influ-
ences of particular places, in which the air is holy, and Gods and
demi-Gods have taken up their abode. To all this the legislator must
attend, so far as lies within the scope of human prudence.

BOOK VI. And now we are about to consider (1) the appointment
of magistrates; (2) the laws by which their powers and rights are to be
determined. I may observe by the way that laws, however good, are
useless and also ridiculous unless the magistrates are able to execute
them. And therefore (1) the intended rulers of our imaginary state
should be tested from their youth upwards until the time of their elec-
tion ; and (2) those who are to elect them ought to be trained in habits
of law, that they may form a right judgment of good and bad men. But

VOLS. G

82 LAWS.

uneducated colonists who are unacquainted with each other, will not be

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likely to choose well. What, then, shall we do? I will tell you: The ©
colony will have to be intrusted to the ten commissioners, of whom you —

are one, and I will help you and them, which is my reason for inventing
this romance. And I cannot bear that the tale should go wandering
about the world without a head,—left in this amorphous state, it will be
such an ugly monster. ‘Very good.’ Yes; and I will be as good as
my word, if God and old age will be gracious to me. And God will be

gracious: but let us not forget what a great and daring creation this our

city is. ‘Why daring?’ Why, surely our courage is shown in imagining
that the new colonists will quietly receive our laws; for no man likes to
receive laws when they are first imposed: could we only wait until those

who had been educated under them were grown up, and of an age to vote

in the public elections, there would be far greater reason to expect per-
manence in our institutions. ‘ Very true.’ The Cnosian founders should
take pains to clear themselves in the matter of the colony, and above all
in the election of the higher officers. ‘How would you appoint them ?’
In this way: The Cnosians who take the lead in the colony, together
with the colonists, will choose thirty-seven persons, of whom nineteen
will be colonists, and the remaining eighteen Cnosians—you must be one
of the eighteen yourself, and become a citizen of the new state. ‘Why
do not you and Megillus join us?’ Athens is proud, and Sparta too;

and they are both a long way off. But let me proceed with my scheme, ©

As time goes on, the mode of election will be as follows: All who are of
full age in the various departments of the military service will be elec-
tors; and the election will be held in the most sacred of the temples.
The voter will place on the altar a tablet, inscribing thereupon his vote,
together with the name of his father, tribe, and ward, and his own name;
and he may take away the tablet and replace it in the agora within thirty
days. The 300 who obtain the greatest number of votes will be pub-
licly announced, and out of them there will be a second election of 100;
and out of the roo a third election of thirty-seven, who have the greatest
number of votes: these are to be the rulers; and the last election is to
be accompanied by the solemnity of the electors passing through vic-
tims: But then who is to arrange all this? ‘There is a common saying,
that the beginning is half the whole; and I should say a good deal more
than half. ‘Most true. The only way of making a beginning is from
the parent city; and though in after ages the tie may be broken, and

wT eS a)

SRA PRY? oe

INTRODUCTION. 83

quarrels may arise between them, yet in early days the child naturally
looks to the mother for care and education. And, as I said before, the
Cnosians ought to take an interest in the colony, and select 100 elders
of their own citizens, to whom shall be added 100 of the colonists, to be
their rulers; and when the colony has been started, the Cnosians may
return home and leave the colonists to themselves. ‘The thirty-seven
shall have the following functions: first, they shall be guardians of the
law; secondly, of the registers of property in the four classes—not in-
cluding the two, three, four minae, which are allowed as a surplus. He
who is found to possess what is not described in the registers, in addition
to the confiscation of such property shall be proceeded against by law,
and if he be cast he shall lose his share in the public property or distri-
butions of property; he shall all his life long be confined to the lot; and
his sentence shall be inscribed in some public place. The thirty-seven
guardians are to continue in office twenty years only, and to commence
holding office at fifty years, or if later, they are not to remain after
seventy.

Generals have now to be elected, and commanders of horse and briga-
diers of foot. ‘The generals shall be natives of the city, proposed by the
guardians of the law, and elected by those who are or have been of the
age for military service. Any one may challenge the person nominated
and start another candidate, whom he affirms upon oath to be better
qualified. The three who obtain the greatest number of votes shall be
elected. The generals thus elected shall propose the taxiarchs or briga-
diers, and the challenge may be made, and the voting taken, in the same
manner as in the previous case. Assemblies for elections are to be held
in the first instance, and until the prytanes and council come into being,
by the guardians of the law in some holy place; and they shall divide
the citizens into hoplites and cavalry, placing in a third division all the
rest. All are to vote for general and cavalry officers. The brigadiers
are to be voted for by those who carry shields. Next, the cavalry are to
choose phylarchs in the presence of the army; but captains of archers
and other irregular troops are to be appointed by the generals themselves.
The generals of cavalry shall be proposed and voted upon by the same
persons who vote for generals of the army. The two who have the
greatest number of votes shall be leaders of all the horse. Disputes
about the voting may be raised once or twice, but if oftener the pre-
siding officers shall decide.

G2

84 LAWS.

The council shall consist of 360, who may be conveniently divided
into four sections of ninety each, making ninety councillors of each
class. In the first place, all the citizens shall vote for members of the
council taken from the first class; and they all shall be compelled to
vote under pain of fine—this shall be the business of the first day. On
the second day a similar election shall be made from the second class.
On the third day, members of the council shall be elected from the
third class; but the compulsion to vote shall only extend to the voters of
the three first classes, who, if they fail to vote, shall pay a fine according
to their class. On the fourth day, members of the council shall be
elected from the fourth class; they shall be elected by all, but the com-
pulsion to vote shall only extend to the second class, who shall pay a
fine triple the fine which was exacted at first, and to the first class, who
shall pay a quadruple fine. On the fifth day, the names shall be exhi-
bited, and out of them every citizen shall choose 180 of each class:
these are to be reduced by lot to ninety, and go x 4 will form the
council for the year.

The mode of election which has been described is a mean between
monarchy and democracy, and such a mean should ever be observed in
the state. For servants and masters cannot be friends, and, although
equality makes friendship, we must remember that there are two sorts of
equality. One of them is the bare external rule of number and measure ;
but there is also a higher equality, which is the judgment of Zeus, This
latter has little place in human affairs, but that little is the source of the
greatest good to cities and individuals. This is that equality which
gives more to the better and less to the inferior, and is the true political
justice ; to this the legislator looks, and we in our state desire to look,
not to the interests either of tyrants or mobs. But justice cannot always
be strictly enforced, and then equity and mercy have to be substituted:
and for a similar reason, when true justice will not be endured, we must
have recourse to the rougher justice of the lot, which God must be
entreated to guide.

These are the principal means of preserving the state, but perpetual
care will also be required. ‘The sailor has to keep a look-out for the
ship-night and day; and the vessel of state is tossing in a political sea,
and therefore watch must succeed watch, and rulers must join hands
with rulers, never allowing their vigilance to relax. Of the 360 senators,
the greater part may be permitted to go and manage their own affairs,

INTRODUCTION. 8s

but a twelfth portion must be set aside in each month for the administra-
tion of the state. ‘Their business will be to receive information and
answer embassies, also to prevent or heal internal disorders ; wherefore
they should exercise authority over all assemblies. These matters will
be ordered by the monthly division of the council.

Besides the council, there ought to be wardens of ways, buildings,
harbours, market-places, fountains, and the like. The temples should
have their priests and priestesses, whether hereditary or appointed, and
there should be officers having dominion over men and beasts; three
kinds will be enough. The first may be called wardens of the city; the
second, wardens of the agora; the priests are the third kind, and they
will commonly hold family priesthoods; and if these do not exist in the
new colony, let priests and priestesses be appointed. Some of our
magistrates shall be elected by vote, some by lot; and the upper and
lower classes shall be mingled in a friendly manner in the election to
offices. The appointment of priests should be left to the God—that is,
to the Jot in which the God will manifest his will, the person elected
undergoing a scrutiny, in proof of his being in his own person sound of
body and legitimate, and his family as well as himself free from impurity
and homicide. The laws which are to govern the temples should be
brought from Delphi, and executed under the direction of the interpreters
of them. Priests and priestesses are to be of sixty years of age, and
shall hold office for a year only; the twelve tribes shall be formed into
bodies of four, who will elect three apiece, making twelve in all. The
three who have the greatest number of votes shall be appointed, and
undergo a scrutiny ; the remaining nine shall go to Delphi, in order that
the God may select one out of each triad—and they shall be appointed
for life. When any one dies, another shall be elected from the tribe of
the deceased. ‘There shall also be treasurers of the temples and groves,
having authority over the produce and the letting of them.

The defence of the city should be committed to the generals, and
other officers of the army, and to the wardens of the city and agora.
The defence of the country shall be on this wise: there are twelve’
districts and twelve tribes, and in each there shall be five wardens of the
country, and each of the five shall select twelve others out of their own
district, of not more than thirty or less than twenty-five years of age.
Every month they shall have one of the twelve portions of the country
allotted to them, and go from one to the other, and back again from

86 LAW S.

west to east, and from east to west, changing the stations in their pro-
gress backwards and forwards in different months, that they may know
the country at all seasons of the year. Every third year they shall have
new wardens of the country, and commanders of the watch. While on
service, their first duty will be to see that the country is well fortified,
trenching and throwing up works in different places, with the assistance
of the inhabitants; they will use the beasts of burden and the labourers
whom they find on the spot, taking care however to interfere as little
as possible with the regular course of agriculture. They will keep the
roads in good order, and render every part of the country as inaccessible
as possible to enemies, and as accessible as possible to friends. They
will restrain and preserve the rain which comes down from heaven,
making the barren places fertile, and the wet places dry. They will
ornament the fountains with plantations and buildings, and guide the
streams to the temples and groves of the gods; providing water by
irrigation at all seasons of the year. In sacred places the youth should
make gymnasia for themselves, and warm baths for the aged; there the
weary frame of the rustic, worn with toil, will be kindly received, and
experience far better treatment than at the hands of a country doctor.

The duties of the service will be useful as well as ornamental, for the
sixty police will be the guardians of the several portions of the country
assigned to them; the five monthly rulers shall decide small matters,
and the seventeen, composed of the five and the twelve, shall decide
greater matters up to three minae. Every judge except the highest of
all is to give an account. If the wardens of the country do any wrong
to the inhabitants, let them submit to the decision of the villagers in the
neighbourhood, where the question is only of a mina; but in suits of a
greater amount, or in cases of appeal, the injured party may bring his
suit into the common courts, and, if he obtain a verdict, may exact
a double penalty.

The wardens, while on their two years’ service, shall live and eat
together, and he who is absent from the daily meal without permission
or sleeps out at night, shall be regarded as a deserter, and be liable
to be punished by any one who meets him. If any of the rulers is
guilty of such an irregularity, the whole company of sixty shall have
him punished; and he of them who screens him shall be liable to a
still heavier penalty. He who is not a good servant will not be a good
master; and a man should pride himself more upon serving well than

INTRODUCTION. 87

upon commanding: (1) upon serving the laws and the Gods; and (2)
upon serving ancient and honourable men. The twelve and the five
should serve themselves and one another, determining not to use the
labour of the villagers for their private advantage, but only for the good
of the public. Let them search the country through, and acquire a
perfect knowledge of every locality; with this view, hunting and field
sports should be encouraged. ‘The service to whom these duties are
committed, may be called the secret or rural police.

Next we have to speak of the elections of the wardens of the agora
and of the city. The wardens of the city shall be three in number,
and they shall have the care of the streets, roads, buildings, also of the
water supply, which they will provide pure and abundant. They shall
be chosen out of the highest class, and when the number of candidates
has been reduced to six, three out of the six shall be taken by lot, and,
after being tested by a scrutiny, shall be admitted to their office. The
wardens of the agora shall be five in number—ten are to be first elected,
and every one shall vote for all of them; the ten shall be afterwards
reduced to five, as in the former election. The first and second class
shall be compelled to go to the assembly, but not the third and fourth,
unless they are specially summoned. ‘The wardens of the agora shall
have the care of the temples and fountains which are in the agora, and
shall punish those who injure them by stripes and bonds, if they be
slaves or strangers; and by fines if they be citizens. And the wardens
of the city shall have a:similar power of inflicting punishment and
fines in their own department.

In the next place, there must be ministers of music and gymnastic ;
one class of them superintending gymnasia and schools, and the edu-
cation and housing of youth, male and female—the other having to do
with contests of music and gymnastic. In musical contests there shall
be one set of judges of solo singing or playing, who will judge of
thapsodists, flute-players, harp-players and the like, and another of
choruses. Each chorus of men, and boys, and maidens, must have a
leader—one will be enough, and he should not be less than forty years
of age; secondly, there must be a master of monody, aged not less than
thirty years; he will introduce the competitors to the stage, and refer the
judgment of them to the judges. The choregus is to be elected for
a year in an assembly at which all who take an interest in music are
compelled to attend, and no one else. Anybody may challenge on the

88 LAYS:

ground that so and so is unfit; and to this the other party may reply
that he is fit. One is to be chosen by lot out of ten who are elected
by vote. Next shall be elected out of the second and third classes the ©
judges of gymnastic contests, who are to be three in number, chosen, after
they have been tested, out of twenty who have been elected by the three
highest classes—these being compelled to attend at the election.

One minister remains, who will have the general superintendence of
the education of either sex. Let him be not less than fifty years old,
and the father of children born in wedlock, of one sex if not of both;
and let him and the electors agree in regarding his office as the highest
in the state. For the right growth of the first shoot in plants and
animals, tame or wild, including man, is the chief cause of matured
perfection. Man is supposed to be a tame animal, but he is made
either the gentlest or the fiercest of all creatures, accordingly as he is
well or ill educated. Wherefore he who is elected to preside over edu- |
cation should be the best man possible. He shall hold office for five
years, and shall be elected out of the guardians of the law, by the votes
of the other magistrates with the exception of the senate and prytanes;
and the election shall be held by ballot in the temple of Apollo.

When a magistrate dies before his term of office has expired, another
shall be elected in his place; and, in case the guardian of an orphan
dies, another shall be appointed by the relations within ten days; and
they shall be fined a drachma a day for every day which they delay.

. The city which has no courts of law will soon cease to be a city; and
a judge who is silent and leaves the enquiry wholly to the litigants, as in
arbitrations, is not a good judge. For making enquiry, a few judges are
better than many, but the few must be good. The matter in dispute
should be clearly elicited from the contending parties; time and exa-
mination will find out the truth. Before going to law, causes should
first be tried among neighbours who know the circumstances, and if they
cannot be settled by them, let them be referred to a higher court; and if
the two courts do not agree, to a higher still, of which the decision shall
be final.

Every magistrate is a judge, and every judge is a magistrate, on the
day on which he is deciding a suit. The best tribunal will be that on
which the litigants agree; and let there be two other tribunals, one for
public and the other for private causes. The high court of appeal shall
be composed of all the officers of state; they.shall meet on the last day

INTRODUCTION. 89

of the year, and choose orie judge for each court, to be their first-fruits :
and those who are elected, after they have. undergone a scrutiny, shall
decide causes and judge appeals. They shall give their votes openly,
in the presence of the magistrates who have elected them; and if any
one charges another with deciding against him unfairly, he shall lay his
accusation before the guardians of the law, and if the judge be found
guilty he shall pay damages to the extent of half the injury, unless the
guardians of the law deem that he is worthy of a severer judgment.

As the whole people are injured by offences against the state, they
should share in the trial of them. Such causes should be decided by
any three of the highest magistrates upon whom the defendant and
plaintiff can agree. Also in private suits all should judge as far as
possible, and therefore there should be a court of law in every ward;
for he who has no share in the administration of justice, appears to
himself to have no share in the state. The final judgment shall rest
with that court which, as we maintain, has been established in the most
incorruptible form possible. And so, having done with the appointment
of courts and the election of rulers, we may proceed to make our laws.

‘I like your way, Stranger, and particularly approve your manner of
joining the béginning to the end.’

Then so far our old man’s game of play has gone off well.

‘ Say, rather, our serious and noble pursuit.’

Perhaps; but let me ask you whether you have ever observed the
manner in which painters put in and rub out colour: I want you to
remark that their endless labour will last but a short time, unless they
leave behind them some successor who will restore the picture, and
make-good the ravages of time. ‘Certainly.’ And is not this what you
and I have to do at the present moment? We are in the evening of
life ourselves, and therefore we must leave our work of legislation to be
improved and perfected by the next generation; not only making laws
for them, but making them lawgivers. ‘We must do our best.’ Let us
address them as follows: Beloved saviours of the laws, we give you an
outline of legislation which you must fill up, according to a rule which
we will prescribe for you: Megillus and Cleinias and I are agreed, and
we hope that you will agree with us in thinking, that the whole energies
of a man should be devoted to the attainment of manly virtue, whether
this is to be gained by study, or habit, or some kind of acquirement, or
desire, or opinion, or knowledge. He must admit of no impediments.

90 LAWS.

And rather than accept institutions which tend to degrade and enslave
him, he should fly his country and endure any hardship. These are our
principles, and we would ask you to judge of our laws, and praise or
blame them accordingly as they are or are not capable of implanting this
character.

And first of laws concerning religion. In the consideration of these
we shall have to return to the number 5040, of which the twelfth part
is 420 = 20 X 21; this division corresponds to the number of the
twelve tribes, and each tribe may be further subdivided by 12. Every
divisor is a gift of God, and corresponds to the months of the year
and to the movement of the universe. Every city has a number, but
some numbers are more fortunate than others, and nothing can be
more fortunate than our own, which can be divided by all numbers
up to 12, with the exception of 11, and even by 11, if two families
are deducted. ‘The truth of this may be easily proved when we have
leisure. But leaving the proof for the present, we will proceed to
assign to each division some God or demigod, who shall have altars
raised to them, and sacrifices offered twice a month; and assemblies
shall be held in their honour, twelve for the tribes, and twelve for the
city. The object of them will be first to promote religion, secondly
to encourage friendship and family intercourse; for families must be
acquainted before they marry; if they are not, great mistakes will
arise. Let there be innocent dances of young men and maidens, who
may have the opportunity of seeing one another in modest undress.
To the details of all this the masters of choruses and the guardians will
attend, embodying in laws the results of their experience; and after ten
years making the laws permanent, with the consent of the legislator,
if he be alive, or, if he be not alive, the guardians of the law shall
perfect them and settle them once for all. At least, if any further
changes are required, the magistrates must take the whole people into
counsel, and obtain the sanction of all the oracles.

Whenever any one who is between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-
five wants to marry, let him do so; but first let him hear the strain
which we will address to him —

Son of a virtuous sire: you ought to marry, but not for wealth—
even a little inferiority in this respect may be well; nor should you
avoid poverty, for your object is to have a well-balanced and harmo-
nious home. A man is commonly disposed to marry some one who

&

a a a a a ge El EEE EEE EOE eGO7O_7

INTRODUCTION. gt

is like himself in property and character. But the interests of the state
require that he should do the contrary, for by equal marriages a society
becomes unequal. And yet to enact a law that the rich and mighty shall
not marry the rich and mighty, that the passionate shall be united
to the dull, or the dull to the passionate, will arouse anger in some
persons and laughter in others; for they do not understand that the
state is a cup in which two elements mingle, the one frothing wine,
the other sober water,—the admixture of these is an excellent
drink. The object at which we aim must therefore be left to the
influence of public opinion. And ‘do not forget our former precept,
that every one should seek to attain immortality and raise up a fair
posterity to serve God:—This is the prelude of the law, to which if
a man will not listen, and at thirty-five years of age is still unmarried,
let him pay an annual fine: if he be of the first class, roo drachmas ;
m of the second, yo; if of the third, 60; and if of the fourth, 30:
This fine shall be consecrated in the temple of Heré; and if he refuse
to pay, a tenfold penalty shall be exacted by the treasurer of Here,
who shall be responsible for the payment. Further, the unmarried
man shall receive no honour or obedience from the young, and he
shall not retain the right of punishing others. A man is neither to
give nor receive a dowry beyond a certain fixed sum; and in our state
he will not grow old in poverty, for every one is provided with the
necessaries of life. If the woman is not rich, her husband will not be
her humble servant. He who obeys this law does well, and he who
disobeys shall pay a fine according to his class, which shall be exacted
by the treasurers of Heré and Zeus.

The betrothal of the parties shall be made by the next of kin in
various degrees, or if there are none, by the guardians. The offerings
and ceremonies of marriage shall be determined by the interpreters of
sacred rites. Let the wedding party be moderate, and never exceed
a man’s means; five male and five female friends, and a like number
of kinsmen, are enough. The expense should not exceed, for the first
class, a mina; and for the second class, half a mina. Extravagance is
to be regarded as vulgarity and ignorance of nuptial proprieties. Much
wine is only to be drunk at the festivals of Dionysus, and certainly not
on the occasion of a marriage. The bride and bridegroom, who are
taking a great step in life, ought to have all their wits about them; they
should be especially careful of the night on which God may give them the

=

92 A WS,

seed of increase, and which this will be none can tell. Their bodies and
souls should be in the most temperate condition; they should abstain
from all that partakes of the nature of disease or vice, which will
otherwise become hereditary. There is an original divinity in man
which preserves all things, if used with proper respect. He who marries
should make the second house the nest and nursery of his young; he
should leave his father and mother, and then he will have more affection
for them; ‘there ought to be deszderitum to get rid of offenszones,
He will go forth as to a colony and will beget and: bring up his
children in another place, handing on the torch of life to another
generation.

About property in general there is little difficulty, with the exception of
property in slaves, which is an institution of a very doubtful character.
The slavery of the Helots is affirmed by some to be the greatest good,
and by others the greatest misfortune of Sparta. To a certain extent
there is the same doubt about the slavery of the Mariandynians at Hera-
clea and of the Thessalian Penestae. This makes us ask, What shall
we do with our slaves? to which every one would agree in replying,
Let us have the best and most attached whom we can get. All of
us have heard stories of slaves who have saved the lives and properties
of their masters, and been better to them than a son or a brother.
‘Certainly.’ Yet there is an opposite doctrine, that slaves are good
for nothing, and not to be trusted; as Homer says, ‘ Slavery takes away
half a man’s understanding.’ And different persons treat them in
different ways: there are some who never trust them, and beat them
like dogs, until they make them not thrice, but many times as slavish
as they were before; and others pursue the opposite plan. Man is
a troublesome animal, as has been often shown, Megillus, in your Mes-
senian wars; and great mischiefs have arisen in countries where there
are large bodies of slaves who speak a common language. ‘Two rules
may be given for their management: first that those of them who
come from the same country should be dispersed; and secondly, that
they should be treated by their master with perfect justice, even more
than equals, and for his own sake quite as much as theirs. For the
truly just man is he who hates injustice when easy; and he who is
righteous in the treatment of his slaves, or of any inferiors, will sow
in them the seed of virtue. Masters should never play with their slaves:
this, which is a common practice, is a great piece of folly, and increases

ae

gt age

INTRODUCTION. 93

the difficulty and painfulness of managing them to both parties. ‘You
are quite right.’

Next as to habitations, ‘These ought to have been spoken of before ;
for no man can marry a wife, and have slaves, who has not a house
for them to live in. Let us supply the omission. The agora
should be in the centre of the city, and the temples in the neighbour-
hood of the Acropolis, Near them should be the residences of
the magistrates, and the courts of law in which capital offences are
to be tried, Matters serious in themselves are rendered more serious
by their proximity to the Gods. As to walls, Megillus, let them sleep
in the earth, as at Sparta; ‘cold steel is the best wall,’ as the poet
tells us. Besides, what an absurdity there would be in sending our
youth to dig fosses and raise buildings in defence of the borders of
our country, and then to build a city wall, which is very unhealthy,
and is apt to make people fancy that they may run there and rest in
idleness, not knowing that true rest must always follow toil, and that toil
of another sort is the consequence of idleness. If, however, there
must be a wall, the private houses had better be so arranged as to
form one wall; this will have an agreeable aspect, and the building will
be safer and more defensible. The inhabitants will keep the wall in
repair under the superintendence of the aediles, who will enforce

‘cleanliness, and preserve the public buildings from the encroachments

by buildings or diggings of individuals. The aediles will also take care to
let the rains flow off easily, and will regulate other matters concerning
the general administration of the city. What remains may be left to
the guardians of the law.

And now, having provided buildings, and having married our citizens,
we will proceed to speak of their mode of life. In a well-constituted
state, individuals cannot be allowed to live as they please. Why do
I say this? Because I am going to enact that the bridegroom shall
not absent himself from the common meals. They were instituted
originally on the occasion of some war, and, though deemed singular
when first founded, they have tended greatly to the security of states.
There was a difficulty in introducing them, but there is no difficulty
in them now. There is, however, another institution about which I
would speak, if I dared. I may preface my proposal by remarking
that disorder in a state is the source of all evil, and order of all good.
Now in Sparta and Crete there are common meals for men, and this,

94 LAWS.

as I was saying, is a divine and natural institution. But the women
are left to themselves; they live in dark places, and, being weaker,
and therefore wickeder, than men, they are at the bottom of a good
deal more than half the evil of states. This must be corrected, and
the institution of common meals extended to both sexes. But who can
establish them where they are lost; and still more, who can compel
women to eat and drink in public? They will dare the legislator to
come and take them out of their holes. And in any other state such
‘a proposal would be drowned in clamour, but in our own I think that
I can show the attempt to be just and reasonable. ‘There is nothing
which we should like to hear better.’ Listen, then; having plenty of
time, we will go back to the beginning of things, which is an old
subject with us. ‘Right.’ Either the race of mankind never had a
beginning and will never have an end, or the time which has elapsed
since man first came into being is all but infinite. ‘No doubt.’ And
in this infinity of time there have been constitutions and destructions
of states, and all kinds of order and disorder, desires of meats and
drinks of all sorts, and vicissitudes of the seasons, affecting animals
in numberless ways. ‘Certainly.’ Vines and olives were at length
discovered, and the blessings of Demeter and Persephone, of which one
Triptolemus is said to have been the minister; before his time the
animals had been eating one another. And there are nations in which
mankind still sacrifice their fellow men, and other nations in which they
will not sacrifice animals, or so much as taste of a cow—they offer
fruits or cakes moistened with honey; and some have led a sort of
Orphic existence, abstaining from everything that has animal life, and
eating only that which is without life. Perhaps you will ask me what
is the bearing of these remarks? ‘That is certainly passing in my
mind.’ I will endeavour to explain their drift. I see that the virtue
of human life depends on the due regulation of three wants or desires:
the first is the desire of meat, the second of drink; these begin with
birth, and refuse to listen to any voice other than that of pleasure and
pain. The third and fiercest and greatest need is felt latest; this is
love, which is a madness setting men’s whole nature on fire. These
three disorders of mankind we must endeavour to restrain by three
mighty influences—fear, and law, and reason, which, with the aid of the
Muses, and the Gods of contests, may extinguish our lusts.

But to return. After marriage let us proceed to the generation of

SS ee

INTRODUCTION. 95

children, and then to their nurture and education — thus gradually
approaching the subject of syssitia. There are, however, some other
points which are suggested by the three words — meat, drink, love.
‘Proceed.’ The bride and bridegroom ought to set their mind on
having a brave offspring. Now a man only succeeds when he takes
pains; wherefore the bridegroom ought to take special care of the bride,
and the bride of the bridegroom, at the time when their children are
about to be born. And let there be a jury of matrons who shall
meet at the command of the magistrates, and shall attend at the temple
of Eilithyia until noon, and inform against any man or woman who
does not observe the laws of married life. The time of begetting
children and the supervision of the parents shall last for ten years only ;
if at the expiration of this period they have no children, they may part,
with the consent of their relatives and the official matrons, and with
a due regard to the interests of either; if a dispute arise, the matrons
shall enter the houses of the young people, and advise and threaten
them. If their efforts fail, let them go to the guardians of the law; and
if they too fail, the offender, if he be a man, shall lose the privileges
of citizenship, and both men and women shall be forbidden to be pre-
sent at all family ceremonies. If when the time for begetting children
has ceased, either husband or wife have connection with others who are
of an age to beget children, they shall be liable to the same penalties
as those who are still having a family. But when both parties have
ceased to beget children there shall be no penalties; men and women
ought to live soberly and maintain a good reputation ; but recourse is to
be had to punishment only if there is great disorder of manners.

The first year of children’s lives is to be registered in their ancestral
temples; the name of the archon of the year is to be inscribed on a
whited wall in every phratry, and the names of the living members of
the phratry at the side, and to be erased at their decease. The proper
time of marriage for a woman shall be from sixteen years to twenty ; for
a man, from thirty to thirty-five (cp. Rep. v. 460 E). The age of holding
office for a woman is to be forty, for a man thirty years. The time for
military service for a man is to be from twenty years to sixty; for a
woman, from the time that she has ceased to bear children until fifty.

BOOK VII. Now that we have married our citizens and brought
their children into the world, we have to find nurture and education

y6 LAWS.

for them. This is a matter of precept rather than of law, and cannot
be precisely regulated by the legislator. For minute regulations are
apt to be transgressed, and frequent transgressions impair the habit of
obedience to the laws. I speak darkly, but I will try to exhibit my
wares in the light of day. Am I not right in saying that a good educa-
tion tends to the improvement of body and mind? ‘Certainly. And
the comeliness of the body ought to begin as soon as possible after
birth. ‘Very true.” And we observe that the first shoot of every
living thing is the greatest, and there are many who contend that man
is not at twenty-five twice the height that he was at five. ‘True.’ And
growth without symmetrical exercise of the limbs is the source of endless
evils in the body. ‘Yes.’ The body should have the most exercise
when growing most. ‘ What, the bodies of young infants?’ Nay, the
bodies of unborn infants. I should like to explain to you the sort
of gymnastics which may be used during the process of gestation.
The Athenians are fond of cock-fighting, and in our country the people
who keep cocks, far from thinking that they have enough movement
in fighting one another, take them out for long walks, holding them
in their hands or under their arms; this is done for the sake of health,
that is to say, not their own health, but the health of the cocks. Here
is a proof of the use and glory of motion, whether of rocking, swinging,
riding, or tossing upon the wave; for all these kinds of motion have a
great effect in increasing strength and the powers of digestion. Hence
we infer that our women, when they are with child, should walk about
and fashion the embryo; and the children, when born, should be carried
by stout nurses—one or more—and not suffered to walk until they are
three years old, lest they should grow ricketty. Shall we impose penalties
for the neglect of these rules? The greatest penalty, that is, ridicule, and
the difficulty of making the nurses do as we bid them, will be incurred by
ourselves. ‘Then why speak of these matters?’ In the hope that heads
of families may learn that the due regulation of them is the foundation
of law and order in the state.

And now, leaving the body, let us proceed to the soul; but we must
first repeat that perpetual motion by night and by day is good for all,
and especially for the infant; his life should be borne upon the wave.
This is proved by the Corybantian cure of motion, and by the practice
of nurses who rock children in their arms, lapping them at the same
time in sweet measures. What is the reason of this? The reason is

INTRODUCTION. 97
| obvious. The affections, both of the Corybantes and of the children
arise from fear, and this fear is occasioned by something wrong which
is going on within them. Now a violent external commotion tends
to calm the violent internal one; it quiets the palpitation of the heart,
giving sleep to some, and bringing back others who are awake
to their right minds by the help of religious dances and acceptable

_ sacrifices. There seems to be reason in that. ‘No doubt.’ Observe
also that the mind of a child which is habitually in a state of terror
will be likely to grow up timorous, and the overcoming af fear in
childhood will become courage. ‘ Very true.’ The motion of children
will inspire their souls with the virtue of cheerfulness. ‘Of course.’
Sofiness enervates and irritates the temper of the young, and violence
renders them mean and misanthropical. ‘But how is the state to
educate them when they are as yet unable to understand the meaning of
words?’ Why, surely they roar and cry, like the young of any other
animal, and the nurse knows the meaning of these intimations of the
child’s likes or dislikes, and the occasions which call them forth. About
three years is passed by children in a state of imperfect articulation, and »
this is no insignificant portion of human life, quite long enough to
make them either good or ill tempered. Now you should contrive that,
during these first three years, the infant should be as free as possible
from fear and pain. ‘Yes, and he should have as much pleasure
provided for him as possible.’ There I cannot agree with you; for
I consider the influence of pleasure in the beginning of education to
be fatal. ‘Explain.’ My principle is that a man should neither pursue
pleasure nor wholly avoid pain. He should embrace the mean, and
cultivate that state of calm which the religious feeling of mankind,
taught by inspiration, attributes to God; and he who would be like
God should neither be too fond of pleasure himself, nor should he
permit any other, male or female, young or old, to be thus given;
above all, not the infant, who in infancy is being fashioned and formed
more than at any other time. I shall be laughed at for saying that a
woman in her pregnancy should be carefully watched, and not suffered
to indulge in excitement; her ways should be gentle and gracious.

‘I quite agree with you about the duty of avoiding extremes and
following the mean.’

Let us now consider a further matter. The unwritten customs or usages
of our ancestors are made up of details which are not laws, but they

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98 LAWS.
fill up the interstices of law, and are the props and ligatures on which
the strength of the whole building depends. Laws without customs |
never last. No wonder, then, that habit and custom overflow into the —
domain of law. ‘Very true. And there may be great advantage in —
the influence exercised by custom upon three-years-old children. From
three to six their minds have to be amused; and they must receive
gentle chastisement, about which the same rule holds as in the case
of slaves — neither to punish them in hot blood, nor by sparing to
spoil them. Children at that age invent amusements for themselves
when they meet, and the nurses should bring parties of them to their
own village temple, and be careful to keep good order among them,
being responsible themselves to one of the twelve matrons annually
chosen by the women who have authority over marriage. ‘These
shall be appointed, one out of each of the twelve tribes, and when
appointed, they shall go to the temples, and reprove and chastise
offenders; and, in case their authority is disputed, shall bring them
before the magistrates. After six years of age there shall be a sepa-
ration of the sexes; the boys going to learn riding and the use of
arms, and the girls may, if they please, also learn. Here I note a
practical error in early training. The folly of mammas and nurses
believes that the left hand is by nature different from the right,
whereas the left leg and foot are acknowledged to be the same as the
right. But the truth is that nature made all things to balance, and the
use of the other hand, which is of little importance in the case of the
plectrum of the lyre, may make a great difference in the art of the
warrior, who should be a sort of pancratiast, in every part of his body
whole and perfect, and able to fight and balance himself in any position.
If a man were a Briareus, he should be able to hurl a hundred darts
with a hundred hands ; at any rate, let him make good use of two. To
all these matters the magistrates, male and female, should attend; the
women superintending the nursing and amusement of their children, and
the men superintending their education, that all of them, boys and girls
alike, may be sound, wind and limb, and not spoil the gifts of nature by
bad habits.

Education has two branches—gymnastic, which is concerned with the
body; and music, which is designed for the improvement of the soul.
And gymnastic has two parts, dancing and wrestling. Dancing aims at
the preservation of stateliness and freedom; wrestling is concerned with

INTRODUCTION. 99

the training of the limbs and parts of the body, and gives the proper
flexure and extension to each of them, diffusing harmony throughout the
frame. There is no military use in the complex systems of wrestling
which pass under the names of Antaeus and Cercyon, or in the science
of boxing, which is attributed to Amycus and Epeius ; but good wrestling
and the habit of extricating the neck, hands, and sides, should be
diligently learnt and taught; and in our dances imitations of war should
be practised, as in the dances of the Curetes in Crete and of the
Dioscuri at Sparta, or as in the dances in complete armour which were
taught and practised by the goddess Athene, and are still performed in
her honour. Youths who are not yet of an age to go to war should
take part in religious processions armed and on horseback, moving
slower or faster, chanting prayers to the Gods; and there should be
games and rehearsals, which, whether in war or peace, are of great
political importance.

Next follows music, to which we will once more return; and here
I shall venture to repeat my old paradox, that amusements have great
influence on laws. He who has been taught to play at the same games
and with the same playthings will be content with the same laws. There
is no greater evil in a state than the spirit of innovation. Even in
external nature change is a dangerous thing; in the changes of the
seasons and winds, there is danger to our bodies and the habits of
our minds; changes of diet are also dangerous. And in everything
but what is bad the same rule holds. Every one venerates and
acquiesces in the laws to which he is accustomed; and if they have
continued during long periods of time owing to some _ providential
arrangement, and there is no knowledge or memory of any other,
people are absolutely afraid to change them. Now by what device shall
we create this spirit of immobility in the laws? I say, by not allowing
innovations in the plays and games of children. The children who
are always changing their plays, when grown up, will change their laws.
Changes in mere fashions are not serious evils, but changes in the
praise and blame of characters are most serious; and rhythms and
music are representations of characters, and therefore we must avoid
novelties in dance and song; and no better method can be imagined
of securing permanence than that of the Egyptians. ‘What is their
method?’ The consecration of dances and hymns at appointed fes-
tivals and in honour of certain Gods; having been first selected by

tt 2

100 LAWS.

individuals, they should be solemnly ratified by all the citizens, and an
‘act of uniformity’ passed. He who introduces other hymns or dances
shall be excluded by the priests and priestesses, with the help of the
guardians of the law; and if he refuses to submit, he may be prosecuted.
But we must not be too ready to speak about such great matters. Even
a young man, when he hears something new and strange, stands and
looks this way and that, and, like a traveller in an unknown land, tries
to find out where he is and whither he is going; and at our age a man
ought to be very sure of his ground in so singular an argument. ‘ Very
true. Then, leaving the point which we are considering to receive
further examination at some other time, let us look forward to the end of
our laws about education, for that may probably throw light upon our
present difficulty. ‘Let us do as you say.’ The ancients used the term
vopot to signify harmonious strains, and perhaps they dreamed or fancied
that there was a connection between the songs and laws of a country.
And we say—Whosoever shall transgress the strains by law established
is a transgressor of the laws, and shall be punished by the guardians of
the law and by the priests and priestesses. ‘Let this be as you say.’
How can we legislate about them so as to command respect? Moulds
or types of them must be first made, and one of the types shall be,
Abstinence from evil words at sacrifices. When a son or brother blas-
phemes at a sacrifice there is a sound of ill omen heard in the family.
‘Very true.’ Yet this is a common practice. Many a chorus stands
by the altar uttering inauspicious words, and he is crowned victor who
excites the hearers most with lamentations. Such lamentations should
be reserved for evil days, and if they are ever uttered should be uttered
only by hired mourners, like those who accompany a funeral with
barbarous Carian chants; and let them not have circlets or ornaments
of gold. To avoid every evil word shall be the first of our types.
‘Agreed.’ Our second law or type shall be, that prayers ever ac-
company sacrifices; and our third, that prayers shall be only for good,
for they are requests, and our poets must be made to understand this.
‘Certainly.’ Were we not saying just now that the golden and silver
images of Plutus were not to be allowed in our city? and did not this
show that we were dissatisfied with the poets; and may we not reason-
ably fear that, if they are allowed to compose prayers which are bad
prayers, they will bring the greatest misfortunes on the state? And we
must therefore make a law that the poet is not to contradict the laws or

info NT GL AA eT

INTRODUCTION. IOI

ideas of the state; nor is he to show his poems to any private persons
until they have first received the zmprimatur of the director of education.
After prayers to the Gods, there naturally follow hymns to the Gods; and
after these, prayers and hymns to the heroes and demigods. There
will be no danger in praising the dead, but until a man’s life is finished
we must wait. And men and women may be equally deserving of praise.
Many ancient songs, poems, figures of the dance, are excellent, and
out of these a selection will be made by judges, who ought not
to be less than fifty years of age. They will choose some, and reject
or amend others, sometimes with the aid of the poets themselves, their
object being to bring the hymns and dances into accordance with the
intentions of the legislator. The regular and temperate music is the
style in which to educate children, who, if they are used to this, will
deem the opposite kind to be illiberal, or, if they are used to the other,
will count this to be cold and unpleasing. ‘Very good.’ Further, a
distinction should be made between the melodies of men and women.
Nature herself seems to teach that the grand or manly style should be
assigned to men, and to women the temperate and orderly. How this
is to be carried out in detail is a further consideration. I am only, like
the shipwright, laying down the keel of the vessel of the soul in which
we are to sail through life. Human affairs are hardly serious, and yet to
be serious about them is a disagreeable necessity ; and if we can discover
how to be serious, that will best beseem us. ‘Very true.’ I say then,
that concerning the serious we should be serious, and that the nature of
God is a serious reality. But man is a piece of mechanism and the
plaything of the Gods; and therefore his aim should be to pass through
life, not in grim earnest, but in play; and he should play as many
good plays as he can—man and woman alike—in an opposite way to
that which is now in vogue. ‘ How is that?? The common opinion is,
that work is for the sake of play, war of peace; whereas in war there
neither is, nor ever will be, lesson or amusement worth speaking of.
The life of peace is that which men should chiefly desire to lengthen out
and improve. They should live sacrificing, singing, and dancing, with
the view of propitiating Gods and heroes. I have already told you the
type which they should follow :—

‘Some things,’ as the poet says, ‘you will devise for yourself—others, God will
suggest to you.’

These words of his may be applied to our pupils. They will teach

102 LAWS.

themselves, and God will teach them the art of propitiating Him;
for they are His puppets, and have only a small portion in truth.
‘You have no great opinion of human nature.’ You must not wonder
at my depreciating man when I compare him with God; but, if you
are offended, I will place him a little higher.

Next follow the buildings; there will be gymnasia and schools in the
midst of the city, and outside the city circuses and open spaces for
riding and archery. In all of these there ought to be instructors of
the young, drawn from foreign parts by pay, and they will teach
them music and war. Education shall be compulsory; parents shall
not be allowed to send their children to school or not, as they please;
for they belong to the state more than to their parents. And I say
further, without fear or scruple, that the same education in riding and
gymnastic shall be given both to men and women. ‘The ancient
traditions about the female hosts of the Sauromatidae, who practise
the art of riding as well as archery and the use of arms, is an entirely
credible tradition which confirms me in this view; and if I am right,
nothing can be more foolish than our modern fashion of training
men and women differently, whereby one-half of the power of the
city is lost. For reflect—if women are not to have the education of
men, some other must be found for them, and what other can we
propose? Shall they, like the women of Thrace, tend cattle and till
the ground; or, like our own, spin and weave, and take care of the |
house? or shall they follow the Spartan custom, which is between the
two ?—there the maidens share in gymnastic exercises and in music;
and the grown women no longer engaged in spinning, weave the
web of life, although they are not like the Amazons, trained to the use
of spear and shield; nor can they imitate the warrior goddess, even
in the extremity of their country’s need. Compared with our women,
the Sauromatian women are like men. But your legislators, Megillus,
as I maintain, only half did their work; they took care of the men,
and left the women to take care of themselves.

‘Shall we suffer the Stranger, Cleinias, to run down Sparta in this
way ?’

‘Why, yes; for we cannot retract the liberty which we have already
conceded to him.’

What will be the manner of life of men in moderate circumstances,
freed from the toils of agriculture and business, and having common

INTRODUCTION. 103

meals for both sexes; from which they are dismissed by the magis-
trates, male and female, who will inspect their conversation, and at
whose bidding, when libations have been offered, they will return
home? Are men who have these institutions only to eat and fatten
like beasts? He who lives like a fatted beast will share the fate of
a fatted beast, which is to be torn in pieces by some other more
valiant beast than himself. True, theirs is not the perfect way of
life, for they have not all things in common; but the second best way
of life also confers great blessings; and those who live in the second
state have a work to do far greater, or rather twice as great as the
work of any Pythian or Olympic victor; for they indeed work for
the body only, but we both for body and soul. And this higher work
ought not to be interfered with by any bye-work, but should be pursued
night and day; for life is not long enough for the completion of it.
The watchman of the city should not sleep, and the master of the
household should be up early and before all his servants; and the
mistress, too, should awaken her handmaidens, and not be awakened
by them. Much sleep is not required either for our souls or bodies.
When a man is asleep, he is no better than if he were dead; and he
who loves life and wisdom will have no more sleep than is necessary
for health, which is not much. Magistrates who are wide awake at
night are terrible to the bad; but they are respected by the wise and
good, and useful to themselves and the state.

When the morning dawns, let the boy go to school. As the sheep
need the shepherd, so the boy needs a master; he may be called anzmal
ferae naturae, and is the most unmanageable and deceitful of all
creatures; for he has the springs of intelligence in him not yet regulated.
Let him be taken out of the hands of mothers and nurses, and tamed
with bit and bridle, being treated as a freeman in that he learns and is
taught; but as a slave in that he is chastised and smitten by all other
freemen; and the freeman who neglects to chastise him, shall himself
be reprimanded by the director of education.

We must now give instructions to our director of education—him
we will address as follows: We have spoken to you, O illustrious
teacher of youth, of the song, the time, and the dance, and of martial
exercises; but of prose writings, and of music, and of the use of
calculation for military and domestic purposes we have not spoken,
nor yet of the higher use of numbers in reckoning divine things—

104 LAWS.

such as the revolutions of the stars, or the arrangements of days in —
months, or of months in years, of which the true calculation is necessary ~

to the knowledge of the order of seasons and festivals, which enliven :

and wake up a city, rendering to the Gods their due, and making men
know them better. There are many things about which we have not
as yet instructed you—and first, as to reading and the lyre: Shall the
pupil be a perfect scholar and musician, or not even enter on the study?

He should certainly enter on the study, and apply himself to letters —

from the age of ten to thirteen. At thirteen he will begin to handle
the lyre, and continue to learn music until he is sixteen, and no longer,
however fond he or his parents may be of the pursuit. The study
of letters he should carry to the extent of reading and writing, without
caring for calligraphy and tachygraphy, if he has no natural taste for
them and cannot acquire them in three years. And here arises a
question as to the learning of compositions, whether in poetry or
prose, when unaccompanied with music. ‘They are a dangerous species
of literature. Speak then, O guardians of the law, and tell us what
we shall do about them. ‘You seem to be in a difficulty.’ Why,
yes; there is a difficulty in setting a single voice against the opinion
of all the world. ‘But have we not already disregarded the opinion
of the world in many of our enactments?’ Very true. I see that
you would marshal me on the unpopular road, which the many hate,
and you would have me cast in my lot with the few who are better
Then I will begin by observing that

’

than the many. ‘Certainly.
we have many poets writing in hexameters, trimeters, and various
other metres, comic as well as tragic, with whose compositions, as
all the world affirms, youth are to be imbued and saturated. Some
would have them learn by heart entire poets, while others prefer
extracts; and this is supposed to constitute a gentleman’s education.
Now I am of opinion, and, if I am not mistaken, everybody would
agree with me, that some of the things which they learn are good,
and some bad. ‘Then how shall we reject some and select others?’
A happy thought suddenly occurs to me; this discourse, which has
lasted the live-long day, is just a sample of what we want, and is
moreover an inspired work and a kind of poem. I am _ naturally
pleased in looking back at all this creation of mine, which appears
to me to have a wonderful propriety, and is just the thing for a young
man to hear. I would venture, then, to offer to the legislator this

Ee apne hea, MeL Stas ee”

INTRODUCTION. 105

treatise of laws as a sample of what he wants; and in case he should
find any compositions of the same family, written or oral, I would
have him preserve them with the utmost care, and commit them in
the first place to the teachers who are willing to learn them (he
should turn off the teacher who refuses), and let them communicate
the lesson to the young.

I have said enough of reading and writing; and now we will proceed
to the teachers of the lyre. The teacher of the lyre must be reminded |
of the advice which was given by us to the sexagenarian minstrels;

like them he should be quick to perceive the rhythms suited to the ex-

pression of virtue, and to reject the opposite. With a view to perfecting
the imitation, the pupil and his instructor are to use the lyre on account
of the distinctness of the notes; the voice and note should coincide
note for note: nor should there be harmonies and contrasts of intervals,
or variations of times or rhythms. Three years’ study is not long
enough to give a knowledge of these complexities. And when so
many subjects of education are necessary, the pupil should not be
overwhelmed with the unnecessary. The tunes and hymns which are
to be consecrated for each festival, and to be handed down in after
ages, have been already determined, and the regulation of them may
be left to our director of music.

Let us now proceed to dancing and gymnastic, which must also
be taught to boys and girls by masters and mistresses. Our minister}
of education will have a great deal to do. Being an old man how will
he get through so much work? There is no difficulty; for the law
will provide him with assistants, male and female, as many as he pleases ;
and he will consider how important his office is. For if education
prospers, the vessel of state sails merrily along; or if education fails,
the very mention of the consequences in an infant state would be
ill-omened. Of dancing and gymnastics something has been said
already. We include under them the various uses of arms, and the
movements and positions of the body corresponding to them, as well
as military tactics. ‘There should be public teachers of both arts, paid
by the state, and women as well as men should be trained in them. '
The maidens should learn the armed dance, and the grown-up women
be practised in the drill and use of arms, if only in case of extremity,
when the men are gone out to battle, and they are left to guard their
families. Birds and beasts defend their young, but women instead

106 He VS

of fighting run to the altars, thus degrading man below the level of
the animals. There is something unseemly in such cowardice, to say
nothing of the real harm. And therefore women are enjoined by law
to learn the art of war.

Wrestling is to be pursued as a military exercise, but the meaning
of this, and the nature of the art, can only be explained when action
is combined with words. Next follows dancing, which is of two kinds ;
imitative, first, of the serious and beautiful; and, secondly, of the
ludicrous and grotesque. ‘The first kind may be further divided into
the dance of war and the dance of peace; the first of the two is the
Pyrrhic, in which the movements of attack and defence are imitated—
the postures of hurling, slinging, shooting, striking, or again of escape
and guard. Of all these the true style is manly and direct, and indicates
strength and sufficiency of body and mind. The second is the dance
of peace; and is sometimes attended with Dionysiac revelry of a
debatable sort, personifications of Pan and Silenus, and of nymphs
and satyrs in their cups. This latter is a dance which can hardly
be tolerated in a civilized state, and cannot be characterized either as
warlike or peaceful. But with this exception the two kinds may be
admitted. The first of them is the more violent, being an expression
of joy and triumph after toil and danger; the other is more tranquil,
symbolizing the continuance and preservation of good. In speaking
or singing we naturally move our bodies, and gesture is the imitation
of words. As the dancer has more or less courage or self-control
the dance becomes more or less violent and excited. Every one
must imitate harmonically or inharmonically, and this is the origin of
the art of dancing. The warlike kind is appropriately called the Pyrrhic,
and the peaceful kind with equal propriety Emmeleia, or the dance of
order. The types of these dances are to be fixed by the legislator,
and the guardians of the law should assign them to the several festivals,
and consecrate them to the good of the state.

Thus much of the fair forms and noble souls which are personated
in choral dances. Comedy, which is the opposite of them, remains to
be considered. For the serious implies the ludicrous, and opposites
cannot be understood without opposites. But a man of repute will
desire to avoid doing what is ludicrous. He should leave such
performances to slaves: they are not serious, and there should be
some element of novelty in them. Concerning tragedy, let our law

INTRODUCTION. 107

be as follows: When the inspired poet comes to us with a request to
be admitted into our state, we will reply in courteous words— We also
are tragedians and your rivals; and the drama which we enact is the
best and noblest, being the imitation of the truest and noblest life,
with a view to which our state is ordered. You are poets, and we
are poets and rivals of yours, and our hope is to perform a play which
is the creation of perfect law. And we cannot allow you to pitch your
stage in the agora, and make your voices be heard above ours, or suffer
you to address our women and young men, and people in general, on
opposite principles to our own. Come then, soft sirs, children of the
Lydian Muse, and present yourselves first to the magistrates, and if
they decide that your hymns are as good or better than ours, you shall
have your chorus; but if not, not.

There remain three kinds of knowledge which are to be learnt by
freemen—arithmetic, geometry of surfaces and of solids, and thirdly,
astronomy. Few can make an accurate study of such sciences; and
of special students we will speak at another time. But the many must,
be content with the study of them which is absolutely necessary, and.
may be said to be a divine necessity, very unlike our human necessities, ?
being of that sort against which God himself is unable to contend.
‘What are these divine necessities of knowledge?’ Necessities of a
knowledge without which neither gods, nor demigods, can govern
mankind. Far is.he from being a divine man who cannot distinguish
one, two, odd and even; who cannot number day and night, and is
ignorant of the revolutions of the stars; for to every higher knowledge
a knowledge of number is necessary—a fool may see this; how much,
is a matter requiring more careful consideration. ‘Very true.’ But
the legislator cannot enter into such details, and therefore we must
defer the more careful consideration of the subject to a_ better
Opportunity. ‘You seem to fear our habitual want of training in
these subjects.’ Still more I fear the danger of bad training, which
is far worse than none at all. ‘Very true.’ I think that a gentleman
and a freeman may be expected to know as much as an Egyptian
child. In Egypt, arithmetic is a game which is taught children by a
distribution of apples or garlands in numbers which admit of division
and subdivision; or a calculation is made of the various combinations
which are possible among a set of boxers or wrestlers; or gold, brass,
and silver are put into vessels, mixed and unmixed, and the child counts

108 LAA Ss

them. The knowledge of arithmetic which is thus acquired is a great
help, either in drawing up an army or in the management of a house-
hold; and wherever measure is employed, men are more wide-awake
in their dealings, and they get rid of their ridiculous ignorance. ‘ What
do you mean?’ I have observed the existence of this ignorance among
my countrymen—they are as bad as pigs—and I am heartily ashamed
both on my own behalf and on that of all the Hellenes. ‘In what
respect?’ I will endeavour to explain by asking you a question. You
know that there are such things as length, breadth, and depth?
‘Yes.’ And the Hellenes imagine that they are commensurable (1)
with themselves, and (2) with each other; whereas they are not
always commensurable with themselves, and never with each other.
But if this is true, then we are in an unfortunate case, and may well
say to our compatriots that not to possess necessary knowlege is a
disgrace, though to possess such knowledge is nothing very grand.
‘Certainly.’ The discussion of arithmetical problems is a much better
amusement for old men than their favourite game of draughts. ‘ Yes,
mathematics and the game of draughts seem to me to have much in
common.’ ‘These are the subjects in which youth should be trained.
They may be regarded as amusements, and will do great good and
no harm; I think that we may include them provisionally. ‘Yes;
they will fill up the details which are wanting in our laws.’ The next
question is, whether astronomy shall be made a part of education.
About the stars there is a strange notion prevalent. ‘What is that?’
There is said to be an impiety in investigating the nature of God and
the world, whereas the very reverse is the truth. ‘What do you mean?’
The idea may seem absurd and at variance with the usual language
of age, and yet if true and advantageous to the state, and pleasing
to God, ought not to be withheld. ‘Of what knowledge are you
going to speak?’ My dear friend, what falsehoods we and all the
Hellenes tell about the sun and moon. ‘What falsehoods?’ We are
always saying that they and certain of the other stars go different ways,
and we term them planets. ‘Yes; and I have seen Lucifer and
Hesperus go all manner of ways, and the sun and moon doing what
we know that they always do. But I wish that you would explain
your meaning further.’ You will easily understand what I have had
no difficulty in understanding myself, though we are both of us past
the time of learning. ‘True; but what is this marvellous knowledge

Ree) 290 SE oe OSE ATOR

INTRODUCTION. 109

*

which youth are to learn, and of which we are ignorant?’ Men say
that the sun, moon, and stars are planets or wanderers; but this is
the reverse of the fact. Each of them moves in one orbit only, and
not in many; nor is the swiftest of them the slowest as appears to
human eyes. What a great insult should we offer to Olympian racers
if we were to put the first last and the last first! And if that is a
ridiculous error in speaking of men, how much more in speaking of
the Gods? ‘Yes; worse than ridiculous.’ Certainly, the Gods cannot
be very well pleased at our telling falsehoods about them. ‘Certainly
not.’ Then people should at least learn so much about them as will
put a stop to blasphemy.

Enough of education. Similar principles should regulate hunting
and other matters. Something of a mixed kind, which is neither law
nor yet admonition, has often entered into our discourse, as we found
in speaking of the nurture of young children. And therefore the whole
duty of the citizen will not consist in mere obedience to the laws.
The perfect citizen is he who regards not only the laws but the precepts ,
of the legislator. This may be illustrated by the example of hunting.
Now of this there are many kinds—hunting of fish and fowl, man and
beast, enemies and friends; but the legislator cannot include in his
enactments all these varieties. He must praise and blame hunting,
having in view the discipline and exercise of youth. And the young
man will regard his praises and censures much more than his penalties ;
neither the love of pleasure nor the fear of pain will hinder him. The
legislator will proceed to express himself in the form of a pious wish—
O my young friends, he will say, may you never be induced to hunt
for fish in the sea, either by day or night; or for men, whether by
sea or land. Never let the wish to steal enter into a corner of your
minds; neither be ye fowlers, for this is not a gentlemanlike occupation.
Land animals remain, which may be hunted by night in a good-for-
nothing way, and also by day, likewise in indolent fashion, resting at
intervals, and using snares and nets. The only mode of hunting
which the legislator can praise is with horses and dogs, running, |
shooting, striking at close quarters. There is no other kind which
is esteemed by men of courage. The law, then, shall be as follows:

Let no one hinder the holy order of huntsmen; but let the nightly |
hunters who lay snares and nets be everywhere prohibited. Let the |
fowler confine himself to waste places and to the mountains. The

IIO LAWS.

fisherman is. also permitted, except in harbours and sacred streams,
and pools and lakes; but in all other places he may fish, provided
| ,

he does not defile the waters by the use of poisonous mixtures.

BOOK VIII. Next, with the help of the Delphian Oracle, we will
appoint festivals and sacrifices. The times and number of them may be
left to us. ‘The number, yes.’ Then let us determine the number of
them to be 365, one for every day in the year. There shall always be
one magistrate daily sacrificing according to rites prescribed by a con-
vocation of priests and interpreters, who shall co-operate with the
guardians of the law, and supply what the legislator has omitted. For
the law will only appoint twelve festivals to the twelve Gods after whom
the twelve tribes are named. These shall be celebrated every month with
musical and gymnastic contests appropriate to the Gods and _ the
seasons. There shall also be female festivals in honour of the god-
desses who are worshipped by women only, and a festival of the Gods
below. Pluto shall have his own in the twelfth month. He is not the
enemy, but the friend of man, who releases the soul from the body, which
is at least as good a work as to unite them. Further, consider that our
state has leisure and abundance, and wishing to be happy, like an
individual, should lead a good life, and a good life is immunity from
doing or receiving injury, of which the first is very easy, and the second
very difficult of attainment, and is only to be acquired by perfect virtue.
‘A good city has peace, but the evil city is full of wars within and
without. Wherefore the citizens should practise war at least one day in
every month, and should have contests and sacrifices and hymns in praise
of victory—the victory which they celebrate being the victory in the
battle of life, as well as the victory of the festival. Let poets celebrate
them; not, however, every poet— but he should be a man of fifty
years old at least, and himself a distinguished person, who has done
great deeds. Of such an one the poems may be sung, even though
they are not quite equal to his deeds. To the director of education
and the guardians of the law shall be committed the judgment, and no
song which has not been licensed by them, even though sweeter than
those of Thamyras and Orpheus, shall be recited, but only the praises or
censures which they approve. These regulations about poetry, and about
military expeditions, apply equally both to men and to women.

The legislator may be conceived to make the following address to

INTRODUCTION. 111

himself:—With what object am I training my citizens? Are they not
strivers for mastery in combats? Certainly, will be the reply. And
if they were boxers or wrestlers, would any man in his senses think of
entering the lists without many days’ practice? And would he not as far
as possible imitate all the circumstances of the contest, putting on gloves
and using the weapons of the contest; and if he had no one to box
with, would he not practise on a shadow, heedless of the laughter of the
spectators? ‘That would be the way to learn.’ And shall the soldiers
go to the greatest of all contests, and fight for life and kindred and
property unprepared, because sham fights are thought to be ridiculous ?
Will not the legislator require that his citizens shall practice war daily,
performing lesser exercises without arms, while the combatants on a
greater scale will carry arms, and take up positions, and lie in am-
buscade? And let their combats be not without danger, that opportunity
may be given for distinction, and the brave man and the coward may
receive their meed of honour or disgrace. If occasionally a man is
killed, there is no great harm done; the homicide did not mean to kill
him. There are others as good as he is, and the state can better afford
to lose a few than to lose the only means of testing them.

‘We agree, Stranger, that the state should legislate about warlike exer-
cises.’ But then, why have such military amusements become obsolete ?
Do we not all know the reasons, which are (1) the inordinate love of
wealth? This absorbs the soul of a man, and leaves him no time
for any other pursuit. Knowledge and action are valued by him only as
they tend to the attainment of wealth. All is lost in the desire of heap-
ing up gold and silver; anybody is ready to do anything, right or
wrong, for the sake of eating and drinking, and the indulgence of his
animal passions. ‘Most true. This is one of the causes which pre-
vents a man being a good soldier, or anything else which is good; he
becomes a shopkeeper or a servant, and sometimes, if he happens to be
brave, a burglar or a pirate. Many of these latter are men of fine
character, and greatly to be pitied, because their souls are hungering and
thirsting all their lives long. The bad forms of government (2) are
another reason—democracy, oligarchy, tyranny, which, as I was saying,
are not states, but states of discord, in which the rulers are afraid of
their subjects, and therefore do not like them to become rich, or
valiant, or indeed soldiers at all. Now the state for which we are
legislating has escaped these two causes of evil; the society is per-

112 LAWS.

fectly free, and has plenty of leisure, and is not allowed by the laws
to be absorbed in the pursuit of wealth: hence we have an excellent
field for a perfect education, and for the introduction of martial
pastimes. Let us proceed to describe the character of these pastimes.
Activity of body—quickness of foot to escape or take—quickness of
hand or arm to grasp—are, in the strictest sense, military qualities;
and yet you have not the greatest military use of them unless the
competitors are armed. The runner should enter the lists in armour,
and in the races which our heralds proclaim, no prize is to be given
except to armed warriors. Let there be five courses—first, the stadium ;
secondly, the diaulos or double course; thirdly, the horse course;
fourthly, a long course; fifthly, a race between a heavy-armed soldier,
who shall pass over sixty stadia and finish at the temple of Ares,
and an archer, who shall go among the mountains across country a
distance of a hundred stadia, and his goal shall be the temple of Apollo
and Artemis. The contests of each kind shall be in number three—
one for boys, another for youths, a third for men in heavy and light
armour; the course for the boys we will fix at half, and that for the
youths at two-thirds of the entire length. Women shall join in the races :
young girls who are not grown up shall run naked, and shall continue
to run from thirteen to eighteen or until marriage; they may run up to
twenty, but after thirteen shall be suitably dressed. As to trials of
strength, single combats in armour, or battles between two and two, or
of any number up to ten, shall take the place of wrestling and the heavy
exercises. And there must be experts, as there are now in wrestling,
to determine what is a fair hit and who is conqueror. Instead of the
pancratium, let there be contests in which the combatants carry bows
and wear light shields and hurl javelins and throw stones. The next
provision of the law will relate to horses, which, as we are in Crete,
need be rarely used by us, and chariots never; our horse-racing prizes
will only be given to single horses, whether foals, half-grown, or full-
grown. ‘Their riders are to wear armour, and they may also be archers;
a Cretan archer or javelin-man does good service. Women, if they
have a mind, may join in the exercises of men. ae

But enough of gymnastics, and nearly enough of music. All musical
, contests will take place on holy days, months, and years, whether every
third or every fifth year, which are to be fixed by the guardians of the
law, the judges of the games, and the director of education, who for

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INTRODUCTION. 113

this purpose shall become legislators and arrange times and _ persons.
The principles on which such contests are to be ordered have been
often repeated by the first legislator; no more need be said of them,
nor are the details of them important. But there is another subject of
the highest importance, which, if possible, should be determined by
the laws, not of man, but of God; or, if a direct revelation is
impossible, there is need of some bold and sincere man who, alone
against the world, having reason ‘for his guide, will speak plainly of °
the corruption of human nature, and go to war with the passions —
of mankind. ‘I do not know what you mean.’ I dare say, and
therefore I will make my meaning plainer. In speaking of education,
I seemed to see young men and maidens in friendly intercourse with\
one another; and there arose in my mind a natural fear about a state,
in which, as I reflected, the young of either sex are well fed, and have
little to do, and have their time chiefly occupied in festivals and dances.
How can the voice of reason be lifted up, as with the force of a law,
against those passions which are the ruin of numbers of both sexes?
The prohibition of wealth, and the influence of education, and the
all-seeing eye of the ruler, have a good effect in promoting temperance ;
but they will not wholly extinguish the temptation to the unnatural
loves of both sexes, which have been the destruction of states; and
against this evil what remedy can be devised? Lacedaemon and Crete,
excellent as are many of their institutions, afford us no help here; on
the subject of love, as I may whisper in your ear, they are against us.

‘Suppose a person were to urge that you ought to follow nature and

the example of animals, and restore the natural use which existed before
the days of Laius; he would be quite right, but he would not be
supported by public opinion in either of your states. Or try the matter
by another test, which we always apply to all laws, the test of virtue ;
who will say that the permission of such things tends to virtue? Will
the spirit of courage pass into the soul of him who gives up his person
to another? Will the seducer be gifted with temperance? And will
any one, who has a notion of law, be found to praise such actions,
or to make them legal?

’ But to judge of this matter truly, we must understand the nature
of love and friendship, which may take very different forms. For we
speak of friendship, first, when there is some similarity or equality of \
virtue ; secondly, when there is some want; and either of these, when

VOL. V. I

I14 LAWS.

in excess, is termed love. The first kind is gentle and communicable ;
the second is fierce and unmanageable; and there is also a third kind,
which is ambiguous, and is under the dominion of opposite principles—
the one urging the lover to take his fill of the bloom of youth, the
other forbidding him. The one is of the body, and has no regard
for the character of the beloved; but he who is under the influence
of the other disregards the body, and is a looker rather than a lover,
and has a true reverence for the modesty and courage and wisdom
of his friend, with whom he would fain associate in holy purity. Here
are three kinds of love: ought the legislator to prohibit all of them
equally, or to allow the virtuous love to remain? ‘The latter, clearly.’
I expected to gain your approval, and therefore I need not go out
of my way to censure the Spartan custom. I will reserve the task of
persuading Cleinias for another occasion. ‘Very good.’ How we are
to make right laws on this subject is in one point of view easy, and in
another most difficult; for we know that most men do abstain in some
cases, and for the most part willingly, from intercourse with the fair.
‘When do they?’ There is an unwritten law which prohibits members of
the same family from such intercourse. And this law is willingly obeyed,
and no thought of anything else ever enters into the minds of men in
general. ‘Very true.’ A little word is enough to put out the fire of their
lusts. ‘ What is it?’ ‘The declaration that they are hateful to the Gods,
and of all abominable things the most abominable and unholy. The
reason is that everywhere, in jest and earnest alike, this is the doctrine
which is repeated to all from their earliest youth. They see on the stage

that such monsters as Oedipus and Thyestes, when detected, are put to —

death. There is an undoubted power in public opinion when no breath
is heard adverse to the law. And the legislator who would enslave these
slavish passions must consecrate such a public opinion all through the
city. ‘Good: but how will you set about creating this public opinion ?’
You are right in asking that question, for 1 promised to try and find some
means of restraining loves to their natural objects. Men should not be
the destroyers of their kind, spilling the power of life upon the ground};
and they should abstain from the women whom they do not intend to
make mothers. A law which would accomplish this as effectually as
incest is at present prohibited by law, would be of endless benefit,
first, as being in accordance with nature, and getting rid of excesses
in meats and drinks and adulteries and frenzies, making men love

aoe ek

INTRODUCTION. ITs

their wives, and having other excellent effects. I can imagine that
some lusty youth overhears what we are saying, and roars out in
abusive terms that we are legislating for impossibilities. And so a
person might have said of the syssitia, or common meals; but this is
refuted by facts, although even now they are not extended to women.
‘True.’ There is no impossibility or super-humanity in my proposed
law, as I shall endeavour to prove. ‘Do so. Will not a man find
abstinence more easy when his body is sound than when he is in
some peculiar or diseased condition? ‘Yes; when he is in good
condition he will find abstinence more easy.’ Have we not heard of
Iccus of Tarentum and other famous wrestlers who abstained wholly?
And they had not the benefits of education which we bestow on the
minds of our citizens, and in their bodies they were far more lusty.
‘Yet the fact remains.’ And shall they have abstained for the sake
of an athletic contest, and our citizens be incapable of a similar en-
durance for the sake of a victory which is higher and nobler far—the
highest and noblest of all? ‘What victory do you mean?’ ‘The victory
over pleasure, which is true happiness; whereas the slavery to pleasure
is misery. Will not the fear of impiety enable us to conquer that which
many who are inferior to us have conquered? ‘It ought to do so.’
And therefore the law must say right out, that our citizens should
not fall below the other animals, who dwell together in great flocks,
and are pure and chaste until the time of procreation comes, when
they marry, and are ever after faithful to their contract. Our citizens
may be expected to be a little better than the brutes; and if the

corruption of public opinion and the practice of lawless love is too

great to allow our first law to be carried out, then our guardians of
the law must turn legislators, and try their hand at a second law.
They must minimize the appetites, diverting the strength of youth
into other channels, and making the practice of love secret and
shameful. Three higher principles or elements may be brought to
bear on the single principle which is corrupt. ‘What are they?’
Religion, honour, and the love of the higher qualities of the soul.
Perhaps this is a dream only, yet the best of dreams; and if not the
whole, yet, by the grace of God, a part of what we desire may be
realized. Either men may learn to abstain wholly from any loves,
natural or unnatural, except of their wedded wives; or, at least, they
may give up unnatural loves; or, if detected, may be punished with
Tez

116 ACS.

loss of citizenship, as aliens from the state in their morals. ‘I entirely
agree with you,’ said Megillus, ‘but I should like to hear what Cleinias
says.’ ‘I will give my opinion bye-and-bye.’

We were speaking of the syssitia, which will be a natural institution
in a Cretan colony. Whether the institution is to follow the model
of Crete or Lacedaemon, or one different from either, is not a question
of much importance. The manner of them will be determined without
difficulty. We may, therefore, proceed to speak of the mode of life
among our citizens, which in other cities will be far more complex,
and must at any rate be twice as complex as in this; a state which
is inland and not maritime requires only half the number of laws.
There is no trouble about retail traders, merchants, hotels, mines,
customs, loans, compound interest, or a thousand other things. The
legislator has only to regulate the affairs of husbandmen and shepherds,
and keepers of bees, and the makers of implements, who will be easily
managed, now that the principal questions relating to marriage, edu-
cation, and government have been settled.

Let us begin with husbandry: First, let there be a law of Zeus, the
God of boundaries, against removing a neighbour’s landmark, which is
the real impiety of ‘moving the immovable.’ The least stone which
marks an agreement is more sacred than the greatest rock which is not a
boundary. Zeus, the God of kindred, witnesses to the wrongs of citizens,
and Zeus, the God of strangers, to the wrongs of strangers—and their
wrath is terrible. The impiety of removing a boundary shall receive two
punishments—the first will be inflicted by the God himself; the second
will be a fine imposed by the judges. In the second place, the differ-
ences between neighbours about encroachments must be guarded against.
He who encroaches shall pay twofold the price of the injury; of all
such matters the wardens of the country shall be cognizant, or in greater
cases the military force of the division. The injury done by cattle, the
decoying of bees, the firing of your own wood without thinking of your
neighbour, the encroachment on his plantations, shall all be visited with
proper damages. Such details have been determined by previous legis-
lators, and need not now be mixed up with greater matters. Ancient
husbandmen made excellent rules about streams and waters; and we
need not let the stream of our discourse diverge from them. Anybody
may take water from the main stream, if he does not cut below the open
well of his neighbour; but he must not do any damage or take the

INTRODUCTION. 17

water through a house or temple. If land is without water the occupier
shall dig down to the clay, and if at this depth he find no water, he shall
have a right of getting water from his neighbours to supply his house-
hold; and if their supply is limited, he shall receive from them a
measure of water, fixed by the wardens of the country. When two
persons live on lands, one above and the other beneath, or one of
the two has a common wall, the upper must not turn the heavy falls
of rain on the under at his pleasure, or the under refuse an exit. If
they cannot agree in the matter they shall go before the wardens of
the city or country, and if a man refuses to abide by their decision,
he shall pay double the damage which he causes.

In autumn God gives us two boons—one the joy of Dionysus not to
be laid up—the:other to be laid up. About the fruits of autumn let the
law be as follows: He who gathers the storing fruits of autumn, whether
grapes or figs, before the time of the vintage, which is the rising of Arcturus,
shall pay fifty drachmas as a fine to Dionysus, if he gathers on his own
ground; if on his neighbour’s one-third of a mina, and two-thirds of a mina
if on that of another. The vine or fig not used for storing a man may
gather when he pleases on his own ground, but on that of others he
must pay the penalty of removing what he has not laid down. If he be
a slave who has gathered, he shall receive a stroke for every grape or fig.
A metic may purchase the cultivated fruits, and a stranger may pluck for
himself and his attendant. This right of hospitality, however, does not
extend to storing grapes. A slave who eats of the storing grapes or
figs shall receive a stroke for every grape or fig, and the freedman shall
receive an admonition. Pears, apples, pomegranates, may be taken
secretly, but he who is detected in the act of taking them shall be lightly
beaten off, if he be not more than thirty years of age. An exception to
this law must be made for the stranger and the elder; the latter, however,
if he goes beyond the law, and carries away as well as eats, shall fail in
the competition of virtue, if anybody brings up his offence against him.

Water is also in need of protection; being, unlike the other elements
—soil, air, and sun—which conspire in the growth of plants, easily
corrupted. And therefore he who spoils another’s water, whether in
springs or reservoirs, either by trenching, or by any sort of pollution or
poisonous impurity, shall pay a penalty and repair the damage. At the
getting-in of the harvest everybody shall have a right of way over his
neighbours’ ground, provided he is careful to do no damage beyond the

118 LAWS.

trespass, unless any damage which he does is attended with three times
the benefit to himself. Of all this the magistrates are to take cognizance,
and they are to have the power of fining where the injury done is not
more than three minae; any greater damage can only be tried in the
public courts. A charge against a magistrate is to be referred to the
public courts, and any one who is found guilty of deciding corruptly
shall pay twofold to the aggrieved person. Matters of detail relating to
punishments and modes of procedure, and summonses, and the number
of witnesses, do not require the mature wisdom of the aged legislator; the
younger generation may determine them according to their experience ;
but when once determined, they shall be unaltered.

The following are to be the regulations respecting handicrafts: No
citizen, or servant of a citizen, is to practise them. For the citizen
has already a trade and mystery, which is the care of the state; and no
man can practise two trades, or practise one and superintend another.
For the same reason, no smith should be a carpenter, and no carpenter
-having many slaves who are blacksmiths should look after them himself;
but let each man practise one art which is to be his livelihood. Every
man is to be one man and not many. The wardens of the city should
see to this, punishing the citizen who offends with temporary deprival of
his rights—the foreigner shall be imprisoned, fined, exiled. Any disputes
about contracts shall be determined by the wardens of the city up to
fifty drachmae—above that sum by the public courts. No customs are
to be exacted either on imports or exports. Nothing unnecessary is to
be imported from abroad, whether for the service of the Gods or for the
use of man—neither purple, nor other dyes, nor frankincense,—and
nothing needed in the country is to be exported. These things are
to be decided on by the twelve guardians of the law who are next in
seniority to the five elders. Arms and the materials of arms are to
be imported and exported only with the consent of the generals, and
then only by the state. There is to be no retail trade in anything.
For the distribution of the produce of the country, the Cretan laws
afford a rule which may be usefully followed. All shall be required
to distribute corn, grain, animals, and other valuable produce, into
twelve portions. Each of these shall be subdivided into three parts
—one for freemen, another for servants, and the third shall be sold
for the supply of artizans, strangers, and others. And where the produce
of the land exceeds the average, let what is over be again distributed

INTRODUCTION. 119

into three portions, and let the citizens determine how much they will
give to slaves or freemen, and how much they will distribute among
the animals.

Next as to houses—there shall be twelve villages, one in the centre of
each of the twelve portions ; and in every village there shall be temples
and an agora—also shrines for heroes or for any old Magnesian
deities who linger about the place. In every division there shall be
temples of Hestia, Zeus, and Athené, surrounded by buildings on
eminences, which will be the guard-houses of the police. The rest of
the country shall be arranged in thirteen portions, corresponding to as
many bands of artizans. One of these bands will be settled in the city,
and divided into twelve parts, for the town districts; the remainder
will be settled in the country. And the magistrates will fix them on
the spots where they will be most serviceable in supplying the wants
of the husbandmen.

Next in importance to the regulation of the temples, is the fair dealing
and good order of the markets—this will be the care of the wardens of
the agora. ‘They will also see that the sales effected by the citizens to
strangers are legally made. ‘The law shall be, that on the first day of
each month the auctioneers to whom the-sale is entrusted shall offer
grain; and at this sale a twelfth part of the whole shall be exposed,
and the foreigner shall supply his wants for a month. On the tenth,
there shall be a sale of liquids, and on the twenty-third of animals,
skins, woven or woollen stuffs, and other things which husbandmen
have to sell and foreigners want to buy. None of these commodities,
any more than barley or flour, or any other food, may be retailed by
a citizen to a citizen; but foreigners may sell them to one another
in the foreigners’ market. There must also be butchers who will sell
parts of animals to foreigners and craftsmen, and their servants; and
foreigners may buy firewood wholesale of the commissioners of woods,
and may sell retail to foreigners. All other goods must be sold in
the market, in the presence of the magistrates, and in the place in-
dicated by them, and shall be paid for on the spot. He who gives
credit, and is cheated, will have no redress. In buying or selling, any
excess or diminution of what the law allows shall be registered. The
same rule is to be observed about the property of metics. Anybody
who has a handicraft may come and remain twenty years from the
day on which he is enrolled, at the expiration of which time he shall

120 LAWS,

take what he has and depart. The only condition which is to be
imposed upon him as the tax of his sojourn is good conduct; and
he is not to pay any tax for being allowed to buy or sell. But if he
wants to extend the time of his sojourn, and has done any service to
the state, and he can persuade the ecclesia to grant his request, he
may remain. The children of metics may also be metics; and the
period of twenty years, during which they are permitted to sojourn,
is to count, in their case, from their fifteenth year.

No mention occurs in the Laws of the doctrine of Ideas. The will
of God, the standard of the legislator, and the dignity of the soul, have
taken their place in the mind of Plato. If we ask what is that truth
or principle which, towards the end of his life, seems to have absorbed
him most, like the idea of good in the Republic, or of beauty in the
Symposium, or of the unity of virtue in the Protagoras, we should
answer the priority of the soul to the body: his later system mainly
hangs upon this. In the Laws, as in the Sophist and Politicus, we
pass out of the region of metaphysical or transcendental ideas into
that of psychology. }

The opening of the fifth book, though abrupt and unconnected in
style, is one of the most elevated passages in Plato. The religious
feeling which he seeks to diffuse over the commonest actions of life,
the blessedness of living in the truth, the great mistake of a man
living for himself, the pity as well as anger which should be felt at
evil, the kindness due to the suppliant and the stranger, have the
temper of Christian philosophy. The remark that elder men, if they
want to educate others, should begin by educating themselves; the
necessity of creating a spirit of obedience in the citizens; the de-
sirableness of limiting property; the relative nature of political equality,
have also the tone of a modern writer. In many of his views of
politics, Plato seems to us like some modern politicians, to be half
socialist, half conservative.

In the Laws, we remark a change in the place assigned by him to
pleasure and pain. ‘There are two ways in which even the ideal systems
of morals may regard them: either like the Stoics, and other ascetics, we
may say that pleasure must be eradicated; or if this seems unreal to us,
we may affirm that virtue is the true pleasure; and then, as Aristotle
says, ‘to be brought up to take pleasure in what we ought, exercises

of ae

INTRODUCTION. L21

a great and paramount influence on human life. Or as Plato says in
the Laws, ‘A man will recognize the noblest life as having the greatest
pleasure and the least pain, if he have a true taste.’ If we admit that
pleasures differ in kind, the opposition between these two modes of
speaking is rather verbal than real. The Greek philosopher may speak
of the ‘contemplation of the ideas,’ or the Christian father of the /ruzizo
Det, as the first of pleasures. Throughout the greater part of the
writings of Plato, these two views seem to alternate with each other.
In the Republic, the mere suggestion that pleasure may be the chief
good, is received by Socrates with a cry of abhorrence; but in the
Philebus, innocent pleasures vindicate their right to a place in the scale
of goods. In the Protagoras, speaking in the person of Socrates rather
than in his own, Plato admits the calculation of pleasure to be the true
basis of ethics, while in the Phaedo he indignantly denies that the ex-
change of one pleasure for another is the exchange of virtue. So wide
of the mark are they who would attribute to Plato entire consistency in
thoughts or words.

He acknowledges that the second state is inferior to the first—in
this, at any rate, he is consistent ; and he still casts longing eyes upon
the ideal. Several features of the first are retained in the second: the
education of men and women is to be as far as possible the same ; they
are to have common meals, though separate, the men by themselves, the
women with their children; the citizens, if not actually communists, are
in spirit communistic; they are to be lovers of equality; only a certain
amount of wealth is permitted to them, and their burdens and also their
privileges are to be proportioned to this. The constitution in the Laws
is a timocracy of wealth, modified by an aristocracy of merit. Yet
the political philosopher will observe that the first of these two
principles is fixed and permanent, while the latter is uncertain and
dependent on the opinion of the multitude. Wealth, after all, plays
a great part in the Second Republic of Plato. Like other politicians,
he deems that a property qualification will contribute to the stability of
the state. The four classes seem to be derived from the constitution of
Cleisthenes, just as the form of the city which is clustered around a
citadel set on a hill, is suggested by the Acropolis at Athens. Plato,
writing under Pythagorean influences, seems really to have supposed that
the well-being of the city depended almost as much on the number 5040
as on justice and moderation. But he is not prevented by Pythagoreanism

ro7 LAWS.

from observing the effects which climate and soil exercise on the
characters of nations.

He was doubtful in the Republic whether the ideal or communistic
state could be realized, but was at the same time prepared to maintain
that whether it existed or not made no difference (Rep. ix. 592 B). He
has now altogether lost faith in the practicability of his scheme—he is
speaking to ‘men, and not to Gods or sons of Gods.’ Yet he still
maintains it to be the true pattern of the state which we must approach
as nearly as possible. As Aristotle says, ‘after having created a more
general form of state, he gradually brings it round to the other’ (Pol. ii.
3, 2). He does not seem to be aware, either here or in the Republic,
that in such a commonwealth there would be less room for the develop-
ment of individual character. In several respects the second state is an
improvement on the first, especially in being based more distinctly on
the dignity of the soul. ‘The standard of truth, justice, temperance, is
as high as in the Republic;—in one respect higher, for temperance is
now regarded, not as a virtue, but as the condition of all virtue. The
treatment of moral questions is less speculative but more human. The
idea of good has disappeared; the excellence of individuals—of the
true patriot, of the perfect guardian of the law, are the patterns to which
the life of the citizens is to conform. Plato is never weary of speaking
of the honour of the soul, which can only be honoured truly by being
improved. ‘To make the soul as good as possible, and to prepare
here for communion with the Gods in another world by communion with
them in this, is the end of life (Laws, x. g04 D). If the Republic is far
superior to the Laws in form and style, and perhaps in reach of thought,
the Laws leave on the mind of the modern reader much more strongly
the impression of a struggle against evil, and an enthusiasm for human
improvement. When Plato says that he must carry out that part of his
ideal which is practicable (Laws, v. 746), he does not appear to have
reflected that part of an ideal cannot be detached from the whole.

The great defect of both his constitutions is the fixedness which he
seeks to impress upon them. He had seen the Athenian empire,
almost within the limits of his own life, wax and wane, but he never
seems to have asked himself what would happen if, a century from the
time at which he was writing, the Greek character should have as much
changed as in the century which had preceded. He fails to perceive
that the greater part of the political life of a nation is not that which

INTRODUCTION. 123

is given them by their legislators, but that which they give themselves,
He has never reflected that without progress there cannot be order, and
that mere order can only be preserved by an unnatural and despotic
repression. ‘The possibility of a great nation or of an universal empire
arising never occurred to him. He sees the enfeebled and distracted
state of the Hellenic world in his own later life, and thinks that the
remedy is to make the laws unchangeable. ‘The same want of insight is
apparent in his judgments about art. He would like to have the forms of
sculpture and of music fixed as in Egypt. He does not consider that this
would be fatal to the true principle of art, which, as Socrates had himself
taught, was to give life (Xen. Mem. iii. 10. 6). We wonder how, familiar
as he was with the statues of Pheidias, he could have endured the lifeless
and half monstrous works of Egyptian sculpture. The ‘chants of Isis,’
we might imagine, would have been barbarous in an Athenian ear. But
although he is aware that there are some things ‘which are not so well
among the children of the Nile,’ he is deeply struck with the stability of
Egyptian institutions. Both in politics and in art Plato seems to have
seen no way of bringing order, out of disorder, except by taking a step
backwards. Antiquity, compared with the world in which he lived, had
a sacredness and authority for him: the men of a former age were
supposed by him to have retained a sense of reverence which was
wanting among his own contemporaries. He could imagine the early
stages of civilization; he never thought of what the future might
bring forth. His experience is limited to a century or two, to a few
Greek states, and to an uncertain report of Egypt and the East. There
are many ways in which the limitations of their knowledge affected
the genius of the Greeks; above all in depriving them of the power of
criticism.

The colony is to receive from the mother-country her first constitution,
and some of her guardians of the law. ‘The guardians of the law are,
to be ministers of justice, and the president of education is to take pre-
cedence of them all. They are to take measures for the defence of the
country; they are to enforce the education of their children upon unwilling
parents; they are to provide for the supply and purity of the waters,
and in general for the public health; they are to superintend buildings,
to keep the registers of property, to hear appeals from inferior courts ;
and they are to be superannuated at seventy years of age. Several
questions of modern politics seem to be anticipated by Plato in the

124 gah 1 Gat

functions which he assigns to them. He hopes that in his state will
be found neither poverty nor riches; and therefore neither the legislator,
nor his subjects, have any need to consider the danger of falling into
poverty. Almost in the spirit of the Gospel he would say, ‘how hardly
can a rich man dwell in a perfect state.’ For he cannot be a good man
who is always gaining too much and spending too little (cp. Arist. Eth.
iv. 2,3). Plato, though he admits wealth as a political element, would
deny that material prosperity can be the foundation of a really great
community. A man’s soul, as he often says, is more to be esteemed
than his body; and his body than the things of his body. He repeats
the complaint which has been made in all ages, that the love of money
is the corruption of states. He has a sympathy with pirates and burglars,
‘many of whom are men of fine character and greatly to be pitied,
because their souls are hungering and thirsting all their lives long,’ but he
has no sympathy with shopkeepers or retailers. For traders and artisans
a moderate gain was, in his opinion, best. He has never, like modern
writers, idealized the wealth of nations, any more than he has worked out
the problems of political economy, which among the ancients had not
yet grown into a science. The isolation of Greek states, their constant
wars, the want of a free industrial population, and of the means of
exchange usually termed ‘ credit,’ prevented any great extension of com-
merce among them: and so prevented them from forming a theory of
the laws which regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth.
The constitution of the army is democratic; the soldiers are supposed
to be the best judges of their leaders. The way of carrying out the
democratic principle is as follows: The guardians of the law nominate
generals, and the generals retain the nomination of the inferior officers.
But if any one is ready to swear that he knows of a better man, he may
put the claims of the candidate for the office of general to the vote either
of the whole army, or of the division of the service which he is destined
to command. Except at these military elections, in which all who have
ever borne arms take part, there is no assembly or general meeting of
the people. In the election of the council, the legislator attempts to mix
aristocracy and democracy. This is effected first, as in the Servian
constitution, by balancing wealth and numbers; the people are divided
into four classes, of whom the first, though inferior in numbers, has an
equal vote with the three others. Secondly, all classes are compelled to
vote for the first and second class ; but the fourth class is not compelled

INTRODUCTION. 125

to vote for the third, nor the third and fourth for the fourth. Thirdly,
out of the 180 persons who are thus chosen from each of the four
classes, 720 in all, 360 are to be taken by lot; these form the council for
the year.

These political adjustments of Plato’s will be criticised by the practical
statesman as being for the most part fanciful and ineffectual. He will
observe, | rst of all, that the only real check on democracy is the division
into classes. The second of the three proposals, though ingenious, and
receiving some light from the apathy to politics which is often shown by
the higher classes in a democracy, would have little power in times of
excitement and peril, when the precaution was most needed. At such
political crises, all the lower classes would vote equally with the higher.
The subtraction of half the persons chosen at the first election by the
chances of the lot would not raise the character of the senators, and is
open to the objection of uncertainty, which necessarily attends this and
similar double schemes of representative government. The voters cannot
be expected to retain the continuous political interest which would be
required for carrying them out. Who could select 180 persons of each
class, fitted to be senators? And whoever were chosen in the first in-
stance, by a particular vote, his wishes might be neutralized by the action
of the lot. Yet the scheme of Plato is not really so extravagant as the
actual constitution of Athens, in which all the senators appear to have
been elected by lot (a6 xvdyov Bovdevrai); at least, after the revolution
made by Cleisthenes, for the constitution of the senate which was esta-
blished by Solon probably had some aristocratic features, though their
precise nature is unknown to us. The ancients knew that election by lot
was the most democratic of all modes of appointment, seeming to say in
the objectionable sense, ‘that one man is as good as another.’ Plato, who
is desirous of mingling different elements, makes a partial use of the lot
which he applies to candidates already elected by vote.

The functions of the council are administrative rather than legislative.
The whole number of 360, as in the Athenian constitution, is distributed
among the months of the year according to the number of the tribes. Not
more than one-twelfth is to be in office at once, so that the government
would be made up of twelve administrations succeeding one another in
the course of the year. They are to exercise a general superintendence,
and, like the Athenian counsellors, are to preside in monthly divisions\
over all assemblies. But neither in Plato’s Laws nor in his Republic, is

126 LAWS.

there any mention of an ecclesia. Nothing is less in his mind than
a House of Commons, carrying on year by year the work of legislation.
For he supposes the laws to be already provided; what is omitted is to
be supplied by the eldest guardians of the law, who are to partake of
the spirit of the legislator. As little would he approve of a body like the
Roman Senate. The people and the aristocracy alike are to be repre-
sented, not by assemblies, but by officers elected for one or two years,
except the guardians of the law, who are elected for twenty years.

The evils of this system are obvious. If in any state, as Plato says
in the Politicus (292 E), it is easier to find fifty good draught-players than
fifty good rulers, the greater part of the 360 who compose the council
must be unfitted to rule. The unfitness would be increased by the short
period during which they held office. There would be no traditions of
government among them, as in a Greek or Italian oligarchy, and no
individual would be responsible for any of their acts. Everything seems
to have been sacrificed to a false notion of equality, according to which
all have a turn of ruling and being ruled. In the constitution of the
Magnesian state Plato has not emancipated himself from the limitations
of ancient politics. His government may be described as a democracy
of magistrates elected by the people. He never troubles himself about
the political consistency of his scheme. He does indeed say that the
greater part of the good of this world arises, not from equality, but
from proportion, which he calls the judgment of Zeus (Aristotle’s
Distributive Justice, N. E. v. 6), but he hardly makes any attempt to
carry out the principle in practice. There is no body in his common-
wealth which represents the life either of a class or of the whole state.
The manner of appointing magistrates is taken chiefly from the old
democratic constitution of Athens, of which it retains some of the worst
features, such as the use of the lot, while by the omission of the popular

Sales alae

assembly the mainspring of the machine is taken out. The guardians ©

of the law, thirty-seven in number, of whom the ten eldest reappear
as a part of the nocturnal council at the end of the twelfth Book, are
to be elected by the whole people as in a democracy, but they are
to hold office for twenty years, and would therefore have the character
of an oligarchy. Nothing is said of the manner in which the functions
of the council are to be harmonized with those of the guardians of
the law.

Similar principles are applied to inferior offices. In the elections to

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van ents Ab: Sp nad man bs bi lB

eS THE Fe RE YR EF

INTRODUCTION. 127

them, Plato endeavours to mix or balance in a friendly manner ‘ demus
and not demus.’ Only the priests are to be directly appointed by God,
that is, by the lot. The commonwealth of the Laws, like the ideal state,
cannot dispense with a spiritual head, which is the oracle of Delphi. To
this the choice of some of the higher officers, and the settlement of
disputes about ceremonies and purifications, as well as changes in the law,
are to be referred. Plato is not disposed to encourage amateur attempts
to revive religion in states. For, as he says in the Laws, ‘To institute
religious rites is the work of a great intelligence only.’

Though the council is framed on the model of the Athenian Boulێ,
the law courts of Plato do not equally conform to the pattern of the
Athenian dicasteries. Plato thinks that the judges should speak and ask
questions:—this is not possible if they are numerous; he would, there-
fore, have a few judges only, but good ones. He is nevertheless aware
that both in public and private suits there must be a popular element.
This he proposes to supply by an elective judiciary, than which, in the ,
opinion of modern political writers, no form of appointment can be worse.
The ingenious expedient of dividing the questions of law and _ fact
between a judge and jury did not occur to him or to any other ancient
political philosopher. He might thus have combined the popular element
with the judicial. ‘Though desirous to have a few good judges, he does
not seem to have understood that a body of law must be formed by
decisions as well as by legal enactments.

He remarks truly that some cases are better decided on the spot and
from local knowledge. But in such cases he would allow an appeal to
a superior court; and this seemed to him to involve the necessity, where
the two decisions differed, of a further reference to a final court. This
final court of appeal is to be composed of three magistrates, upon whom
the plaintiff and defendant might agree; or if they could not agree,
the judges were to be chosen by the council. Plato’s judges are not
appointed for life, but only for a year, and they are liable to be called
to account before the guardians of the law.

’ Returning to the subject in Book ix, he proposes to leave the modes
of procedure to a younger generation of legislators. But he insists that
the vote of the judges shall be given openly, and before they vote they
are to hear speeches from the plaintiff and defendant. They are then to
take evidence in support of what has been said, and to examine witnesses.
The eldest judge is to ask his questions first, and then the second, and

128 LAWS.

then the third. They are not to be silent, and he would not prevent them
from communicating with one another (cp. Arist. Pol. ii. 5, 8). The
interrogatories are to continue for three days, and the evidence is to be
written down. Apparently he does not expect the judges to be pro-
fessional lawyers, any more than he expects the members of the council
to be trained statesmen.

In forming marriage connections, Plato supposes that the public
interest will prevail over private inclination. ‘There was nothing in
this very shocking to the notions of Greeks, among whom the feeling
of love towards the other sex was almost deprived of sentiment or
romance. Married life is to be regulated solely with a view to the good
of the state. The newly married couple are not allowed to absent
themselves from their respective syssitia, even during their honeymoon ;
they are to give their whole mind to the procreation of children; their
duties to one another at a later period of life is not a matter about
which the state is equally solicitous. Divorces are readily allowed for
incompatibility of temper. As in the Republic, physical considerations
seem almost to exclude moral and social ones. To modern feelings
there is a degree of coarseness in his treatment of the subject. Yet
Plato also makes some shrewd remarks on marriage, as for example,
that he who does not marry for money will not be the humble servant of
his wife. And he shows a true conception of the nature of the family,
when he requires that the newly married couple ‘ should leave their father
and mother,’ and have a separate home. He also provides against ex-
travagance in marriage festivals; which in some states of society, as
appears to be the case among the Hindoos, has been a social evil of
the first magnitude.

In treating of property, Plato takes occasion to speak of property in
slaves. They are to be treated with perfect justice; but, for their own
sake, to be kept at a distance. ‘The motive is not humanity towards the
slave, of which there are hardly any traces (although Plato allows that
many in the hour of peril have found a slave more attached than
members of their own family), but the self-respect which the freeman
and citizen owes to himself (cp. Rep. viii. 549 A). If they commit
crimes, they are doubly punished; only if they inform against treasonable
and illegal practices of their masters, they are to receive a protection,
which would probably be ineffectual, from the guardians of the law.
Plato still breathes the spirit of the old Hellenic world, in which

INTRODUCTION. 129

slavery was a necessity, because leisure must be provided for the

citizen.

The education propounded in the Laws differs in several points from
the Republic. Plato seems to have reflected as deeply and earnestly
on the importance of infancy as Rousseau, or Jean Paul (cp. the say-
ing of the latter—‘not the moment of death, but the moment of birth,
is probably the more important’). He would fix the amusements of
children in the hope of fixing their characters in after-life. In the
spirit of the statesman who said, ‘Let me make the ballads of a country,
and I care not who make their laws,’ Plato would have said, ‘ Let the
amusements of children be unchanged, and they will not want to change
the laws.’ The ‘Goddess Harmonia’ plays a great part in Plato’s ideas
of education. The natural restless force of life in children, ‘who do
nothing but roar until they are three years old,’ is gradually to be reduced
to law and order. As in the Republic, he fixes certain forms in which
songs are to be composed: (1) they are to be strains of peace; (2) they
are to be hymns or prayers addressed to the Gods; (3) they are to sing
only of the lawful and good. The poets are again expelled, or rather

ironically invited to depart; and those who remain are required to submit
their poems to the censorship of the magistrates. Youth are no longer
) compelled to commit to memory many thousand lyric and tragic Greek
| verses ; yet, perhaps, a worse fate is in store for them. Plato has no
_ belief in the ‘liberty of prophesying’; and having guarded against the
dangers of poetry, he remembers that there is an equal danger in prose
writers. He cannot leave his old enemies, the Sophists, in possession of
the field; and therefore he proposes that youth shall learn by heart,
instead of the compositions of poets or prose writers, his own inspired
work on laws. These, and music and mathematics, are the chief staple
_ of his education.

Mathematics are to be cultivated, not as in the Republic with a view to
the higher science of the idea of good, but rather with a religious and
political aim. They are a sacred study which teaches men how to dis-
tribute the portions of a state, and which is to be pursued in order that
they may learn not to blaspheme about astronomy. Against three errors
_ Plato is in profound earnest. First, the error of supposing that the three
dimensions of length, breadth, and height, are really commensurable
with one another. The difficulty which he feels is analogous to the
difficulty which he formerly felt about the connection of ideas, and

VOL, Vs K

130 LAWS.

equally characteristic of ancient philosophy: he fixes his mind on the
point of difference, and cannot at the same time take in the similarity,
Secondly, he is puzzled about the nature of fractions: like the arithme-
ticians in the Republic, 525 E, he is disposed to deny the possibility of
their existence. Thirdly, his optimism leads him to insist (unlike the
Portuguese king who thought that he could have improved on the
mechanism of the heavens) on the perfect or circular movement of the
heavenly bodies. He appears to mean, that instead of regarding the stars
as overtaking or being overtaken by one another, or as planets wandering
in many paths, a more comprehensive survey of the heavens would
enable us to infer that they all alike moved in a circle around a centre
(cp. Timaeus, fol. 40; Rep. x. 617). He probably suspected, though
unacquainted with the true cause, that the appearance of the heavens
did not agree with the reality: at any rate, his notions of what was right
or fitting easily overpowered the results of actual observation. To the
early astronomers, who lived at the revival of science, as to Plato, there
would have seemed to be nothing absurd in @ przord astronomy, and they
would probably have made fewer real discoveries if they had followed any
other track. (Cp. Introduction to the Republic, p. 94 foll.)
y The science of dialectic is nowhere mentioned by name in the Laws,
ie is anything said of the education of after-life ; the child is to begin
to learn at ten years of age: he is to be taught reading and writing for
three years from ten to thirteen, and no longer; and for three years more,
from thirteen to sixteen, he is to be instructed in music. The great fault
which Plato finds in the contemporary education is the almost total
ignorance of arithmetic and astronomy, in which the Greeks would do
well to take a lesson from the Egyptians. (Cp. Rep. vii. 525 foll.) Dancing
and wrestling are to have a military character, and women as well as men
are to be taught the use of arms. The military spirit which Plato has
vainly endeavoured to expel in the first two books returns again in the
seventh and eighth. His genius has evidently a sympathy with the soldier,
as he has with the poet, and he is no mean master of the art, or at least
of the theory of war (cp. Laws, vi. 760 foll.; Rep. v. 467-470), though
inclining rather to the Spartan than to the Athenian practice of it (Laws,
iv. 706, 707). Of a supreme or master science which was to be the
‘coping stone’ of the rest, few traces appear in the Laws. He seems to
have lost faith in it, or perhaps to have realized that the time for sucha
science had not yet come, and that he was unable to fill up the outline

4 he eee

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INTRODUCTION. 131

which he had sketched. ‘There is no requirement that the guardians of the
law shall be philosophers, nor are we told how the leisure of the citizens,
when they are grown up, is to be employed. In this respect we note
a falling off from the Republic. Their public and family duties were,
probably, to be their main business, and they would, no doubt, take up a
great deal more time than in the modern world we are willing to allow
to either of them. But of any regular training to be pursued under the
superintendence of the state from eighteen to thirty, or from thirty to
thirty-five, he no longer entertains the idea; he has taken the first step
downwards on ‘ Constitution Hill.’ (Rep. viii. 547, 548.)

Few among us are either able or willing to carry education into later
life ; five or six years spent at school, three or four at a university, or in
the preparation for a profession, an occasional attendance at a lecture to
which we are invited by friends when we have an hour to spare from
housekeeping or money-making—these comprise, as a matter of fact, the
education even of the educated; and then the lamp is extinguished
‘more truly than Heracleitus’ sun, never to be lighted again.’ (Rep. vi.
497 B.) The description which Plato gives in the Republic of the state of
adult education among his contemporaries may be applied almost word
for word to our own age. But in the Laws he no longer entertains the
idea that the deficiency can be corrected, or that a regular course of study
is possible in mature years. He does not, however, go on to remark,
that the education of after-life is of another kind, and must consist with
the majority of the world rather in the improvement of character than in
the acquirement of knowledge. It comes from the study of ourselves
and other men: from moderation and experience: from reflection on
circumstances: from the pursuit of high aims: from a right use of the
opportunities of life. It is the preservation of what we have been, and
the addition of something more. The power of abstract study or con-
tinuous thought is very rare, but such a training as this can be given by
every one to himself.

The singular passage in Book vii. (803 C), in which Plato describes
life as a pastime, like many other passages in the Laws, is imperfectly
expressed. [wo thoughts seem to be struggling in his mind: first, the
reflection to which he returns at the end of the passage (804 B), that
men are playthings or puppets, and that God only is the serious aim of
human endeavours; this suggests to him the afterthought that, although
playthings, they are the playthings of the Gods, and that this is the best

r

Ke 2

ey LAWS.

of them. The cynical ironical fancy of the moment insensibly passes
into a religious sentiment. Life is a play in the higher sense, as well as a
sort of mystery in which we have the Gods for playfellows. Men imagine
that war is their serious pursuit, and they make war that they may return
to their amusements. But neither wars nor amusements are the true
satisfaction of men, which is to be found only in the society of the Gods,
in sacrificing to them and propitiating them. Like a Christian ascetic,
Plato seems to suppose that life should be passed wholly in the enjoy-
ment of divine things.

In one of the noblest passages of Plato, he speaks of the relation of
the sexes (vili. 835-842). Natural relations had been established of old;
a ‘little word’ had put a stop to incestuous connections between members
of the same family. But unnatural unions still continued to prevail at
Crete and Lacedaemon, and were even justified by the example of the
Gods. They, too, might be banished, if the feeling that they were
unholy and abominable could sink into the minds of men. The legis-
lator is to cry aloud, and spare not, ‘ Let not men fall below the level of
the beasts.’ Plato does not shrink, like some modern philosophers,
from ‘carrying on war against the mightiest lusts of mankind’; neither
does he expect to extirpate them, but only to confine them to their natural
use and purpose, by the enactments of law, and by the influence of public
Opinion.

BOOK IX. Punishments-of offences, and modes of procedure, will
be our next subject. The idea that in a well-ordered state there will be
great criminals who require to be punished by the law, is a disgrace to
us; but as we are legislating for men and not for Gods, there will be no
uncharitableness in apprehending that there may be some rampant
citizen, whose heart, like the seed which has touched the ox’s horn, will ©
be hardened against the law. None who are well-educated will be guilty
of such a crime, but one of their servants may, and with a view to him,
and at the same time with a remoter eye to the general infirmity of
human nature, I will lay down the law concerning the robbing of temples,
beginning with a prelude. To the robber we will say—O sir, the com-
plaint which troubles you is not human; but some curse or plague has
fallen upon you, inherited from the crimes of your ancestors, of which
you must purge yourself: go and sacrifice to the Gods, frequent
the society of the good, avoid the wicked; and if you are cured of the

RST ee eae eee es ee Ee OX SES er IP

se, cine ith ot abs emia iets ah Vii Rea

INTRODUCTION. 133

fatal impulse, well; but if not, acknowledge death to be better than life,
and depart.

These are the accents, soft and low, in which we address the criminal.
And if_he refuse to listen to them, then cry aloud as with the sound of
a trumpet: Whosoever robs a temple, if he be a slave or foreigner shall \
be branded in the face and hands, and scourged, and then cast naked
beyond the border. And perhaps this may improve him: for the law
aims either at the reformation of the criminal, or the repression of crime,
and no punishment is designed to inflict useless injury. But if the
offender be a citizen, he must be incurable, and death is the least penalty
which he deserves. His iniquity, however, shall not be visited on his
children; nor is his property to be confiscated, or any fine inflicted upon
him or upon any one which will interfere with the integrity or cultivation.
of the lot: the guardians of the law are to be careful about this.

If a fine is inflicted upon a man which he cannot pay, and for which
his friends are unwilling to be security, he shall be imprisoned and chas-
tised, but not exiled or deprived of citizenship; though he may be put
to death, or imprisoned, or beaten, or fined, or pilloried, or removed to
some temple on the borders. Capital offences shall come under the
cognizance of the guardians of the law, and a college: of the best of the
ex-archons of the previous year. ‘The mode of procedure we shall leave
to the lawgivers of the future, and only determine the mode of voting,
The votes are to be given openly, in the presence of an audience of the
citizens: on the firstagay the plaintiff and defendant shall make their
speeches; and the judges, beginning with the eldest, shall ask questions
and collect evidence during three days, which, at the end of each day,
shall be deposited in writing on the altar of Hestia; and when they
have evidence enough, after a solemn declaration that they will decide
justly, they shail vote and end the case.

Next to religion, the preservation of the constitution is the first object
of the law. The greatest enemy of the state is he who attempts to set
up a tyrant, or breeds plots and conspiracies; not far below him in guilt,
is a magistrate who either knowingly, or in ignorance, fails to bring the
offender to justice. Any one who is good for anything will give infor-
mation against traitors. The mode of proceeding in such cases will be
the same as in cases of sacrilege ; the penalty, death. But neither in ae
case nor in any other is the son to bear the iniquity of the father, unless
father, grandfather, great-grandfather, have all of them been capitally

134 LAWS:

convicted, and then the family are to be sent off to the mother country,
retaining their property, with the exception of the lot and its fixtures.
And ten are to be selected from the second sons of the other citizens—
one of whom is to be chosen by the oracle of Delphi to be heir of the
lot. This third law about the judges and processes of treason, and the
removal of families, shall apply equally to the traitor, the sacrilegious,
and the conspirator.

A thief, whether he steals much or little, must refund twice the amount,
if he is able to do so without impairing his lot; if he cannot, he must
go to prison until he either pays or satisfies the plaintiff, or in case of a
public theft, the city. ‘ But should all the different kinds of thefts incur
the same penalty?’ You remind me of what I know—that legislation is
never perfect. The men for whom laws are made may be compared to
the slave who is being doctored, according to our old image, by the
unscientific doctor. For he, if he chance to meet the educated phy-
siclan and gentleman talking to his patient, and entering into the
philosophy of his disease, would burst out laughing and say, as doctors
delight in doing, ‘You old fool, instead of curing the patient you are
educating him!’ .And he would be quite right, and not far wrong,
if he went on to observe, that he who legislates in our fashion preaches
to the citizens instead of legislating for them. ‘Perhaps.’ There is,
however, one advantage which we possess—that being amateurs only, we
may either take the most ideal, or the most necessary and utilitarian
view. ‘But why offer such an alternative? as if all our legislation
must be done to-day, and nothing put off until the morrow. Like
builders, or other constructors, we may surely rough-hew them first, and
shape and place them afterwards.’ That will be the best way of getting
the most general view of our laws. The writings of legislators are like
any other writings in prose or verse, or rather they are the most
important of all. The legislator should determine the nature of good
and evil, and how they should be studied with a view to our instruction.
What these are the legislator should teach, and how they are to be
pursued. Are not Solon and Lycurgus as much disgraced as Homer
and ‘Tyrtaeus, when they write ill about the institutions of life? The
laws of states ought to be the models of writing, and what is at
variance with them should be deemed ridiculous. And we may further
imagine them to express the affection and good sense of a father or
mother, and not to be the fiats of a tyrant? ‘Very true.’

SEO? HEPES tere Ree Rev

INTRODUCTION. 135

Let us enquire more particularly about sacrilege, theft and other
crimes, for which we have already legislated in part. And this leads
us to ask, first of all, whether we are agreed or disagreed about the
nature of the honourable and just. ‘To what are you referring?’
I will endeavour to explain. All are agreed that justice is honourable,
whether in men or things, and no one who maintains that a very ugly
man who is just, is in his mind fair, would be thought extravagant.
‘Very true. But if honour is to be attributed to justice, are just
sufferings honourable, or only just actions? ‘What do you mean?’
Why, our own laws supply a case in point; for we enacted that the
robber of temples, and the enemy of our laws, should die; and this
was just, but the reverse of honourable. ‘That is true. But are we
consistent in holding this language? I have already said that the evil
are involuntarily evil; and the evil are the unjust. Now the voluntary
cannot be the involuntary; and if you two come to me and say, ‘ Shall
we legislate?’ of course, I shall reply—‘ Then will you distinguish what
crimes are voluntary, and what involuntary, and shall we impose lighter
penalties on the first, and heavier on the latter? Or shall we refuse
to determine what is the meaning of voluntary and involuntary, and
maintain that our words have come down from heaven, and that they
should be at once embodied in a law?’ All states legislate under the
idea that there are two classes of actions, the voluntary and the in-
voluntary, but there appears to be great confusion about them reigning
in the minds of men; and the law can never act unless they are
distinguished. ‘That is true, Stranger.’ And we must either abstain
from affirming that unjust actions are involuntary, or explain the
meaning of this statement: for not to speak the truth is impiety.
Believing, then, that acts of justice cannot be divided into voluntary
and involuntary, I must endeavour to show that they must be divided
on some other principle. ‘Do so by all means. Hurts may be
voluntary, or involuntary; and involuntary hurts, whether great or
small, are not injuries: and, on the other hand, a benefit may be
an injury. An act which gives or takes away anything is not simply
just; but the legislator has to consider the animus of the agent, and
to provide satisfaction and retribution with a view to the reconciliation
of the parties. ‘Excellent.’ Where injustice, like disease, is remediable,
there the remedy must be applied in word or deed, with the assistance
of pleasures and pains, of bounties and penalties, or any other influence

which may inspire man with the love of justice, or hatred of injustice ;
and this is the noblest work of law. When the legislator perceives
the evil to be incurable, he will consider that the death of the offender
will be a good to himself, and in two ways a good to society: first,
as he becomes an example to others; secondly, because the city will
be quit of a rogue; and in such a case, but in no other, the legislator
will punish with death. ‘I think that there is truth in what you say.
I wish, however, that you would distinguish more clearly the difference
of injury and harm, and the complications of voluntary and involuntary.’
I will.—You will admit that anger is of a violent and destructive nature?
‘That cannot be denied.’ And further, that pleasure is different from
anger, and is derived from an opposite source to anger, working by
persuasion and the force of deceit? ‘Yes.’ Ignorance is the third
source of error; this the legislator may note as being of two kinds—
simple ignorance and ignorance doubled by conceit of knowledge; the
latter, when accompanied with power, is a source of terrible errors, but
excusable when only weak and childish. We are in the habit of saying
that one man masters, and another is mastered by pleasure and anger.
‘Just so.’ But no one says that one man masters, and another is
mastered by ignorance. ‘Very true.’ All these motives actuate men
and sometimes drive them in different ways. ‘That is often the case.’
Now, then, I am in a position to define the nature of just and unjust.
By injustice I mean the dominion of anger and fear, and pleasure and
pain, and envy and desire in the soul, whether doing harm or not:
by justice I mean the rule of the opinion of the best, whether in states
or individuals, extending to the whole of life; although actions done
in error are often thought to be involuntary injustice. No controversy
need be raised about names at present; we are only desirous of fixing
in our memories the heads of error.. And the pain which is called fear
and anger is our first head of error; the second is the class of pleasures
and desires; and the third, of hopes which aim at true opinion about
the best, the latter falling into three divisions, accordingly as they
proceed from anger, desire, ignorance, making in all five. And the
laws relating to them may be summed up under two heads. ‘ What
are they?’ Deeds of violence and irregularity, deeds of darkness and
deceit; to which may be added the combination of both, and these
last should be visited with the utmost rigour of the law. ‘Very
properly,’

INTRODUCTION. : 137,

Let us now return to the enactment of laws. We have treated of
sacrilege, and of treason, and of sedition. Any of these crimes may be
committed by a person not in his right mind, or in the second childhood
of old age. And if this is proved before the select tribunal, the person
in question shall only have to pay for the injury, and not be punished
further. In case of homicide he shall be exiled for a year, and if he
return before the expiration of the year, shall be retained in the public
prison two years.

Homicides may be divided into voluntary and involuntary: and first
of involuntary homicide. He who unintentionally kills another man
at games or at gymnastics duly authorized by the archons, whether y
death follow immediately or after an interval, shall be acquitted, subject
only to the purification required by the Delphian Oracle. Any physician
whose patient dies against his will shall in like manner be acquitted. Any
one who unintentionally kills a slave, with or without weapons, shall
bear the master of the slave harmless, or pay a penalty amounting
to twice the value of the slave, and to this let him add a purification
greater than in the case of the deaths at the games. If a man kill
his own slave, a purification only is required of him. If he kill a
freeman unintentionally, let him also make purification, not forgetting
the ancient tradition which says that the murdered man is indignant
at seeing his murderer walk about in his own former haunts, and that
he terrifies him with the consciousness of his crime. And therefore
the homicide should go into exile for a year, and keep away from
his own land or that of the murdered man. If he complies with this
condition, the nearest kinsman of the deceased shall take pity upon
him and be reconciled to him; but if he refuses to remain in exile,
or attempts to go and sacrifice before he has been purified, then let
the kinsman proceed against him, and demand a double penalty. Or
if the kinsman neglects this duty, then he himself shall incur a curse,
and any one who likes may proceed against him, and compel him
to leave his country for five years. If a stranger involuntarily kill a
stranger, any One may proceed against him in the same manner: and
the homicide, if he be a metic, shall be banished for a year; but if
he be an entire stranger, whether he have murdered metic, citizen,
or stranger, he shall be banished for ever; and if he return, he shall
be punished with death, and his property shall go to the next of kin
of the murdered man. If he come back by sea against his will, he

138 LAWS.

shall be kept with his feet in the water waiting for a vessel to sail;
or if he be brought back by land, the magistrates shall send him
unharmed beyond the border.

Next follows murder done from anger, which is of two kinds—either
arising out of a sudden impulse, and attended with remorse; or retali-
ation of an injury, which is unattended with remorse. The cause of
both is anger, and both are intermediate between voluntary and in-
voluntary. The one which is committed from sudden impulse, though
not wholly involuntary, bears the image of the involuntary, and is
therefore the more excusable of the two, and should receive a gentler
punishment. The act of him who nurses his wrath is more voluntary,
and therefore more culpable. ‘The degree of culpability depends on
the presence or absence of intention, to which the degree of punish-
;ment should correspond. For the first kind of murder, that which is
done from anger, let two years exile be the penalty; for the second,
that which is accompanied with malice prepense, three. When the time
of exile has expired, the judges shall send twelve of their number to
~ enquire into the manner of life of the exiles; and they shall impose a
rule upon them which shall be binding. He who after returning
repeats the offence, shall be exiled and return no more. He who
in a fit of anger kills his own slave, shall purify himself; and in the
case of another man’s slave, he shall pay to him double the value.
Any one may proceed against the offender if he appear in public
places, not having been purified; and may bring to trial both the
next of kin to the dead man and the homicide, and shall compel
the one to exact, and the other to pay, a double penalty. If a slave kill
his master, or a freeman who is not his master, in anger, the kindred of
the murdered person may do what else they please with him, but they
must not spare his life. If a father or mother kill their son or daughter
in anger let them remain in exile for three years; and on their return
let them separate, and not continue to cohabit, or have the same sacred
rites with those whom they have deprived of a brother or sister. The
same penalty is decreed against the husband who murders his wife, or
the wife who murders her husband. Let them be absent three years,
and on their return never join in the sacred rites or meals of their
children. Nor is a brother or sister who have lifted up their hands
against a brother or sister, ever to partake of the hearth or sacrifices of
their parents. If a son feels such violent hatred against his father or

INTRODUCTION. F30

mother as to take the life of either of them, then, if the father forgive
him before his death, he shall only suffer the penalty due to involuntary
homicide ; but if he be unforgiven, there are many laws against which he
has offended; he is guilty of outrage, impiety, sacrilege all in one, and
deserves to be put to death many times over. If the law will not allow
him to kill the author of his being even in defence of his own life, no
other penalty can be inflicted upon him. If a brother kill a brother
in self-defence, or a citizen a citizen, or a slave a slave, or if a citizen
kill a citizen, or a stranger a stranger, let them be free from blame, as he
is who slays an enemy in battle. But if a slave kill a freeman, let him
be as a parricide. In all cases, however, the forgiveness of the injured
party may acquit the agents; and then they shall only be purified, and
remain in exile for a year.

Enough of actions that are involuntary, or done in anger; let us
proceed to voluntary and premeditated actions. The great source of
voluntary crime is the desire of money, which is begotten by evil educa-
tion; and this arises out of the false praise of riches, common both
among Hellenes and barbarians, which, although in the third rank of
goods, is placed by them in the first. For the body is not for the
sake of wealth, but wealth for the body, as the body is for the soul.
If this were better understood, the crime of murder of which avarice
is the chief cause, would soon cease among men. Next to avarice,
ambition is a source of crime, dangerous to the ambitious man himself,
as well as to the chief men of the state. And next to ambition, base
fear is a motive which has led many an one to commit murder in
order that he may get rid of the witnesses of his crimes. Let this be
said as a prelude to all enactments about crimes; there may be added
a doctrine of revenge or retaliation in the world below: and if a man
is deterred by the fear of a future state of punishment, he will have no
need of the law; but in case he disobey, let the law be declared against
him as follows :—He who of malice prepense kills one of his kindred,
shall in the first place be outlawed; neither temple, harbour, nor agora
shall be polluted by his presence. And if a kinsman of the deceased
refuse to proceed against his slayer, he shall take the curse of pollution
upon himself, and also be liable to suffer punishment at the hands of
any one who will avenge the dead. Let him who is willing, after due
sacrifices and purifications, carry out the process of justice appointed by
the legislator. The exact mode will be best determined by a conclave

140 LAWS.

of prophets and guardians of the law, and the judges of the cause shall
be the same as in cases of sacrilege. He who is convicted shall. be
punished with death, and not be buried within the limits of the country
of the murdered person. He who runs away shall undergo perpetual
banishment; and if he return, he may be put to death with impunity by
any of the citizens, or bound and delivered to the archons. He who
brings an accusation shall demand satisfactory bail of the accused, and
if this is not forthcoming, the magistrate shall keep him in prison
against the day of trial. If a man commit murder by the hand of
another, he shall be tried in the same way as in the cases previously
supposed, but if the offender be a citizen, he shall not be deprived of
burial in the land.

If a slave kill a freeman, or conspire to kill him, let him be taken to
the grave of the murdered man, and there receive as many stripes at
~ the hand of the public executioner as the person who took him pleases ;
and if he survive he shall be put to death. If a slave be put out of the
way to prevent his informing of some crime, his death shall be pun-
ished like that of a citizen. If the putting of him to death have arisen
out of some of those horrible crimes which occur in families where there
is a bad state of society, of which the legislator, however unwilling,
cannot avoid taking cognizance, he will repeat the old saw or myth of
the divine vengeance against the perpetrators of such atrocities. The
myth will say that the murderer must suffer what he has done: if he
have slain his father, he must be slain by his children; if his mother,
he must become a woman and perish at the hands of his offspring in
another age of the world. Such a preamble announcing the anger of
the Gods may terrify him; but if, notwithstanding, he falls into the
recklessness of crime, and murders father or mother or brethren or
children, the mode of proceeding shall be as follows:—Him who is
convicted, the officers of the judges shall slay, and expose naked
without the city in a place where three ways meet; and all the magis-
trates shall cast a stone upon his head and justify the city, and he shall
be thrown unburied beyond the border. But what shall we say of him
who deprives destiny of her right, and takes the life which is dearest
to him, that is to say, his own; and this not from any disgrace or
calamity, but from cowardice and indolence? The manner of his
_ burial and the purification of his crime is a matter for God to decide
and for his kinsmen to execute. Let him, at any rate, be buried alone

INTRODUCTION. IAI

in some undistinguished spot, and be without name or monument. If
a beast kill a man, not in a public contest, let him be slain and carried
without the border by the relations of the deceased. Also inanimate
things which have caused death, except in the case of lightning and
other visitations from heaven, shall be carried without the border.
If the body of a dead man is found, and the murderer, after every effort
to detect him, remains unknown, the trial shall take place all the same,
and the unknown murderer, if found guilty, shall be warned not to set
foot in the temples or come within the borders of the land; if dis-
covered, he shall die the death, and his body shall be cast out. A man
is justified in taking the life of a thief entering the house by night, of
a footpad, of a violator of women or youth; and he may take the life
of another in defence of father, mother, brother, or other relations.

The nurture and education which are necessary to the existence of
men have been considered, and the punishment of acts of violence
which destroy life. There remain maimings, wounding, and the like,}
which admit of a similar division into voluntary and involuntary. About
this class of actions the preamble shall be: Whereas men would be
like wild beasts unless they obeyed the laws, the first duty of citizens
is the care of the public interests, which unite and preserve states,
as private interests distract them. A man may know what is for the
public good, but if he be undisciplined, human nature will impel him
to seek pleasure instead of virtue, and so darkness will come over his
soul and over the state. If he had knowledge, he would have no need
of law; for knowledge is the perfection of law. But such a freeman,
‘whom the truth makes free,’ is hardly to be found; and therefore law
and order are necessary, which are the second best, and they regulate
many things, but not everything. For actions have innumerable
characteristics, which must be partly determined by the law and partly
left to the judge. The judge must determine the fact; nor can the
law always prescribe the punishment. What shall the law prescribe,
and what shall be left to the judge? A city is unfortunate in which
the tribunal is either secret and speechless, or, what is worse, noisy and
public, and like a theatre, resounding with the applause and censure
of the advocates. Such courts a legislator would rather not have; but
if he must have them, he will speak plainly himself, and leave as little
as possible in the power of the court. But where the courts are good,
and presided over by well-trained judges, the penalties to be inflicted

oe LAWS.

may be in a great measure left to them; and as there are to be good
courts among our colonists, there will be no need for us to determine
beforehand the exact proportion of the penalty and the crime.
Returning, then, to our legislator, let us indite a law about wounding,
which shall run as follows:—He who wounds with intent to kill, and
fails in his object, shall be tried as if he had succeeded. But since God
has favoured both him and his victim, instead of being put to death,
he shall be allowed to go into exile and take his property with him,
the damage due to the sufferer having been previously estimated by
the court, which shall be the same as would have tried the case if death
had ensued. If a child intentionally wound its parent, or a servant
his master, or if brother or sister wound brother or sister with malice
prepense, the penalty shall be death. If a husband or wife wound one
another with intent to kill, the penalty which is inflicted upon them
shall be perpetual exile, and if they have children not yet grown up
their property shall be placed in the hands of trustees. If they have
no children, their kinsmen male and female shall meet, and after a
consultation with the priests and guardians of the law, shall appoint
an heir of the house; for the house and family belong to the state,
being a 504oth portion of the whole. And the state is bound to
preserve her families happy and holy; therefore, when the heir of a
house has committed a capital offence, or is in exile for life, the house
is to be purified, and then the kinsmen of the house and the guardians
of the law are to enquire about those who are conspicuous for virtue,
and introduce one of them to be the heir and priest of the house.
He shall assume the fathers and ancestors of the family, while the
first son dies in dishonour and his name is blotted out.

Some actions are intermediate between the voluntary and involuntary,
and differ in degree. Those done from anger are of this class. If
a man wounds another in anger, let him pay double the value of the
injury, if curable; or fourfold, if curable, and at the same time
dishonourable ; and fourfold, if incurable ; the payment is to be assessed
by the judges. If the wounded person is rendered incapable of military
service, besides the other penalties which he undergoes the injurer
shall serve in his stead, or be liable to a suit for refusing to serve.
If brother wounds brother, then their parents and kindred, of both
sexes, shall meet and judge the crime. The damages shall be assessed
by the parents; and if the amount fixed by them is disputed, an appeal

INTRODUCTION. 143

shall be made to the male kindred; or in the last resort to the guardians
of the law. Parents who wound their children are to be tried by judges
of at least sixty years of age, who have children of their own; and they
are to determine whether death, or what greater or in any degree less
punishment, is to be inflicted upon them—no relatives are to take part
in the trial. If a slave in anger smite a freeman, he is to be delivered
up by his master to the injured person. If the master suspect collusion
between the slave and the injured person, he may try the matter. And
if he fail he shall pay three times the injury; or if he obtain a conviction,
the contriver of the conspiracy shall be made his slave. He who wounds
another unintentionally, shall pay single and not double damages. The
lawgiver cannot control accidents.

In all outrages and acts of violence, the elder is to be more regarded
than the younger ; as among the Gods so also among men. An injury
done by a younger man to an elder is abominable and hateful; but the
younger man who sustains an injury at the hands of an elder is to bear
with him patiently, considering that he who is twenty years older is Zoco
parents. Let him keep his hands, too, from the stranger; instead of
taking upon himself to chastise him when he is insolent, he shall bring
him before the wardens of the city, who, not without thought of the
God who protects strangers, shall inflict upon him as many blows as
he has given; or if he be innocent, they shall warn and threaten his
accuser. When an equal strikes an equal, whether an old man an old
man, or a young man a young man, let them use only their fists and
have no knives. He who being above forty years of age commences
a battle, or retaliates, shall be counted mean and base.

To this preamble, let the law be added: If a man smite another
who is his elder by twenty years or more, let the bystander, in case
he be older than the combatants, part them; or if he be younger than
the person struck, or of the same age with him, let him defend him
as he would a father or brother; and let the striker be brought to trial,
and if convicted imprisoned for a year or more at the discretion of the
judges. If he be a stranger, he shall be imprisoned for two years, and
if a metic for three. He who is standing by and gives no assistance,
shall be punished according to his class in one of four penalties—a
mina, fifty, thirty, twenty, drachmas. The generals and other superior
officers of the army shall form the court who try this class of offences.
Laws are made to instruct the good, and in the hope that there may

144 LAWS.

be no need of them; also to control the bad, whose hardness of heart
will not be hindered from crime. ‘The uttermost penalty is reserved for
the parricide and the matricide, who despise the universal moral sense
and tradition of mankind; for such there are reserved tortures worse
than death in the world below. These, however, are not believed by
them, else there would be no such criminals—wherefore the tortures
which will then await them must be anticipated in life. Let the law
be as follows :—

If a man, being in his right mind, dares to smite his father and
mother, or his grandfather and grandmother, let the passer-by come to
the rescue; and if he be a metic or stranger who comes to the rescue,
he shall have the first place at the games; or if he do not come to the
rescue, he shall be a perpetual exile. Let the citizen in the like case be
praised or blamed, and the slave receive freedom or a hundred stripes.
The wardens of the agora, the city, or the country, shall see to the
execution of the law. And he who is an inhabitant of the same place
and is present shall help ; or if he do not he shall be under a curse.

If a man be convicted of assaulting his parents, let him be banished
/ from the city into the country, and let him abstain from sacrificing ; and
if he do not abstain, let him be punished by the wardens of the country ;
and if he return to the city, let him be put to death. If any freeman con-
sort with him, let him be purified before he return to the city. Ifa slave
strike a freeman, whether citizen or stranger, let the bystander be bound
to seize and deliver him into the hands of the injured person, who may
_ inflict upon him as many blows as he pleases, and shall then return him
- safely to his master. The law will be as follows:—The slave who
strikes a freeman shall be bound by his master, and not set at liberty
without the consent of the person whom he has injured. All these laws
apply to women as well as to men.

BOOK X. The greatest wrongs arise out of youthful insolence, and
the greatest of all are committed against public temples: they are in
the second degree great when private rites and sepulchres are insulted ;
in the third degree, when committed against parents; in the fourth
degree, when they offend against the authority or property of the rulers;
in the fifth degree, when the rights of individuals are violated. Most
of these offences have been already considered; but there remains
the question of admonition and punishment of offences against the

INTRODUCTION. 145

Gods. Let the admonition be in the following terms:—No man who
ever did or said anything impious, had a true belief in the existence
of the Gods; but, either he thought that there were no Gods, or that
they did not care about men, or that they were easily appeased by
sacrifices and prayers. ‘What shall we say or do to such persons?’
My good sir, let us first hear the jests which they in their superiority will
make upon us. ‘What will they say?’ Probably something of this
kind :—‘ Strangers, you are right in thinking that some of us do not
believe in the existence of the Gods; while others assert that they do not
care for us, and others that they are propitiated by prayers and offerings.
But we want you to preach to us before you threaten; you should prove
that there are Gods, and that they are too good to be bribed. Poets,
priests, prophets, rhetoricians, even the best of them, speak to us of atoning
for evil, and not of avoiding evil, From gentle legislators we ask for
instruction, which may, at least, have the persuasive power of truth, if no

_ other.’ What have you to say? ‘ Well, there is no difficulty in proving

the being of the Gods. The sun, and earth, and stars, moving in their
courses, the recurring seasons, are evidences of their existence; and
there is the general opinion of mankind.’ I am afraid that the un-
believers—not that I have any respect for them—will despise us. You
do not seem to see that their impiety proceeds, not from sensuality, but
from ignorance taking the garb of wisdom. ‘What do you mean?’ At
Athens there are current tales, written both in metre and out of metre,
of a kind which are not tolerated in a well-regulated state like yours.
The oldest of them speak of the origin of the world, and they go on |
to tell of the birth and life of the Gods. Now these narratives have not
a good influence on family relations; but as they are old we will let
them pass, and consider another kind of tales, invented by a younger
generation of wiseacres, who are fond of repeating that the Gods are
earth and stones, which can have no care of human things, and that
theology is a cooking-up of words. ‘One such teacher is bad enough,
and alas! you imply that there are many of them.’ What shall we say
or do? Shall we suppose some impious man to charge us with assuming
the existence of the Gods, and make a defence? Or shall we leave the
preamble and go on to the laws? ‘No man hurries us, and we have
often said that the shorter and worse method should not be preferred to
the longer and better. The proof that there are Gods who are good,
and the friends of justice, is the preamble of all law.’ Come, then, and
FOUL YN: L

146 AW

let us talk with the impious, who have been brought up from their infancy
in the belief of religion, and have heard their own fathers and mothers
praying for them and talking with the Gods as if they were convinced of
their existence; who have seen mankind prostrate before the rising and
setting sun and moon at every turn of fortune, and have despised and
disbelieved all this. Can we keep our temper with them, when they
compel us to argue on such a theme? We must; or like them we shall
go mad, though with more reason. Let us address them as follows:

O my son, you are young; time and experience will make you change
many of your opinions. Do not be hasty in forming a conclusion about
the divine nature; and let me mention to you a fact which I know.
You and your friends are not the only or the first persons who have held
these opinions about the Gods. ‘There are always a considerable num-
ber who are infected by them: I have known many of these persons,
and can assure you that no one who was an unbeliever in his youth ever
persisted till he was old in denying the existence of the Gods. The
two other opinions, first, that the Gods exist and have no care of men,
secondly, that they care for men, but may be propitiated by sacrifices
and prayers, may indeed last through life in a few instances, but even
this is not common. I would beg of you to be patient, and learn the
truth of the legislator and others; in the mean time abstain from impiety.
‘ Thus far your address is admirable.’

I will now speak of a strange doctrine, which is regarded by many as
the crown of philosophy. They say that all things come into being
either by art or nature or chance, and that the greater things are done
by nature and chance, and the lesser things by art, which receives from
nature the larger creations and fashions them in detail. ‘What do you
and they mean?’ They mean to say that fire, water, earth, and air all
exist by nature and chance, and not by art; and that out of these the
sun, moon, stars, and earth were afterwards framed, and are inanimate
substances, moved by chance, according to a natural kindred of hot and
cold, hard and soft.

Thus, in their opinion, the heaven and earth were created, as well as
the animals and plants, and by these two causes—nature and chance.
Art came later, and is of mortal birth; by her power were invented
certain images and partial imitations of the truth, of which kind are
music and painting: but they say that there are other arts which
combine with nature, and have a deeper truth, such as medicine,

INTRODUCTION. 147

husbandry, gymnastics. Also the greater part of politics they imagine to
co-operate with nature, but in a less degree, having more of art, and that
legislation is wholly a work of art. ‘How do you mean?’ In the first
place, they say that the Gods exist neither by nature nor by art, but by
the laws of states, which are different in different countries; and that
virtue is one thing by nature and another by convention; and that justice
is altogether conventional, and made by law. This is repeated to young
men, both in prose and verse, and leads to all manner of impieties, and
the pretended life according to nature and in disobedience to law; for
nobody believes the Gods to be such as the law affirms. ‘Too true;
and oh! how injurious to states and to families!’ But then, what should
the lawgiver do? Should he stand up in the state and threaten all
mankind with the dire consequences of unbelief, at the same time making
no attempt to calm and persuade them? ‘Nay, Stranger, a legislator
who is worth anything ought never to weary of endeavouring to help the
people in their belief that there are Gods; law and art should be affirmed
by him to be the creations of mind.’ Yes, Cleinias; but we are entering
On questions which are difficult and tedious. ‘And shall our patience,
which was not exhausted in the enquiry about music or drink, weary now
of discoursing about the Gods? Laws may he difficult, but when written
down they remain, and time and diligence will decipher them ; if they
are useful there would be neither reason nor religion in rejecting them on
account of their length.” Most true. And the general spread of unbelief
shows that the legislator should do something in vindication of the laws,
when they are being undermined by bad men. ‘He should.’ You agree
with me, Cleinias, that the heresy consists in supposing earth, air, fire,
and water to be the first of all things. These the heretics call nature,
and conceive them to be prior to the soul. ‘I agree.’ You would
further agree that natural philosophy is the source of this impiety—the
study appears to be pursued in a wrong way. ‘In what way do you
mean?’ ‘The error consists in transposing first and second causes. ‘I
do not yet understand your meaning.’ I mean to say that they err in not
knowing that the soul is before the body, and before all other things, and
the author and ruler of them all in their vicissitudes. And if the soul is
prior to the body, then the things of the soul are prior to the things of
the body. ‘Certainly.’ In other words, opinion, attention, mind, art,
law, are prior to sensible qualities; and the first and greater works of
creation are the results of art and mind, whereas the works of nature, as
L 2

148 LAWS.

they are improperly termed, are secondary and subsequent. ‘ Quite
true.’ When they speak of nature they seem to mean the generation of
the first elements. And if the soul is first, and not fire and air, then the
soul may be truly said to have a creative power. But this can only be
on the supposition that the soul is prior to the body. ‘Mosttrue. Shall
I go to the point? ‘By all means.’ I fear that the greenness of our
argument will ludicrously contrast with the ripeness of our ages. But as
we must go into the water, and the stream is strong, I will first try the
experiment of crossing by myself, and if I arrive at the bank, you shall
follow. Remembering that you are not in the habit of answering
questions, I will interrogate myself with the view of establishing the
priority of the soul to the body. ‘Do so.’ I must first pray the Gods to
assist at the demonstration of their own existence—never was there a
more fitting occasion. Let me now hold fast to the rope, and enter into
the depths: Shall I put the question to myself in this form ?—Are all
things at rest, and is nothing in motion? or are some things in motion,
and some things at rest? ‘The latter. And are they moving or resting
in some place or places? ‘Yes.’ There may be motion in the same
place, as in revolution on an axis, which is imparted swiftly or slowly to
' the lesser and larger circle; and there may be motion in different places,
having sometimes one centre of motion and sometimes more. When
bodies in motion come against other bodies which are at rest, they are
divided by them, and when they meet other bodies coming from an
opposite direction they unite with them; and they grow by union while
their constitution remains the same, but are destroyed either by union or
division, when their constitution is lost. There is a growth from one
dimension to two, and from a second to a third, which then becomes
perceptible to sense; and these are all the motions possible with the
exception of two. ‘What are they?’ Just the two with which our
enquiry is concerned ; for our enquiry relates to the soul. Now there is
one kind of motion which is only able to move other things; there is
another which can move itself as well. ‘Granted.’ That which moves
and is moved by another is the ninth kind of motion; that which is
self-moved and moves others is the tenth. And this tenth kind of
motion is the mightiest, and is really the first, and is followed by that
which was improperly called the ninth. ‘How do you mean?’ Must
not that which is moved by others finally depend upon that which is
moved by itself? Nothing can be effected by any transition prior to

INTRODUCTION. 149

self-motion. Then the first and eldest principle in motion, whether in
things at rest or not at rest, will be the principle of self-motion; and that
which is changed by others and moves others will be the second.
‘True.’ Let me ask another question :

What is the name which is given to self-motion when manifested in
any material substance? ‘Life.’ The soul is life? ‘Very good. And
are there not three kinds of knowledge — a knowledge (1) of the
essence, (2) of the definition, (3) of the name? And sometimes the
name leads us to ask the definition, sometimes the definition to ask the
name; for example, number may be defined as that which is divisible into
two equal parts, and when thus divided is termed even, and the definition of
even and the word ‘even’ have the same meaning? ‘Very true. And
what is the definition of that which is named ‘soul’? Must we not reply
the self-moved? And have we not proved that the self-moved is the source
of motion in other things? ‘That has been proved.” And the motion
which is not self-moved will be inferior to this? ‘True.’ And if so, we
shall be right in saying that the soul is prior and superior to the body,
and the body by nature subject and inferior to the soul. ‘ Quite right.’
And we agreed that if the soul was prior to the body, the things of the
soul were prior to the things of the body? ‘Certainly.’ And therefore
desires, and manners, and thoughts, and true opinions, and recollections,
are prior to the length and breadth and force of bodies. ‘Of course.’
In the next place, we acknowledge that the soul is the cause of good and
evil, just and unjust, if we suppose her to be the cause of all things.
‘ Certainly.’ And the soul which orders all things must also order the
heavens? ‘Of course.’ One soul or more? More, I will answer for
you ; less than two are inconceivable, one good, the other evil. ‘ Most

true.’ The soul directs all things in heaven and earth and sea by her |
movements, which we call will, consideration, attention, deliberation,
opinion true and false, joy, sorrow, courage, fear, hatred, love, and
similar affections. These are the primary movements, and they receive.
the secondary movements of the body, and guide all things to increase:
and decline, separation and union, and to all the qualities which ac~

company them—cold, hot, heavy, light, hard, soft, white, black, sweet,
bitter; and the soul, herself a goddess, uses these and other qualities,
and by the help of the divine mind guides all things into truth and
happiness, or under the impulse of folly works out an opposite result.
For the controller of heaven and earth and the circle of the world is

150 LAWS.

either the wise and good soul, or the foolish and vicious soul, working in
them. ‘What do you mean?’ If we say that the whole course and
motion of heaven and earth is in accordance with the workings and
reasonings of mind, clearly the best soul must have the care of the
heaven, and guide it along that better way. ‘True.’ But if the heavens
move wildly and disorderly, then they must be under the guidance of
the evil soul. ‘True again.’ What is the nature of the movement of
the soul? We must not lead people to suppose that they can see and
know the soul with their bodily eyes, any more than they can see objects
in the midday sun ; they had better look at an image only. ‘How do
you mean?’ Let us find in the ten kinds of motion an image of the
motion of the mind. You remember, as we said, that all things are
divided into two classes ; and some of them were moved and some at
rest. ‘Yes.’ And of those which were moved, some were moved in
the same place, others in more places than one. ‘ Just so.’ The motion
which was in one place was circular, as in the motion of a top; this is
akin to the course of mind. ‘What do you mean?’ The motion of the
top in the same place, and in the same relations, is an excellent and
ingenious image of the motion of mind. ‘Very true.’ The motion of
the other sort, which has no fixed place or manner or relation or order
or proportion, is a species of motion akin to folly and nonsense. ‘ Very
true. After what has been said, there is no difficulty in distinctly stating
that, since the soul carries round all things, some soul which is either very
good or the opposite, carries round the circumference of heaven. But
we cannot suppose that soul to be other than the best. Again; the soul
carries round the sun, moon, and stars, and there is good reason for be-
lieving that if the sun has a soul, then either the soul of the sun is within
and moves the sun as the soul moves the body; or, secondly, the sun is
contained in some external air or fire, which the soul provides; or,
thirdly, the course of the sun is given by the soul acting in some’
miraculous manner without the body. ‘Yes, in one of those ways the
soul must guide all things.’ And this soul of the sun, which is better
than the sun, whether driving him in a chariot or employing any other
agency, is by every man called a God? ‘Yes, by every man who has
any sense.’ And of the seasons, stars, moon, and year, in like manner,
it may be affirmed that the soul or souls from which they derived their
excellence are divine; and without insisting on the manner of their
working, no one can deny that all things are full of Gods. ‘No one.’

INTRODUCTION. 151

And now let us offer an alternative to him who denies that there are
Gods. ‘What alternative?’ Either he must show that the soul is not
the origin of all things, or he must live for the future in the belief that
there are Gods.

Next, as to the man who believes in the Gods, but refuses to
acknowledge that they take care of human things—let him too have
a word of admonition. ‘Best of men,’ we will say to him, ‘some affinity
to the Gods leads you to honour them and to believe in them. But
there are strokes of fortune, which you have observed; the rewards
of wicked men are often praised by poets and approved by the world,
and these draw you away from your natural piety. Perhaps you have
seen the wicked growing old in prosperity, and leaving great offices to
their children; or you have watched the tyrant succeeding in his career
of crime; and seeing all these things you were led to believe in an
irrational way that the Gods take no care of human things. That
your error may not increase, I will endeavour to purify your soul.’ Do
you, Megillus and Cleinias, make answer for the youth, and when we
come to a difficulty, I will carry you over the water. ‘Very good.’
There is no difficulty in proving to him that the Gods care for the
small as well as the great, for he heard what was said of their goodness
and of their having all things under their hand. ‘He certainly heard.’
‘ Then now let us enquire what is meant by the virtue of the Gods.
To possess mind belongs to virtue, and the contrary to vice. ‘ That
is what we say. And is not courage a part of virtue, and cowardice
of vice? ‘Certainly. And to the Gods we ascribe virtues; but are
idleness and indolence virtues? ‘Of course not.’ And is God to be
conceived of as a careless, indolent fellow, whom the poet would
compare to a drone? ‘Impossible. Can we be right in praising
any one who cares for great matters and leaves the small to take
care of themselves? Whether God or man, he who does so, must
either think the neglect of such matters to be of no consequence, or
he is indolent and careless. But no one would say that he neglects
them because he is unable to attend to them. ‘Certainly not.’

And now we will examine both classes of offenders against the
Gods — the one who say that they may be appeased, the other that
they take no care of small matters: do they not acknowledge that:
the Gods know all things, and have all power, human and divine, and
that they are best? ‘Certainly.’ Then they cannot be indolent, for

igh LAWS.

indolence is the offspring of idleness, and idleness of cowardice, and
there is no cowardice in God. ‘True.’ If they neglect small matters,
they must either know or not know that such things are not to be
regarded. But of course they know, and knowing they cannot be
supposed to neglect their duty, overcome by the seductions of pleasure
or pain? ‘Impossible.’ Have not all human things a soul, and is
not man the most religious creature in the earth, and the possession
of the Gods, as the heavens are also their possession? And the Gods,
being the most provident beings, should take care of their property,
whether small or great. Consider further, that the greater the power
of perception, the less the power of action. ‘What do you mean?’
It is harder to see and hear the small than the great, but easier to
control them. Suppose a physician who had to cure a_patient—
would he ever succeed if he attended to the great and neglected the
little? ‘Impossible.’ And is not life made up of littles ?—the pilot,
general, householder, statesman, all attend to small matters ; and the
builder will tell you that large stones will not lie without small ones.
Let us not then suppose God to be inferior to mortal craftsmen, who
in proportion to their skill are careful in the details of their work; or
that the best and wisest is a lazy good-for-nothing, who wants a holiday,
and thinks small and easy matters to be beneath his notice. ‘ Never,
never!’ He who charges the Gods with neglect has been forced to
admit that he is in error; but I should like further to persuade him
that the author of all has put all together for the preservation of the
whole, and that the smallest part has an appointed state of action or
passion, and that the least action or passion of any part has a presiding
minister. You, we say to him, are a minute fraction of this universe,
created with a view to the whole; the blessed world is not made for the
sake of you, but you are made to increase the blessedness of the whole ;

for the good physician and the good artist regard the whole first, ith
afterwards the parts. And you are annoyed at not seeing how that
which is best for you is best also for the universe. The soul has many
changes of bodies; and all that the player can do is to put the pieces
into their right places. ‘What do you mean?’ I mean that God acts
in the way which is simplest and easiest. Where change is ever going
on, and new forms and fashions of life are springing up, the trans-
position of the Cosmos is endless ; and yet there is not much trouble
in the government of the world. ‘What do you mean?’ I mean to

INTRODUCTION. 153

say that when the king saw the actions of the living souls and bodies,
and the virtue and vice which were in them, and the indestructibility of
them, (although they were not eternal,) he contrived to place them
where virtue might conquer and vice be overcome as far as possible;
and with this view he gave them a place and seat adapted to them,
leaving the direction of their separate actions to men’s own wills and
characters, which make us to be what we are. ‘That is very reason-
able.’ All things which have a soul are changing, and possess in
themselves the principle of change, and so move according to the law
and order of fate; when they change gradually they move along the
surface of the ground; when they change greatly for the worse, they are
weighed down into Hades and the infernal world. And in all great
changes in the direction of good and evil which are produced by the
will of the soul and the mighty influence of others, there is a change
of place. The good soul, which has intercourse with the divine nature,
passes into a holier and better place. The evil soul, in like manner,
as she grows worse changes her place for the worse. This is the law
of the Gods in heaven—the worse to the worse, the better to the
better, like to like, in life and in death, and in every state of being
or of suffering. You, O youth, who fancy yourself unnoticed by the
Gods, shall depart to more unrighteous souls, and shall endure what
those who are like you see fit to impose upon you. That is the law
which will govern you, and which no man will ever boast that he has
escaped. Thou art not so little that thou canst creep into the earth,
or so high that thou canst mount to heaven; but either here, or in
the world below, or in some yet more savage place, you shall pay the
penalty. This is also the explanation of the prosperity of the wicked,
in whose actions as in a mirror you seemed to see the neglect of the
Gods, not considering the end of these men and their relation to the
whole. And yet without knowing these things how can you form any idea
of their real happiness? If Cleinias and Megillus and I succeed in
persuading you that you know not what you say about the Gods, God
will help you; but if there is still any deficiency of proof, hear our
answer to, the third opponent.

Enough has been said to prove that the Gods exist and care for us;
that they can be propitiated, or that they receive gifts is not to be
allowed or admitted for an instant. ‘Let us proceed.’ Tell me, by
the Gods, I say, how the Gods are to be propitiated by us? Are they

154 LAWS.

not rulers, charioteers, pilots, perhaps generals, or physicians healing
the strife of bodily disease, husbandmen observing the perils of the
seasons, shepherds watching their flocks? ‘To whom shall we compare
them? We acknowledged that the world is full both of good and
evil, but having more of evil than of good. ‘There is an immortal
conflict going on, in which Gods and demigods are our allies ; and the
most extraordinary care is required to save the property of the Gods,
that is to say, the soul of man, which is preserved by justice and
virtue, and destroyed by folly and wickedness. ‘There is little of the
first to be found on earth; and brutal and unjust natures fawn upon
their keepers, who may be dogs or shepherds, as they may be also
the best and most perfect of masters. But we affirm that dishonesty
is to human souls what disease is to human bodies, what plague or
pestilence is to the seasons, what injustice is to states. ‘Just so.’ And
they who maintain that the Gods can be appeased, must say that they
forgive the sins of men, if they are allowed to share in their dishonesties;
as you might suppose wolves to throw the dogs a bit, and then to be
left by them in peace, that they may devour the flock. ‘That is the
argument. But let us apply our images to the Gods—are they the
pilots who eat and are drunken and wreck their own ships— or the
charioteers who are bribed to lose the race—or the generals, or doctors,
or husbandmen, who are perverted from their duty—or the dogs who
are seduced by wolves? ‘God forbid.’ Are they not rather our best
guardians ; and shall we suppose them to fall short even of a moderate
degree of human and canine virtue, which will not pervert justice for
reward? ‘Impossible.’ He, then, who maintains such a doctrine, is
the most blasphemous of mankind.

And now our three points are proven; and we are agreed (1) that
there are Gods, (2) that they have a care for man, (3) that they are
inflexible in justice. I have spoken warmly, from a fear lest this
impiety of theirs should lead to a perversion of life. And our warmth
will not have been in vain, if we have succeeded in persuading these men
to abominate themselves, and to change their ways. ‘There may be
a hope of doing so; and, at any rate, the sermon does credit to the
lawgiver.’ Then now that the preamble is completed, we will make
a proclamation commanding the impious to leave their ways; and in
case they refuse, the law shall be added: If a man is guilty of impiety
in word or deed, let the bystander inform the rulers, and let the rulers

INTRODUCTION. 155

bring him before the court. If any of the rulers refuse to act, he also
shall be tried for impiety; and if he be found guilty, he shall be fined
for each offence. All such criminals are to be imprisoned. ‘There shall
be three prisons—one for common offences against life and property;
another, in connection with the nocturnal council, which is to be called
the house of improvement ; a third, in some desolate and wild region
in the centre of the country, which shall be the house of vengeance.
There are three causes of impiety, and from each of them spring two
kinds of impiety, six in all. First, there is the impiety of those who
deny the existence of the Gods; these may be honest. men, haters of
evil, who are only dangerous because they talk loosely about the Gods
and make converts; but there is also a vicious and self-indulgent class
of them, who are full of craft and licentiousness. ‘To this latter belong
diviners and enchanters, despots and demagogues, generals, hierophants
of private mysteries, and cunning sophists. The first class shall be only
imprisoned and admonished. The second class should be put to death,
if they could be, many times over. The two other sorts of impiety, first
of those who deny the care of the Gods, and secondly, of those who
affirm that they may be propitiated, have similar subdivisions, varying
in degree of guilt. ‘Those who have learnt to blaspheme from ignorance
or evil education, shall be imprisoned in the house of improvement
for five years at least, and not allowed to see any one but members
of the council, who shall converse with them touching their souls’ health.
If any of the prisoners come to their right mind, at the end of five
years let them be restored to sane company; but he who again offends
shall die. As to that class of monstrous natures who not only believe
that the Gods are negligent, or may be propitiated, but pretend to
practise on the souls of quick and dead, and promise to charm the
Gods, and to effect the overthrow of houses and states—he, I say, who
is guilty of these things, shall be bound in the central prison, and shall
have no intercourse with any freeman, receiving only his daily rations
of food; and if he die, let him be cast beyond the border. But his sins
shall not be visited upon his children, who, like other orphans, shall
be educated by the state. Further, let there be a general law which
will have a tendency to repress actions of impiety. A man shall not
be allowed to have religious services in his house, but he shall go with
his friends to pray and sacrifice in the temples. The reason of this {,
is, that religious institutions can only be framed by a great intelligence.

156 LAWS.

But women and weak men are always consecrating the event of the
moment; they are under the influence of dreams and visions, and
awakenings, and they build altars and temples in every village, and
on every open spot. ‘The law is designed to prevent this, and also
to deter men from the practice of propitiating the Gods by secret
sacrifices, which only multiply their sins. ‘Therefore let the law run—
No one shall have private religious rites; and if a man or woman who
has not been previously noted for any impiety offend in this way, let
him be admonished to remove his rites to a public temple ; but if he
be one of the impious sort, and has offered a sacrifice which is impure,
supposing him to be of full age and_ serious purpose, he shall be
brought to trial before the guardians, and if he be found guilty, let

him die.

BOOK XI. As to dealings between man and man, the principle
of them is simple—Thou shalt not take what is not thine; and may
I do to others as I would that they should do to me. First, of treasure
trove :—May I never find, or desire to find, or be induced by the counsel
of diviners, to lift a treasure which one who was not my ancestor has
laid down; for I shall not gain so much in money as IJ shall lose in
virtue. The saying, ‘Move not the immovable,’ may be repeated in
a new sense; and there is a common belief which asserts that such
deeds prevent a man from having a family. To him who is careless
of such consequences, and, despising the word of the wise, reaps
where he has not sown, and lifts a treasure which is not his—what
will be done by the hand of the Gods, God only knows,—but I
would have him who sees the offender, inform the magistrates in town
or country; and they, when they have received the information, shall
send to Delphi and act upon the decision of the oracle. If the informer
be a freeman, he shall be honoured; if a slave, he shall be enfranchised ;
butif the freeman do not inform, he shall be dishonoured, and the slave
if he does not inform, shall be put to death. If a man leave anything
great or small, intentionally or unintentionally, in the possession of
another, let him who finds the property deem the deposit sacred to
the Goddess of ways. And he who appropriates the same, if he be
a slave, shall be beaten with many stripes; if a freeman, he shall pay
tenfold, and be held to have done a dishonourable action. If a person
says that another has something of his, and the other allows that he

INTRODUCTION. ee,

has, but maintains the property in dispute to be his own, let the
ownership be proved out of the registers of property; and, if the
property is registered as belonging to some one who is absent,
possession shall be given to him who offers the best security on behalf
of the absentee; or if the property is not registered, let it remain with
the three eldest archons, and if the thing be an animal, the defeated
party must pay the cost of its keep to the archons. A man may carry
off his own runaway slave or the runaway slave of a friend for safe
keeping. If any one claims a slave he must produce three responsible
persons as securities; and if he do not, he will be liable, if he be cast,
to pay double damages for violence. A freedman who does not pay
due respect to his patrons, may also be seized. Due respect consists
in going three times a month to the house of his patron, and offering
to do what he can for him; promising to marry whom he will, and
not get any richer than his master; or if he does, giving the excess
to his master. He is not to remain in the state, except with the consent
of the archons, for more than twenty years; and whenever his census
exceeds that of the third class, he must in any case leave the state
within thirty days, taking his property with him. If he is convicted
of offending against this law he is to die, and his property to be
confiscated. All suits about these matters are to be decided in the
tribes, unless the parties have made the matter up, or appointed arbiters.
If anybody claims a beast, or anything else, let the possessor refer
to the seller or giver of the property within thirty days, if in the city,
or within five months—of which the middle month is to be reckoned
from the summer solstice—if the goods have been received from a
stranger. All purchases and exchanges are to be made in the agora,
and paid for on the spot; no credit is allowed. If credit is given,
or purchases are made elsewhere, no law shall enforce payment. No
law shall protect the money subscribed for clubs. He who sells
anything of greater value than fifty drachmas, shall abide in the city
for ten days, and let his whereabouts be known to the buyer, in case
of any reclamation. When a slave is sold who is subject to epilepsy,
stone, or any other invisible disorder, the buyer, if he be a physician
or trainer, or if he be warned, shall have no redress ; but in other cases
within six months, or in epileptic disorders within twelve months, he
may have a jury of physicians to be agreed upon by both parties; and
the seller who loses the suit, if he be an expert, shall pay twice the

158 LAWS.

price; or if he be a private person the bargain shall be rescinded,
and he shall refund. If a person knowingly sells a homicide to another,
who is informed of his character, there is no redress. But if the judges
_who are to be the five youngest guardians of the law—decide that
the purchaser was not aware, then the seller is to pay threefold, and
to purify the house of the buyer. He who exchanges money for money,
or beast for beast, must warrant either of them to be sound and good.
As in the case of other laws, let us have a preamble, relating to all this
class of crime. Adulteration is a kind of falsehood about which the
many are in the habit of saying, that at proper times the practice is
right. But the legislator will tell them, that no man should invoke
the Gods when he is practising deceit or fraud in word or deed. For
he is the enemy of heaven, first, who swears falsely, not thinking of
the Gods by whom he swears, and secondly, he who lies in the presence
of his superiors: and superiors are better in relation to worse, the elders
to the younger, parents to children, men in relation to women, and
rulers to subjects. The trader who cheats in the agora, outrages the
names and presence of Gods and rulers. If after hearing this he will
still be dishonest, let him listen to the law: The seller shall not have
two prices on the same day, neither must he praise his goods, nor offer
to swear about them. If he break the law, any citizen not less than
thirty years of age may smite him. If he sell fraudulent goods, the slave
or metic who informs against him shall have the goods; the citizen,
if he fail in proving the charge, shall be dishonoured; or if he succeed,
shall offer up the goods in question to the Gods of the agora. The
cheating tradesman, if he is detected, shall be deprived of his goods,
and shall have a stripe inflicted upon him for every drachma of their
value, after proclamation has been made by a herald of the offence. The
wardens of the agora and the guardians of the law shall learn of
experienced persons the rogueries and tricks of the vendors, and write
on a column the laws and regulations of the agora.

Next in order follows the subject of retail trades, which in their
natural use are the reverse of mischievous; for every man is a bene-
factor who reduces what is unequal to symmetry and _ proportion.
Money is the instrument by which this is accomplished, and the
shop-keepers, and merchants, and hotel-keepers do but supply and
equalise the wants of mankind. Why, then, does any dishonour attach
to a beneficent occupation? Let us consider the fact first, and then

INTRODUCTION. 159

speak of the remedy. ‘ What is your drift?’ Dear Cleinias, there are
few men in the world who are so gifted by nature, and improved by
education, as to be able to control their desires; or who, when they
might have wealth, keep their heads and prefer moderation to accumu-
lation. But the great majority think that they can never have enough,
and the consequence is that retail trade has fallen into disrepute and
become a reproach. Whereas, however ludicrous the idea may seem, if
noble men and noble women could be induced to open a shop, and to
trade upon incorruptible principles, then the aspect of things would
change, and retail traders would be regarded as nursing fathers and
mothers. Now, when the trader goes and settles in remote and distant
places, he receives the sea-tossed sailor hospitably at first, but in the
end he treats him as an enemy and a captive, whom he only liberates
for an enormous ransom. ‘This is what has brought retail trade into
disrepute, and against this the legislator ought to provide. Men have
said of old, that to fight against two enemies of opposite kinds is
beyond the strength of mortals; and the two enemies whom I mean
are wealth and poverty—the one corrupting men by luxury; the other,
through misery, depriving them of the.sense of shame. What remedies
are there for this disease in the body politic? The first remedy is,
to have as few retail traders as possible; the second is, to give retail
trade over to a class whose corruption will not injure the state; and the
third is, to restrain the insolence and meanness of the retailers.

Let us make the following laws:—(1) In the city of the Magnetes
which the God is founding anew, none of the 5040 citizens shall be al
retailer or merchant, or do any service to any private persons who are
not his equals, except to his father and mother, or to any of his elder
kindred, being freemen. He who follows an illiberal calling may be
cited for dishonouring his family, and kept in bonds for a year; and if
he offend again, he shall be bound for two years; and for every offence
his punishment shall be doubled: (2) Every retailer shall be a metic or a
foreigner: (3) The guardians of the law shall have a special care of this
part of the community, which, not having received the benefit of educa-
tion, has peculiar temptations. They shall consult with those who have
experience in the different trades, as in the similar case of fraud, and ©
find out what prices will yield the traders a moderate profit, and fix!
them. |

When a man does not fulfil his contract, he being under no legal or

160 LAWS.

other impediment, the case shall be brought before the court of the tribes,
if not previously settled by arbitration. The makers of household imple-
ments are sacred to Hephaestus and Athene; the makers of weapons to
Ares and Athene: all of whom, remembering that the Gods are their
-ancestors, should be ashamed to deceive in the practice of their craft.
If any man is lazy in the fulfilment of his work, and fancies, like a fool,
that the God who gave him the means of life will forgive him because he
is an acquaintance, he will be punished by the God; and let the law
follow: He who fails in his undertaking shall pay the value, and do the
work gratis in a specified time. ‘The contractor, like the seller, is en-
joined by law to charge the simple value of his work; in a free city; art
should be a true thing, and the artist should not be practising on the
ignorance of others. If, on the other hand, he who has ordered the
work does not pay the workman according to agreement, and, for the
sake of making a little money, dishonours Zeus and Athene, and breaks
the bonds of society, the law shall punish him. If he does not pay at
the time agreed, let him pay double ; and although interest is forbidden in
other cases, let the workman receive after the expiration of a year com-
pound interest at the rate of an obol a month for every drachma (equal to
200 per cent. per ann.), And we may observe, by the way, in speaking
of craftsmen, that if our military craft do their work well, the state will
praise those who honour them, and blame those who do not honour
them. Not that the first place of honour is to be assigned to the
warrior ; a higher still is reserved for those who obey the laws.

Most of the dealings between man and man are now settled, with the
exception of such as relate to orphans and guardianships. These lead us
to speak of the intention of the dying, about which we must make regu-
lations. I say ‘must’; for mankind cannot be allowed to do absolutely
what they will with their own, in opposition to the laws and customs of
the living. For a dying person is a strange being, and is not easily
managed. ‘What do you mean?’ He wants to be master of all he has,
and is apt to use angry words. ‘What does he say?’ He says, I ought
to be allowed to do what I will with my own, and to give much to
those who deserve well of me, and little to those who deserve ill. ‘ There
is reason in that.’ O Cleinias, in my judgment the older lawgivers were
too softhearted, and wanting in insight into human affairs. ‘What do
you mean?’ I mean to say that they were too ready to listen to the
outcry of a dying man, and hence they were induced to give him an

INTRODUCTION. 161

absolute power of bequest. But I would say to him,—O creature of a
day, you know neither the nature of your property, nor your own nature.
For you are not your own, and your property is not your own, but
belongs to your whole family, who have preceded and will follow you,
and property and family alike belong to the State. And therefore,
fearing that you may make an indiscreet will, I will take out of your
hands the charge of what you leave behind you, with a view to the
interests of all. And I hope that you will not quarrel with us, for you
are going the way of all mankind. Let this be our address to the living
and dying, and let the law be as follows :—The father who has sons shall
appoint one of them to be the heir of the lot; and the lot of any other
son who shall be adopted by another shall also be recorded; and if he
has still a son who has no lot, and has a chance of going to a colony,
he may give him what is over; or if he has more than one son, he may
divide the money between them. A son who has the family inheritance,
and a daughter who is betrothed, are not to share in the bequest of
money ; and the son or daughter who, having inherited one lot, acquires
another, is to give back the first inheritance to the next of kin. If a man
has only daughters, he may adopt their husbands; or if he have lost
a son, he may adopt another in his will. If he have no children, he
may give away a tenth of his acquired property to whomsoever he will;
but he must adopt an heir to inherit the lot, and leave the remainder
to him. Also he may appoint guardians for his children; or if he —
die without appointing them or without making a will, the nearest.
kinsmen,—two on the side of the father, and two on the side of the»
mother, and one friend of the departed,—shall be appointed guardians
under the authority of the fifteen eldest guardians of the law, who are
‘to be the special trustees of the orphan. The whole number of fifteen:
shall be divided into committees of three, who will succeed one
another every year for five years. If a man dying intestate have
daughters, the dead must not be offended at the law looking, first to
relationship, and secondly to the preservation of the lot. The legislator
cannot regard the character of the heir, which to the father is the first
consideration. ‘The law will therefore run as follows:—lIf the intestate
leave daughters, they are to marry, first, their father’s brothers, who
shall take possession of the dead man’s lot; secondly, the sons of
brothers, if they are of suitable age; thirdly, of their sisters ; fourthly,
their great-uncles ; fifthly, their cousins by a paternal uncle; sixthly,
WOR. Vv. M

162 LA WS.

their cousins by a paternal aunt. They will first take the male line
and then the female, and they must suit in point of age. Concerning
this the judge shall decide, after having made an inspection of the youth
naked, and of the maiden naked down to the waist. If the maiden has
no relations within the degree of third cousin, she may choose whom she
likes, with the consent of her guardians; even a colonist may return
home and become heir to her father’s lot. If he be a kinsman, he will
take the lot by law; if not, he must have her guardian’s consent, and
also hers. When a man dies without children and without a will, let
a young man and a young woman, being the nearest of kin and of the
same family, go forth and take up their abode in the desolate house.
The legislator foresees that laws such as those about the marriage of
relations will sometimes press heavily, and that there may be in-
numerable obstacles to his intention being fulfilled; as for example,
when there are mental and bodily defects in the persons who are enjoined
to marry. He is aware of these impediments, and he must be excused
for not being always able to reconcile the general principles of public
interest with the particular circumstances of individuals; and he is
willing to allow the same excuse in the individual, who is not always
able to bear the burden which the lawgiver has in ignorance imposed
upon him. And then arbiters must be chosen, who will determine
equitably the causes which arise under the law. ‘How will that be?’
A rich cousin may sometimes have an eye to a grander match, or the
requirements of the law can only be fulfilled by marrying a madwoman.
To meet such cases let the law run as follows:—If any one comes
forward and says of a testamentary law, respecting marriage or any
other matter, that the lawgiver, had he been alive, would not have
required the carrying out of the law, and that he has left the fifteen
eldest guardians of the law to be the trustees for the orphan; to the
fifteen let them go ; and their decision shall be final in smaller cases, but
in the greater causes there shall be an appeal to the court of select judges,
and he who fails in his cause shall suffer loss of reputation.

Orphans shall have in a manner a second birth in order to make
their sad condition as light as possible. The “guardians of the law
shall -be their parents, who shall be admonished to take care of them.
And what admonition can be more appropriate than the assurance which
we formerly gave that the souls of the dead watch over mortal affairs?
About this there are many tales and ancient traditions, which may be

INTRODUCTION. 163

taken on trust from the legislator. Let men fear, in the first place, the
Gods above; secondly, the souls of the departed, who naturally care for
their own descendants; thirdly, the aged living, who are quick to hear of
any neglect of family duties, especially in the case of orphans, who are
the holiest and most sacred of all deposits, and the special care of
guardians and magistrates. And those who bring them up well will
receive a return in the care of themselves and their families. He who
listens to the preamble of the law will never know the severity of the
legislator; but he who disobeys, and injures the orphan, will pay twice the
penalty he would have paid if the parents had been alive. More laws
might have been made about orphans, did we not suppose that the
guardians have children of their own and property of their own which
are protected by the laws; and the duty of the guardian is the same
as that of a father, though his honour or disgrace is greater. A legal
admonition and threat may, however, be of service: the guardian of the
orphan and the guardian of the law who is over him, shall love the
orphan as his own child, and take more care of his or her property
than of his own. If he neglect his duty the archon shall fine him; and
the guardian shall have him tried. And the guardian may also have
the archon tried in the court of select judges, and he shall pay, if con-
victed, a double penalty. Also the guardian of the orphan who is careless
may be fined on the information of any of the citizens in a fourfold
penalty, half to go to the orphan and half to the prosecutor of the
suit. When the orphan is of age, if he thinks that he has been ill-used,
his guardian may be brought to trial by him within five years. Or if the
archon has neglected the orphan, he shall pay damages to him; but if he
have defrauded him, he shall be deposed.

If irremediable differences arise between fathers and sons, the father
may want to renounce his son, or the son may indict his father for
imbecility : such violent separations only take place when the family are
‘a bad lot’; if only one of the two parties is bad, the differences do not
grow to so great a height. But here arises a difficulty. Although in
any other state a son who is disinherited does not cease to be a citizen,
in this he does; for the number of citizens cannot exceed 5040. And
therefore he who is to suffer such a penalty ought to be abjured, not
only by his father, but by the whole family. The law therefore should
run as follows:—If any man’s evil fortune or temper lead him to dis-
inherit his son, let him not do so lightly or on the instant; but let him

M 2

164 IZAAW SS.

have a council of his relations male and female, including the maternal
relations of his son, and set forth to them the propriety of disinheriting
him, and allow his son to answer. And if more than half his relations
‘ male and female, being of full age, condemn him, let him be disinherited.
If any other citizen desires to adopt him, he may, for young men’s
characters often change in the course of life. But if, after ten years, he
remains unadopted, let him be sent toa colony. If disease, or old age,
or evil disposition drive a man out of his senses, and he is ruining his
house and property, and his misfortune is only known to those who
live with him, and his son doubts about trying his lunacy, let him lay the
case before the eldest guardians of the law, and consult with them. And
if, after the cause has been heard, the father is decided to be im\gecile, he
shall live like a child in the house, and have no more control over his
property. :
If a man and his wife are of incompatible tempers, ten guardians of
_ the law and ten of the matrons shall take their case in hand, and recon-
cile them, if possible. If, however, their swelling souls cannot be pacified,
_the wife may try and find a new husband, and the husband a new wife WU
probably they are not very gentle creatures, and should therefore be
joined to milder natures. Married persons may separate and marry
again when they have few or no children, or when in old age they require
special care. Ifa woman dies, leaving children male or female, the law
would advise, though unwilling to compel, the widower to abstain from
a.second marriage; but if she leave no children, he shall be compelled
to marry. Also a widow, if she is old enough to live honestly without
marriage, is not to marry; but in case a widow or widower have no
children, they may marry for the sake of them. There is sometimes an
uncertainty whith parent the offspring is to follow: in unions of a
female slave with a male slave, or with a freedman or freeman, or of a
freewoman with a male slave, the offspring is to belong to the master ;
but if the master or mistress be themselves the parent of the child; the
slave and the child are to be sent away to another place. Con-
cerning duty to parents, let the preamble be as follows:—We honour
the Gods in their lifeless images, and believe that we propitiate them.
But he who has an aged father or mother has a far more sacred and
living image, of which the cherishing will do him much more good
than the worship of any other image. ‘ What do you mean by cherishing
them?’ I will tell you. Oedipus and Amyntor and Theseus cursed

INTRODUCTION. 165

their children, and their curses took effect. This proves that the Gods
hear the curses of parents who are wronged; and shall we doubt
that they hear and fulfil their blessings too, when in the joy of their
hearts they pray for their children’s good? ‘Surely not.’ And, as we
were saying, we cannot possess any image which the Gods count more
honourable than a withered father and mother; and when honour is
done to them, the God who hears their prayers is rejoiced, and their
influence is greater than that of any lifeless image; they pray that good
or evil may come to us in proportion as they are honoured or dis-
honoured, but the image is silent. ‘That is excellent.’ Every man
of sense fears and reverences the prayers of parents, because he knows
that they are often fulfilled. Aged relatives are a blessing to the good,
whereas the bad fear them. Wherefore let every one honour his parents,
and if this preamble fails of influencing him, let him hear the law :—If
any one cares not for his parents more than he cares for himself and his
children, let the aggrieved person go or send to the three eldest guardians
of the law and three of the women who are concerned with marriages.
Women up to forty years of age, and men up to thirty, who are found
guilty of thus offending, shall be beaten with stripes. After that age they
are to be brought before a court composed of the eldest citizens, who
may inflict any punishment upon them which they please. If the in-
jured party is unable to inform, some other freeman shall be bound
to inform; and if a slave informs he shall be set free,—if the slave
of one of the parties, by the magistrate,—if owned by another, at the
cost of the state.

The injuries which one person does to another by the use of incanta-
tions and magic potions, whether given in food, ointments, or any other
form, are of two kinds; they affect either the body or the mind. There
is nO use in arguing with a man who can be affected by waxen images
set at doors or sepulchres, or in places where three ways meet. But to
the wizards themselves we must address a solemn preamble, begging
them not to treat mankind like children, or compel the legislator to
expose their imposture, and show that the doctor who is ignorant of
medicine and the wizard who is not a prophet or diviner, are equally
quacks. Let the law be as follows:—He who does any injury not fatal
to a man or his servants, or any injury whether fatal or not to another’s
cattle or bees, is to be punished with death if he be a physician, and if
he be a private person he is to suffer the punishment awarded by the

[OG a8 LAWS.

court. And the wizard or conjuror, whether he be a diviner or not shall
be put to death. Any one who injures another shall pay damages at
least equal to the injury; and every one who does wrong is to: suffer
punishment by way of admonition. The foolish youth who is incited by
others is to have a lighter punishment; and he whose folly is occasioned
by his own jealousy or desire or anger is to suffer more heavily.
Punishment is to be inflicted not for the sake of vengeance, for what
is done cannot be undone, but for the sake of prevention and in-
formation. And there should be a proportion between the punishment
and the crime, in which the judge, having a discretion left him,
must, by estimating the crime, second the legislator, who gives the
outlines, which he, like a painter, must fill up. That*is just the work
_ which remains to be done, if Gods and heroes are propitious to us in our
legislation.
A madman is not to be allowed to go about the city, but is to be taken
( care of by his relatives ‘Neglect on their part is to be punished in the
first class by a fine of a hundred drachmas, and proportionally in the
others.. Now madness is of various kinds; in addition to that which
arises from disease there is the madness of passion. No one is to speak
evil of another, but when men differ in opinion they are to instruct one
another without speaking evil; for out of a little heat and a few harsh
words there often spring up most serious evils. No one should seek to
rouse the passions which education has calmed. He who feeds and
nurses his wrath is liable to fall into ribald jests at the expense of his
opponent, with a loss of character or dignity to himself. And for this
reason no one may use any ribald word in a temple, or at sacrifices,
or games, or other public places; and he who offends shall be censured
by him who has charge of such matters; and the magistrate, if he fail to
censure him, shall not claim the prize of virtue. In any other place the
reviler who indulges in anger, whether he be the beginner or not, may be
chastened by an elder. No man shall use ridicule in anger; and even
without anger ridicule is equally culpable. Nor can we allow the
comic poet to ridicule our citizens, under a penalty of expulsion from
the contest or a fine of three minae. There may be comic fun in
which there is no offence; but the question of offence shall be de-
termined by the director of education, who is to be the licenser of
theatrical performances.

\ The righteous man who is in adversity will not be allowed to starve in

INTRODUCTION. 167

a well ordered city; he will never be a beggar. Therefore let the law
be as follows:—No beggar shall be allowed; and he who begs shall be
expelled by the magistrates both from town and country.

If a slave, male or female, does any harm to the property of another,
who is not himself a party to the harm, the master shall compensate the
injury or give up the offending slave. But if the master says that there
was complicity in the sufferer of the injury, he may put him on his trial
for malpractices, and recover from him twice the value of the slave; or
if he is cast he must make good the damage and deliver up the slave.
The damagé done by a horse or other animal shall be compensated in
like manner.

A witness who Will not come of himself may be summoned, and if he
fail in appearing, he shall be liable to punishment: if he swears that he
does not know, he may leave the court. A judge who is called upon as
a witness must not vote. A free woman may witness, and plead, and
bring her action, if she have no husband, and be more than forty years
of age, but while her husband lives, she can only be a witness. A slave,
male or female, and a child may witness and plead, but they must give
sureties that they will appear at the trial; for they may be charged with
false witness. Such charges are to be proceeded with, pending the trial,
and the other accusations shall be kept under seal by the archons until
the trial for perjury comes off. He who is twice convicted of perjury is
not to be compelled, and if three times, is not to be allowed to witness,
or, if he persists, is to be punished with death. When more than half
the evidence is proved to be false there must be a new trial.

The best things in human life are liable to be defiled and perverted.
And justice, which has been the civilizer of mankind, is no exception to
this principle. Fair though she be, she has fallen into an evil name.
An art has sprung up which is said to make the worse appear the better
cause, and only requires money in return for the service of the advocate.
Such an art will be banished by the legislator, and requested to de-
part to another city. To the disobedient let the voice of the law be
heard saying :—He who tries to pervert justice in the minds of the
judges, or to increase litigation, shall be brought before the supreme
court. If he does so from contentiousness, let him be silenced, and,
if he offend again, put to death. If he have acted from a love of
gain, let him be exiled if he be a foreigner, or if he be a citizen let
him be put to death.

168 LAWS.

BOOK XII. If a false message be taken to or brought from other
states, whether friendly or hostile, by ambassadors or heralds, who are the
ministers of Hermes and Zeus, they shall suffer a fixed penalty. Stealing
is mean; plundering is shameless. Let no man deceive himself by the
example of the Gods, for no God or son of a God ever practised either
force or fraud. On this point the legislator is better informed than all
the poets and mythologers put together. He who listens to him shall be
for ever happy, but he who will not listen shall have the following law
directed against him:—He who steals much, or he who steals little of
the public property is deserving of the same penalty; for they are both
impelled by the same evil motive. When the law punishes one more
lightly than the other, this is done under the idea, not that he is less
guilty, but that he is more curable. Now a thief who is a foreigner or
slave may be curable; but the thief who is a citizen, and has had the
advantages of education, should be put to death, for he is incurable.

Many laws have been made about military expeditions; the great
principle of all is that no one, male or female, in war or peace, in great
matters or small, shall be without a commander. Whether a man stands
or walks, or exercises, or pursues, or retreats, or washes, or eats, he must
do everything according to a common rule. We should practise from
our earliest youth every one to obey, every one to command. All dances,
relaxations, endurances of meats and drinks, of cold and heat, and of
hard beds, should have a view to war, and care should be:taken not to
destroy the natural covering and use of the head and feet by wearing
shoes and caps; for the head is the lord of the body, and the feet are
the best of servants. The soldier should have thoughts like these; and
let him hear the law :—He who is enrolled shall serve, and if he fail to
serve, or return home before the expedition is finished, he shall be in-
dicted for cowardice before his own arm of the service, and if he be found
guilty he shall suffer the penalty which the courts award, and never be
allowed to contend for any prize of valour, or to accuse another of
misbehaviour. After the courts for the failure of service and desertion
have been held, the generals shall hold another court, in which the
several arms of the service will award prizes for the expedition which has
just concluded. ‘The prize is to be a crown of olive, and he who obtains
a first, second, or third prize shall offer up the prize at the temple of his
favourite war God. Let the indictment be scrupulously true, for justice
is an honourable maiden, to whom falsehood is naturally hateful. When

INTRODUCTION. 169

men have lost their arms, care should be taken to distinguish between
cases in which they have been lost from necessity and from cowardice.
For example, the hero Patroclus, if instead of being dead he had been
brought back alive from the field, might have been reproached with
having lost the divine armour. Andaman may lose his arms in a storm
at sea, or from a fall, and under many other circumstances, which sh uld
be carefully distinguished. Language has made the distinction for us in
the use of the two terms, ‘thrower away of a shield’ (fipaoms), and
‘loser of arms’ (droBoXels érAwv), One being the voluntary, the other the
involuntary relinquishment of them. Let the law be as follows :—If any
one is overtaken by the enemy, having arms in his hands, and he leaves
them behind him voluntarily, choosing base life instead of honourable
Ceath, he shall receive an appropriate punishment, The old legend of
Caeneus the Thessalian, who was changed by the Gods from a woman
into a man, may teach by contraries the right sort of punishment.
Let him be changed from a man into a woman—that is to say, let him
be all his life out of danger, and never again be admitted by any
commander into the ranks of his army; and let him pay a heavy fine
according to his class.

All magistrates, whether temporary or permanent, must give an
account of their magistracy. But where shall we find the magistrate
who is worthy to supervise them, or to judge of the crooked ways into
which they may have been driven by the difficulties of their position?
For there are many causes of the dissolution of states; which like ships
or animals have their cords, and girders, and sinews easily relaxed, and
fall into a state of atony. Nothing tends more to the good and pre-
servation of states, than the supervision of them by examiners who are
better than the magistrates ; failing in this they fall to pieces, and become
many states instead of one. Wherefore let the people meet after the
summer solstice, in the precinct of Apollo, and in his presence appoint
three men of not less than fifty years of age; each citizen voting, not for
himself, but for him whom he thinks the best. The persons selected shall
be reduced to one half, who have the greatest number of votes, if the
number named be an even number; but if an odd number, he who
has the smallest number of votes shall be withdrawn. The division
shall continue until three only remain; and if the number of their votes
be equal, a distinction between the first, second, and third shall be
made by lot. The three shall be crowned with an olive wreath, and

170 . LAWS:

proclamation made, that the city of the Magnetes, once more preserved
by the Gods, presents her three best men to Apollo and the Sun, to
whom she dedicates them as long as their lives answer to the judgment
formed of them. ‘They shall choose in the first year of their office
twelve examiners, to continue until they are seventy-five years of age;
afterwards three a year, who, while they hold office, shall dwell within
the precinct of the God. They are to divide all the magistracies into
twelve classes, and may apply any methods of enquiry, and inflict any
punishments which they please; in some cases singly, in other cases
together, announcing the acquittal or punishment of the magistrate in the
agora. ‘There may be an escape from their judgment by an impeach-
ment; but if the appellant is cast, and he is not condemned to death,
his punishment shall be doubled. Those who have been selected by the
state for their pre-eminence in virtue, shall have the first place at all sacri-
fices, and in all assemblies and public places, and on sacred embassies,
and have the exclusive privilege of wearing a crown of laurel. They are
priests of Apollo and the Sun, and he of their number who is chosen
first shall be high priest, and give his name to the year. ‘Their manner
of burial, too, shall be different from that of the other citizens. The
colour of their funeral array shall be white, and, instead of the voice of
lamentation, around the bier shall stand a chorus of fifteen youths and
fifteen men, chanting hymns in honour of the deceased all day long;
and in the morning a band of a hundred youths, to be selected by the
relatives from the palaestra, shall carry the bier to the place of sepulture
marching in armour, or if they are horsemen, with their horses, and the
youths around and in front of the bier shall sing their national hymns,
while the maidens and women past child-bearing follow after. Priests
and priestesses may also follow, for the funeral rites are pure, unless the
Pythian oracle forbids. The sepulchre shall be a long tomb of stone
intended to last for ever, and having many resting-places, in one of which
they shall deposit the remains of the departed saint, surrounding the
place of interment with a mound and with groves of trees, except on one
side, where an opening shall be left for other tombs in case they shall be
hereafter needed. There shall be annual games—musical, gymnastic,
or equestrian, in honour of those who are acquitted by the examiners.
But if any one, confident in having been acquitted, begin to show the
wickedness of human nature, he may be tried again by any one who
pleases in a court composed of the guardians of the law, and of select

INTRODUCTION. 171

judges, and of any of the former examiners who are alive. If he fail
he shall be deprived of his honours, and if the accuser fail he shall pay
a fine according to his class.

What is called the judgment of Rhadamanthus is suited to ‘ages of
faith,’ but not to our days. He knew that his contemporaries believed in
the Gods, for there were many of them who were the sons of Gods; and
he thought that the easiest and surest method of ending litigation was
to commit the decision to Heaven. In our own day, men either deny
the existence of Gods or their care of men, or maintain that they may
be bribed by attentions and gifts; and this mode of proceeding would
therefore be out of date. When the religious ideas of mankind change,
their laws should also change. ‘Thus oaths should no longer be taken
from plaintiff and defendant, instead of simple statements of affirmation
and denial. For there is something dreadful in the thought, that nearly
half the citizens who meet one another in society are perjured men.
There is no objection to an oath, where a man has no interest in
forswearing himself; as, for example, in holding an election for a
magistracy, or in the judgment of games and contests. But where there
would be a premium on perjury, oaths and imprecations should be
prohibited as irrelevant, like appeals to feeling. Let the principles of
justice be learned and taught without words of evil omen. ‘The oaths
of a stranger against a stranger may be allowed, because they are not
likely to breed or become inveterate in our state.

Trials for minor matters are to be regulated by the same rules. The
non-attendance at a chorus or sacrifice, or the omission to pay a war-tax,
may be regarded as in the first instance remediable, and the defaulter
may give security; if the tax remains unpaid, the goods pledged shall be
made over to the state. But for obstinate disobedience, the magistrate
shall have the power of inflicting greater penalties.

A city which is without trade or merchandise, must consider the
subject of emigration and reception of strangers. For out of inter-
course with strangers there arises great confusion of manners, which
in most states is not of any consequence, because the confusion exists
already; but in a well-ordered state may be a great evil. Yet the absolute
prohibition of foreign travel, or the exclusion of strangers, is impossible,
and would appear barbarous to the rest of mankind. Now public opinion v
should never be lightly regarded, for mankind are not so far wrong in their
judgments as in their lives. Even the worst of men have often a divine

172 Hoge ey

Vinstinct, which enables them to distinguish good from bad. States are
rightly advised when they desire to have the praise of men; and the
greatest and truest praise is that of virtue. And a state formed after the
model of Crete should, and probably will, have a character for virtue,
such as few cities have under the sun. Let this, then, be our law about

, foreign travel and the reception of strangers :—No one shall be allowed

f to leave the country who is under forty years of age—of course military
service abroad is not included in this—and no one at all on any private

occasion. To the Olympic, and Pythian, and Nemean, and Isthmian
games, shall be sent the fairest and best and bravest, who shall support
the dignity of the city in peace. These, when they come home, shall
teach the youth the inferiority of all other governments. And if any
citizen have the curiosity to know the manners of other states, no law
shall hinder him. For a state which has no experience, and no know-
ledge of the reason of things, however innocent of evil, will never be
perfectly civilized. Moreover, in all states, bad as well as good, there
are men of genius who are inspired by heaven; and in the footsteps of
these incorruptibles the good citizen should strive to follow, over the
water and over the land; and learn from them what laws are good,
with a view to their firmer establishment, and what laws are bad, with
a view to their improvement. ‘ How can these two objects be accom-
plished?’ In the first place, let the visitor of foreign countries be between
fifty and sixty years of age, and let him be a citizen of repute, and espe-
cially of military repute. On his return he shall appear before the
legislative council: this is the council which sits early in the morning,
before the sun is high in the heavens, and includes amongst its members
the priests who have gained the prize of virtue, and the ten oldest
guardians of the law, and the director and past directors of education;
and each of them shall bring with him a younger friend of his own
selection, who is between thirty and forty years of age. The assembly
thus constituted is to consider the laws of their own and other states, and
to gather information which may throw light on the subject of law. The
elder senators are to make a selection of extracts, which the younger
members may learn by heart. These latter, if they are worthy, shall
also be made guardians of the state, and receive reward or punishment
according to their merits. This is the assembly to which the visitor
of foreign countries shall come and tell anything which he has heard
in the course of his travels, or himself observed relative to the laws. If

TN IO CALTON, 173

he be neither improved nor deteriorated, let him be praised for his zeal ;
and yet more praised if he be improved, and be also honoured after
death by the authority of the council. But if he be deteriorated by
his travels, let him be prohibited from speaking to any one; and if he
submit, he may live as a private individual: but if he be convicted of
making innovations in education and the laws, let him die.

Next, as to the reception of strangers. Of these there are four
classes: merchants, who find their way over the sea at a certain
time of the year, that they may exhibit their wares. These should be

‘received in markets and public buildings without the city, by proper

officers, who shall see that they receive justice, and shall also watch
against any political designs which they may entertain; no more
intercourse is to be held with them than is absolutely necessary.
Secondly, there are the visitors at the festivals, who shall be entertained
by hospitable persons at the temples for a reasonable time; the priests
and ministers of the temple shall be their judges and_ protectors.
Thirdly, there are ambassadors of foreign states; these are to be
honourably received by the generals and prytanes, and placed under
the care of the persons with whom they are lodged. Fourthly, there
is the philosophical stranger, who will rarely make his appearance ;
he, like our own foreign commissioners, will come to see whatever
is great and noble in our state. Like them he must be fifty years of
age: let him be received with honour, and be a welcome guest at
the houses of the rich and wise; for example, at the house of the director
of education and other noble persons, who are to instruct and be in-
structed by him. ‘These are the rules of missions into foreign countries,
and of the reception of strangers. Let Zeus, the God of hospitality, be
honoured; and let not the stranger be driven away, as in Egypt, by
distinctions of meats and sacrifices, and by savage proclamations.

Let guarantees be clearly given in writing and before witnesses. The
number of witnesses shall be three when the value is under a thousand
drachmas, or five when above. The seller at first and second hand
shall be equally liable. He who would search another man’s house
must swear that he expects to find something there; and he shall
enter naked, or having on a single garment. The owner shall place
at his disposal all his goods, sealed as well as unsealed; if he refuse,
he shall be liable in double the value of the property proved to have
been in his possession. If the owner be absent, he may counter-seal

174 LAWS.

the property which is under seal, and place watchers. In case of
prolonged absence, he shall take the magistrates, and open the sealed
places, and seal them up again in the presence of the magistrates.
The recovery of goods disputed, except in the case of lands and
houses, is to be barred by time. The public and unimpeached use
of anything for a year in the city, or for five years in the country,
or the private possession and domestic use for three years in the city,
or for ten years in the country, is to give a right of ownership. But
in a foreign country there is no bar as to time. The proceedings
of any trial are to be void, in which either the parties or the witnesses,
whether bond or free, have been forcibly prevented from attending.
In the case of a slave the suit shall be invalid; in the case of
a freeman, he who is guilty of this violence shall be made a slave
and imprisoned for a year. If one competitor forcibly prevents another
from attending at the games, the other may be inscribed as victor in
the temples, and the first, whether victor or not, shall be subjected
to an action for damages. The receiver of stolen goods is to be
punished as well as the stealer. The receiver of an exile shall be
put to death, A man shall have the same friends and enemies as
his country; and he who makes war or peace for himself shall be
put to death. And if a party in the state make war or peace, their
leaders shall be put on their trial by the generals, and, if convicted,
put to death. The ministers of a country ought not to receive gifts ;
the doctrine that we may be paid for deciding justly is liable to abuse.
He who will not be persuaded let him die.

Taxes may be demanded either upon income or upon property,
- whether the wardens of the country choose to levy the tax upon an
annual return, or upon a proportion of the whole value.

The good man will offer moderate sacrifices to the Gods; every
man’s land and hearth is consecrated to the Gods, and no second
temple is required. Gold and silver, whether in houses or temples,
are not the true riches; ivory, which is taken from the dead body
of an animal, is unholy; iron and brass are materials of war. Wood
and stone of a single piece may be offered, also woven work which
has not occupied one person more than a month in making. White
colours are always acceptable to the Gods; figures of birds and similar

offerings are the best of gifts, but they must be such as the sculptor can
make in a day.

INTRODUCTION. 175

Next concerning lawsuits. Judges, or rather arbiters, may be agreed
upon by the plaintiff or defendant; and if no decision is obtained from
them, their fellow-tribesmen or townsmen shall judge, and the court
shall consist of a twelfth part of them. At this stage they shall demand
an increased penalty, and the defendant, if he be cast, shall pay a fifth
more than the assessed damages. ‘If hg further persist, and appeal
a third time, the case shall be heard before a court of select judges;
and he shall pay, if beaten, half as much again as the penalty. If the
pursuer appeal he shall receive, and if beaten he shall pay, a fifth part;
and if he appeal again and fail, he shall pay half of the assessed damages.
Other matters relating to trials have been already determined; lesser
points, such as the allotment of suits, the times of sitting, the modes
of pleading and procedure, may be supplied by younger legislators.

These are to be the rules of private courts; and there are many states
which have excellent modes of procedure in their public courts which
may serve for a model, and these also, when duly tested by experience,
should be ratified and made permanent.

Let the judge be accomplished in the laws. He should possess
writings about them, that he may learn them; for laws are the highest
instrument of mental improvement, and derive their name from mind.
They afford a measure of all censure and praise, whether in verse ~
or prose, in conversation or in books, and are an antidote to the
vain disputes of men and their equally vain assents and agreements.
The just judge is he who has imbibed their spirit, and is seeking to
establish the continuance of justice for the good, and to change the
tempers of the bad, if they can be changed, or to denounce death,
which is the only remedy, to the incurable, the thread of whose life
cannot be reversed.

After the judgments of the year are over, execution is to follow. The
court is to award the property of the defendant who loses to the plaintiff,
reserving to him only the bare means of life. If the plaintiff is not
satisfied within a month, the court shall put into his hands the property
of the defendant. If the defendant fails in payment to the amount of
a drachma, he shall lose the use and protection of the court; or if he
defraud the court, he who suffers by the fraud shall bring the offender
before the guardians of the law, and if he be found guilty, he shall be
put to death.

Man having been born, educated, having begotten and brought up

children, and gone to law, is at last gathered to his fathers. The rites
which are to be celebrated after death in honour of the Gods above
and below shall be determined by the interpreters. Places of sepulture
shall be chosen with reference to the convenience of the living; they
shall be out of sight and on barren spots. For no one either in life
or after death has any right to deprive the living of the sustenance which
mother earth provides for them. No sepulchral mound is to be raised
higher than the labour of five men in five days can accomplish, and the
stone tablet which is placed upon it is not to be larger than will contain
an inscription of four heroic verses. The dead are only to be exposed
for three days, which is long enough to test the reality of death. The
legislator will instruct the people that the body is a mere ezdo/on, and
that the soul, which is our true being, is gone to give an account of
herself before the Gods below. . When they hear this, the good are full
of hope, and the evil are terrified, knowing that there will not be much
help for them after death. And therefore in life all men’s relatives
should help them to live innocently and holily, that they may depart
in peace. When a man loses a son or a brother, he should consider
that the true man has gone away to fulfil his destiny in another life,
and not waste money over his lifeless remains. Let the law then order
a moderate funeral of five minae for the first class, three for the second,
two for the third, one for the fourth. The magistrates, or one of them
selected by the relatives, are to assist the relatives in arranging the
affairs of the deceased. ‘There would be a want of delicacy in pre-
scribing that there should be or should not be mourning for the dead.
But, at any rate, such mourning should be confined to the house, and
the dead body should be taken out of the city before daybreak. Other
regulations relating to the burial or non-burial of parricides and other
sacrilegious persons have already been laid down. The work of
legislation is therefore nearly completed, and that work is the pre-
servation of the state.

Do you remember the names of the Fates? lLachesis is the first of
them ; Clotho the second, Atropos the third and, last—she makes the
threads of the web irreversible. We too want to make our laws irrevers-
ible, for the unchangeable quality in them is the salvation of the State,
and the source of health and order in the bodies and souls of our citizens.
‘But can such a quality be implanted?’ I think that it may; and at any
rate we must try; for, after all our labour, to have been piling up a fabric

INTRODUCTION. 177

which has no foundation would be too ridiculous. ‘ What foundation would
you lay?’ Have we not already instituted an assembly which was com-
posed of the ten oldest guardians of the law, and secondly, of those who
have received prizes for virtue, and thirdly, of the travellers who had
gone abroad to enquire into the laws of other countries. These were
to form a synod, and each of the members was to choose a young
man, of not less than thirty years of age, to be approved by the rest.
The meeting was to be held at dawn, when all the world is at leisure
—that was our proposal; and this assembly was to anchor the vessel
of State, and provide the means of permanence; for the governments
of States, like all other things, have their proper saviours, which are
to them what the head and soul are to the living being. ‘How do
you mean?’ Mind in the soul, and sight and hearing in the head, or
rather, the perfect union of mind and sense, may be justly called every
man’s salvation. ‘Certainly.’ Yes; but of what nature is this union ?
In the case of a ship, for example, are not the senses of the sailors added
to the intelligence of the pilot? These together save themselves and the
ship. Or, to offer another illustration: The physician and the general
have their objects; and the object of one is health, of the other victory.
And States have their objects, and the ruler must understand, in the first
place, the nature of them, and secondly, the means of attaining them,
whether in laws or men. ‘The State which is wanting in this knowledge
cannot be expected to be wise when the time for action arrives. Now
what class or institution is there in our State which secures the object of
the State? ‘I suspect that your words have reference to the nocturnal
council. Yes, to that council which is to have all virtue, and whose
members are to aim directly at the mark. ‘ Very true.’ The incon-
sistency of legislation in most States is not surprising, when the variety
of their objects is considered. One of them makes their rule of justice
_the government of a class, without regard to good or bad; another
aims at wealth, whether with or or without freedom; another at freedom,
or at freedom and power; and some who are supposed to be philosophers
maintain that you should seek for all of them at once. But our Object is
unmistakeably virtue, and virtue is of four kinds. ‘Yes; and we said that
mind is the head and ruler of the three other kinds of virtue and of all
else.’ Yes, Cleinias, and having already declared the object which is
present to the mind of the pilot, the general, the physician, we will now
interrogate the mind of the statesman. Tell me, I say, as the physician
VOU. V: N

178 LAWS.

and general have told us their object, what is the object of the statesman?
Can you tell me? ‘We cannot.’ Did we not say that there are four
virtues — courage, wisdom, and two others, which are called by the
common name of virtue, and are in a sense one? ‘Certainly we did.’
The difficulty is not in understanding the differences of the virtues, but
in apprehending their unity. Why do we call virtue, which is a single
thing, by the two names of wisdom and courage? ‘To this I have no
difficulty in replying that courage is concerned with fear, and is found in
children, and is common to brutes; for the soul may be courageous
without reason, but no soul was, or ever will be, wise without reason.
‘That is true.’ I have explained to you the difference, and do you
explain to me the unity. But first let us consider whether the know-
ledge of names can be separated from the knowledge of the ideas —
which they represent. Is not the knowledge of words without ideas
a disgrace to a man of sense? and can any subject be more worthy
of the attention of our legislators than the four virtues of which we are
speaking—courage, temperance, justice, wisdom? And ought not they
and all other guardians and interpreters of the law to instruct him who
needs instruction in the nature of virtue and vice, instead of leaving
them to be taught by some chance poet or schoolmaster? <A city which
is without instruction suffers the usual fate of cities in our day. What
then shall we do? How shall we perfect the ideas of our guardians
about virtue? how shall we give our State a head and eyes? ‘Yes; how
shall we accomplish what is thus described by you in a figure?’ The
city will be the body or trunk; the best of our young men will mount
into the acropolis and be our eyes; these will look about them, and
inform the-elders, who are the mind, and will use the younger men as
their instruments: together they will save the State. Shall this be our
constitution, or shall all be alike, and the special training be given up?
‘Impossible ; the inequality in their duties requires that they should be
differently educated.’ Let us then attain to some more exact idea of
education, Did we not say that the true artist or guardian ought to
have an eye, not only to the many, but to the one, and to order all
things with a view to the one? Can there be any more philosophical
speculation than how to reduce many things which are unlike to one
idea? ‘Perhaps not.’ Say rather, ‘ Certainly not’; for no more philo-
sophical method was ever attained by the wit of man. And the rulers
of our divine State ought to have an exact knowledge of that common

INTRODUCTION. 179

principle in courage, temperance, justice, wisdom, which is called by the
name of virtue; and unless we know whether virtue is one or many, we
shall hardly know what virtue is. Shall we contrive some means of
engrafting this knowledge on our State or give the matter up? ‘Anything
rather than give up.’ But how are we to effect our object? Let us
begin by making an agreement. ‘By all means, if we can.’ Well, are
we not agreed that our guardians ought to think that the good and
the honourable are not only many, but also one? ‘ Yes, they are one.’
And can we give no account of this? ‘If we cannot, we are slaves.’
The true guardian ought to know the truth, and should also be able
to interpret and execute the truth. ‘Certainly.’ And is there any higher
knowledge than the knowledge of the existence and power of the Gods?
The people may be excused for following tradition only; but the
guardian must not be admitted to his office if he is unable to give
a reason of the faith which is in him. He who is careless or incapable
in such matters is out of the pale of the good. And there are two greaty
evidences of religion— the priority of the soul and the order of the
heavens, which, if rightly understood, are far from tending to the sub-
stitution of necessity for reason and will. For the truth is diametrically
opposed to the opinions of those who maintain that they are inanimate
beings. The men of a former generation (Anaxagoras) wondered at
them, and a suspicion arose, which later investigations have confirmed, that
things inanimate could never without mind have attained such scientific
accuracy; and some even in those days ventured to assert that mind had
ordered all things in heaven; but they had no idea of the priority of
mind, and they turned the world, or more properly themselves, upside
down, and filled the universe with stones, and earth, and other inanimate
bodies. This led to great impiety, and the poets said many foolish things
against philosophy, which they compared to a yelping she-dog. Noman
can now be religious who does not believe that the soul is eternal, and prior
to the body, and the ruler of all bodies, and does not perceive also that
there is mind in the stars; or, who has not heard the connection of them
with music, and harmonized them with manners and laws, giving a reason
of things which are matters of reason. He who is unable to acquire this
knowledge as well as the ordinary virtues of a citizen, can only be a
servant, and not a ruler in the State,

Let us then add to our other laws a law respecting the nocturnal
council, which has been associated with us in our education. ‘Very

N 2

180 LAWS.

good.’ To establish this will be my aim, and I hope that you and others
will assist me. ‘Let us proceed along the road in which God seems to
guide us.’ We cannot, Megillus and Cleinias, anticipate the details which
will hereafter be needed; they must be supplied by experience. ‘ What
do you mean?’ First of all a register will have to be made of all those
whose aim, character, or education would qualify them to be guardians.
The subjects which they are to learn, and the order in which they are to
be learnt, are mysteries which cannot be explained beforehand, but not.
mysteries in any other sense. ‘If that is the case, what is to be done?’
We must run a risk, in which I am willing to share, in coming to any
determination about education. And I would have you, Cleinias, who
are the founder of the Magnesian State, and will incur the greatest
glory if you succeed, and will be praised for your courage, if you fail,
take especial heed of this matter. Soon the State will have to be handed
over to the nocturnal council. The dream will then become a reality ;
and our citizens, if they are carefully chosen and educated, will be
saviours such as the world has hitherto never seen.

The want of completeness in the Laws becomes more apparent in the
later books. There is less arrangement, and the transitions are more
abrupt from one subject to another. The discourse concerning religion
is introduced as a prelude to offences against the Gods, and this is the
only remaining portion of the work which is fully executed.

In the last four books of the Laws, several questions occur for con-
sideration: (I) the proportion of punishments to offences; (II) the nature
of the voluntary and involuntary ; (III) the arguments against atheism, and
against the opinion that the Gods have no care of human affairs; (IV) the
remarks upon retail trade and adulteration of goods; (V) the institution
of the nocturnal council.

I. The weakest point in the Laws of Plato is the amount of inquisition
into private life which. is to be made by the rulers. The magistrate is
always watching and waylaying the citizens. He is constantly to inform
or to receive informations against improprieties of life. Plato does not
seem to be aware that espionage can only have a negative effect. He
has not yet discovered the boundary line which parts the domain of law
from that of morality or social life. Men will not tell of one another ;
nor will he ever be deemed the most virtuous citizen, who gives the
most frequent information about offenders to the magistrates,

INTRODUCTION. 181

As in some writers of fiction, so also in philosophers, we may observe
the effect of age. Plato beeomes more conservative as he grows older,
and he would govern the world entirely by men like himself, who are
above fifty years of age; for in them he hopes to find a principle of
stability. He is like the old man (xi. 922 B, foll.) who insists that he
shall ‘tie up’ his property after his death—all his efforts are directed
towards maintaining the institutions of the legislator in after ages. But
he does not observe that, in destroying the freedom he is destroying
also the life of the State. While he differs from mere conservatives
in his love of truth, he is impatient of the extravagances to which the
love of truth almost necessarily leads. He seems to have forgotten
what he once knew—that the wise man is sure to be in opposition
to the rest of mankind; for some degree of eccentricity generally
accompanies originality; as Democritus said, ‘the philosopher, if we
could see him, would appear t> be a strange being.’ In the Magnesian
state all the citizens are to be reduced to rule and measure; there would
have been none of those great men ‘whose acquaintance is beyond all
pric: ;’ and Plato would have found that in the worst-governed Hellenic
State, there was more of a carrzére ouverte for extraordinary genius and
virtue than in his own. The first principle of Plato’s laws, borrowed
apparently from the Spartan military system, ‘that no one is to be
without a commander,’ is literally that of the Jesuit order.

Plato’s judicial system has several characteristic feature:. He has
an evident dislike of the Athenian dicasteries, and prefers a few good
judges who make pertinent remarks on the case, to a great number.
He allows of numerous appeals—from the neighbours who are to judge
because they know the circumstances, to the magistrates of the town;
and from the magistrates of the town to the guardians of the law; in
each case exacting a double penalty. Modern jurists would disapprove
of the redress of injustice being purchased only at an increasing risk ;
though indirectly the burden of legal expenses, which seems to have
been little felt among the ancients, has a similar effect. The love
of litigation, which is a remnant of barbarism quite as much as a
corruption of civilization, and was inherent in the Athenian people, is
d minished in the new state by references to arbitration.

In the Laws the crime of murder, and indeed almost all offences, have
a religious character; they are pollutions rather than crimes. R-:garded
from this point of view, the heinousness of offences is apt to depend on

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eo LOPE AY OS:

accidental circumstances, such as the shedding of blood, and not on the
real guilt or injury to society. ‘They are measured by the horror which
they arouse in a barbarous age. For there is a superstition in law as
well as in religion, and the superstitious feelings of a primitive age have
a traditional hold on the mass of the people. On the other hand, Plato
is absolutely free from the crime of visiting the sins of the fathers upon
the children, and he is quite aware that punishment has an eye to the
future, and not to the past. Compared with that of most European
nations in the last century his criminal code is reasonable and humane.

A defect in Plato’s criminal jurisprudence, is his remission of the
punishment when the offender has obtained the fargiveness of the
murdered person; as if crime were a personal affair between individvals,
and not an offence against the State. There is also a ridiculous
disproportion in his punishments. Because a slave may fairly receive
a blow for stealing a fig or a bunch of grapes, or a tradesman for
defrauding to the amount of a drachma, that is no reason why a slave
should receive as many blows as he has taken grapes or figs, or why
a tradesman who has defrauded to the amount of a thousand drachmas
should receive a thousand blows. The punishments to be inflicted
on slaves are suggested by the cruelty of fear. Though Plato is
aware that the distinction between Greeks and barbarians is due to
Hellenic vanity, he is fully imbued with the Greek spirit about slavery.
Yet he makes the acknowledgment, that many a one in the hour of
danger has found a slave better to him than a son or a brother.

Ii. Before punishment can be inflicted at all, the legislator must
determine the nature of the voluntary and involuntary. The great
question of the freedom of the will, which in modern times has been
worn threadbare with purely abstract discussion, was approached both
by Plato and Aristotle—first, from the judicial; secondly, from the
sophistical point of view. Their want of clearness in treating the
subject is to be attributed to the difficulty which they experienced in
disentangling the abstract from the concrete.

In attempting to distinguish between hurt and injury, Plato says that
mere hurt is not injury; but that a benefit when done in a wrong
spirit may sometimes injure, e.g. when conferred without regard to
right and wrong, or to the good or evil consequences which may follow.
He means to say that the good or evil disposition of the agent is
the principle which characterizes actions; and this is not sufficiently

INTRODUCTION. 183

described by the terms voluntary and involuntary. You may hurt
another involuntarily, and no one would suppose that you had injured
him; and you may hurt him voluntarily, as in inflicting punishment—
neither is this injury; but if you hurt him under the impulse of passion
or desire, this is injury. In other words, injustice is the victory of desire
or passion or self-conceit over reason, as justice is the subordination
of them to reason. Plato is so far from allowing voluntary hurt to
be injury, that he is disposed to affirm, in some paradoxical sense, all
injustice to be involuntary; because no man would do injustice who
could calculate the consequences of .what he is doing. Yet, on the
other hand, he admits that the distinction of voluntary and involuntary,
taken in another and more obvious sense, is the basis of legislation.
His conception of justice and injustice is complicated (1) by the want
of a distinction between justice and virtue, that is to say, between the |
quality which primarily regards others, and the quality in which self
and others are equally regarded; (2) by the confusion of doing and
suffering justice ; (3) by the unwillingness to renounce the old Socratic
paradox, that evil is involuntary.

III. The Laws rest on a religious foundation ; in this respect they
bear the stamp of primitive legislation. ‘They do not escape the almost
inevitable consequence of making irreligion penal. If laws are based
upon religion, the greatest offence against them must be irreligion.
. Hence the necessity for what in modern language, and according to
a distinction which Plato would scarcely have understood, might be
termed persecution. But the spirit of persecution in Plato, unlike that
of modern religious bodies, arises out of the desire to enforce a true
and simple form of religion, and is directed against the superstitions
which tend to degrade mankind. Sir Thomas More, in his Utopia, is
in favour of tolerating all except the intolerant, though he would not
promote to high offices those who disbelieved in the existence of the
soul after death. Plato has not advanced quite so far as this in the path
of toleration. But in judging of his enlightenment, we must remember
that the evils of necromancy and divination were far greater than those
of intolerance in the ancient world. 4 Human nature is always having
recourse to the first; but only when organized into some form of
priesthood falls into the other; although in primitive as in later ages
the institution of a priesthood may claim probably to be an advance
on some form of religion which preceded. ~The laws would, no doubt,

184 LAWS.

have rested on a sounder foundation, if Plato had ever distinctly realized
to his mind the difference between crime and sin or vice. Of this,
as of many other controversies, a clear definition might have been the
end. But such a definition belongs to a later age of philosophy.

The arguments which Plato uses for the being of a God, have an
extremely modern character: first, the consensus gentium; secondly, the
argument which has already occurred in the Phaedrus, of the priority of
the self-moved.* The answer to the second class of objectors is, that
God governs the world by general laws; but that he who takes care
of the great will assuredly take care of the small. Plato did not feel,
and has not attempted to consider, the difficulty of reconciling the special
with the general providence of God. Yet he is unconsciously on the true
road to the solution, when he regards the world as a whole, of which
all the parts work together towards the final end.

We are surprised to find that the dangers of scepticism, which are
supposed to exist among young men now, existed then (cp. Rep. vil.
538); that the Epicureanism expressed in the lines of Horace—

‘Namque Deos didici securum agere aevum,’

was already prevalent in the age of Plato; and that the terrors of
another world were freely use1 in order to gain advantages over other
men in this. The same objection which struck the Psalmist—‘ Then
saw I the wicked in great pr-sperity’—is supposed to lie at the root
of the better sort of unbelief. And the answer is substantially the same
which the modern theologian would offer :—that the ways of God in this
world cannot be justified unless there be a future state of rewards
and punishments. Yet this future state of rewards and punishments
is not any addition of happiness or suffering imposed from without, but
the permanence of good and evil in the soul: here Plato is in advance
of many modern theologians.” The Greek, too, had his difficulty about
the existence of evil, which in one solitary passage, remarkable for being
inconsistent with his general system, Plato explains, after the Magian
fashion, by a good and evil spirit (896 D; cp. Theaet. 176A, Polit.
269). This passage is also remarkable for being at variance with the
general optimism of the Tenth Book—not ‘all things are ordered by
God for the best,’ but some things by a good, others by an evil spirit.
The Tenth Book of the Laws presents a picture of the state of belief —
among the Greeks singularly like that of the world in which we live.

INTRODUCTION. 185

Plato is disposed to attribute the incredulity of his own age to several
causes. First, to the bad effect of mythological tales, of which he still
retains his disapproval; but he has a weak side for antiquity,
and is unwilling, as in the Republic, wholly to proscribe them. Secondly,
he remarks the self-conceit of a younger. generation of philosophers, who
declare that the sun, moon, and stars, are earth and stones only; and
who also maintain that the Gods are made by the laws of the state.
Thirdly, he notes a confusion in the minds of men arising out of their
misinterpretation of the appearances of the world around them: they
do not always see the righteous rewarded and the wicked punished.
_ So in modern times there are some whose infidelity has arisen from
doubts about the inspiration of ancient writings; others who have been
made unbelievers by physical science, or again by the seemingly political
character of religion; while there is a third class to whose minds the
difficulty of ‘justifying the ways of God to man’ has been the chief
stumblingblock. Plato is very much out of temper at the impiety of
some of his contemporaries; yet he is determined to reason with the
victims, as he regards them, of these illusions before he punishes them.
His answer to the unbelievers is twofold: first, that the soul is prior
to the body; secondly, that the ruler of the universe being perfect has
made all things with a view to their perfection. If we compare the Gods
with men at all, we must compare them not with the least but with the
highest of human beings. The difficulties arising out of ancient sacred
writings were far less serious in the age of Plato than in our own.

We too have our popular Epicureanism, which would allow the world
to go on as if there were no God. When the belief in him, whether
of ancient or modern times, begins to fade away, men relegate him either
in theory or practice into a distant heaven. They do not like expressly
to deny God when it is more convenient to forget him; and so the
theory of the Epicurean becomes the practice of mankind in general.
Nor can we be said to be free from that which Plato justly considers
to be the worst unbelief—of those who put superstition in the place
of true religion. For the larger half of Christians continue to assert that
the justice of God may be turned aside by gifts, if not by the ‘ odour
of fat, and the sacrifice steaming to heaven,’ still by another kind of
sacrifice placed upon the altar, and by masses for the quick and
dead, by dispensations, by building churches, by rites and ceremonies—
by the same means which the heathen used, taking other names and

186 LAWS.

shapes. And the indifference of Epicureanism and unbelief is in two
ways the parent of superstition, partly because it permits, and also
because it creates a necessity for its development in religious and
enthusiastic temperaments. If men cannot have a rational belief, they
will have an irrational. And hence the most superstitious countries are
also at a certain point of civilization the most unbelieving, and the
revolution which takes one direction is quickly followed by a reaction
in the other. So we may read ‘between the lines’ ancient history and
philosophy into modern, and modern into ancient. Whether we compare
the theory of Greek philosophy with the Christian religion, or the practice
of the Gentile world with the practice of the Christian world, they will
be found to differ more in words and less in reality than we might have
supposed. ‘The greater opposition which is sometimes made between
them seems to arise chiefly out of a comparison of the ideal of the one
with the practice of the other.

To the errors of superstition and unbelief Plato opposes the simple
and natural form of religion; the best and highest, whether in the form
of a person or a principle, as the divine mind or the idea of God, is
regarded by him as the true basis of human life. That all things
are working together for good to the good and evil to the evil in this
or in some other world to which human actions are transferred, is
the sum of his faith or theology. Unlike Socrates, he is absolutely
free from superstition. Religion and morality are one and indivisible
to him. He nowhere speaks of omens or of sacrifices. He dislikes
the ‘heathen mythology,’ which, as he significantly remarks, was not
tolerated at Sparta. He gives no encouragement to individual en-
thusiasm ; ‘the establishment of religion could only be the work of
a mighty intellect.” Like the Hebrews, he prohibits private rites; for the
avoidance of superstition, he would transfer all worship of the Gods
to the public temples. He would not have men and women consecrating
the accidents of their good or bad fortune. He trusts to human punish-
ments and not to divine judgments; though he is not unwilling to repeat
the old tradition that certain kinds of dishonesty ‘prevent a man from
having a family. He considers that the ‘ages of faith’ have passed
away and cannot now be recalled. Yet he is far from wishing to ex-
tirpate the sentiment of religion, which he sees to be common to all
mankind—Barbarians as well as Hellenes. He remarks that no one
passes through life without, sooner or later, experiencing its power. To

INTRODUCTION. 187

which we may add the further remark that the greater the irreligion, the
more violent has often been the religious reaction.

It is remarkable that Plato’s account of mind at the end of the
Laws goes beyond Anaxagoras, and beyond himself in any of his
previous writings. ~ Aristotle, in a well-known passage (Met. i. 3) which
is an echo of the Phaedo (p. 97), remarks on the inconsistency of
Anaxagoras in introducing the agency of mind, and yet having recourse
also to the lesser agencies of material causes. But Plato makes the
further criticism, that the error of Anaxagoras consisted not in denying
the universal agency of mind, but in denying the priority, or, as
we should say, the eternity of it. Yet in the Timaeus he had himself
allowed that God made the world out of pre-existing materials: in
the Politicus he says that there were seeds of evil in the world arising
out of the remains of a former chaos which could not be got rid
of; and even in the Tenth Book of the Laws he had admitted that
there were two souls, a good and evil. In the Meno, the Phaedrus,
and the Phaedo, he had spoken of the recovery of ideas from a former
state of existence. But now he has attained to a clearer point of view:
he has discarded these fancies. From meditating on the priority
of the human soul to the body, he has learnt the nature of soul
absolutely. The power of the best, of which he gave an intimation
in the Phaedo and in the Republic, now, as in the Philebus, takes the
form of an intelligence or person. He no longer, like Anaxagoras,
supposes mind to be introduced at a certain time into the world and to
give order to a pre-existing chaos, but to be prior to the chaos,
everlasting and evermoving, and the source of order and intelligence
in all things. This appears to be the last form of Plato’s religious
philosophy, which might almost be summed up in the words of Kant,
‘the starry heaven above and the moral law within.’ Or rather, perhaps,
‘the starry heaven above and the harmony of mind in the world.’

IV. The remarks about retail trade, about adulteration, and about
mendicity, have a very modern character. Greek social life was
more like our own than we are apt to suppose. There was the
same division of ranks, the same aristocratic and democratic feeling,
the same preference for land and for agricultural pursuits. Plato may
be claimed as the first free-trader, when he prohibits the imposition
of customs on imports and exports, though he was clearly not aware
of the importance of the principle which he enunciated. The discredit

188 LAS.

of retail trade he attributes to the rogueries of traders, and is inclined
to believe that if a nobleman would keep a shop, which heaven
forbid! retail trade might become honourable. He has hardly lighted
upon the true reason, which appears to be the essential distinction
between buyers and sellers, the one being necessarily in some degree
dependent on the other. When he proposes to fix prices ‘which
would allow a moderate gain,’ and to regulate trade in several minute
particulars, we must remember that this is by no means so absurd
in a city consisting of 5040 citizens, in which almost every one would
know and become known to everybody else, as in our own vast
population. Among ourselves we are very far from allowing every man
to charge what he pleases. Of many things the prices are fixed by
law. Do we not often hear of wages being adjusted in proportion to
the profits of employers? The objection to regulating them by law
and thus avoiding the conflicts which continually arise between the
buyers and sellers of labour, is not so much the undesirableness as
the impossibility of doing so. Wherever free competition is not recon-
cileable either with the order of society, or, as in the case of adultera-
tion with common honesty, the government may lawfully interfere,
The only question is, Whether the interference will be effectual, and
whether the evil of interference may not be greater than the evil
which is prevented by it.

He would prohibit beggars, because in a well-ordered state no one
will be allowed to starve. This again is a prohibition which might
be easily enforced, for there is no difficulty in maintaining the poor
when the population is small. Among modern nations the difficulty
of pauperism is rendered far greater, (1) by the enormous numbers,
(2) by the facility of locomotion, (3) by the increasing tenderness
for human life and suffering. And the only way of meeting the diffi-
culty seems to be by modern nations subdividing themselves into small
bodies having local knowledge and acting together in the spirit of
ancient communities.

V. Regarded as the framework of a polity the Laws are deemed
by Plato to be a decline from the Republic, which is the dream of
his earlier years. He nowhere imagines that he has reached a higher
point of speculation. He is only descending to the level of human things,
and he often returns to his original idea. His guardians of the law
are not expected to have any special training; but he adds to them

INTRODUCTION. 189

a select body, who are supposed to retain the spirit of the legislator
dwelling in them. These are the nocturnal council, who, although they
are not trained in dialectic, must know the relation of the one to the
many in virtue. Plato has been arguing throughout the Laws that
temperance is higher than courage, peace than war, and that the love of
both must enter into the character of the good citizen. And at the end
the same thought is summed up by him in an abstract form. The true
artist or guardian must be able to reduce the many to the one, than
which, as he says with an enthusiasm worthy of the Phaedrus or
Philebus, ‘no more philosophical method was ever attained by the wit
of man.’ But the sense of unity in difference can only be acquired by
study ; and Plato does not explain to us the nature of this study, which
we may reasonably infer, though there is a remarkable omission of the
word, to be akin to the dialectics of the Republic.

The nocturnal council is to consist of the three citizens pre-eminent
in virtue, and the ten eldest guardians of the law; each of whom is
to elect for approval a younger coadjutor, making twenty-six in all.
This council of twenty-six is not the administrative but the legislative
body, who are to make legislation a study; they have an exceptional
‘power, probably suggested by the power which a similar council
exercised in the Pythagorean city of Crotona. And they are supposed
to share in the education of the State, which is declared to be a great
advantage; although Plato has provided .no special training for them,
alleging that he will not anticipate in detail the previous studies which
experience may hereafter show to be best fitted for them.

The Laws of Plato contain the latest phase of his philosophy, showing
in many respects an advance, and in others a decline, in his views of life
and the world. “His doctrine of ideas passed among his disciples into
a theory of numbers, the nature of which we gather chiefly from the
Metaphysics of Aristotle. Of the speculative side of this theory we find
no traces in the Laws, but doubtless Plato found, or seemed to find,
a wonderful confirmation of his arithmetical speculations in the possibility
of applying number and measure to the revolution of the heavens, and
to the regulation of human life. In this there appears to be rather
a retrogression than an advance; for the most barren logical abstraction
is of a higher nature than number and figure. Again, there is less
enthusiasm for the higher education, which is now confined to the
thirty-seven members of the council. The speculative truth which

190 LAWS.

was the food of the guardians in the Republic, is for the majority
of the citizens restricted to practical truth. ‘The law, which is the
expression of mind written down, takes the place of the living word
of the philosopher. (Compare the contrast of Phaedrus 275 E, and
Laws x. 891 A; also the plays on the words vovs vdpos vod Siavop.)
The State is based on virtue and religion rather than on knowledge;
and virtue is no longer identified with knowledge, being of the com-
moner sort, and spoken of in the sense generally understood. Yet
there are many traces of advance as well as retrogression in the
Laws of Plato. The attempt to reconcile the ideal with actual life
is an advance; to ‘have brought philosophy down from heaven to
earth,’ is a praise which may be justly claimed for him as well as
for his master Socrates. And the nocturnal council are to continue
students of the ‘one in many’ and of the nature of God.

Plato’s increasing appreciation of the difficulties of human affairs, and
of the element of chance which so largely influences them, is an in-
dication not of a narrower, but of a maturer mind, which had become
more conversant with realities.4- Nor can we fairly attribute any want
of originality to him, because he has borrowed many of his provisions
from Sparta and Athens. He has freely intermingled the spirit of
the one with the laws of the other, while in many points he has
departed equally from both. ‘The praise of obedience, the authority
assigned to elders, the prohibition of dowries, the enforcement of
marriage, the common meals, the distribution and inalienability of land,
the institution of the Crypteia, the freedom of bequest to a favourite
son, the dislike of city walls,—all reflect the customs of Sparta. In
one or two points he seems to prefer the form which the Dorian
institutions had assumed in Crete. The syssitia are to be maintained
at the public expense, and the produce of the land to be divided in
fixed proportions, which Aristotle (Polit. ii. 7, 4) declares to have been
the custom in Crete. Plato denounces the Spartan practice of expelling
strangers; he condemns the licentiousness of their women; also their
preference of war to peace, and of gymnastic exercises to music,
which was characteristic of Cretans as well as Lacedaemonians, while
he raises his voice against the unnatural vices allowed by public
Opinion to exist in both states.

The use of the lot, the scrutiny of the magistrates, the monthly courses
of the council, the election of the generals, the pardon of the forgiven

INTRODUCTION: 191

homicide, most of the regulations about testaments and the guardianship
of orphans, the degrees of consanguinity recognised by law, correspond
with Athenian laws and customs. (Cp. Hermann, ‘ De Vestigiis Insti-
tutorum veterum per Platonis de Legibus libros indagandis.’) But there
seems to be little which we can add with certainty from the Laws of
Plato to our knowledge either of Athenian or Spartan institutions. Only
the proposed division of land in the city of the Magnetes affords a strong
reason for supposing that a similar institution already existed at Sparta,
which of late years has been doubted by Mr. Grote and others. Though
Plato is smitten with some features of government which he finds in
Egypt, and especially with the immutability of their laws, which he vainly
hopes to create in the ever-changing minds of his own countrymen, the
Laws, like the Republic, and unlike the Cyropedia of Xenophon, are in
spirit essentially Greek. They are the correction of the laws of Lycurgus
and Solon; in the phraseology of modern times they may also be said
to form a code or digest of them. ‘They contain some enactments, as for
example the refusal of credit, borrowed from Charondas; and other
provisions which at first sight appear singular are probably taken from
other ancient legislators. They do not rest, like the lost Polities of
Aristotle, on an analysis of three hundred constitutions; but Plato makes
good use of three. And although he falls short of Aristotle in the ob-
servation of facts, he is superior to him in some other respects, and in
two especially: (1) the attempt to raise the female sex by education,
and (2) to base politics on morals and religion.

Thus we have arrived at the end of the writings of Plato, and at the
last stage of philosophy which was really his. For in what followed,
which we chiefly gather from the uncertain intimations of Aristotle, the
spirit of the master no longer survived. ‘The doctrine of ideas passed
into one of numbers—instead of advancing from the abstract to the
concrete, the theories of Plato were taken out of their context, and either
asserted or refuted with a provoking literalism; the Socratic or Platonic
element in his teaching was absorbed into the Megarian or Pythagorean ;
his poetry was converted into mysticism; his unsubstantial visions were
assailed secundum artem by the rules of logic. His political speculations
lost their interest when the freedom of Hellas had passed away. Of
all his writings the Laws were the furthest removed from the traditions

[-

192 LAWS.

of the Platonic school in the next generation. Both his political and his
metaphysical philosophy are for the most part misinterpreted by Aristotle.
The best of him—his love of truth, and his ‘contemplation of all time
and all existence,’ was soonest lost; and some of his greatest thoughts
have slept in the ear of mankind almost ever since they were first uttered.

We have followed him during his forty or fifty years of authorship,
from the beginning wh«n he first attempted to depict the teaching of
Socrates in a dramatic form, down to the time at which the character
of Socrates had disappeared, and we have the latest reflections of Plato’s
own mind upon Hellas and the world. He, who was ‘the last of the
poets,’ in his book of Laws writes prose only; he has himself fallen
under the rhetorical influences which in his earlier dialogues he was
combating. The progress of his writings is also the history of his life;
for we have no other authentic life of him. The great effort which he
makes is first to realize abstractions, and secondly to connect them.
In the attempt to realize them, he was carried into a transcendental
region in which he isolated them from experience, and we pass out
of the range of science into poetry or fiction. The fancies of mythology
for a time cast a veil over the gulf which divides phenomena from
onta. In his return to earth Plato meets with a difficulty which has
long ceased to be a difficulty to us. He cannot understand how these
obstinate, unmanageable ideas, residing alone in their heaven of
abstraction can be either combined with one another, or adapted to
phenomena. That which is the most familiar process of our own
minds, to him appeared to be the crowning achievement of the dialectical
art. For by his conquests in the world of mind not only are our
thoughts widened, but he has furnished us with the instruments of
thought. We have endeavoured to see him as he truly was, a great
original genius struggling with unequal conditions of knowledge, not
prepared with a system nor evolving in a series of dialogues ideas which
he had long conceived, but inconsistent, contradictory, enquiring as
he goes along, following the argument from one point of view only, and
therefore arriving at opposite conclusions, hovering around the light, and
sometimes dazzled with excess of light, but always moving in the same
element of ideal truth. We have seen him also in his decline, when
the wings of his imagination have begun to droop, but his experience
of life remains, and he turns away from the contemplation of the
eternal to take a last sad look at human affairs.

Steph,

(624

(625

fi AN. Ss.
[En OL GN Camm i

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE.

An ATHENIAN STRANGER. CLEINIAS, a Cretan.

MEGILLUS, a Lacedaemonian.

Athenian Stranger. TELL me, Strangers, is God or man
supposed to be the author of your laws?

Cleinias. God, Stranger; nothing truer can be said of them
than that they are the work of God: among us Cretans the
author of them has been supposed to have been Zeus, but in
Lacedaemon, as our Lacedaemonian friend will tell you, they
say that Apollo is their lawgiver.

Megillus. Just so.

Ath. And do you believe, as Homer says, that Minos went
every ninth year to converse with his Olympian sire, and was
inspired by him to make laws for your cities?

Cle. Yes, that is our tradition; and there was Rhadamanthus,
a brother of his, with whose name you are familiar; he also
is reputed to have been the justest of men, and we Cretans
are of opinion that he derived his reputation from his righteous
administration of justice when he was alive.

Ath, Yes, and a noble reputation too, and worthy of a son
of Zeus. As you and Megillus have been trained in these
institutions, I dare say that you will not be unwilling to give
an account of your government and laws; on our way we can
pass the time pleasantly in talking about them, for I am told
that the distance from Cnosus to the cave and temple of Zeus
is considerable; and doubtless there are shady places under

4493 Oy O

194 LAWS.

the lofty trees, which will protect us from this scorching sun.
Being no longer young, we may often stop to rest beneath them,
and so beguile the walk by conversation.

Cle. Yes, Stranger, and if we proceed onward we shall come
to groves of cypresses, which are of rare height and beauty,
and there are green pastures, in which we may repose and
converse.

Ath. Very good.

Cle. Yes, very good, and better still when we see them; let us
move on cheerily.

Ath. 1 am willing.—And first, ] want to know why the law
has ordained that you shall have common meals and gymnastic
exercises, and wear arms.

Cle. 1 think, Stranger, that the aim of our institutions is
easily intelligible to any one. Look at the character of our
country: Crete is not like Thessaly, a large plain; and for this
reason they have horses there, and we have runners on foot
here—the inequality of the ground in our country is more
adapted to locomotion on foot; but then, if you have runners
you must have light arms,—no one can run carrying a heavy
weight, and the lightness of bows and arrows is convenient for
running. Now all these regulations have been made with a view
to war, and the legislator appears to me to have looked to war
in all his arrangements; and the common meals, if I am not
mistaken, were instituted by him for a similar reason, because
he saw that while they are in the field the citizens are compelled
to take their meals together for the sake of mutual protection.
He seems to me to have thought the world foolish in not
understanding that all men are always going to war with one
another; and if in time of war there ought to be common meals 62)
under military authority, having regular guards for the sake of
defence, they should be continued in peace; for what men in
general term peace is, as he said, only a name; in reality every
city is in a natural state of war with every other, not indeed
proclaimed by heralds, but everlasting. And if you observe,
you will find that this was the intention of the Cretan legislator ;
all institutions, private as well as public, were arranged by him
with a view to war; and he gave his laws to be observed
with this intent, because he thought that all possessions or

BOOK 1. 195

institutions. ceased to be of any value if a man was defeated
in war; for all the good things of the conquered pass ifto the
hands of the conquerors.

Ath, You appear to me, Stranger, to have been thoroughly
trained in the Cretan institutions, and to be well informed about
them; will you tell me a little more explicitly what is the
principle of government which you would lay down? You
seem to imagine that a state ought to be so ordered as to
conquer all other states in war: am I right in supposing
this?

Cle. Certainly ; and my Lacedaemonian friend also, if I am
not mistaken, will say the same.

Meg. Why, my good friend, how could any Lacedaemonian
say anything else?

Ath. And does what you are saying apply only to states, or
also to villages?

Cle. To both alike.

Ath, The case is the samer

Ci Vics,

Ath, And in the village will there be the same war of family
against family, and of individual against individual ?

Cle. The same.

Ath, And are we to conceive each man as warring against
himself: or how is that to be?

Cle. O Athenian Stranger, inhabitant of Attica I will not call
you, who seem to me worthy to be named after the goddess
Athene, because you go back to first principles; you from the
light which you have thrown upon the argument, will more
readily recognise the truth of my assertion, when I said just
now that all men are the enemies of all other men, both in
public and private, and every individual of himself.

Ath. My good sir, what do you mean?

Cle. I mean what I say; and, further, that there is a victory
and defeat,—the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst
of defeats,—which each man gains or sustains at the hands, not
of another, but of himself; this shows that there is a war against
ourselves going on in every one of us.

627 Ath. Let us now reverse the order of the argument: Seeing
that every individual is either his own superior or his own
O 2

196 LAWS,

inferior, may we say that there is the same principle in the
house, the village, and the state?

Cle. You mean that in each of them there is a principle of
superiority or inferiority to self?

LE NES,

Cle. You are quite right in asking that question, for there
certainly is such a principle, and above all in states; and the
state in which the better citizens win a victory over the mob
and over the inferior classes, may be truly said to be better than
itself, and may be justly praised, where the victory is gained,
or censured in the opposite case.

Ath. Whether the better is ever really conquered by the
worse, is a question which requires more discussion, and may
be therefore left for the present. But I quite understand your
meaning when you say that citizens who are of the same race
and live in the same cities, may unjustly conspire, and having
the superiority in numbers may overcome and enslave the few
just; and when they prevail, the state may be truly called its
own inferior and therefore bad; and when they are defeated,
superior and therefore good.

Cle. Your remark, Stranger, is very singular, and yet must
be admitted to be true.

Ath. Here is another case for consideration ;—in a family
there may be several brothers, who are the offspring of a single
pair; very possibly the majority of them may be unjust, and die
just may be in a minority.

Cle. Very possibly.

Ath. And you and I ought not to raise a question of words
as to whether this family and household are rightly said to be
superior when they conquer, and inferior when they are con-
quered ; for we are not considering what may or may not be
the proper or customary way of speaking, but we are considering
the natural principles of right and wrong in laws.

Cle. That, Stranger, is most true.

Meg. Excellent, I say, in my opinion too, as far as we have
gone,

Ath, Again; might there not be a judge over these brethren,
of whom we were speaking?

Cle, Certainly.

BOOK Tf. 197

Ath. Now, which would be the better judge,—one who
destroyed the bad and required the good to govern themselves ;
or one who, while allowing the good to govern, let the bad live,
and made them voluntarily submit? Or lastly, there might be
a third excellent judge, who, finding the family distracted, not

528 only did not destroy any one, but reconciled them to one
another for ever after, and gave them laws which they mutually
observed, and was able to keep them friends.

Cle. The last would be by far the best sort of judge and
legislator.

Ath, And yet the aim of all the laws which he gave would be
the reverse of war.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, And will he who constitutes the state and orders the life
of man have in view external war, or that sort of intestine war
called civil, which no one, if he could prevent, would like to
have occurring in his own state; and when occurring, every one
would wish to get rid of as soon as possible.

Cle. He would have the latter chiefly in view.

Ath, And would he prefer that war should be terminated by
the destruction of one of the parties, and by the conquest of
the other, or that peace and friendship should be re-established
among them; for then they would be able to give undivided
attention to their foreign enemies?

Cle. Every one would desire the latter in the case of his
own state.

Ath, And would not that also be the desire of the legislator ?

C2. Certainty.

Ath. And would not every one always make laws for the sake
of the best ?

Cle. To be sure.

Ath, But war, whether external or civil, is not the best, and
the need of either is to be deprecated; but peace with one
another, and good will, are best. Nor is the victory of the
state over itself to be regarded as a really good thing, but as
a necessity; a man might as well say that the body was in the
best state when sick and purged by medicine, forgetting that
there is also a state of the body which needs no purge. .And in
like manner no one can be a true statesman, whether he aims at

198 LAWS

the happiness of the individual or state, who looks only, or first
of all, to external warfare; nor will he ever be a sound legislator
who orders peace for the sake of war, and not war for the sake
of peace.

“Cle. I suppose that there is truth, Stranger, in that remark
of yours; and yet I am greatly mistaken if war is not the
entire aim and object of our institutions, and also of the
Lacedaemonians.

Ath, I dare say; but there is no reason why we should rudely 62:
quarrel with one another about your legislators, instead of gently
questioning them, seeing that they as well as ourselves are quite
in earnest. Let me take you with me; and first we will summon
Tyrtaeus, who was an Athenian by birth, and also a Spartan
citizen, and who of all men was most eager about war. ‘ Well,’
he says,

‘I sing not, I care not, about any man,
even if he were the richest of men, and possessed every good
(and then he gives a list of them), unless he be the bravest in
war.’ I imagine that you, too, must have heard his poems; our
Lacedaemonian friend has probably heard too much of them.

Meg. Very true. |

Cle. And they have found their way from Lacedaemon to
Grete: |

Az. Come now and let us all join in asking this question of
Tyrtaeus : O most divine poet, we will say to him, the excellent
praise which you have bestowed on those who excel in war suffi-
ciently proves that you are wise and good, and I and Megillus
and Cleinias of Cnosus do, as I believe, entirely agree with you.
But we should like to be quite sure that we are speaking of the
same men; tell us, then, do you agree with us in thinking that
there are two kinds of war; or what would you say? Aviar
inferior man to Tyrtaeus would have no difficulty in replying
quite truly, that there are two kinds of war,—one which is
universally called civil war, and is, as we were just now saying,
of all wars the worst; the other, as we should all admit, in
Which we fall out with other nations who are of a different
race, is a far milder form of warfare.

Cle. Certainly, far milder, |

Ath Well, now, when you praise and blame war in this high-

30

BOOK i, 199

flown strain, whom are you praising or blaming, and to which
kind of war are you referring? I suppose that you must mean
foreign war, if I am to judge from expressions of yours in which
you say that you abominate those

‘Who refuse to look upon fields. of blood, and will not draw near and strike
at their enemies.’

And we shall naturally go on to say to him,—You, Tyrtaeus,
certainly appear to praise those who distinguish themselves in
external and foreign war; and he must admit this.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, They are good; but we say that there are still better
men whose virtue is displayed in the greatest of all battles.
And we too have a poet whom we summon as a witness,
Theognis, citizen of Megara in. Sicily, who says :-—

‘ Cyrnus,” he says, ‘he who is faithful in a civil broil is worth his weight in
gold and silver.’

And such an one is far better, as we affirm, than the other in
a more difficult kind of war, much in the same degree as Justice
and temperance and wisdom, when united with courage, are
better than courage only; for a man cannot be faithful and
good in civil strife without having all virtue. But in the war
of which Tyrtaeus speaks, many a mercenary soldier will take
his stand and be ready to die at his post, and yet they are
generally and almost without exception insolent, unjust, violent
men, and the most senseless of human beings. You will ask
what the conclusion is, and what I am seeking to prove: I main-
tain that the divine legislator of Crete, like any other who is
worthy of consideration, will always in making laws have regard
to the greatest virtue; which, according to Theognis, is loyalty
in the hour of danger, and may be truly called perfect justice.
Whereas, that virtue which Tyrtaeus highly praises is well
enough, and was sung of by the poet in the hour of need, yet in
place and dignity may be said to be only fourth-rate.

Cle, Stranger, we are degrading our inspired lawgiver to a very
low rank in the scale of legislators.

Ath. Nay, I think that we degrade not him but ourselves, if
we imagine that Lycurgus and Minos laid down laws both in
Lacedaemon and Crete mainly with a view to war.

200 VSOZN LAS

Cle. What ought we to say then?

Ath. What truth and what justice require of us, if I am not
mistaken, when speaking in behalf of divine excellence ;—that
the legislator when making his laws had in view not a part only,
and this the lowest part of virtue, but all virtue, and that he
devised classes of laws answering to the kinds of virtue; not
in the way in which modern inventors of laws make the classes;
for they only investigate and offer laws of which the want is
being felt, and one man has a class of laws about inheritances
in part or sole, another about assault; others about ten
thousand other matters of a similar nature. But we say that 631
the right way of enquiry is to proceed as we have now done,
and I admired the spirit of your exposition ; for you are quite
right in beginning with virtue, and saying that this was the aim
of the giver of the law, but I thought that you went wrong when
you added that he referred all to a part, and a most inferior
part of virtue, and my subsequent observations had a bearing
on this. Will you allow me then to explain how I should have
liked to have heard you expound the matter?

Cle. By all means.

Ath. You ought to have said, Stranger,—The Cretan laws are
with good reason famous among the Hellenes; for they fulfil the
object of laws, which is to make those who use them happy, for
all goods are derived from them. Now goods are of two kinds :
there are human and there are divine goods, and the human hang
upon the divine; and the state which attains the greater, at the
same time acquires the less, or not having the greater loses both.
Of the lesser goods the first is health, the second beauty, the
third strength, including swiftness in running and bodily agility
generally, and the fourth is wealth, not the blind god [Pluto], but
one who is keen of sight, because he has wisdom for his com-
panion. For wisdom is chief and leader of the divine class of
goods, and next follows temperance; and from the union of
these two with courage springs justice, and fourth in the scale of
virtue is courage. The four naturally take precedence of the
other goods, and this is the order in which the legislator must
place them, and after them he will enjoin the rest of his ordin-
ances on the citizens having a view to these, the human looking
to the divine, and the divine looking to their leader mind. Some

LS)

HOCK: 201

of his ordinances will relate to contracts of marriage, which they
make one with another, and to the procreation and education of
children, both male and female; the duty of the lawgiver will
be to take charge of his citizens, in youth and age, and at every
time of life, and to give them punishments and rewards ; and in
reference to all their intercourse with one another, he ought to
consider their pains and pleasures and desires, and the vehemence
of all their passions; he should keep a watch over them, and
blame and praise them rightly by the mouth of the laws them-
selves. Also with regard to anger and terror, and the other
perturbations of the soul, which arise out of misfortune, and the
deliverances from them which prosperity brings, and the ex-
periences which come to men in diseases, or in war, or poverty,
or the opposite of these; in all these states he should deter-
mine what is the good and evil of the condition of each. In the
next place, the legislator has to watch over the property and
expenditure of the citizens, and their mutual contracts and
cessations of contracts, whether voluntary or involuntary: he
should see how they order all this, and consider among whom
justice as well as injustice is found or is wanting; and honour
those who obey the law, and impose fixed penalties on those
who disobey, until the round of civil life is ended, and the time
has come for the consideration of the proper funeral rites and
honours of the dead. And the lawgiver reviewing his work,
will appoint guardians to preside over these things,—some who
walk by intelligence, others by true opinion only, and then
mind will bind together all his ordinances and show them to be
in harmony with temperance and justice, and not with wealth
or ambition. This is the spirit, Stranger, in which I was and
am desirous that you should pursue the subject. And I want
to know how all these matters are, and are arranged in the laws
of Zeus, as they are termed, and in those of the Pythian Apollo
which Minos and Lycurgus gave; and how the order of them
is discovered to his eyes, who has experience and skill in laws,
although they are far from being self-evident to the rest of
mankind like ourselves.

Cle. How shall we proceed, Stranger ?

Ath. J think that we must begin again as before, and first
discuss the habit of courage; afterwards we will go through

202 LAWS.

the other forms of virtue, if you please. Then we shall have
a model of the whole; and with these and similar discourses
we will beguile the way. And when we have gone through
all the virtues, we will show, by the grace of God, that what
has preceded has relation to virtue.

Meg. Very good; and suppose that you first criticise this 63:
praiser of Zeus and the laws of Crete.

Ath, | will try to criticise you and myself, as well as him, for
we are all concerned in the argument. Tell me,—were not the
common meals, and secondly the gymnasia, invented by your
legislator with a view to war?

Meg. Yes.

Ath, And what comes third, and what fourth, in the order
of your legislation? For that, I think, is the sort of enumera-
tion which ought to be made of the parts of virtue, no matter
whether you call them parts or what their name is, provided the
meaning is clear.

Meg. Then I, or any other Lacedaemonian, would reply that
hunting is third in order.

Ath, Let us see if we can discover what comes fourth and fifth.

Meg. 1 think that I can get as far as the fourth head, which
is the frequent endurance of pain, exhibited by them in certain
hand-to-hand fights; also in stealing with the prospect of
getting a beating; there is, too, the so-called Crypteia, or secret
service, in which wonderful endurance is shown,—they wander
over the whole country by day and by night, and even in
winter have not any shoes on their feet, and are without beds
to lie upon, and have no one to attend them. Marvellous, too,
is the endurance which our citizens show in their gymnastic
exercises, contending against the violent summer heat ; and there
are many similar practices, to speak of which in detail would
be endless.

Ath. Excelient, O Lacedaemonian stranger. But how ought
we to define courage? Is that to be regarded only as a combat
against fears and pains, or also against desires and pleasures,
and against flatteries ; which exercise such a tremendous power,
that they make the hearts even of respectable citizens to melt
like wax?

Meg. T should say the latter.

934

BOOK Tf. 202

Ath, In what preceded, as you well remember, our Cnosian
friends spoke of a man or a city being inferior to themselves ?

Cle. I did so.

Ath. Now, which is in the truest sense inferior, the man who
is overcome by pleasure or by pain?

Cle. I should say the man who is overcome by pleasure ; for
all men deem him to be inferior in a more disgraceful sense, than
the other who is overcome by pain.

Ath. But surely the lawgivers of Crete and Lacedaemon have
not legislated for a courage which is lame of one leg, able only
to meet attacks which come from the left, but impotent against
the insidious flatteries which come from the right?

Cle. Able to meet both, I should say.

Ath. Then let me once more ask, what institutions have you
in either of your states which give a taste of pleasures, and do
not avoid them any more than they avoid pains; but which set
a person in the midst of them, and compel or induce him by
motives of honour to get the better of them? Where is an or-
dinance about pleasure similar to that about pain to be found
in your laws? Tell me what there is of this nature among
you :—What is there which makes your citizen equally brave
against pleasure and pain, conquering what they ought to
conquer, and superior to the enemies who are most dangerous
and nearest home?

Meg. I was able to tell you, Stranger, many laws which were
directed against pain; but I do not know that I can point out
any great or obvious examples of similar institutions which are
concerned with pleasure; there are some lesser parts of laws,
however, which I might mention.

Cle. No more can I show anything of that sort which is at all
prominent in the Cretan laws.

Ath. No wonder, my dear friends; and if, as is very likely,
in our search after the true and good, one of us may have to
censure the laws of the others, we must not take offence, but be
gentle to one another.

Cle. You are quite right, Athenian Stranger, and we will do as
you say.

Ath. At our time of life, Cleinias, there should be no feeling
of irritation.

204 LAWS.

Cle. Certainly not.
Ath. Y will not at present determine whether he who censures

the Cretan or Lacedaemonian polities is right or wrong. But
I believe that I can tell better than either of you what the many
say about them. For assuming that you have reasonably good
laws, one of the best of them will be a law forbidding any young
men to enquire which of them are right or wrong; but with
one mouth and one voice, they must all agree that the laws are
all good and of divine origin ; and any one who says the con-
trary is not to be listened to. But an old man who remarks any
defect, may communicate his observation to a ruler or to an
equal when no young man is present.

Cle. Exactly so, Stranger; and like a diviner, although not 63
there at the time, you seern to me quite to have hit the meaning
of the legislator, and to say what is most true.

Ath, As there are no young men present, and the legislator
has given old men free licence, there will be no impropriety in
our discussing these matters now that we are alone.

Cle. True. And therefore you may be as free as you like in
your censure of our laws, for there is no discredit in knowing
what is wrong; he who receives what is said in a generous and
friendly spirit will be the better for it.

Ath, Very good; however, I am not going to censure your
laws until to the best of my ability I have examined them, but
I am going to raise doubts about them. For you are the only
people known to us, whether Greek or barbarian, whom the
legislator commanded to eschew all great pleasures and amuse-
ments; whereas in the matter of pains or fears which we have
just been discussing, he thought that they who from infancy
had always avoided the pains and fears and sorrows which
must be, when they were compelled to face them would run
away from those who were hardened in them and become their
subjects. Now the legislator ought to have considered that this
was equally true of pleasure; he should have said to himself,
that if our citizens are from their youth upward unacquainted
with the greatest pleasure, and unused to endure amid the
temptations of pleasure, and are not disciplined to refrain from
all things evil, the sweet feeling of pleasure will overcome
them just as fear would overcome the former class; and in

BOOK 7, 205

another, and even a worse manner, they will be the servants of
those who are able to endure amid pleasures, and have had
the opportunity of enjoying them, they being often the worst
of mankind. One half of their souls will be a slave, the other
half free ; and they will not be worthy to be called in the true
sense men and freemen. Tell me whether you assent to my
words ?

Cle. On first hearing, what you say appears to be the truth ;
but to be hasty in coming to a conclusion about such important
matters, would be very childish and simple.

Ath. Suppose, Cleinias and Megillus, that we consider the
virtue which follows next of those which we intended to discuss
(for after courage comes temperance), what. institutions shall we
find in our three states about temperance, which like our military
institutions we call those of other ordinary states.

536 =Meg. That is not an easy question to answer; still I should
say that the common meals and gymnastic exercises have been
excellently devised for the promotion both of temperance and
courage.

Ath. There seems to be a difficulty, Stranger, in so ordering
acts and words in politics, that there should be no dispute about
them. As in the human body, the manner of life which does
good in one way does harm in another; and we can hardly say
that any one course of treatment is adapted to a particular con-
stitution. Now the gymnasia and common meals do a great
deal of good, and yet they are a source of evil in civil troubles ;
as is shown in the case of Milesian, and Boeotian, and Thurian
youth, among whom these institutions seem always to have had
a tendency to degrade the ancient and natural custom of love
below the level, not only of man, but of the beasts. The charge
may be fairly brought against your cities above all others, and
is true in general of states which especially cultivate gymnastics.
Whether such matters are to be regarded jestingly or seriously,
I think that the pleasure is to be deemed natural which arises
out of the intercourse with men and women; but that the
intercourse of men with men, or of women with women, is
contrary to nature, and that the bold attempt was originally
due to unbridled lust. The Cretans are always accused of
having invented the story of Ganymede and Zeus because they

206 ATES,

wanted to justify themselves in the enjoyment of unnatural
pleasures by the practice of the god whom they believe to have
been their lawgiver. Leaving the story, we may observe that
any speculation about laws turns almost entirely on pleasure
and pain, both in states and in private characters: these are
two fountains which nature lets flow, and he who draws from
them where and when, and as much as he ought, is happy; and
this holds of men and animals—of individuals as well as states;
and he who indulges in them ignorantly and in excess, is the
reverse of happy.

Meg. | admit, Stranger, that your words are well spoken: at
the same time, I hardly know what to say, and [ still think that
the Spartan lawgiver was quite right in forbidding pleasure. Of
the Cretan laws, I shall leave the defence to my Cnosian friend.
But the laws of Sparta, in as far as they relate to pleasure,
appear to me to be the best in the world; for that which leads
mankind in general into the wildest pleasure and licence, and
every other folly, the law has clean driven out; and neither in
the country nor in towns which are under the control of Sparta,
will you find revelries and the many incitements of every kind
of pleasure which accompany them; and any one who meets
a drunken and disorderly person, will immediately have him
most severely punished, and will not let him off on any pretence,
not even at the time of a Dionysiac festival; although I have
remarked that this may happen at your performances ‘on the
cart,’ as they are called; and among our Tarentine colonists
I have seen the whole city drunk at a Dionysiac festival; but
nothing of the sort happens among us.

Ath, O Lacedaemonian Stranger, these festivities are praise-
worthy where there is a spirit of endurance, but are very sense-
less when they are under no regulations. In order to retaliate,
an Athenian has only to point out the licence which exists
among your women. To all such accusations, whether they
are brought against the Tarentines, or us, or you, there is one
answer which exonerates the practice in question from impro-
priety. When a stranger expresses wonder at the singularity
of what he sees, any inhabitant will naturally answer him :—
Wonder not, O stranger; this is our custom, and you may
very likely have some other custom about the same things.

63

BOOK 7. 207

Now we are speaking, my friends, not about men in general,
but about the merits and defects of the lawgivers themselves.
Let us then discourse a little more at length about them, and
about the nature of intoxication at large, which is a very
important matter, and will seriously task the discrimination of
the legislator. JI am not talking of the mere practice of
drinking or not drinking wine in general, but about downright
intoxication: are we to follow the custom of the Scythians, and
Persians, and Carthaginians, and Celts, and Iberians, who are
all warlike nations, or, that of your countrymen, who, as you say,
wholly abstain? Whereas the Scythians and Thracians, both
men and women, drink unmixed wine, which they also pour
on their garments, and this they think a happy and glorious
institution. The Persians again, are much given to other
practices of luxury which you reject, but they have more
moderation in them than the Thracians and Scythians.

Meg. O best of men, we have only to take arms into our
hands, and we drive all these nations flying before us.

Ath, Nay, my good friend, do not say that; there have been,
as there always will be, flyings and pursuings of which no
account can be given, and therefore we cannot say that victory
or defeat in battle afford more than a doubtful proof of the
goodness or badness of institutions. For when the greater states
conquer and enslave the lesser, as the Syracusans have done the
Locrians, who appear to be the best-governed people in their
part of the world, or as the Athenians have done the Ceans (and
there are ten thousand other instances of the same sort of
thing), all that is not to the point; let us endeavour rather to
form a conclusion about the various institutions themselves,
and say nothing, at present, of victories and defeats. Let us
only say that such a custom is honourable, and the other not.
And first permit me to tell you how good and bad are to be
estimated in reference to these very matters.

Meg. How do you mean?

Ath. All those who are ready at a moment’s notice to praise
or censure any practice which is matter of discussion, seem to
me to proceed in a wrong way. Let me give you an illustration
of what I mean:—You may suppose a person to be praising
wheat as a good sort of food, whereupon another person instantly

208 ELAS

blames wheat, without ever enquiring into its effect or use, or
in what way, or to whom, or with what, or in what state, wheat
is to be applied. And that is just what we are doing in this
discussion. At the very mention of the word intoxication,
one side is ready with their praises and the other with their
censures, and this is absurd. For either side adduce their wit-
nesses and approvers, and some of us think that we speak with
authority because we have many witnesses; and others because
they see those who abstain conquering in battle, and this again
is disputed by us. Now I cannot say that I approve of such
a method of discussing laws. And about this very point of
intoxication I should like to speak in another way, which I
hold to be the right one; for if number is to be the criterion,
are there not myriads upon myriads of nations ready to dispute
the point with you who are only two cities?

Meg. 1 shall gladly welcome any method of enquiry which
is right.

Ath, Let me put the matter thus:—Suppose a person to
praise the keeping of goats, and the creatures themselves as
capital things to have, and then some one who had seen goats
feeding without a goatherd in cultivated spots, and doing
mischief, was to censure a goat or any other animal who has
no keeper, or a bad keeper, would there be any sense or justice
in such censure?

Meg. Certainly not.

Ath. Does a captain require only to have nautical knowledge
in order to be a good captain, whether he is or is not sea-sick?
What do you say?

Meg. I say that he is not a good captain if he is liable to
sickness,

Ath, And what would you say of the commander of an army?
Will he be able to command merely because he has military
skill if he be a coward, who, when danger comes, is sick and
drunk with fear?

Meg. Impossible.

Ath, And what if besides being a coward he have no skill?

Meg. He is a miserable fellow, who is only fit to be a
commander of old women.

Ath. And what would you say of some one who blames or

BOGK. 7. 209

praises any sort of meeting which is intended by nature to have
a ruler, and is well enough when under his presidency? The
critic, however, has never seen the society meeting together at
an orderly feast under the control of a president, but always
without a ruler or with a bad one :—when observers of this class
praise or blame such meetings is what they say of any value?

Meg. Certainly not, if they have never seen or been present
at such a meeting when rightly ordered.

Ath, But think; may not banqueters and banquets be said
to constitute a sort of meeting ?

Meg. Certainly.

Ath. And did any one ever see this convivial meeting rightly
ordered? Of course you two will answer at once that you
have never seen them at all, because they are not customary or
lawful in your country; but I have come across many of them
in many different places, and moreover I have made enquiries
about them wherever I went, as I may say, and never did I
see or hear of anything of the sort which was carried on
altogether rightly ; in some few particulars they might be right,
but in general they were utterly wrong.

Cle. What do you mean, Stranger, by this remark? Explain.
For we, as you say, from our inexperience in such matters,
might very likely not know, even if we came in their way, what
was right or wrong in such societies.

40 «Ath. Likely enough; then let me try to be your instructor:
you would acknowledge, would you not, that in all gatherings
of mankind, of whatever sort, there ought to be a leader?

Cle. Certainly I should.

Ath, And we were saying just now, that when men are at war
the leader ought to be a brave man?

Cle, Certainly:

Ath. The brave man is less likely than the coward to be
disturbed by fears?

Cle. That is also true.

Ath. And if there were a possibility of having a general of
an army who was absolutely fearless and imperturbable, should
we not by all means appoint him?

fCi2, 20 Dersute.

Ath. Now, however, we are speaking not of a general who is

wOLe Vv. P

210 LAWS.

to command an army, when foe meets foe in time of war,
but of one who is to regulate meetings of another sort, when
friend meets friend in time of peace.

Cle. True.

Ath. And that sort of meeting, if attended with drunkenness,
is apt to be unquiet.

Cle. Certainly ; the reverse of quiet.

Ath. In the first place, then, the revellers as well as the soldiers
will require a ruler.

Cle. To be sure; no men more so.

Ath. And we ought, if possible, to provide them such a quiet
ruler?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And he should be a man who understands society ; for
his duty is to preserve the friendly feelings which exist among
the company at the time, and to increase them for the future
by his use of the occasion.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, Must we not appoint a sober man and a wise to be
our master of the revels? For if the ruler of drinkers be himself
young and drunken, and not over-wise, only by some special
good fortune will he be saved from doing some great evil.

Cle. It will be by a singular good fortune that he is saved.

Ath. Now suppose such associations to be framed in the best
way possible in states, and that some one blames the very fact
of their existence—he may very likely be right. But if he
blames a practice which he only sees very much mismanaged,
he shows clearly that he is not aware of the mismanagement,
and also not aware that everything done in this way will turn
out to be wrong, because done without the superintendence of
a sober ruler. Do you not see that a drunken pilot or a drunken
ruler of any sort will ruin ship, chariot, army—anything, in 6
short, of which he has the direction?

Cle. The last remark is very true, Stranger; and I see quite
clearly the advantage of. an army having a good leader—he
will give victory in war to his followers, which is a very great
advantage, and so of other things. But I do not see any
similar advantage which either individuals or states gain from
the good management of a feast; and I want you to tell me

4. 2

oO) Gay OT!

what great good will be effected, supposing that this drinking
ordinance is duly established.

Ath. If you mean to ask what great good accrues to the state
from the right training of a single youth, or of a single chorus,—
when the question is put in that form, we cannot deny that the
good is not very great in any particular instance. But if you
ask what is the good of education in general, the answer is easy—
that education makes good men, and that good men act nobly,
and conquer their enemies in battle, because they are good.
Education certainly gives victory, although victory sometimes
produces forgetfulness of education; for many have grown
insolent from victory in war, and this insolence has engendered
in them innumerable evils; and many a victory has been and
will be suicidal to the victors; but education is never
suicidal.

Cle. You seem to imply, my friend, that convivial meetings,
when rightly ordered, are an important element of education.

Ath. Certainly I do.

Cle. And can you show that what you have been saying is
true?

Ath. To be absolutely sure of the truth of matters concerning
which there are many opinions, is an attribute of the Gods not
given to man, Stranger; but I shall be very happy to tell you
what I think, especially as we are now proposing to enter on
a discussion concerning laws and constitutions.

Cle. Your opinion, Stranger, about the questions which are
now being raised, is precisely what we want to hear.

Ath. Very good; I will try to find a way of explaining my
meaning, and you shall try to have the gift of understanding
me. But first let me make an apology. The Athenian citizen
is reputed among all the Hellenes to bea great talker, whereas
Sparta is renowned for brevity, and the Cretans have more wit
than words. Now, I am afraid of appearing to elicit a very long
discourse out of very small materials. For drinking indeed may
appear to be a slight matter, and yet is one which cannot be
rightly ordered according to nature, without correct principles of
music; these are necessary with a view to any satisfactory
treatment of the subject, and music again runs up into education
generally, and there will be no end to the discussion. What

Pe

see LAWS.

would you say then to leaving these matters for the present, and
passing on to some other question of law?

Meg. O Athenian Stranger, let me tell you what perhaps you
do not know, that our family is your proxenus. I imagine that
from their earliest youth all boys, when they are told that they
are the proxeni of a particular state, feel kindly towards their
second country; and this has certainly been my own feeling.
I can well remember from the days of my boyhood, how, when
any Lacedaemonians praised or blamed the Athenians, they used
to say to me,—‘ See, Megillus, how ill or how well, as the case
might be, has your state treated us;’ and having always had to
fight your battles against detractors when I heard you assailed,
I became warmly attached to you. And I always like to hear
the Athenian tongue spoken; the common saying is quite true,
that a good Athenian is more than ordinarily good, for he is
the only man who is freely and genuinely good by the inspira-
tion of nature, and is not manufactured by the law. Therefore
be assured that I shall like to hear you say whatever you have
to say.

Cle. I can say the same, Stranger; and that you may speak
with the greater confidence, let me also remind you of a tie
which unites you to Crete. You must have heard the story of
the prophet Epimenides, who was of my family, and came to
Athens ten years before the Persian war, in accordance with
the response of the Oracle, and offered certain sacrifices
which the God commanded. The Athenians were at that time
in dread of the Persian invasion; and he said that for ten years
they would not come, and that when they came, they would go
away again without accomplishing any of their objects, and
would suffer more evil than they inflicted. At that time my
forefathers formed ties of hospitality with you; thus ancient is
the friendship which I and my parents have had for you.

Ath. You seem to be quite ready to listen; and I am also
ready to perform as much as I can of an almost impossible task,
which I will nevertheless attempt. At the outset of the dis-
cussion, let me define the nature and power of education ; for

this is the way by which our argument must travel onwards to
the God Dionysus.

Cle. Let us proceed, if you please.

ecaceeehaeenawereiieateaiaaial

BOOK I. 213

Ath, Well, then, if I tell you what are my notions of educa-
tion, will you tell me whether you agree with them?

Cle, Let us hear.

Ath, According to my view, he who would be good at any-
thing must practise that thing from his youth upwards, both in
sport and earnest, in the particular manner which the work
requires: for example, he who is to be a good builder, should
play at building children’s houses; and he who is to be a good
husbandman, at tilling the ground; those who have the care of
their education should provide them when young with mimic
tools. And they should learn beforehand the knowledge which
they will afterwards require for their art. For example, the
future carpenter should learn to measure or apply the line in
play ; and the future warrior should learn riding, or some other
exercise for amusement, and the teacher should endeavour to
direct the children’s inclinations and pleasures by the help of
amusements, to their final aim in life. The most important part
of education is right training in the nursery. The soul of the
child in his play should be trained to that sort of excellence in
which when he grows up to manhood he will have to be perfected.
Do you agree with me thus far ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Then let us not leave the meaning of education am-
biguous or ill-defined. At present, when we speak in terms of
praise or blame about the bringing-up of each person, we call
one man educated and another uneducated, although the un-
educated man may be sometimes very well educated for the
calling of a retail trader, or of a captain of a ship, and the like.
For we are not speaking of education in this narrower sense,
but of that other education in virtue from youth upwards, which
makes a man eagerly pursue the ideal perfection of citizenship,

44 and teaches him how rightly to rule and how to obey. ‘This is
the only education which, upon our view, deserves the name;
that other sort of training, which aims at the acquisition of
wealth or bodily strength, or mere cleverness apart from
intelligence and justice, is mean and illiberal, and is not worthy
to be called education at all. But let us not quarrel with one
another about a word, provided that the proposition which has
just been granted hold good: to wit, that those who are rightly

214 LAWS

educated generally become good men. Neither must we cast
a slight upon education, which is the first and fairest thing
that the best of men can ever have, and which, though liable
to take a wrong direction, is capable of reformation. And this
work of reformation is the great business of every man while
he lives.

Cle. Very true; and we quite agree with you.

Ath. And we agreed before that they are good men who are
able to rule themselves, and bad men who are not.

Cle. Most true.

Ath. Let me now proceed, if I can, to clear up the subject a
little further by an illustration which I will offer you.

Cle, Proceed.

Ath, Do we not consider each of ourselves as one?

Cle. True.

Ath, And each one of us has in his bosom two counsellors,
both foolish and also antagonistic; of which, the one we call
pleasure and the other pain.

Cle. True.

Ath, Also there are opinions about the future, which have the
general name of expectations; and the specific name of fear,
when the expectation is of pain ; and of hope, when of pleasure ;
and further, there is reflection about the good or evil of them,
and this, when embodied in a decree by the State, is called
Law.

Cle. I am hardly able to follow you; proceed, however, as
if I were.

Meg. I am in the like case.

Ath, Let us look at the matter in this way: May we not
regard every living being as a puppet of the Gods, either their
plaything only, or created with a purpose—which of the two we
cannot certainly know? But this we know, that these affections
in us are like cords and strings, which pull us different and
opposite ways, and to opposite actions; and herein lies the
difference between virtue and vice. According to the argument
there is one among these cords which every man ought to grasp
and never let go, but to pull with it against all the rest; and 4
this is the sacred and golden cord of reason, called by us the
common law of the State; there are others which are hard and

BOOK I. 215

of iron, but this is soft because golden; and there are several
other kinds. Now we ought always to co-operate with the lead
of the best, which is law. For inasmuch as reason is beautiful
and gentle, and not violent, her rule must needs have ministers
in order to help the golden principle in vanquishing the other
principles. And thus the moral of the tale about our being
puppets will not be lost, and the meaning of the expression
‘superior or inferior to a man’s self’ will become clearer; as also
that in this matter of puiling the strings of the puppet, cities as
well as individuals should live according to reason; which the
individual attains in himself, and the city receives from some
god or from the legislator, and makes it her law in her dealings
with herself and with other states. In this way virtue and vice
will be more clearly distinguished by us. And when they have
become clearer, education and other institutions will in like
manner become clearer; and in particular that question of
convivial entertainment, which may seem, perhaps, to have been
a very trifling matter, and to have taken a great many more
words than were necessary.

Cle. Perhaps, however, the theme may turn out not to be
unworthy of the length of discourse.

Ath, Very good; let us proceed with any enquiry which really
bears on our present object.

Cie-' toceed.

Ath, Suppose that we give this puppet of ours drink,—what
will be the effect on him?

Cle. With what view do you ask that question?

Ath. I will tell you bye and bye. When the puppet is
brought to the drink, what sort of result is likely to follow?
I will endeavour to explain my meaning more clearly: what
I am asking is this—Does the drinking of wine heighten and
increase pleasures and pains, and passions and loves?

Cle. Very greatly.

Ath. And are perception and memory, and opinion and
prudence, heightened and increased? Do not these qualities
entirely desert a man if he becomes saturated with drink?

Cle. Yes, they entirely desert him.

Ath. Does he not return to the state of the soul in which he
was when a young child?

216 LAWS.

Ci = To be sure:

Ath. Then at that time he will have the least control over
himself ?

Cle. The least.

Ath. And will he not be in a most wretched plight ?

Cle. Most wretched.

Ath. Then not only an old man but also a drunkard becomes
a second time a child?

Cle. Well said, Stranger.

Ath. Will any argument prove to us that we ought to
encourage the taste for drinking instead of doing all we can
to avoid it?

Cle. I suppose so; at any rate, you said just now that you
were ready to maintain such a doctrine.

Ath. True, I did; and I hold to my word, as you both
declared that you were ready to hear me.

Cle. To be sure we will hear you, if only for the strangeness
of the paradox, which asserts that a man ought of his own accord
to plunge into utter degradation.

Ath. Are you speaking of the soul?

Clases:

Ath. And what would you say about the body, my friend?
Are you not surprised at any one of his own accord bringing
upon himself deformity, leanness, ugliness, decrepitude ?

Cig Cenainy.

Ath. Yet when a man goes of his own accord to a doctor’s
shop, and takes medicine, is he not quite aware that soon, and
for many days afterwards, he will be in a state of body which
he would die rather than accept as the permanent condition
of his lifeP Are not those who train in gymnasia, at first
beginning reduced to a state of weakness?

Cle. Yes, all that is well known.

Ath. Also that they go of their own accord for the sake of
the subsequent benefit ?

Cle. Very good.

Ath. And we may conceive this to be true in the same way
of other practices?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And the same view may be taken of the pastime of

a ge © eee

BOOK Tf. 217

drinking wine, if we are right in supposing that the same effect
follows?

Cir to be sure,

Ath. If such convivialities should turn out to have any like
advantage equal in importance to the bodily one, they are in
their very nature to be preferred to mere bodily exercise,
inasmuch as they have no accompaniment of pain.

Ci true, “but I> hardly tink that we shall be able to
discover any such benefits to be derived from them.

Ath. That is just what I am about to show. And let me
ask you a question :—Do we not distinguish two kinds of fear,
which are very different?

Cle. What are they?

wii Piere-is the feat of expected evil,

Cle N es:

Ath. And there is the fear of an evil reputation ; we are afraid

47 of being thought evil, because we do or say some dishonourable
thing, which fear we and all men term shame.

Cie Ceitainiy,

Ath, These are the two fears, as I called them; one of which
is the opposite of pain and other fears, and the opposite also
of the greatest and most numerous sort of pleasures.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, And does not the legislator and every one who is good
for anything, hold this fear in the greatest honour? This is
what he terms reverence, and the confidence which is the re-
verse of this he terms insolence; and the latter he always deems
to be a very great evil both to individuals and to states.

Cie" ite.

Ath. Does not this sort of fear preserve us in many important
ways? What is there which so surely gives victory and safety
in war? For there are two things which give victory—confidence
before enemies, and fear of disgrace before friends.

Cle. True.

Ath, Then each of us should be fearless and also fearful ; and
what we fear or ought not to fear has been determined.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And when we want to make any one fearless, we and
the law bring him face to face with many fears.

218 LA SI.S.

Cle. Clearly.
Ath, And when we want to make him rightly fearful, must

we not bring him face to face with disgrace, and exercise him
in taking up arms against his own pleasures and overcoming
them? Or does this principle apply to courage only, and must
he who would be perfect in valour fight against and overcome
his own natural character,—since if he be unpractised and
inexperienced in such conflicts, he will not be half the man
which he might have been—but are we to suppose, that with
temperance it is otherwise, and that he who has never fought
with the shameless and unrighteous temptations of his pleasures
and lusts, and conquered them, in earnest and in play, and in
every sort of way, word, or work, will still be perfectly
temperate?

Cle. How unlikely !

Ath. Suppose that some God had given a fear potion to
men, and that the more a man drank of this the more he
regarded himself as a child of misfortune on every occasion
of drinking, and that he feared everything happening or to
happen to him; and that at last the most courageous of
men utterly lost his presence of mind for a time, and only
came to himself again when he had slept off the influence of 64!
the draught.

Cle. But do you know of any such draught, Stranger, which
is really to be found among men?

Ath, I do not; but, if there were, might not such a draught
have been of use to the legislator as a test of courage? Might
we not go and say to him, ‘O legislator, whether you are legis-
lating for the Cretans, or the Spartans, or any other, would you
not like to have a touchstone of the courage and cowardice of
your citizens’?

Cle. ‘T should,’ will be the answer of every one.

Ath. ‘And you would rather have a touchstone in which there
is no risk and no great danger than the reverse?’

Cle. From that proposition, again, no one will dissent.

Ath, ‘And, in order to make use of the draught, you would
lead them amid such imaginary terrors, and prove them, when
the affection of fear was working upon them, and compel them
to be fearless, exhorting and admonishing them, and also

s

BOOK 7. 219

honouring them, but dishonouring any one who will not be
persuaded by you to be in all respects such as you command
him; and if he underwent the trial well and manfully, you
would let him go unscathed; but if ill, you would inflict a
punishment upon him? Or would you abstain from using
the potion altogether, although you have no reason for ab-
staining ?’

Cle. He would be certain, Stranger, to use the potion.

Ath. This would be a mode of testing and training which
would be wonderfully easy in comparison with those now in use,
and might be applied to a single person, or to a few, or indeed
to any number; and he would do well who provided himself
with the potion, which alone is of more efficacy than ten thou-
sand other things, whether he preferred to be by himself in
the wilderness, and there contend with his fears, because he was
ashamed to be seen by the eye of man until he was perfect ;
or trusting to the force of his own nature and habits, and
believing that he had been already disciplined sufficiently, he
did not hesitate to train himself in company with any number
of others, and display his power in conquering the irresistible
influence of the draught—his virtue being such, that he never
in any instance fell into any great unseemliness, but was always
himself, and left off before he arrived at the last cup, fearing
that he, like all other men, might be overcome by the potion.

Cle. Yes, Stranger, in that last case, too, he might equally
show his self-control.

49 Ath, Let us return to the lawgiver, and say to him :—‘ Well,
lawgiver, there is certainly no such fear potion which man has
either received from the Gods or himself discovered ; for witch-
craft has no place at our board. But is there any potion which
might serve as a test of overboldness and excessive and in-
discreet boasting ?’

Cle. I suppose that he will say, Yes,——meaning that wine is
such a potion.

Ath. Is not the effect of this quite the opposite of the effect
of the other? When a man drinks wine he begins to be better
pleased with himself, and the more he drinks the more he is
filled full of brave hopes, and the opinion of his power, and at
last the string of his tongue is loosened, and fancying himself

220 LAWS.

wise, he is brimming over with lawlessness, and has no more fear
or respect, and is ready to do or say anything.

Cle. I think that every one will admit the truth of your
description.

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, Now, let us remember, as we were saying, that there are
two things which should be cultivated in the soul: first, the
sreatest courage; secondly, the greatest fear—

Cle. Which you described as parts of reverence, if I am not
mistaken.

Ath. Thank you for reminding me. But now, as the habit
of courage and fearlessness is to be trained amid fears, let us
consider whether the opposite quality is not also to be trained
among opposites.

Cle. I dare say.

Ath. There are times and seasons at which we are by nature
more than commonly valiant and bold; now we ought to train
ourselves on these occasions to be as free from impudence and
shamelessness as possible, and to be afraid to say or suffer or do
anything that is base.

Giz. A sue.

Ath, Are not the moments in which we are apt to be bold
and shameless such as these >—when we are under the influence
of anger, love, pride, ignorance, avarice, cowardice? or when
wealth, beauty, strength, and all the intoxicating workings of
pleasure madden us? What is better adapted than the festive
use of wine, in the first place to test, and in the second place to
train the character of a man, if care be taken in the use of it?
What is there cheaper, or more innocent? For do but consider
which is the greater risk:—Would you rather test a man of a
harsh and uncivil nature, which is the source of ten thousand
acts of injustice, by making bargains with him at a risk to
yourself, or by having him as a companion at the festival of
Dionysus? Or would you, if you wanted to apply a touch-
stone to a man who is prone to love, entrust your wife, or
your sons, or daughters to him, perilling your dearest interests
in order to have a view of the condition of his soul? I might
add numberless particulars, in which the advantage would
be manifest of getting to know a character in sport, and

65

BOOTS: 221

without paying dearly for experience. And I do not believe
that either a Cretan, or any other man, will doubt that such

a test is a fair test, and safer, cheaper, and speedier than any
other.

Cle. That is certainly true.
Ath, And this knowledge of the natures and habits of men’s
souls will be of the greatest use in that art which has the

management of them; and that art, if I am not mistaken, is
politics.

Cle. Certainly.

BOO:

Athenian Stranger. AND now we have to consider whether 65:
the insight into human nature is the only advantage derived
from well-ordered potations, or whether there are not other
advantages greater and more to be desired still. The argument
seems to imply that there are. But how and in what way
these are to be attained, will have to be considered attentively,
or we may be entangled in an error.

Cleenzas. Proceed.

Ath, Let me once more recall our doctrine of right education ;
which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regulation of 65
convivial intercourse.

Cfe. You talk rather grandly.

Ath, Pleasure and pain I maintain to be the first perceptions of
children, and I say that they are the forms under which virtue and
vice are originally present to them. As to wisdom and true
and fixed opinions, happy is the man who acquires them, even
when declining in years; and he who possesses them, and the
blessings which are contained in them, is a perfect man. Now,
I mean by education that training which is given by suitable
habits to the first instincts of virtue in children ;—when pleasure,
and friendship, and pain, and hatred, are rightly implanted in
souls not yet capable of understanding the nature of them,
and who find them, after they have attained reason, to be in
harmony with her. This harmony of the soul, when perfected,
is virtue; but the particular training in respect of pleasure and
pain, which leads you always to hate what you ought to hate,
and love what you ought to love, from the beginning to the
end, may be separated off; and, in my view, will be rightly
called education.

Cle. I think, Stranger, that you are quite right in all that you
have said and are saying about education.

BOOK fT. 223

Ath. I am glad to hear that you agree with me; for, indeed,
the true discipline of pleasure and pain which, when rightly
ordered, is a principle of education, has been often relaxed and
corrupted in human life. And the Gods, pitying the toils which
our race is born to undergo, have appointed holy festivals, in
which men alternate rest with labour; and have given them the
Muses and Apollo the leader of the Muses, and Dionysus, to be
partners in their revels, that they may improve what education
they have, at the festivals of the gods and by their aid. I
should like to know whether a common saying is true to nature
or not. For what men say is that the young of all creatures
cannot be quiet in their bodies or in their voices; they are
always wanting to move, and cry out; at one time leaping and
skipping, and overflowing with sportiveness and delight at
something, and then again uttering all sorts of cries. But,
whereas other animals have no perception of order or disorder
in their movements, that is, of rhythm or harmony, as they are
called, to us, the Gods, who, as we say, have been appointed to

654 be our partners in the dance, have given the pleasurable sense
of harmony and rhythm; and so they stir us into life, and we
follow them and join hands with one another in dances and
songs; and these they call choruses, which is a term naturally
expressive of cheerfulness’. Shall we begin, then, with the
acknowledgment that education is first given through Apollo
and the Muses? What do you say?

Cle. I assent.

Ath, And the uneducated is he who has not been trained
in the chorus, and the educated is he who has been well
trained ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And the chorus is made up of two parts, dance and
song?

Cie) al rte:

Ath. Then he who is well educated will be able to sing and
dance well?

Cle. I suppose that he will.

Ath. Let us see; what are we saying?

Cle. What?

* xopds, erroneously connected with yaipeu.

224 LAWS.

Ath. He sings well and dances well; now must we add that
he sings what is good and dances what is good?

Cle. Let us make the addition.

Ath, We will suppose that he knows the good to be good,
and the bad to be bad, and makes use of them accordingly :
which now is the better trained in dancing and music ;—he
who is able to move his body and to use his voice in what is
understood to be the right manner, but has no delight in good
or hatred of evil; or he who is incorrect in gesture and voice,
but is right in his sense of pleasure and pain, and welcomes what
is good, and is offended at what is evil?

Cle. There is a great difference, Stranger, in the two kinds
of education.

Ath, If we know what is good in song and dance, then we
know also who is rightly educated and who is uneducated ;
but if not, then we certainly shall not know wherein lies the
safeguard of education, and whether there is any or not.

Cie. True:

Ath, Let us follow the scent like hounds, and go in pursuit
of beauty of figure, and melody, and song, and dance; if these
escape us, there will be no use in talking about true education,
whether Hellenic or barbarian.

Cla Vest

Ath, And what is beauty of figure, or beautiful melody?
When a manly soul is in trouble, and when a cowardly soul 5:
is in similar case, are they likely to use the same figures and
gestures, or to give utterance to the same sounds?

Cle. How can they, when the very colours of their faces
differ ?

Ath, Good, my friend; I may observe, however, in passing,
that in music there certainly are figures and there are melodies :
and music is concerned with harmony and rhythm, so that you
may speak of a melody or figure having rhythm or harmony ;
the term is correct enough, but you cannot speak correctly, as
the masters of choruses have a way of talking metaphorically
of the ‘colour’ of a melody or figure, although you can speak
of the melodies or figures of the brave and the coward, praising
the one and censuring the other. And not to be tedious, the
figures and melodies which are expressive of virtue of soul or

BOOK 1, 225

body, or of images of virtue, are without exception good, and
those which are expressive of vice are the reverse of good.

Cte. You are right in calling upon us to make that division.

Ath, But are all of us equally delighted with every sort of
dance?

Cle. Far otherwise.

Ath, And what, then, is the cause of error or division among
us? Are beautiful things not the same to us all, or are they
the same in themselves, but not in our opinion of them? For
no one will admit that forms of vice in the dance are more
beautiful than forms of virtue, or that he himself delights in the
forms of vice, and others in a muse of another character. And
yet most persons say, that the excellence of music is to give
pleasure to our souls. But this is intolerable and blasphemous ;
there is, however, a more plausible account of the delusion.

Cle. What is that?

Ath, There is a way of making our likes and dislikes the
criterion of excellence. Choric movements are imitations of
manners occurring in various actions, chances, characters,—each
particular is imitated, and those to whom the words, or songs,
or dances are suited, either by nature or habit or both, cannot
help feeling pleasure in them and applauding them, and calling
them beautiful. But those whose natures, or ways, or habits are
unsuited to them, cannot delight in them or applaud them, and
they call them base. There are others, again, whose natures are
right and their habits wrong, or whose habits are right and their
natures wrong, and they praise one thing, but are pleased at
another. For they say that certain things are pleasant, but not

56 good. And in the presence of those whom they think wise,
they are ashamed of dancing and singing in the baser manner,
or of deliberately lending their countenance to such proceed-
ings; and yet, they have a secret pleasure in them.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, And is any harm done to the lover of vicious dances or
songs, or any good done to the approver of the opposite sort of
pleasure?

Cle, I think that there is.

Ath, ‘1 think’ is not the word, but I would say, rather, ‘I am
certain. For must they not have the same effect as when a

VOL. V. Q

226 T2ALAS:

man is in evil company, whom he likes and approves rather
than dislikes, and only censures them playfully as if he had a
suspicion of his own badness? In that case, he who takes
pleasure in them will surely become like those in whom he takes
pleasure, even though he be ashamed to praise them. And
what greater good or evil can any destiny ever make us
undergo ?

Cle. I know of none.

Ath, Then in a city which has or in future ages is to have
good laws, and where there is a due regard to the instruction
and amusement which the Muses give, can we suppose that the
poets are to be allowed to teach in the dance anything which
the poet himself likes, in the way of rhythm, or melody, or
words, to the children and youth of well-conditioned parents?
Is he to train his choruses as he pleases, without reference to
virtue or vice?

Cle. That is surely quite unreasonable, and is not to be
thought of.

Ath. And yet he may do this in almost any state with the
exception of Egypt.

Cle. And what are the laws about music and dancing in
Egypt?

Ath. You will wonder when I tell you: Long ago they
appear to have recognised the very principle of which we are
now speaking—that their young citizens must be habituated to
forms and strains of virtue. These they fixed, and exhibited the
patterns of them in their temples; and no painter or artist is
allowed to innovate upon them, or to leave the traditional forms
and invent new ones. To this day, no alteration is allowed
either in these arts, or in music at all. And you will find that
their works of art are painted or moulded in the same forms
which they had ten thousand years ago ;—this is literally true
and no exaggeration,—their ancient paintings and sculptures are 6g
not a whit better or worse than the work of to-day, but are made
with just the same skill.

Cle. How extraordinary!

Ath. 1 should rather say, how wise and worthy of a great
legislator! I know that other things in Egypt are not so good.
But what I am telling you about music is true and deserving

BOOK £1. 27

of consideration, because showing that a lawgiver may institute
melodies which have a natural truth and correctness without any
fear of failure. To do this, however, must be the work of God,
or of a divine person; in Egypt they have a tradition that their
ancient chants are the composition of the Goddess Isis. And
therefore, as I was saying, if a person can only find in any way
the natural melodies, he may confidently embody them in a
fixed and legal form. For the love of novelty which arises out
of pleasure in the new and weariness of the old, has not strength
enough to vitiate the consecrated song and dance, under the
plea that they have become antiquated. At any rate, they are
far from being antiquated in Egypt.

Cle. Your arguments seem to prove your point.

Ath, May not the true use of music and choral festivities be
described as follows: we rejoice when we think that we prosper,
and again we think that we prosper when we rejoice?

Cle. Exactly.

Ath, And when rejoicing is our good fortune, we are unable to
be still?

Cle. True.

Ath, Our young men break forth into dancing and singing,
and we who are their elders deem that we are fulfilling our part
in life when we look on at them. Having lost the agility of
youth, we delight in their sports and merry-making ; because we

~ love to think of our former selves, and gladly institute contests
for those who are able to awaken in us the memory of what we
once were.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. People say that we ought to regard him as the wisest of
men, and the winner of the palm, who gives us the greatest
amount of pleasure and mirth. For when mirth is to be the
order of the day, he ought to be honoured most, and, as I was
saying, bear the palm, who gives most mirth to the greatest

58 number. Now I want to know whether this is a true way of
speaking or of acting?

Cle. Possibly.

Ath, But, my dear friend, let us distinguish between different
cases, and not be hasty in forming a judgment: One way of
considering the question will be to imagine a festival at which

Q 2

228 LAWS.

there are entertainments of all sorts, including gymnastic,
musical, or equestrian contests: the citizens are assembled,
and proclamation is made that any one who likes may enter
the lists, and that he is to bear the palm who gives the most
pleasure to the spectators—there is to be no regulation about
the manner how; but he who is most successful in giving
pleasure is to be crowned victor, and is deemed to be the
pleasantest of the candidates: What is likely to be the result
of such a proclamation?

Cle. In what respect ?

Ath, There would be various exhibitions: the Homeric bard
would exhibit a rhapsody, another a performance on the lute;
one would have a tragedy, and another a comedy. Nor would
there be anything astonishing in some one imagining that he
could gain the prize by exhibiting a puppet-show. Suppose
these competitors to meet, and not these only, but innumerable
others as well, can you tell me who ought to be the victor?

Cle. I do not see how I can answer you, unless I myself hear
the several competitors; the question is absurd.

Ath. Well, then, if neither of you can answer, shall I answer
this question which you deem absurd ?

Cle. By all means.

Ath, If very small children are to determine the question,
they will decide for the puppet-show?

Cle. Of course:

Ath, The older children will be advocates of comedy;
educated women, and young men, and people in general, will
favour tragedy.

Cz. Very likely.

Ath, And I believe that we old men would have the greatest
pleasure in hearing a rhapsodist recite well the Iliad and
Odyssey, or one of the Hesiodic poems, and would award the
victory to him? But, who would really be the victor? that is
the question. |

Clee Nes:

Ath, Clearly you and I will be compelled to reply that the
old men are right ; their way of thinking is far better than any
other which now prevails in the world.

Cle. Certainly.

BOOK 17. 229

Ath, Thus far I too should agree with the many, that the
excellence of music is to be measured by pleasure. But the
pleasure must not be that of chance persons; the fairest music
is that which delights the best and best educated, and especially

59 that which delights the one man who is pre-eminent in virtue
and education. And therefore the judges will require virtue—
they must possess wisdom.and also courage; for the true judge
ought not to learn from the theatre, nor ought he to be panic-
stricken at the clamour of the many and his own incapacity ;
nor again, knowing the truth, ought he through cowardice and
unmanliness carelessly to deliver a lying judgment, out of the
very same lips which have just appealed to the Gods before he
judged. He is sitting not as the disciple of the theatre, but, in
his proper place, as their instructor, and he ought to be the
enemy of all pandering to the pleasure of the spectators. The
ancient and common custom of Hellas, which still prevails in
Italy and Sicily, did certainly leave the judgment to the body
of spectators, who determined the victor by the show of hands ;
yet this custom has been the destruction of the poets ;—for they
are now in the habit of composing with a view to please the bad
taste of their judges, and the result is that the spectators instruct
themselves, which has been the ruin of the theatre ;— when they
ought to be having characters put before them better than
their own, and so receiving a higher pleasure, they themselves
make them inferior. Now what is the inference to be deduced
from all this? Shall I tell you?

Cle. What?

Ath. The inference at which we arrive for the third or fourth
time is, that education is the constraining and directing of youth
towards that right reason, which the law affirms, and which the
experience of the best of our elders has agreed to be truly right.
In order, then, that the soul of the child may not be habituated
to feel joy and sorrow in a manner at variance with the law, and
those who obey the law, but may rather follow the law and
rejoice and sorrow at the same things as the aged—in order, I
say, to produce this effect, songs appear to have been invented,
which are really charms, and are designed to implant that
harmony of which we speak. And, because the mind of the
child is incapable of enduring serious training, they are called

Pei AR ede a

ne LAWS.

plays or songs, and are performed in play; just as when men
are sick and ailing in their bodies, their attendants give them
wholesome diet in pleasant meats and drinks, but unwholesome 66¢
diet in disagreeable things, in order that they may learn, as they
ought, to like the one, and to dislike the other. And similarly
the true legislator will persuade, and, if he cannot persuade, will
compel the poet to express, as he ought, by fair and noble words,

in his rhythms, the figures, and in his melodies, the music of
temperate and brave and in every way good men.

Cle. But do you really imagine, Stranger, that this is the way
in which poets generally compose in States at the present day?
As far as I can observe there is nothing of the sort, except
among us and among the Lacedaemonians, as you now tell
me; in other places novelties are always being introduced in
dancing and in music, generally not under the authority of any
law, but at the instigation of lawless pleasures; and these
pleasures are so far from being the same, as you describe the
Egyptian to be, or having the same principles, that they are
never the same.

Ai: Wiost tue, Cleinias;.and 2 daresay thar, lo may have
expressed myself obscurely, and so led you to imagine that
I was speaking of some really existing state of things; whereas
I was only saying what regulations I would like to have about
music, and hence there occurred a misapprehension on your
part. For when evils are far gone and irremediable, the task of
censuring thém is never pleasant, although at times necessary.
But as we do not really differ, will you let me ask you whether
you maintain that such institutions are more prevalent among the
Cretans and Lacedemonians than among the other Hellenes?

Cle. Certainly they are.

Ath, And if they were extended to the other Hellenes, would
that be an improvement?

Cle, There would be a very great improvement, if the customs
which prevailed among them were such as prevail among us and
the Lacedaemonians, and such as you were just now saying
ought to prevail.

Ath, Let us see whether we understand one another :—Are
not the principles of education and music which prevail among
you as follows: you compel your poets to say that the good

=

BOI 2 Te: 231

man, if he be temperate and just, is fortunate and happy; and
this whether he be great and strong, or small and weak, and
whether he be rich or poor; and, on the other hand, if he have
a wealth passing that of Cinyras or Midas, and be unjust, he is
miserable and lives in pain. As the poet says, and with truth:
I sing not, I care not about him who accomplishes all noble
things, not having justice; let him who ‘draws near and smites
his enemies be a just man. But if he be unjust, I would not
have him ‘look calmly upon bloody death, nor ‘surpass in
swiftness the Thracian Boreas ;’ and let no other thing that is
called good ever be his. For the goods of which the many speak
are not really good: first in the catalogue is placed health,
beauty next, wealth third; and then innumerable others, as for
example to have a keen eye or a quick ear, and in general to
have all the senses perfect; or, again, to be a tyrant and do as
you like; and the final consummation of happiness is to have
acquired all these things, and as soon as you are possessed of
them to be immortal. But you and I say, that while to the
just and holy all these things are the best of possessions, to the
unjust they are all, including even health, the greatest of evils.
For in truth, to have sight, and hearing, and the use of the
senses, or to live at all without justice and virtue, even though a
man be rich in all the so-called goods of fortune, is the greatest
of evils, if life be immortal; but not so great, if the bad man
lives a very short time. These are the truths of which you must
persuade, or if they will not be persuaded, must compel your
poets to sing with suitable accompaniments of harmony and
rhythm, and in these they must train up your youth. Am I
not right? For I plainly declare that evils as they are termed
are goods to the unjust, and only evils to the just, and that
goods are truly good to the good, but evil to the evil. Let me
ask again, Are you and I agreed about this?

Cle. I think that in some things we agree, in others not.

Ath, When a man has health and wealth and a tyranny which
lasts, and is pre-eminent in strength and courage, and has the
eift of immortality, and none of the so-called evils which
counter-balance these goods, but only the injustice and insolence
of his own nature—of such an one you are, I suspect, unwilling
to believe that he is miserable rather than happy.

232 PAIS:

Cle. There is my difficulty.
Ath. Once more: Suppose that he be valiant and strong, and
handsome and rich, and does throughout his whole life whatever

aa

he likes, still, if he be injurious and insolent, would you not 66;

both agree that he will live basely? You will surely grant so
much?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And an evil life too?

Cle. Iam not equally disposed to grant that.

Ath. Will he not live painfully and to his own disadvantage ?

Cle. How can I possibly say so?

Ath. How? Then may Heaven make us to be of one mind,
for now we are of two. To me, dear Cleinias, the truth of what
I am saying is plainer than the fact that Crete is an island.
And, if I were a lawgiver, I would try to make the poets and
all the citizens speak in this strain; and I would inflict the
heaviest penalties on any one in all the land who should dare
to say that there are bad men who lead pleasant lives, or that the
profitable and gainful is one thing, and the just another; and
there are many other matters about which I should make
my citizens speak in another strain from the Cretans and
Lacedaemonians of this age, and I may say, indeed, from the
world in general. Why, my good friends, if I were to ask Zeus
and Apollo, the Gods who were your legislators,—Is not the
most just life also the pleasantest? or are there two lives, one
of which is the juster and the other the pleasanter?—and they
were to reply that there are two; and thereupon I proceeded to
ask (that would be the right way of pursuing the enquiry)
Which are the happier—those who lead the justest, or those who
lead the pleasantest life? and they replied, Those who lead the
pleasantest—that would be a very strange answer, which I
should not like to put into the mouth of God. The words will
come with more propriety from the lips of fathers and legislators,
and therefore I will repeat my former questions to one of them,
and suppose him to say again that he who leads the pleasantest
life is the happiest. And to that I rejoin:—O my father, did
you not wish me to live as happily as possible? And yet you
also never ceased telling me that I should live as justly as
possible. Now, here the giver of the rule, whether he be

BOOK LT. 233

legislator or father will be in a dilemma, and will in vain
endeavour to be consistent with himself. But if he were to
declare that the justest life is also the happiest, every one
hearing him would enquire, if I am not mistaken, what is that

63 good and noble principle in life which the law approves, and
which is superior to pleasure and pain? For what good can the
just man have which is separated from pleasure? Shall we say
that glory and fame, coming from Gods and men, though good
and noble, are nevertheless unpleasant, and infamy pleasant?
Certainly not, sweet legislator. Or shall we say that the not-
doing of wrong and there being no wrong done is good and
honourable, although there is no pleasure in it, and that the
doing wrong is pleasant, but evil and base?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath. The view which identifies the pleasant and the just and
the good and the noble has an excellent moral and religious
tendency. And the opposite view is most at variance with the
designs of the legislator, and, in his opinion, infamous; for no
one, if he can help, will be persuaded to do that which gives
him more pain than pleasure. But as distant prospects are apt
to be dimly seen, especially in childhood, the legislator will try
to purge away the darkness and exhibit the truth; he will
persuade the citizens, in some way or other, by customs and
praises and words, that just and unjust are opposed to one an-
other as shadow and light, and that, seen from the point of view
of a man’s own evil and injustice, the unjust appears pleasant
and the just unpleasant ; but that, seen from the just man’s point
of view, the very opposite is the appearance which they wear.

Cree Vinie:

Ath, And which may be supposed to be the truer judgment—
that of the inferior or of the better soul?

Cle. Surely, that of the better soul.

Ath. Then the unjust life must not only be more base and
depraved, but also more unpleasant than the just and holy life?

Cle. That seems to be implied in the present argument.

Ath, And even supposing this were otherwise, and not as the
argument has proven, still the lawgiver, who is worth anything,
if he ever ventures to tell a lie to the young for their good, could
not invent a more useful lie than this, or one which will have a

234 LAWS.

)

better effect in making them do what is right, not on compulsion
but voluntarily.

Cle. Truth, Stranger, is a noble thing and a peas bites
thing of which men are hard to be persuaded.

Ath, And yet the story of the Sidonian Cadmus, which is so
improbable, has been readily believed, and also innumerable
other tales.

Cle. What is that story?

Ath, The story of armed men springing up after the sowing
of teeth, which the legislator may take as a proof that he can 66.
persuade the minds of the young of anything; so that he has
only to reflect and find out what belief will be of the greatest
public advantage, and then use all his efforts to make the whole
community utter one and the same word in their songs and tales
and discourses all their life long. But if you do not agree with
me, there is no reason why you should not argue on the other
side.

Cle. I do not see that any argument can fairly be raised by
either of us against what you are now saying.

Ath, The next suggestion which I have to offer is, that all
our three choruses shall sing to the young and tender souls of
children, reciting in their strains all the noble thoughts of which
we have already spoken, or are about to speak; and the sum
of them shall be, that the life which is by the Gods deemed to
be the happiest is the holiest ;—we shall affirm this to be a most
certain truth; and the minds of our young disciples will be more
likely to receive these words of ours than any others which we
might address to them.

Cle. I assent to what you say.

Ath, First will enter in their natural order the sacred choir
composed of children, which is to sing lustily the heaven-taught
lay to the whole city. Next will follow the choir of young men
under the age of thirty, who will call upon the God Paean to
testify to the truth of their words, and will pray him to be
gracious to the youth and to turn their hearts. Thirdly, the
choir of elder men, who are from thirty to sixty years of age,
will also sing. There remain those who are too old to sing, and
they will tell stories, illustrating the same virtues, as with the
voice of an oracle.

BOOK Lf. 235

Cle. Who are those who compose the third choir, Stranger ;
for I do not clearly understand whom you mean?

Ath. And yet almost all that I have been saying has been
said with a view to them. .

Cle. Will you try to be a little plainer?

Ath. I was speaking at the commencement of our discourse,
as you will remember, of the fiery nature of young creatures:
L said that they were. unable to keep, quietcither. in limb or
voice, and that they called out and jumped about in a disorderly
manner; and that no other animal attained to any perception

65 of order, but man only. Now the order of motion is called
rhythm, and the order of the voice, in which high and low are
duly mingled, is called harmony ; and both together are termed
choric song. And I said that the Gods had pity on us, and
gave us Apollo and the Muses to be our playfellows and leaders
in the dance; and Dionysus, as I daresay that you will
remember, was the third.

Cle. I quite remember.

Ath, Thus far I have spoken of the chorus of Apollo and the
Muses, and I have still to speak of the remaining chorus, which
is that of Dionysus.

Cle. How is that arranged? There is something strange, at
any rate on first hearing, in a Dionysiac chorus of old men, if
you really mean that those who are above thirty, and may be
fifty, or from fifty to sixty years of age, are to form a dance in
his honour. |

Ath, Very true; and I think with you that some reason
should be given for the proposal.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. Are we agreed thus far?

Cle. About what?

Ath, That every man and boy, slave and free, both sexes,
and the whole city, should never cease charming themselves
with the strains of which we have spoken; and that there should
be every sort of change and variation of them in order to take
away the effect of sameness, so that the singers may always
receive pleasure from their hymns, and may never weary of
them.

Cle. Every one will agree.

236 foA 1s.

Ath. Where, then, will that best part of our city which, by
reason of age and intelligence, has the greatest influence, sing
these fairest of strains, which are to do so much good? Shall
we be so foolish as to let them off who would give us the most
beautiful and also the most useful of songs?

Cle. But we cannot let them off; that is already implied.

Ath. Then how can we accomplish our purpose? Let us see.

Cle. How are we to see?

Ath. When a man is advancing in years, he no longer likes
to sing;—he has no pleasure in his own performances; and if
compulsion is used, he will be more and more ashamed, the older
and more discreet he grows ;—What do you say?

Cle. Certainly he will.

Ath. Well, and will he not be yet more ashamed if he has to
stand up and sing in the theatre to a mixed audience ?—and if
when he is required to do so, like the other choirs who contend
for prizes, and have been trained under a singing master, he
is pinched and hungry, he will certainly have a feeling of
shame and discomfort which will make him very unwilling to
exhibit.

Cle. No doubt.

Ath. How, then, shall we reassure him, and get him to sing?
Shall we begin by enacting that boys shall not taste wine at all
until they are eighteen years of age; we will tell them that fire
must not be poured upon fire, whether in the body or in the
soul, until they begin to go to labour (this is a precaution against
the excitableness of youth); afterwards they may taste wine in
moderation up to the age of thirty, but while a man is young he
should abstain altogether from intoxication and excess of wine ;
when, at length, he has reached forty years, and is feasted at
public banquets, he may invite not only the other Gods, but
Dionysus above all, to the mystery and festivity of the elder
men, making use of the wine which he has given them to be the
cure of the sourness of old age; that in age we may renew our
youth, and forget our sorrows; and also in order that the nature
of the soul, like iron melted in the fire, may become softer and
more impressible. In the first place, will not any one whose
heart is warm within him, be more ready and less ashamed
to sing,—I do not say before a large audience, but before a

BOOK II. 237

moderate number; nor yet among strangers, but among his fami-
liars, and, as we have often said, to chant, and to enchant.

Cle. He will be far more ready.

Ath. There will be no impropriety in using such a method of
persuading them to join in song.

Cle. None at all.

Ath, And what strain will they sing, and what muse will they
hymn? The strain should clearly be one suitable to them.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And what strain is suitable for heroes? Shall they sing
a choric strain ?

Cle. Truly, Stranger, we of Crete and Lacedaemon know no
strain other than that which we have learnt and been accustomed
to sing in our chorus.

Ath, I dare say; for you have never acquired the knowledge
of the most beautiful kind of song in your military way of life,
which is modelled after the camp, and is not like that of dwellers
in cities; and you have your young men herding and feeding
together like young colts. No one takes his own individual colt
and drags him away from his fellows against his will, raging
and foaming, and gives him a groom for him alone, and trains
and rubs him down privately, and gives him the qualities in
education which will make him not only a good soldier, but also
a governor of a state and of cities. Such an one, as we were
saying at first, would be a greater warrior than him of whom

67 Tyrtaeus sings; and he would honour courage everywhere, but
always as the fourth, and not as the first part of virtue, either in
individuals or states.

Cle. Once more, Stranger, I must complain that you depre-
ciate our lawgivers.

Ath. Not intentionally, if at all, my good friend; but whither
the argument leads, thither let us follow; for if there be indeed
some strain of song more beautiful than that of the choruses or
the public theatres, I should like to impart it to those who, as
we say, are ashamed of the ordinary strains, and want to have
the best.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. When things have an accompanying charm, either the
best thing in them is this very charm, or there is some right or

238 LAWS.

utility possessed by them ;—for example, I should say that
eating and drinking, and the use of food in general, have an
accompanying charm which we call pleasure; but that their —
rectitude is that which we term the rightness and utility of the
things served up to us, or more precisely their healthful quality.

Cize Very truce:

Ath. Thus, too, I should say that learning has a certain
accompanying charm which is the pleasure; and that the right
and the profitable, the good and the noble, are qualities given
to it by the truth.

Cle. Exactly.

Ath, And so in the imitative arts,—if they succeed in making
likenesses, and are accompanied by pleasure, may not their
works be said to have a charm?

Cilla ¥ es:

Ath, But equal proportions, whether of quality or quantity,
and not pleasure, speaking generally, would give them truth
or rightness.

Cle. Yes.

Ath, Then that only can be rightly judged by the standard of
pleasure, which makes or furnishes no utility or truth or likeness,
nor on the other hand is productive of any hurtful quality, but
exists solely for the sake of the accompanying charm; and the
term ‘pleasure’ is most appropriately used when these other
qualities are absent.

C/e. You are speaking of harmless pleasure, are you not?

Ath, Yes; and this I term amusement, when doing neither
harm nor good in any degree worth speaking of.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, Then, if such be our principles, we must assert that
imitation is not to be judged of by pleasure and false opinion ;
and this is true also of equality, for the equal is not equal or
the symmetrical symmetrical, because somebody thinks or likes
something, but they are to be judged of by the standard of
truth, and by no other whatever.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, Do we not regard all music as representative and
imitative ? 668
Cle. Certainly.

BOOK [f1. 239

Ath. Then, when any one says that music is to be judged of
by pleasure, his doctrine cannot be admitted; and if there be
any music of which pleasure is the criterion, such music is not
to be sought out or deemed to have any real excellence, but only
that other kind of music which is an imitation of the good.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And those, who seek for the best kind of song and music
ought not to seek for that which is pleasant, but for that which
is true; and the truth of imitation consists, as we were saying, in
rendering the thing imitated according to quantity and quality.

Cle, Certainly.

Ath, And every one will admit that musical compositions are
all imitative and representative. Will not poets and spectators
and actors all agree in this?

Cle. They will.

Ath, Surely then he who would judge correctly must know
what each composition is; for if he does not know what is the
character and meaning of the piece, and what it represents, he
will never discern whether the intention is true or false.

Cle. Certainly not. 7

Ath. And will he who does not know what is true be able to
distinguish what is good and bad? My statement is not very
clear; but perhaps you will understand me better if I put the
matter in another way.

Cle, How is that ?

Ath, ‘There are ten thousand likenesses of objects of sight ?

Cle Ves.

Ath. And can he who does not know what the exact object is
which is imitated, ever know whether the resemblance is truth-
fully executed? I mean, for example, whether a statue has the
proportions of a body, and the true situation of the parts, what
those proportions are, and how the parts fit into one another in
due order; also their colours and conformations, or whether this
is all confused in the execution: do you think that any one can
know about this, who does not know what the animal is which
has been imitated ?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, But even if we know that the thing pictured or sculp-
tured is a man, who has received at the hand of the artist all

240 LAWS.

his proper parts and forms and colours, must we not also know 669
whether the work is beautiful or in any respect deficient in
beauty ?

Cle. If this were not required, Stranger, we should all of us
be judges of beauty.

Ath. Very true; and may we not say that in everything
imitated, whether in drawing, music, or any other art, he who
is to be a competent judge must possess three things ;—he must
know, in the first place, of what the imitation is; secondly, he
must know that it is true; and thirdly, that it has been well
executed in words and melodies and rhythms?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. Then let us not faint in discussing the peculiar difficulty
of music. Music is more celebrated than any other kind of
imitation, and therefore requires the greatest care of them all.
For if a man makes a mistake here, he may do himself the
greatest injury by welcoming evil dispositions, and the mistake
may be very difficult to discern, because the poets are artists
very inferior in character to the Muses themselves, who would
never fall into the monstrous error of assigning to the words
of men the gestures and songs of women; nor combine the
melodies and gestures of freemen with the rhythms of slaves
and men of the baser sort; or, beginning with the rhythms and
gestures of freemen, assign to them a melody or words which
are of an opposite character; nor would they mix up the voices
and sounds of animals and of men and instruments, and every
other sort of noise, as if they were all one. But human poets
are fond of introducing this sort of inconsistent mixture, and
thus make themselves ridiculous in the eyes of those who, as
Orpheus says, ‘are ripe for pleasure.’ The experienced see all
this confusion, and yet the poets go on and make still further
havoc by separating the rhythm and the figure of the dance
from the melody, setting words to metre without music, and
also separating the melody and rhythm from the words, using
the lyre or the flute alone. For when there are no words, it
is very difficult to recognise the meaning of the harmony and
rhythm, or to see that any worthy object is imitated by them.
And we must acknowledge that all this sort of thing, which aims
only at swiftness and smoothness and a brutish noise, and uses

BOOK “17. 241

the flute and the lyre not as the mere accompaniments of the

o dance and song, is exceedingly rude and coarse. The use of
either, when unaccompanied by the others, leads to every sort of
irregularity and trickery. This is all true enough. But we are
considering not how our choristers, who are from thirty to fifty
years of age, and may be over fifty, are not to use the Muses,
but how they are to use them. And the considerations which
we have urged seem to show in what way these fifty years’ old
choristers who are to sing, may be expected to be better trained.
For they need to have a quick perception and knowledge of
harmonies and rhythms; otherwise, how will they ever know
which melodies would be rightly sung to the Dorian mode, or
to the rhythm which the poet has assigned to them?

Cie. Clearh- they cannot:

Ath, The common people are ridiculous in imagining that
they know what is in proper harmony and rhythm, and what is
not, when they can only be made to sing and step in rhythm
by sheer force ; they never consider that they do not know what
they are about. Now every melody is right when suitably
accompanied, and wrong when unsuitably.

Cle. That is most certain.

Ath. But can a man who does not know a thing, as we were
saying, know that the thing is right ? .

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, Then now, as would appear, we are making the discovery
that our newly-appointed choristers, whom we hereby invite and
in a manner compel to sing, but of their own free will, must be
educated to such an extent as to be able to follow the steps of
the rhythm and the notes of the song, that they may know the
harmonies and rhythms, and be able to select what are suitable
for men of their age and character to sing; and may sing them,
and have innocent pleasure from their own performance, and also
lead younger men to receive with dutiful delight good dispo-
sitions. Having such training, they will attain a more accurate
knowledge than falls to the lot of the common people, or even
of the poets themselves. For the poet need not know the third
point, viz. whether the imitation is good or not, though he can

t hardly help knowing the laws of melody and rhythm. But the
aged chorus must know all the three, that they may choose the

VOL. VG R

242 LAWS.

best, and that which is nearest to the best; for otherwise they
will never be able to charm the souls of young men in the way
of virtue. And now the original design of the argument which
was intended to bring eloquent aid to the Chorus of Dionysus,
has been accomplished to the best of our ability, and let us see
whether we were right:—I should imagine that a drinking
assembly is likely to become more and more tumultuous as the
drinking goes on: this, as we were saying at first, will certainly
be the case.

Cle, Certainly.

Ath. Every man has a more than natural elevation; his heart
is glad within him, and he will say anything and will be re-
strained by nobody at such a time; he fancies that he is able to
rule over himself and all mankind.

Cz. Quite true.

Ath, Were we not saying that on such occasions the souls of
the drinkers become like iron heated in the fire, and grow softer
and younger, and are easily fashioned by him who knows how
to educate and fashion them, just as when they were young, and
that this fashioner of them is the same who prescribed for them
in the days of their youth, viz. the good legislator; and that he
ought to enact laws of the banquet, which, when a man is con-
fident, bold, and impudent, and unwilling to wait his turn of
silence and speech, and drinking and music, will change his
character into the opposite—such laws as will infuse into him a
just and noble fear, which will take up arms at the approach of
insolence, being that divine fear which we have called reverence
and shame ?

Cie. ie.

Ath, And the calm and sober generals of others who are not
sober, are the guardians of these laws and fellow-workers with
them ; and without their help there is greater difficulty in fight+
ing against drink than in fighting against enemies, when the
commander of an army is not himself calm; and he who is
unwilling to obey them and the commanders of Dionysiac feasts
who are more than sixty years of age, shall suffer a disgrace as
great as he who disobeys military leaders, or even greater.

Cle. Right.

Ath. lf, then, drinking and amusement were regulated in

BOOK: 243

this way, would not the companions of our revels be improved ?
2 they would part better friends than they were, and not as now,

enemies. Their whole intercourse would be regulated by law,

and the sober would be the leaders of those who are not sober.

Cle. I think so too, if drinking were regulated as you propose.

Ath. Let us not then simply censure the gift of Dionysus as
bad and unfit to be received into the State. For wine has many
excellences, and one pre-eminent one, about which there is a
difficulty in speaking to the many, from a fear of their miscon-
ceiving and misunderstanding what is said.

Cle. To what do you refer ?

Ath. There is a tradition or story, which has somehow gone
about the world, that Dionysus was robbed of his wits by his
stepmother Here, and that out of revenge he inspires Bacchic
furies and dancing madnesses in others; for which reason he
gave men wine. Such traditions concerning the Gods I leave to
those who think that they may be safely uttered; I only know
that no animal at birth is mature or perfect in intelligence ;
and in the intermediate period, in which he has not yet ac-
quired his own proper sense, he rages and roars without
rhyme or reason; and when he has once got on his legs he
jumps about without rhyme or reason; and this, as you will
remember, has been already said by us to be the origin of music
and gymnastic.

Cle. To be sure, I remember.

Ath, And did we not say that the sense of harmony and
rhythm sprang from this beginning among men, and that Apollo
and the Muses and Dionysus were the Gods whom we had to
thank for them ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, The other story implied that wine was given man out
of revenge, and in order to make him mad; but our present
doctrine, on the contrary, is, that wine was given him as a balm,
and in order to implant modesty in the soul, and health and
strength in the body.

Cle. That, Stranger, is exactly what was said.

Ath, Then half the subject may now be considered to have
been discussed; shall we proceed to the consideration of the
other half?

RZ

244 LAWS.

J7a83 Ses

Cle. What is the other half, and how do you divide the

subject ?

Ath. The whole choral art is also in our view the whole of
education ; and of this art, rhythms and harmonies, having to
do with the voice, form a part. |

Cle..Y es.

Ath. And the movement of the body and the movement of
the voice have a common form which is rhythm, but they
differ, in that the one is gesture, and the other song.

Cle. Most true.

Ath. And the sound of the voice which reaches and educates 6

the soul, we have ventured to term music.

Cla. True:

Ath. And the movement of the body, which, when regarded
as an amusement, we termed dancing; when pursued with a
view to the improvement of the body, according to rules of art,
may be called gymnastic.

Cle Ouite true:

Ath, Music, which was one half of the choral art, may be
said to have been completely discussed. Shall we proceed to
the other half or not? What would you like?

Cle. My good friend, when you are talking with a Cretan
and Lacedaemonian, and we have discussed music and not
gymnastic, what answer are either of us likely to make to
your

Ath. That question is pretty much of an answer; and I un-
derstand and accept what you say both as an answer, and also
as a command to proceed with gymnastic.

Cle. You quite understand me; do as you say.

Ath, I will; and there will be small difficulty in speaking
intelligibly to you about a subject with which both of you are
far more familiar than with music.

Cle. That is very true.

Ath, Is not the origin of gymnastics, too, to be sought in
the tendency to rapid motion which exists in all animals ; man,
as we were saying, having attained the sense of rhythm, created
and invented dancing; and melody arousing and awakening
rhythm, both united formed the choral art ?

Cle. Very true.

BOOK JI. 245

Ath, And one part of this subject has been already discussed
by us, and there remains another part to be discussed ?

Gide Exactly:

Ath, 1 have first to add a crown to my discourse about drink.

Cle. What more would you say?

Ath. I should say that if a city seriously means to adopt
the practice of drinking under due regulation and with a view
to the enforcement of temperance, and in like manner, and
on the same principle, will allow of other pleasures, designing
to gain the victory over them—in this way all of them may
be used. But if the State makes drinking an amusement only;
and whoever likes may drink whenever he likes, and with whom

4 he likes, and add to this any other indulgences, I shall never
agree or allow that this city or this man should adopt such
a usage of drinking. I would go farther than the Cretans
and Lacedaemonians, and am disposed rather to the law of
the Carthaginians, that no one while he is on a campaign
should be allowed to taste wine at all; but I would say that
he should drink water during all that time, and that in the
city no slave, male or female, should ever drink wine; and
that no rulers should drink during their year of office, nor pilots
of vessels, nor judges while on duty should taste wine at all;
nor any one who is going to hold a consultation about any
matter of importance, nor in the day-time at all, unless in
consequence of exercise or as medicine; nor again at night,
when any one, either man or woman, is minded to get children.
There are numberless other cases also in which those who
have good sense and good laws ought not to drink wine, so
that if what I say is true, no city will need many vineyards.
Their husbandry and their way of life in general will follow
an appointed order, and their cultivation of the vine will be
the most limited and moderate of their employments. And
this, Stranger, shall be the crown of my discourse about wine,
if you agree.

Cica <eclieniy me. detec:

POO.

Athenian Stranger. ENOUGH of this. And what, then, is to 64
be regarded as the origin of government? Will not a man
be able to judge best from a point of view in which he may
behold the progress of states and their transitions to good or
evil?

Cletnias. What do you mean?

Ath. I mean that he might watch them from the point of
view of time, and observe the changes which take place in them
during infinite ages.

Cle. How so?

Ath. Why, do you think that you can reckon the time which
has elapsed since cities first existed and men were citizens of
them ?

Ci, Fiardly,

Ath. But you are sure that it must be vast and incalculable?

Cle. Quite true.

Ath. And have there not been thousands and thousands of
cities which have come into being and perished during this
period? And has not every place had endless forms of govern-
ment, and been sometimes rising and at other times falling, and
again improving or waning?

Cre Ccitanily,

Ath, Let us endeavour to ascertain the cause of these
changes; for that will probably explain the first origin and
succession of states.

Cle. Very good. You shall endeavour to impart your thoughts
to us, and we will make an effort to understand you.

Ath. Do you believe that there is any truth in ancient 67
traditions?

BOOK Til. 24

™“)

Cle. What traditions?

Ath, The traditions about the many destructions of mankind
which have been occasioned by deluges and diseases, and in
many other ways, and of the preservation of a remnant.

Cle. Every one is disposed to believe them.

Ath. Let us imagine one of them: I will take the famous one
which was caused by a deluge.

Cle. What is to be remarked in them?

Ath, T mean to say that those who then escaped would only
be hill shepherds,—small sparks of the human race preserved on
the tops of mountains.

CH. Clearly,

Ath, Such survivors would necessarily be unacquainted with
the arts of those who live in cities, and with the various devices
which are suggested to them by interest or ambition, and all
the wrongs which they contrive against one another.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, Let us suppose, then, that the cities in the plain and on
the sea-coast were utterly destroyed at that time.

Cle. Very good.

Ath. Would not all implements perish and every other
excellent invention of political or any other sort of wisdom
utterly fail at that time?

Cle. Why, yes, my friend; and if things had always continued
as they are at present ordered, how could any discovery have
ever been made even in the least particular? For it is evident
that the arts were unknown during thousands and thousands
of years. And no more than a thousand or two thousand
years have elapsed since the discoveries of Daedalus, Orpheus
and Palamedes,—since Marsyas and Olympus invented music,
and Amphion the lyre,—not to speak of numberless other
inventions which are but of yesterday.

Ath, Have you forgotten, Cleinias, the name of a friend wha
is really of yesterday?

Cle. I suppose that you mean Epimenides.

Ath. The same, my friend; for his ingenuity does indeed far
overleap the heads of all your great men; what Hesiod had
preached of old, he carried out in practice, as you declare.

Cle. Yes, according to our tradition.

248 LAWS.

Ath. After the great destruction, may we not suppose that
the state of man was something of this sort :—In the beginning
of things there was a fearful illimitable desert and a vast expanse
of land; a herd or two of oxen would be the only survivors of
the animal world; and there might be a few goats, hardly 6.
enough to support the life of those who tended them.

Cieseiiaic:

Ath. And of cities or governments or legislation, about which
we are now talking, do you suppose that they could have any
recollection at all?

Cle. They could not.

Ath. And out of this state of things has there not sprung all
that we now are and have: cities and governments, and arts and
laws, and a great deal of vice and a great deal of virtue?

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. Why, my good friend, how can we possibly suppose that
those who knew nothing of all the good and evil of cities could
have attained their full development, whether of virtue or of
vice?

Cle. I understand your meaning, and you are quite right.

Ath, But, as time advanced and the race multiplied, the world

~ came to be what the world is.

Cley Very tic,

Ath, Doubtless the change was not made all in a moment, but
little by little, during a very long period of time.

Cle. That is to be supposed.

Ath, At first, they would have a natural fear ringing in their
ears which would prevent their descending from the heights into
the plain.

Cle. Of course.

Ath, The fewness of the survivors would make them desirous
of intercourse with one another; but then the means of travelling
either by land or sea would have been almost entirely lost, as
I may say, with the loss of the arts, and there would be great
difficulty in getting at one another; for iron and brass and
all metals would have become confused, and would have
disappeared; nor would there be any possibility of extracting
them ; and they would have no means of felling timber. Even
if you suppose that some implements might have been preserved

BOOK IIT. 240

in the mountains, they would quickly have worn out and
disappeared, and there would be no more of them until the
art of metallurgy had again revived.

Cle. There could not have been.

Ath. In how many generations would this be attained ?

Cle. Clearly, not for many generations.

Ath, During this period, and for some time afterwards, all
‘the arts which require iron and brass and the like would
disappear.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Faction and war would also have died out in those days,
and for many reasons.

Cle. How would that be?

Ath. In the first place, the desolation of these primitive
men would create in them a feeling of affection and friendship
towards one another ; and, in the second place, they would have
no occasion to fight for their subsistence, for they would have

79 pasture in abundance, except just at first, and in some particular
cases; on this pasture-land they would mostly support life in
a primitive age, having plenty of milk and flesh, and procuring
other food by the chase, not to be despised either in quantity
or quality. They would also have abundance of clothing, and
bedding, and dwellings, and utensils either capable of standing
on the fire or not; for the plastic and weaving arts do not
require any use of iron: God has given these two arts to man
in order to provide him’ with necessaries, that, when reduced
to their last extremity, the human race may still grow and
increase. Hence in those days mankind were not very poor;
nor was poverty a cause of difference among them; and rich
they could not be, if they had no gold and silver, and such at
that time was their condition. And the community which
has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest
principles; there is no insolence or injustice, nor, again, are
there any contentions or envyings among them. And there-
fore they were good, and also because they were what is
called simple-minded; and when they were told about good
and evil, they in their simplicity believed what they heard to
be very truth and practised it. No one had the wit to sus-
pect another of a falsehood, as men do now; but what they

250 LAWS.

heard about Gods and men they believed to be true, and lived
accordingly ; and therefore they were in all respects such as
we have described them.

Cle. That quite accords with my views, and with those of
my friend here.

Ath. Would not many generations living on in a _ simple
manner, although ruder, perhaps, and more ignorant of the
arts generally, and in particular of those of land or naval
warfare, and likewise of other arts, termed in cities legal prac-
tices and party conflicts, and including all conceivable ways
of hurting one another in word and deed ;—although inferior
to. those who. lived: befere-the-deluse, sor to ‘the, men -af ‘cur
day in ‘these respects, would they not, I say, be simpler and
more manly, and also more temperate and in general more
just? The reason has been already explained.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, 1 should wish you to understand that what has pre-
ceded and what is about to follow, has been, and will be said,
with the intention of explaining what need the men of that
time had of laws, and who was their lawgiver.

Cle. And thus far what you have said has been very well said.

Ath. They could hardiy have wanted lawgivers as yet;
nothing of that sort was likely to have existed in their days,
for they had no letters at this early stage; they lived by habit
and the customs of their forefathers, as they are called.

Cle. Probably.

Ath. But there was already existing a form of government
which, if I am not mistaken, is generally termed a lordship,
and this still remains in many places, both among Hellenes
and barbarians, and is the government which is declared by
Homer to have prevailed among the Cyclopes :—

‘ They have neither councils nor judgments, but they dwell in hollow rocks
on the tops of high mountains, and every one is the judge of his wife and
children, and they do not trouble themselves about one another.’

Cle. That must be a charming poet of yours; I have
read some other verses of his, which are very clever; but I

do not know much of him, for foreign poets are little read
among the Cretans.

Ae i a a i i ls

Lal

BOOK III. O51

Meg. But they are in Lacedaemon, and he appears to be
the prince of them all; the manner of life, however, which he
describes is not Spartan, but rather Ionian, and he seems
quite to confirm what you are saying, tracing up the ancient
state of mankind by the help of tradition to barbarism.

Alfie €S* and we. may accepe=nis witness ito ‘the fact that
there was a time when primitive societies had this form.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And did not such states spring out of single habita-
tions and families who were scattered and thinned in the de-
vastations ; and the eldest of them was their ruler, because with
them government originated in the authority of a father and
a mother, whom, like a flock of birds, they followed, forming
one troop under the patriarchal rule and sovereignty of their
parents, which of all sovereignties is the most just?

OF Ney, toe

Ath, After this they came together in greater numbers, and
increased the size of their cities, and betook themselves to
husbandry, first of all at the foot of the mountains, and made
enclosures of loose walls and works of defence, in order to
keep off wild beasts ; thus creating a single large and common
habitation.

Cié@, Ves: at. least we may, suppose, it.

Ath, There is another thing which would probably happen.

Cle. What?

Ath, When these larger habitations grew up out of the
lesser original ones, each of the lesser ones would survive in
the-latcen<. even famuy. would be. ander the rale of “the
eldest, and, owing to their separation from one another, would
have peculiar customs in things divine and human, which
they would have received from their several parents who had
educated them; and these customs would incline them to
order, when the parents had the element of order in them ;
and to courage, when they had the element of courage in
them. And they would naturally stamp upon their children,
and upon their children’s children, their own _ institutions ;
and, as we are saying, they would find their way into the
larger society, having already their own peculiar laws.

Cle, Certainly.

252 Douay

Ath. And every man surely likes his own laws best, and
the laws of others not so well.

Cian) hic:

Ath. Then now we seem to have stumbled upon the be-
ginnings of legislation ?

Cle. Exactly.

Ath. The next step will be that these persons who meet
together, must choose some arbiters, who will inspect the
laws of all of them, and will publicly present such of them
as they approve to the chiefs who lead the tribes, and are
in a manner their kings, and will give them the choice of
them. These will themselves be called legislators, and will
appoint the magistrates, framing some sort of aristocracy, or
perhaps monarchy, out of the dynasties or lordships, and in
this altered state of the government they will live.

Cle. Yes, they would be appointed in the order which you
mention.

Aw,’ hen, now. let us speak. of .a- third form, of the: state
in which all other forms and conditions of polities and cities
concur.

Cle. And what is that?

Ath, The form pointed out by Homer was the third form,
which succeeds the second. In speaking of the foundation. of
Dardania, he says,

‘For not as yet had the holy Ilium been built on the plain to bea city of
articulately-speaking men; but they were still dwelling at the foot of many-
fountained Ida.’

For indeed, in these verses, and in what he said of the 6%
Cyclopes, he speaks the words of God and nature; for the
inspiration of poets is divine, and often in their strains, by
the aid of the Muses and the Graces, they attain truth.

Cle. Yes.

Ath, Then now let us proceed with the rest of our tale,
which will probably be found to illustrate in some degree our
proposed design :—Shall we do so?

Cle. By all means.

Ath, Vlium was built when they had descended from the
mountain, in a large and fair plain, on a sort of low hill,
watered by many rivers descending from Ida.

niechennenenrdl

ee ie a ee ni

' BOOK III. 254

Cle. Such is the tradition.

Ath, And that we must suppose to have taken place many
ages after the deluge?

Cle. Yes; many ages must have elapsed.

Ath. A marvellous forgetfulness of the former destruction
would appear to have come over them, when they placed
their town right under numerous streams flowing from the
heights, and trusting for security to not very high hills,
either.

Cle. There must have been a long interval, clearly.

Ath, And, as men increased in number, many other cities
would begin to be built on the plain?

Cle. Doubtless.

Ath. Those cities made war against Troy—by sea as well
as land—for at that time men were ceasing to be afraid of
the sea.

Cle. Clearly. |

Ath. The Achaeans remained ten years, and overthrew
Troy.

Cle Lue,

Ath. And during the ten years in which the Achaeans
were besieging Ilium, the homes of the besiegers were fall-
ing into an evil plight. Their youth revolted; and when the
soldiers returned to their own cities and families, they did
not receive them properly, and as they ought to have done,
and numerous deaths, murders, exiles, were the consequence.
The exiles came again, under a new name, no longer Achaeans,
but Dorians,—a name which they derived from Dorieus,
who was the assembler of them. The rest of the story
is told by you Lacedaemonians as part of the history of
Sparta.

Meg. Certainly.

Ath. Thus, after digressing from the original subject of
laws into music and drinking-bouts, the argument has, pro-
videntially, come back to the same point, and presents to us
another handle. For we have come to the settlement of Lace-

683 daemon; which, as you truly say, is in laws and in insti-

tutions the sister of Crete. And we are all the better for
the digression, because we have gone through various states

254 LAWS.

and settlements, and have been present at the foundation of
a first, second, and third state, succeeding one another in in-
finite time. And now there appears on the horizon a fourth
state or nation which was in process of settlement and has con-
tinued to this day. If, out of all these, we are able to discern
what is well or ill settled, and what laws are the salvation or
destruction of cities, and what changes would make a state
happy, O Megillus and Cleinias, we may now begin again,
unless we have some reason to find fault with what has
preceded.

Meg. If some God, Stranger, would promise us that our
new enquiry about legislation would be as good and full as
the last, I would go a long way to hear such another, and
would think that the longest day—and we are now ap-
proaching the summer _ solstice—was too short for the
discussion.

Ath, Then I suppose that we must consider this subject ?

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, Let us place ourselves in thought at the moment,
when Lacedaemon and Argos and Messene and the other
countries were all in complete subjection, Megillus, to your
ancestors; for at a later date, as the legend informs us, they
divided their army into three portions, and settled three
cities, Argos and Messene and Lacedaemon.

Meg. True.

Ath, Temenus was the king of Argos, Cresphontes of Mes-
sene, Procles and Eurysthenes of Lacedaemon.

Meg. To be sure,

Ath. To these kings all the men of that day made oath
that they would assist them, if any one subverted their
kingdom.

Meg. True.

Ath, But can a kingdom be destroyed, or was any other
form of government ever destroyed, by any but the rulers
themselves? Surely not. Have we forgotten what has just
been laid down?

Meg. No.

Ath. And may we not now further confirm what was then
said? For we have come upon facts which have brought us

BOOK IIT. 255

back again to the principle; so that, in resuming the dis-
84 cussion, we shall not be enquiring about an empty theory,
but about events which actually happened. The case was as
follows :—Three royal heroes made oath to three cities which
were under a kingly government, and the cities to the kings,
that both rulers and subjects should govern and be governed
according to the laws which were common to all of them:
the rulers promised that as time and the race went forward
- they would not make their rule more arbitrary ; and the sub-
jects said that, if the rulers observed these conditions, they
would never subvert or permit others to subvert those king-
doms; the kings were to assist kings and peoples when in-
jured, and the peoples were to assist peoples and kings in
like manner. Is not this true?

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, And these three states to whom laws were given,
whether by their kings or by any others, had a further
security for the maintenance of their constitutions ?

Meg. What security ?

Ath, That the other two states were always to come to
the rescue against a rebellious third.

Meg. lrue,

Ath. Many persons say that legislators ought to impose
such laws as the mass of the people will be ready to re-
ceive ; but this is just as if one were to command gymnastic
masters or physicians to treat or cure their pupils or patients
in an agreeable manner.

Meg. Exactly.

Ath, Whereas the physician may often be too happy if he
can restore health, and make the body whole, without any
very great infliction of pain.

Meg. Certainly.

Ath. There was also another advantage possessed by the
men of that day, which greatly lightened the task of passing
laws,

Meg. What advantage?

Ath, The legislators of that day, when they equalized pro-
perty, escaped the great accusation which generally arises in
legislation, if a person attempts to disturb the possession of

256 LIAS.

land, or to get rid of debts, because he sees that without this
reform there can never be any real equality. Now, in general,
when the legislator attempts to make a new settlement of such
matters, every one meets him with the cry, ‘that he is not
to disturb vested interests,—declaring with imprecations that
he is introducing agrarian laws and abolition of debts, until
a man is at his wits’ end; whereas no one could quarrel with
the Dorians for distributing the land——there was nothing to
hinder them; and as for debts, they had none which were
considerable or of old standing.

Meg. Very true.

Ath. But then, my good friends, why did the settlement
and legislation of their country turn out so badly?

a noes pian, Bie

Meg. How do you mean; and for what do you blame 68

them ?

Ath, There were three kingdoms, and of these, two quickly
corrupted their original constitution and laws, and the only
one which remained was the Spartan.

Meg. The question which you ask is not easily answered.

Ath, And yet must be answered when we are enquiring
about laws, which is our old man’s sober game of play, and
beguiles the way, as I was saying when we first set out on
our journey.

Meg. Certainly ; and we must find out why this was.

Ath. What laws are more worthy of our attention than
those which have regulated such cities? or what cities or
settlements are greater or more famous?

Meg. I know of none.

Ath. Can we doubt that they intended these institutions
not only for the protection of Peloponnesus, but of all the
Hellenes, in case they were attacked by the barbarian? For
the inhabitants of the region about Ilium, when they pro-
voked by their insolence the Trojan war, relied upon the
power of the Assyrians and the Empire of Ninus, which still
subsisted and had a great prestige; the people of those days
fearing the united Assyrian Empire just as we now fear the
great king. And the second capture of Troy was a serious
offence on their part, because Troy was a portion of the As-
syrian Empire. To meet the danger the constitution of the

BOOK III. 257

‘single army, distributed into three cities, was devised by the
royal brothers, sons of Heracles, and far better ordered than
the expedition against Troy. For, in the first place, they
had, as they thought, in the Heraclidae better leaders than
the Pelopidae; in the next place, they considered that their
army was superior in valour to that which went against
Troy ; for, although the latter conquered the Trojans, they
were themselves conquered by the Heraclidae—Achaeans by
Dorians. May we not suppose that this was the intention
with which the men of those days framed the constitutions of
their states ?

Meg. Quite true.

(6 Ath. And would not men who had shared with one another
many dangers, and were governed by a single race of royal
brothers, and had taken the advice of oracles, and in parti-
cular of the Delphian oracle, be likely to think that such

» states would be permanent and lasting? :

Meg. Of course they would.

Ath. Yet these institutions, of which such great expecta-
tions were entertained, seem to have all rapidly vanished
away; with the exception, as I was saying, of that small part
of them which existed in your land. And this third part
has never to this day ceased warring against the two others ;
whereas, if the original idea had been carried out, and they
had agreed to be one, their power would have been invin-
cible in war.

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, Now, what was the ruin of this great confederacy ?
Here is a subject well worthy of consideration.

Meg. Certainly, no one will ever find more striking in-
stances of laws or governments being the salvation or de-
struction of great and noble interests, than are here presented
to his view.

Ath. Then now we seem to have happily arrived at a real
and important question ?

Meg. Very true.

Ath. Did you never observe, sage friend, that men in
general, and we ourselves, often fancy that they see some
beautiful thing which might have effected wonders if they

VOL. Vv. S

258 LAWS.

had only known how to make a right use of it—in some
way or other; and yet this mode of looking at things may
turn out after all to be a mistake, and not according to
nature, either in our own case or in any other?

Meg. To what are you referring?

Ath. 1 was thinking of my own admiration of the afore-
said Heraclid expedition, which was so noble, and might
have had such wonderful results for the Hellenes, if only
rightly used; and I was just laughing at myself.

Meg. But were you not right and wise in speaking as you
did, and we in assenting to you?

Ath, Perhaps; and yet I cannot help observing that any
one who sees anything great or powerful, immediately has the
feeling that—‘If the owner only knew how to use his great
and noble possession, how happy would he be, and what
great results would he attain!’

Meg. And would he not be right? 6

Ath, Reflect ; in what point of view does this sort of praise
appear just: First, in reference to the question in hand :—If
the then commanders had known how to arrange their army
properly, how would they have attained success? Would not
this have been the way? They would have bound them all
firmly together and preserved them for ever, giving them
freedom and dominion at pleasure, combined with the power
of doing in the whole world, Hellenic and barbarian, what-
ever they and their descendants desired. What other aim
would they have had?

Meg. Very good.

Ath. Suppose any one were in the same way to express
his admiration at the sight of great wealth or family honour,
or the like, he would praise them under the idea that through
them he would attain either all or the greater and chief part
of what he desires.

Meg. He would,

Ath. Well, now, and does not the argument show that
there is one common desire of all mankind?

Meg. What is it?

Ath. The desire which a man has, that all things may

BOOK III. 259

come to pass in accordance with the will of his soul, things
human at any rate, if not things divine.

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, And having this desire always, and at every time of
life, he cannot help ee praying for the fulfilment of it.

Meg. No doubt.

Ath, And we join in the prayers of our friends, and ask
for them what they ask for themselves?

Meg. Certainly.

Ath. Dear is the son to the father—the younger to the
elder.

Meg. Of course.

Ath, And yet the son often prays to obtain things which
the father prays that he may not obtain.

Meg. When the son is young and foolish, you mean?

Ath, Yes; and when the father, in the dotage of age or
the heat of youth, having no sense of right and justice, prays
with fervour, under the influence of feelings like those of
Theseus when he cursed the unfortunate Hippolytus, do you
imagine that the son, having a sense of right and justice,
will join in his father’s prayers?

Meg. 1 understand you to mean that a man should not
desire or endeavour to have all things according to his wish,
for his wish may be at variance with his reason. Every one of
us, whether individual or state, ought to pray and endeavour

38 that he may have wisdom.

Ath, Yes; and I remember, and you will remember, what
I said at first, that a statesman and legislator ought to or-
dain laws with a view to wisdom; whereas you were arguing
that the good lawgiver ought to order all with a view to
war. And to this I replied that there were four virtues,
whereas your regards were fixed upon one of the four only ;
but that you ought to regard all virtue, and especially that
which comes first, and is the guide of all the rest—I mean
wisdom and mind and opinion united with the affection and
desire which waits upon them. And now the argument re-
turns to the same point, and I say once more, in jest if you
like, or in earnest if you like, that the prayer of a fool is

S 2

260 VGA eoe

full of danger, being likely to end in the opposite of what
he desires. And if you would rather receive my words in
earnest, I am willing that you should; and you will find, I
suspect, as I have said already, that not cowardice was the
cause of the ruin of the Dorian kings and of their whole
design, nor ignorance of military matters, either on the part
of the rulers or of their subjects; but the cause was the
corrupting influence of the other vices, and especially their
ignorance of the most important human affairs. That was
then, and is still, and always will be the case, as I will
endeavour, if you will allow me, to make out and demon-
strate to you who are my friends, in the course of the
argument.

Cle. Pray go on, Stranger ;—compliments are troublesome,
but we will show, not in word but in deed, how greatly we
prize your words, for we will give them our best attention;
and that is the way in which a gentleman expresses his
approval.

Meg. Excellent, Cleinias; let us do as you say.

Cle. By all means, if Heaven wills. Go on.

Ath. Well, then, proceeding in the same train of thought,
I say that the greatest ignorance was the ruin of the Dorian
power, and that now, as then, ignorance is ruin. And if this
be true, the legislator must endeavour to implant wisdom in
states, and banish ignorance to the utmost of his power.

Cle. That is evident.

Ath. Then now consider what is really the greatest igno-
rance. I should like to know whether you and Megillus
would agree with me in what I am about to say; for my
opinion is

Clava hate

Ath. That the greatest ignorance is when a man hates that
which he nevertheless thinks to be good and noble, and loves
and embraces that which he knows to be unrighteous and
evil. This disagreement between the sense of pleasure and
the judgment of reason in the soul is, in my opinion, the
worst ignorance; and the greatest too, because affecting the
great mass of the human soul; for the principle which feels
pleasure and pain in the individual is like the mass or popu-

BOOK [17, 261

lace in a state. And when the soul is opposed to know-
ledge, or opinion, or reason, which are her natural lords, that
I call folly, just as in the state, when the multitude refuses
to obey their rulers and the laws; or, again, in the indi-
vidual, when fair reasonings have their habitation in the soul
and yet do no good, but rather the reverse of good. All
these cases I term the worst ignorance, whether in indivi-
duals or in states. I am not speaking, Stranger, as you will
understand, of the ignorance of handicraftsmen.

Cle. Yes, my friend, we understand and agree.

Ath, Let us, then, in the first place declare and affirm
that the citizen who does not know these things ought never
to have any kind of authority entrusted to him: he must be
stigmatized as ignorant, even though he be skilful in calcu-
lation and versed in all sorts of accomplishments, and feats
of mental dexterity ; and the opposite are to be called wise,
even although, in the words of the proverb, they know neither
how to read nor how to swim; and to them, as to men of
sense, authority is to be committed. For, O my friends, how
can there be the least shadow of wisdom when there is no
harmony? There is none; but the noblest and greatest of
harmonies may be truly said to be the greatest wisdom;
and of this he is a partaker who lives according to reason ;
whereas he who is devoid of reason is the destroyer of his
house and the opposite of the saviour of the state: he is
ignorant of political wisdom. Let this, then, as I was saying,
be laid down by us.

Cle. Let this be laid down.

Ath. I suppose that there must be rulers and subjects in
states ?

Ci... Certainhy.

Av And “what. are the yeaa erable. of rule and
obedience in cities, whether great or small; and similarly in
families? What are they, and how many in number? Is
not one claim of authority which is always just, that of
fathers and mothers and in general of progenitors over their
offspring ?

Cle. Certainiv

Ath. Next follows the principle that the noble should rule

262 LAWS.

over the ignoble; and, thirdly, that the elder should rule and
the younger obey?

Cie tT onbe: Sure.

Ath. And, fourthly, that slaves should be ruled, and their
masters rule?

Cle. Of course.

Ath, Fifthly, if I am not mistaken, comes the principle
that the stronger shall rule, and the weaker be ruled?

Cle That is a rule not to be disobeyed.

Ath. Yes, and a rule which prevails very widely among
all creatures, and is according to nature, as the Theban poet
Pindar once: said sand “the sixth: principle, andthe. greatest
of all, is, that the wise should lead and command, and the
ignorant follow and obey; and yet, O thou most wise Pin-
dar, as I should reply to him, it surely is not contrary to
nature, but according to nature, being the rule of law over
willing subjects, and not a rule of compulsion.

Cle, Very true.

Ath, There is a seventh kind of rule which is conferred by
the arbitrament of the lot, and is dear to the Gods and a
token of good fortune: he on whom the lot falls is a ruler,
and he who fails in obtaining the lot goes away and is the
subject; and this we affirm to be quite just.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Then now, as we say playfully to any of those who
lightly undertake the making of laws, You see before you,
legislator, the principles of government, and you see the oppo-
sition which is naturally inherent in them. There we have
discovered a fountain-head of seditions, to which you must
attend. And, first, we will ask you to consider with us, how
and in what respect the kings of Argos and Messene violated
these our maxims, and ruined themselves and the great and
famous Hellenic power of the olden time. Was this because
they did not know the truly excellent saying of Hesiod, that
the half is often greater than the whole? His meaning was,
that when the whole was injurious and the half moderate,
then the moderate was more and better than the im-
moderate.

Cle. Very true.

“OI

BOOK II1. 263

Ath, And are we to suppose that this ignorance is less
fatal among kings than among peoples?

Cle. The probability is that ignorance will be a more pre-
valent disorder among kings, because they lead a proud and
luxurious life.

Ath, Is it not palpable that the kings of that time were
guilty of trying to be above the established laws, and that
they did not consistently observe what they had agreed to
observe by word and oath? This inconsistency of theirs
may have had the appearance of wisdom, but was really, as
we assert, the greatest ignorance, and utterly overthrew the
whole empire through fatal error and perversity.

Cle. Very likely.

Ath. Good; and what ought the then legislator to have
done in order to avert this calamity? Truly there is no
great wisdom in knowing, and no great difficulty in telling,
after the evil has happened; but to have foreseen the re-
medy at the time would have taken a much wiser head
than ours.

Meg. What do you mean?

Ath, Any one who looks at what has occurred with you,
Megillus, may easily know and may easily say what ought
to have been done at that time.

Meg. Speak a little more clearly.

Ath. Nothing can be clearer than the observation which I
am about to make.

Meg. What is it?

Ath. That if any one gives too great a power to anything,
too large a’sail to a vessel, too much food to the body, too
much authority to the mind, and is regardless of the mean,
everything is overthrown, and, in the wantonness of excess,
runs in the one case to disorder, and in the other to in-
justice, which is the child of excess. I mean to say, my dear
friends, that there is no soul of man, young and irresponsible,
who will be able to sustain the temptation of arbitrary
power—no one who will not, under such circumstances, be-
come filled with folly, that worst of diseases, and be hated
by his nearest and dearest friends: when this happens his
kingdom is undermined, and all his power vanishes from him.

264 LAWS.

And great legislators who know the mean should take heed
of the danger. As far as we can guess at this distance of
time, what happened was as follows :—

Meg. What?

Ath. A God, who watched over Sparta, seeing into the
future, gave you two families of kings instead of one; and
thus brought you within the limits of moderation. In the
next place, some human wisdom mingled with divine power,
observing that the constitution of your government was still
feverish and excited, tempered your inborn strength and
pride of birth with the moderation which comes of age,
making the power of your twenty-eight elders equal with 69
that of the kings in your most important matters. But your
third saviour, perceiving that your government was still swell-
ing and foaming, imposed as a curb the power of the Ephori,
nearly resembling that of officers elected by lot; and by this
arrangement the kingly office, being compounded of the right
elements and duly moderated, was preserved, and was the
means of preserving all the rest. Since, if there had been
only the original legislators, Temenus, Cresphontes, and their
contemporaries, as far as they were concerned, not even the
portion of Aristodemus would have been preserved ; for they
had no proper experience in legislation, or they would surely
not have imagined that oaths would moderate a youthful
spirit invested with a powers which might be converted into
a tyranny. Now that God has instructed us what sort of
government would have been or will be lasting, there is no
wisdom, as I have already said, in judging after the event ;
there is no difficulty in learning from an example which has
already occurred. But if any one could have foreseen all
this at the time, and had been able to moderate the govern-
ment of the three kingdoms and unite them into one, he
might have saved all the excellent institutions which were
then conceived ; and no Persian or any other armament would
have dared to attack us, or would have regarded Hellas as a
power to be despised.

Cle. True.

Ath. There was small credit to us, Cleinias, in defeating
them; and the discredit was, not that the conquerors did not

BOOL. T1L: 265

win many great battles both by land and sea; but what, in
my opinion, brought discredit was, first of all, the circum-
stance that of the three cities one only fought on behalf of
Hellas, and the two others were so utterly good for nothing
that the one was waging a mighty war against Lacedaemon,
and thus prevented her from coming to the rescue, and the
city of Argos, which had the precedence at the time of the dis-
tribution, when asked to aid in repelling the barbarian, would
not answer to the call, or give aid. Many things might be
told about Hellas in connection with that war which are far
from honourable; nor, indeed, can we rightly say that Hellas
repelled the invader; for the truth is, that unless the Athe-
nians and Lacedaemonians, in concert, had repulsed the ad-

3 vancing host, all the tribes of Hellas would have been fused
in a chaos of barbarians mingling with Hellenes, and Hel-
~lenes with barbarians; just as nations who are now subject
to the Persian power, owing to unnatural separations and
combinations of them, are dispersed and scattered, and live
miserably. These things, Megillus, we lay at the door of
statesmen and legislators, as they are cailed, past and_ pre-
sent, in order that we may analyse the causes of them, and
find out what else might have been done. We were saying,
for instance, just now, that there ought to be no great and
unmixed powers; and this was under the idea that a state
ought to be free and wise and harmonious, and that a legis-
lator ought to legislate with a view to this end. Nor is
there any reason to be surprised at our continually proposing
aims for the legislator which appear not to be always the
same; but we should consider when we say that tempe-
rance is to be the aim, or wisdom is to be the aim, or
friendship is to be the aim, that all these are really the
same; and if so a variety in the modes of expression ought
not to disturb us.

Cle. Let us resume the argument in that spirit: And now,
speaking of friendship and wisdom and freedom, I wish that
you would tell me at what, in your opinion, the legislator
should aim ?

Ath. Hear me, then: there are two mother forms of states
from which the rest may be truly said to be derived; and

266 LAWS.

one of them may be called monarchy and the other demo-
cracy: the Persians have the highest form of the one, and
we of the other; almost all the rest, as I was saying, are
varying mixtures of these. Now, if you are to have liberty
and the combination of friendship with wisdom, you must
have both these forms of government in a measure; the
argument emphatically declares that no city can be well
governed which is not made up of both.

Cle. Impossible.

Ath. The state which has become exclusively and exces-
sively attached to monarchy or to freedom, has neither of
them in moderation; but your states, the Laconian and
Cretan, have a certain moderation; and the Athenians and
Persians having had more at first, have now less. Shall I
tell you why?

Cle. By all means, if it will tend to the elucidation of our 6¢
subject.

Ath, Hear, then:— There was a time when the Persians
had more of the state which is a mean between slavery and
freedom. In the reign of Cyrus they were freemen and also
lords of many others: the rulers gave a share of freedom to
the subjects, and being treated as equals, the soldiers were on
better terms with their generals, and showed themselves more
ready in the hour of danger. And if there was any wise
councillor among them, he imparted his wisdom to the
public; for the king was not jealous, but allowed him full
liberty of speech, and gave honour to those who were able
to be his counsellors in anything, and allowed all men equally
to participate in wisdom. And the nation waxed in all re-
spects, because there was freedom and friendship and com-
munion of soul among them.

Cle. That certainly appears to have been the case.

Ath. How, then, was this advantage lost under Cambyses,
and again recovered under Darius? Shall I try to divine?

Cle. That question, certainly, has a bearing on the subject
of our enquiry.

Ath. T imagine that Cyrus, though a great and patriotic
general, had never given his mind to education, and never
attended to the order of his household.

BOOK Jf. 26

mee |

Cle. What makes you say soP

Ath, | think that from his youth upwards he was a soldier,
and entrusted the bringing up of his children to the women;
and they brought them up from their childhood as the fa-
vourites of fortune, who were blessed already, and needed no
more blessings. They thought that they were happy enough,
and that no one should be allowed to oppose them in any
way, and they compelled every one to praise all that they
said or did. This was the manner in which they brought
them up.

Cle. A splendid education truly!

Ath, Such an education as women were likely to give
them, and especially princesses who had recently grown rich,
and in the absence of the men, too, who were occupied in
wars and dangers, and too busy to look after them.

Cle. What would you expect?

Ath. Their father had possessions of cattle and sheep, and
195 many herds of men and other animals; but he did not consider
that those to whom he was about to make them over were
not trained in his own calling, which was Persian; for the
Persians are shepherds—sons of a rugged land, which was a
stern mother, and well fitted to produce a sturdy race able to
live in the open air and watch, and to fight also, if fighting
was required. He did not observe that his sons were trained
differently ; through the so-called blessing of being royal they
were educated in the corrupt Median fashion by women and
eunuchs, which led to their becoming such as people do become
when they are brought up unreproved. And so, after the death
of Cyrus, his sons, in the fulness of luxury and licence, took the
kingdom, and first one slew the other because he could not
endure a rival; and, afterwards, the slayer himself, mad with
wine and brutality, lost his kingdom through the Medes and
the eunuch, as they called him, who despised the folly of
Cambyses.

Cle. That is what is said, and is probably the truth.

Ath, Yes; and the tradition says, that the empire came back
to the Persians, through Darius and the seven chiefs.

Cie; rte:

Ath, Let us note the rest of the story. Observe, that Darius

268 LAWS.

was not the son of a king, and had not received a luxurious
education. When he came to the throne, being one of the
seven, he divided the country into seven portions, and of this
arrangement there are some shadowy traces still remaining ;
he made laws upon the principle of introducing universal
equality in the order of the state, and he embodied in a law
the settlement of the tribute which Cyrus promised,—thus
creating a feeling of friendship and community among all the
Persians, and attaching the people to him with money and
gifts. Hence his armies cheerfully acquired for him countries
as large as those which Cyrus had left behind him. Darius
was succeeded by his son Xerxes; and he again was brought
up in the royal and luxurious fashion. Might we not justly
say: ‘O Darius, why did you not learn wisdom from the
misfortunes of Cyrus, instead of bringing up Xerxes in the
same way in which he brought up Cambyses?’ For Xerxes
being the creation of the same education, met with much the
same fortune as Cambyses; and from that time to this there
has never been a really great king among the Persians, although
they are all called great. And their degeneracy is not to be
attributed to chatice as I “maintain; the reason 1s. rather the
evil life which is generally led by the sons of very rich and 69
royal persons; for never will boy or man, young or old, excel
in virtue, who has been thus educated. And this, I say, is what
the legislator has to consider, and what at this moment has to
be considered by us. Justly may you, O Lacedaemonians,
be praised for this—that you do not give special honour or
maintenance to wealth rather than to poverty in particular,
or to a royal rather than to a private station, where the divine
and inspired lawgiver has not originally commanded them to
be given. For no man ought to have preeminent honour in
a state because he surpasses others in wealth, any more than
because he is swift or fair or strong, unless he have some virtue
in him; nor even if he have virtue, unless he have this particular
virtue of temperance.

Meg. What do you mean, Stranger?

Ath. I suppose that courage is a part of virtue?

Meg. To be sure.

Ath, Then, now hear and judge yourself:—Would you like

BOOK S/T. 269

to have for a fellow-lodger or neighbour a very courageous man,
who had no control over himself?

Meg. Heaven forbid !

Ath. Or an artist, who was clever in his profession, but a
rogue?

Meg. Certainly not.

Ath. And surely justice does not grow apart from tem-
perance?

Meg. Impossible.

Ath. Any more than our pattern wise man, whom he ex-
hibited as having his pleasures and pains in accordance with
and corresponding to true reason, can be without temperance?

Meg. No.

Ath. There is a further consideration pointing to the due and
undue award of honours in states.

Meg. What is it?

Ath, I should like to know whether temperance without the
other virtues, existing alone in the soul of man, is rightly to be
had in honour or dishonour ?

Meg. I cannot tell.

Ath, And that is the best answer; for whichever alternative
you had chosen, I think that you would have gone wrong.

Meg. 1 am fortunate.

Ath, Very good; a quality, which is a mere appendage of
things honourable and dishonourable, does not deserve an
expression of opinion, but is best expressed by silence.

Meg. You are speaking of temperance, when you say this?

Ath. Yes; but of the other virtues, that which having this
appendage is also most beneficial, will be most deserving of
honour, and next that which is beneficial in the next degree;
and so, each of them will be rightly honoured according to a
regular order.

Meg. True.

Ath. And ought not the legislator to determine these classes ?

Meg. Certainly he should.

Ath. Suppose that we leave to him the arrangement of
details. But the general division of laws according to their
importance into a first and second and third class, we who are
lovers of law may make ourselves.

270 LAWS.

Meg. Very good.
Ath. We maintain, then, that a State which would be safe

and happy, as far as the nature of man allows, must and ought
to distribute honour and dishonour in the right way. And the
right way is to place the goods of the soul first and highest in
the scale, always assuming temperance as a condition of them ;
and in the second place, the goods of the body; and in the
third place, those of money and property. And if any legislator
or state departs from this rule by giving money the place of
honour, or in any way preferring that which is really last,
may we not say, that he or the state is doing an unholy and
unpatriotic thing ? |

Meg. Yes; let that be plainly asserted.

Ath. The consideration of the Persian governments led us
thus far to enlarge. We remarked that the Persians grew
worse and worse. And we affirm the reason of this to have
been, that they too much diminished the freedom of the people,
and introduced too much of despotism, and so destroyed friend-
ship and community of feeling. And when there is an end of
these, no longer do the governors govern on behalf of their
subjects or of the people, but on behalf of themselves; and if
they think that they can gain ever so little for themselves, they
devastate cities, and send fire and desolation among friendly
races. And as they hate ruthlessly and horribly, so are they
hated; and when they want the people to fight for them, they
find no community of feeling or willingness to risk their lives ©
in fighting for them; their untold myriads are useless to them
on the field of battle, and they think that their salvation depends
on the employment of mercenaries and strangers whom they
hire, just as if they were in want of men. And they cannot 69
help being stupid, since they proclaim by their actions that
the ordinary distinctions of right and wrong are a trifle, when
compared with gold and silver.

Meg. Quite true.

Ath. And now enough of the Persians, and their present
maladministration of their government, which is owing to the
prevalence of slavery and despotism among them.

Meg. Good.

Ath. Next, we must pass in review the government of Attica

BOOK 117. ol

in like manner, and from this show that entire freedom and
the absence of all superior authority, is not by any means so
good as a limited government, which was our ancient Athenian
constitution at the time when the Persians made their attack
on Hellas, or, speakingly more correctly, on the whole continent
of Europe. There were four classes, arranged according to a
property census, and reverence was our queen and mistress,
and made us willing to live in obedience to the laws. Also
the vastness of the Persian armament, both by sea and on
land, caused a helpless terror, which made us more and more
the servants of our rulers and of the laws; and for all these
reasons an exceeding harmony prevailed among us. About
ten years before the naval engagement at Salamis, Datis came,
leading a Persian host by command of Darius, which was
expressly sent against the Athenians and Eretrians, having
orders to carry them away captive; and these orders he was
to execute under pain of death. Now Datis and his myriads
soon became complete masters of Eretria, and a fearful report
reached Athens that no Eretrian had escaped him; for the
soldiers of Datis had joined hands and netted the whole of
Eretria. And this report, whether well or ill founded, was
terrible to all the Hellenes, and above all to the Athenians,
and they sent embassies in all directions, but no one was
willing to come to their relief, with the exception of the
Lacedaemonians ; and they, either because they were detained
by the Messenian war, which was then going on, or for some
other reason (for the truth of the matter is not accurately
known), came a day too late for the battle of Marathon. After
this, the news arrived of mighty preparations being made, and
innumerable threats came from the king. Then, as time went
on, a rumour reached us that Darius had died, and that his
99 son, who was young and hot-headed, had come to the throne
and was persisting in his design. The Athenians were under
the impression that the whole expedition was directed against
_them, in consequence of the battle of Marathon; and hearing
of the bridge over the Hellespont, and the canal of Athos, and
the host of ships, considering that there was no salvation for
them either by land or by sea, for there was no one to help
them, and remembering that in the first expedition, when the

272 LAWS.

Persians destroyed Eretria, no one came to their help, or would
risk the danger of an alliance with them, they thought that this
would happen again, at least on land; nor, when they looked
to the sea, could they descry any hope of salvation; for they
were attacked by a thousand vessels and more. One chance ©
of safety remained, slight indeed and desperate, but their only
one. They saw that on the former occasion they had gained
a seemingly impossible victory, and anchored on this hope, they
found that their only refuge was in themselves and in the
Gods. All these things created in them the spirit of friend-
ship; there was the immediate fear of the occasion, and that
other present fear, which sprang out of the habit of obeying
their traditional laws, and which I have several times in the
preceding discourse called reverence, to which the good man
is, as he ought be, a willing servant, and of which the
meaner sort of man is apt to be independent and fearless.
If they had not been possessed by this fear, they would never
have met the enemy, or defended their temples and sepul-
chres and their country, and everything that was near and
dear to them, as they did; but little by little they would
have been all scattered and dispersed.

Meg. Your words, Athenian, are quite true, and worthy of
yourself and of your country.

Ath. They are true, Megillus; and to you, who have inherited
the virtues of your ancestors, I may properly speak of the ac-
tions of that day. And I would wish you and Cleinias to
consider whether my words have not also a bearing on Iegisla-
tion; for Iam not discoursing only for the pleasure of talking,
but for the argument’s sake. Please to remark that the expe-
rience both of ourselves and the Persians was, in a certain sense,
the same; for they led their people as we led ours, the one into
utter servitude, the other into all freedom. And now, how shall
we proceed? for I would like you tojobserve that our previous
arguments have a good deal to say for themselves.

Meg. True; but I wish that you would give us a fuller 7¢
explanation.

Ath. 1 will. Under the ancient laws, my friends, the peo-
ple was not as now the master, but rather the willing servant
of the laws.

=

BOOK 1717, 27

Gr

_ Meg. What laws do you mean?

Ath, In the first place, let us speak of the laws about
music; that is to say, such music as then existed; in order that
we may trace thé growth of the excess of freedom from the
beginning ; for music was early divided among us into cer-
tain kinds and manners. One sort consisted of prayers to the
Gods, which were called hymns; and there was another and
opposite sort called lamentations, and another termed paeans,
and another called dithyrambs; of which latter the subject, if
I am not mistaken, was the birth of Dionysus. And they
used the actual word ‘laws, or voépor, meaning ‘song, only
adding such and such an instrument, of the harp, for example,
when they wanted to denote a particular strain. All these
and others were duly distinguished, nor were they allowed to
intermingle one sort of music with another. And the autho-
rity which determined and gave judgment, and punished the
disobedient, was not expressed in a hiss, nor in the most un-
musical ‘sweet voices’ of the multitude, as in our days; nor
in applause and clappings of the hands. But the directors of
public instruction insisted that the spectators should listen in
silence to the end; and boys and their tutors, and the multi-
tude in general, were kept quiet by the touch of the wand.
Such was the good order which the multitude were willing to
observe; they would not have dared to give judgment by
noisy cries. And then, as time went on, the poets themselves
introduced the reign of ignorance and misrule. They were
men of genius, but they had no knowledge of what is just
and lawful in music; raging like Bacchanals and_ possessed
with inordinate delights — mingling lamentations with hymns,
and paeans with dithyrambs; imitating the sounds of the flute
on the lyre, and making one general confusion; ignorantly
affirming that music has no truth, and, whether good or bad,
can only be judged of rightly by the pleasure of the hearer.
And by composing such licentious poems, and adding to them
words as licentious, they have inspired the multitude with
lawlessness and boldness, and made them fancy that they can
judge for themselves about melody and song. And in this
way the theatres from being mute have become vocal, as
though they had understanding of good and bad in music

WV OFS; Ns Zh

274 LAWS.

and poetry; and instead of an ‘aristocracy, an evil sort of
theatrocracy has grown up. For if the democracy which
judged had only consisted of freemen, there would have been
no fatal harm done; but in music there first arose the uni-
versal conceit of omniscience and general lawlessness ;—free-
dom came following afterwards, and men, fancying that they
knew what they did not know, had no longer any fear,
and the absence of fear begets shamelessness. For what is
shamelessness but the insolent refusal to regard the opinion
of the better by reason of an over-daring sort of liberty ?

Meg. Very true.

Ath. Consequent upon this freedom comes the other free-
dom of disobedience to rulers; and then the attempt to
escape the control and exhortation of father, mother, elders,
and when near the end, the control of the laws also; and at
the very end there is the contempt of oaths and pledges, and
no regard at all for the Gods,—herein they exhibit and imi-
tate the old Titanic nature; and thus they return again to
the old, and lead a life of evils which have no end. Why do
I say so? Because I think that the argument ought to be
pulled up from time to time, and not be allowed to run
away, but held with bit and bridle, and then we shall not,
as the proverb says, fall off our ass. Let us then once more
ask the question, to what end has all this been said ?

Meg. Very good.

Ath, This, then, has been said for the sake

Meg. Of what?

Ath, We said that the lawgiver ought to have three things
in view: first, that the city for which he legislates should be
free; and secondly, be at unity with herself; and _ thirdly,
should have understanding ; these were our principles, were
they not?

Meg. Certainly.

Ath, With a view to this we selected two kinds of govern-
ment, the one the most despotic, and the other the most
free; and now we are considering which of them is the right
form: we took a mean in both cases, of despotism in the
one, and of liberty in the other, and we saw that in a mean
they attained their perfection; but that when they were

iS)

BOOK III. 275

carried to the extreme of either, slavery or despotism, neither
party were the gainers.

Meg. Very true.

Ath. And that was our reason for considering the settle-
ment of the Dorian army, and of the country at the foot of
the Dardanian mountains, and the removal of the city to the
plain by the sea, and the first men who were the survivors
of the deluge. And all that was said about music and drink-
ing, and what preceded, has been said with the view of
seeing how a state might be best administered, and how an
individual might best order his own life. And now, Megillus
and Cleinias, how can we put to the proof the value of our
words ?

Cle. Stranger, I think that I see how a proof of their value
may be obtained. This discussion of ours appears to me to
have been singularly fortunate, and just what I at this mo-
ment want; most auspiciously have you and my friend
Megillus come in my way. For I will tell you what has
happened to me; and I regard the coincidence as a sort of
omen. The greater part of Crete is going to send out a
colony, and they have entrusted the management of the affair
to the Cnosians; and the Cnosians to me and nine others.
And they desire us to give them any laws which we please,
whether taken from the Cretan model or from any other; and
they do not mind about their being foreign if they are better.
Grant me then this favour, which will also be a gain to your-
selves: — Let us make a selection from what has been said,
and then let us imagine a State of which we will suppose
ourselves to be the original colonizers. Thus we shall pro-
ceed with our enquiry, and at the same time I may have
the use of the framework which you are constructing, for the
city which is in contemplation.

Ath, Good news, Cleinias; if Megillus has no objection, you
may be sure that I will do all in my power to please you.

(iz; Peagtec.

Meg. And I too.

Cle. Excellent ; and now let us begin to frame the State.

B.OiOdG wis

Athenian Stranger. And now, what will this city be? I do 7¢@
not mean to ask what is or will be the name of the place;
that may be determined by the accident of locality or of the
original settlement,—a river or fountain, or some local deity
may give the sanction of a name to the newly-founded ‘city ;
but I do want to know what the situation is; whether mari-
time or inland?

Cleinias. I should imagine, Stranger, that the city of which
we are speaking is about eighty stadia distant from the sea.

Ath, And are there harbours on the seaboard? _

Cle. Excellent harbours, Stranger; there could not be better.

Ath, You don’t say so! And is the surrounding country
productive, or in need of importations?

Cle. Hardly in need of anything.

Ath. And is there any neighbouring state?

Cle. None whatever, and that is the reason for selecting the
place ; in days of old, there was a migration of the inhabitants,
and the region has been deserted from time immemorial.

Ath. And has the place a fair proportion of hill, and plain,
and wood?

Cle. Like the rest of Crete in that.

Ath, You mean to say that there is more rock than plain?

CHE xactiy,

Ath. Then there is some hope that your citizens may be
virtuous: had you been on the sea, and well provided with
harbours, and an importing rather than a producing country,
some mighty saviour would have been needed, and lawgivers
more than mortal, if you were ever to have a chance of pre-
serving your state from degeneracy and discordance of man-
ners. But there is comfort in the eighty stadia; although the
sea is too near, especially if, as you say, the harbours are so

A a se Ne a a ls ste

nih te ey

ee

EE anc Aad,

BOOK TV. dhe

5 good. Still we must be satisfied. The sea is pleasant enough

as a daily companion, but has also a bitter and brackish
quality ; filling the streets with merchants and shopkeepers,
and begetting in the souls of men uncertain and unfaithful
ways—making the state unfriendly and unfaithful both to her
own citizens, and also to other nations. There is a consola-
tion, therefore, in the country producing all things at home;
and yet, owing to the ruggedness of the soil, not providing
anything in great abundance. Had there been abundance
there might have been a great export trade, and a great re-
turn of gold and silver; which, as we may safely affirm, has
the most fatal results on a State whose aim is the attainment
of just and noble sentiments: this was said by us, if you
remember, in the previous discussion.

Cle. I remember, and am of opinion that we both were and
are in the right.

Ath. Well, but let me ask, how is the country supplied with
timber for ship-building ?

Cle. There is no pine of any consequence, or fir, and not
much cypress; and you will find very little stone-pine or
plane-wood, which shipwrights always require for the interior
of ships.

Ath, These are also natural advantages.

Cle. Why so?

Ath, Because no city ought to be easily able to imitate its
enemies in what is mischievous. |

Cle. How does that bear upon any of the matters of which
we have been speaking ?

Ath. Remember, my good friend, what I said at first about
the Cretan laws, that they looked to one thing only, and this,
as you both agreed, was war; and I replied that such laws,
in so far as they tended to promote virtue, were good; but in
that they regarded a part only, and not the whole of virtue,

~I disapproved of them. And now I hope that you in your

turn will follow and watch me if I legislate with a view to any-
thing but virtue, or with a view to a part of virtue. For I
consider that the true lawgiver, like an archer, aims only at

96 that on which some eternal beauty is always attending, and

dismisses everything else, whether wealth or any other benefit,

278 LAWS.

when separated from virtue. I was saying that the imitation
of enemies was a bad thing; and I was thinking of a case
n which a maritime people are harassed by enemies, as the
Athenians were by Minos (I do not speak from any desire to
recall past grievances); but he, as we know, was a great
naval potentate, who compelled the inhabitants of Attica to
pay him a cruel tribute; and in those days they had no ships
of war as they now have, nor was the country filled with
ship timber, and therefore they could not readily build them.
Hence neither could they learn how to imitate their enemy
at sea, or become sailors themselves, and in this way directly re-
pel their enemies. Better for them to have lost many times over
the seven youths, than that heavy-armed and stationary troops
should have been turned into sailors, and accustomed to leap
quickly on shore, and again to hurry back to their ships; or
should have fancied that there was no disgrace in not awaiting
the attack of an enemy and dying boldly; and that there
were good reasons, and plenty of them, for a man throwing
away his arms, and betaking himself to flight; which is not
dishonourable, as people say, at certain times. This is the
language of naval warfare, and is anything but worthy of ex-
traordinary praise. For we should not teach bad habits, least
of all to the best part of the citizens. You may learn the
evil of such a practice from Homer, by whom Odysseus is
introduced, rebuking Agamemnon, because he desires to
draw down the ships to the sea at a time when the Achaeans
are hard pressed by the Trojans,—he gets angry with him,
and says :—

‘Who, at a time when the battle is in full cry, biddest to drag the well-
oared ships into the sea, that the prayers of the Trojans may be accom-
plished yet more, and high ruin fall upon us? For the Achaeans will not
maintain the battle, when the ships are drawn into the sea, but they will
look behind and will cease from strife; in that the counsel which you give
will prove injurious.’

You see that he quite knew triremes on the sea, in the neigh-
bourhood of fighting men, to be an evil;—lions might be
trained in that way to fly from a herd of deer. Moreover,
naval powers which owe their safety to ships, do not honour
that sort of warlike excellence which is most deserving of

BOOK TLV. 279

honour. For he who owes his safety to the pilot and the
captain, and the oarsman, and all sorts of rather good-for-
nothing persons, cannot rightly give honour to whom honout
is due. But how can a state be in a right condition which
cannot duly award honour?

Cle. It is hardly possible, I admit; and yet, Stranger, we
Cretans are in the habit of saying that the battle of Salamis
was the salvation of Hellas.

Ath, Why, yes; and that is an opinion which is widely spread
both among Hellenes and barbarians. But Megillus and I
say, rather, that the battle of Marathon was the beginning, and
the battle of Plataea the completion of the great deliverance,
and that these battles made the Hellenes better; whereas the
sea-fights of Salamis and Artemisium—for I may as well put
them both together—made them no better, if I may say so
without offence about the battles which helped to save us.
And in estimating the goodness of a state, we regard both
the situation of a country and the order of the laws, con-
sidering that the mere preservation and continuance of life is
not the most honourable thing for men, as the vulgar think,
but the continuance of the best life, while we live; and that
again, if I am not mistaken, is a remark which has been
made already.

Cie. Ve:

Ath. Then we have only to ask, whether we are taking
the course which we acknowledge to be the best for the
settlement and legislation of states.

Cie... Vhevbest by. tar:

Ath. And now let me proceed to another question: Who
ate..to'- be. the. colonists +... Nay any. one come out. -of “all
Crete; and is the idea that the population in the several
states is too numerous for the means of subsistence? For I
suppose that you are not going to send out a general invi-
tation to any Hellene who likes to come. And yet I ob-
serve that in your country there are people who have come
o8 from Argos and Aegina and other parts of Hellas. Tell
me, then, whence do you draw your recruits in the present
enterprise ?

Cle. They will come from all Crete; and of other Hellenes,

280 LAWS.

Peloponnesians will be most acceptable. For, as you truly
observe, there are Cretans of Argive descent; and the race
of Cretans which has the highest character at the present day,
is the Gortynian, and this has come from Gortys in the Pelo-
ponnesus.

Ath. Cities find colonization in some respects easier when
the colonists are one race, which like a swarm of bees is
sent out from a single country, friends from friends, owing
to some pressure of population, or other similar necessity, or
because a portion of a state is driven by factions to emigrate,
And there have been whole cities which have taken flight
when utterly conquered by a superior power in war. This,
however, which is in one way an advantage to the colonist or
legislator, in another point of view creates a difficulty. There
is an element of friendship in the community of race, and
language, and laws, and in ‘common sacrifices, and the like;
but colonies which are of this homogeneous sort are apt to
kick against any laws different from their own; and although
the badness of their own laws has undone them, yet because
of the force of habit they would fain preserve the very cus-
toms which were their ruin; and the leader of the colony,
who is their legislator, finds them troublesome and rebellious.
On the other hand, the conflux of several populations might
be more disposed to listen to new laws; but then, to make
them combine and pull together, as they say of horses, is a
most difficult task, and the work of years. And yet there
is nothing which perfects the virtue of men like legislation
and colonization. |

Cle. No doubt; but I should like to know why you say so.

Ath, My good friend, I am afraid that the course of my
speculations is leading me to say something depreciatory of
legislators; but if the word be to the purpose there can be no
harm. And yet, why am I disquieted, for I believe that the
same principle applies equally to all human things?

Cle. ‘To what are you referring ?

Ath, I was going to say that man never legislates, but
accidents of all sorts, which legislate for us in all sorts of
ways. The violence of war and the hard necessity of poverty
are constantly overturning governments and changing laws.

BOOK LY. 281

And the power of disease has often caused innovations in
the state, when there have been pestilences and bad seasons
continuing during many years. Any one who sees all this,
naturally rushes to the conclusion of which I was speaking,
that no mortal legislates in anything, but that in human affairs
chance is almost everything. And this may be said of the
arts of the sailor, and the pilot, and the physician, and the
general, and may seem to be well said; and yet there is another
thing which may be said with equal truth of all of them.

Cle. What is it?

Ath, That God governs all things, and that chance and
opportunity co-operate with Him in the government of human
affairs. There is, however, a third and less extrerne view, that
art should be there also; for I should say that in a storm there
must surely be a great advantage in having a pilot. You would
agree?

Clee es

Ath. And might not this be also said of legislation as well
as of other things: even supposing all other circumstances
favourable, the true legislator is still required, from time to
time, to provide for the happiness of the state?

Cie That a adnnt.

Ath, In each case the artist would be right in praying for
certain favourable conditions, under which he would only require
torexercise Nis art

Cle. Very true.

Ai: sana “dll other artists, if, they, had to offer wp. their
prayers, would do likewise?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And the legislator would do so too?

Cle. I believe that he would.

Ath. ‘Come, legislator,’ we will say to him; ‘what conditions
do you require of us before you organize your state?’ What
ought he to answer? Shall I give the answer of the legislator?

Cle. Very good.

Ath, We will say—‘Give me a state which is governed by
a tyrant, and let the tyrant be young and have a good memory ;
let him be quick at learning, and of a courageous and noble
nature: Jet him have ‘that’ which. as 1° Said belore;.is the

282 LAWS.

inseparable companion of all the other parts of virtue, if there 71
is to be any good in them.’

Cle. I suppose, Megillus, that this companion virtue of which
the Stranger speaks, must be temperance?

Ath. Yes, Cleinias, temperance in the vulgar sense; not that
which in the exaggerated language of some philosophers is
demonstrated to be prudence, but that which is the natural gift
of children and animals, and makes some of them live continently
and others incontinently, but when isolated, was, as we said,
hardly worth reckoning in the catalogue of goods. I think that
you must understand my meaning?

Cie.) Certainly.

Ath. Then our tyrant must have this as well as the other
qualities, if the state is to acquire in the best manner and in
the shortest time the form of government which is most
conducive to happiness; for there neither is nor ever will be
a better or speedier way of establishing a polity than by a
tyranny.

Cle. By what possible arguments, Stranger, can you prove
such a monstrous doctrine?

Ath. There is surely no difficulty in seeing, Cleinias, what is
in accordance with the order of nature?

Cle. You would assume, as you say, a tyrant who was young,
temperate, quick at learning, having a good memory, courageous,
of a noble nature?

Ate Ves: and you must add: fortunate: and. his’ coed
fortune must be that he is the contemporary of a great
legislator, and that some happy chance brings them together.
When this has been accomplished, God has done all that
He can ever do for a state which he desires to be eminently
prosperous; He has done second best for a state in which
there are two such rulers, and third best for a state in which
there are three. The difficulty increases with the increase of
the number, and diminishes with the diminution of the
number.

Cle. You mean to say, I suppose, that the best government
is produced from a tyranny, and originates in a good lawgiver
and an orderly tyrant, and most easily and rapidly passes out
of such a tyranny into a perfect form of government; and, in

p

bh

BOOK IV. 283

the second degree, out of an oligarchy; and, in the third
degree, out of a democracy: is not that your meaning?

Ath. Not so; I mean rather to say that the change is best
made out of a tyranny; and secondly, out of a monarchy ;
and thirdly, out of some sort of democracy: fourth, in the
capacity for improvement, comes oligarchy, which has the
greatest difficulty in admitting of such a change, because the
government is in the hands of a number of potentates. I am
supposing that the legislator is by nature of the true sort,
and that his strength is united with that of the chief men of
the state; and when he is strongest, and, at the same time,
there are the fewest persons concerned, as in a tyranny, there
the change is likely to be easiest and most rapid.

Cle. How? Ido not understand.

Ath. And yet I have repeated what I am saying a good
many times; but I suppose that you have never seen a city
which is under a tyranny?

Cle. No; I cannot say that I have any great desire to
Seenone.

Ath, And yet, where there is a tyranny, you might certainly
see that of which I am now speaking.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. I mean that you might see how, without trouble and
in no very long period of time, the tyrant, if he wishes, can
change the manners of a state: he has only to go in the
direction of virtue or of vice, whichever he prefers, he himself
setting an example in his own person, praising and counte-
nancing some actions, and reproving and setting a note of
dishonour upon others.

Cle. But how can we imagine that the citizens in general will
at once follow the example set to them; or how can he have
this power both of persuading and of compelling them ?

Ath, Let no one, my friends, persuade us that there is any
quicker and easier way in which laws act upon states than when
the rulers lead: such changes never have, nor ever will, come
to pass in any other way. The real impossibility or difficulty

is of another sort, and is rarely surmounted in the course of

ages; but when once it is surmounted, ten thousand or rather
all blessings follow.

284 LAWS.

Cle. Of what are you speaking?

Ath. The difficulty is to find the divine love of temperate
and just institutions existing in any powerful forms of govern-
ment, whether in a monarchy or oligarchy of wealth or of birth.
You might as well hope to reproduce the character of Nestor,
who is said to have excelled all men in the power of speech,
and yet more in his temperance. This, however, according to
the tradition, was in the times of Troy ; in our own days there is
nothing of the sort; but if such an one either has or ever shall
come into being, or is now among us, blessed is he and blessed
are they who hear the wise words that flow from his lips. And
this may be said of power in general: When the supreme power 71:
in man coincides with the greatest wisdom and temperance, then
the best laws and the best constitution come into being; but in
no other way. And I would have what I am saying regarded
as a sort of divination and declaration that, in one point of view,
there may be a difficulty for a city to have good laws, but that
there is another point of view in which nothing can be easier
or sooner effected, granting our supposition.

Cle. How do you mean?

Ath. Let us try to put into words the laws which are suitable
to your state; like children, framing our lips to utter them.

Cle, Let us proceed without delay.

Ath. Then let us invoke God at the settlement of our state;
may He hear and be propitious to us, and come and set in order
the State and the laws!

Cle. May he come!

Ath, But what form of polity are we going to give the city?

Ciese lel ine swhate vow mean a suttle, more Clearly. 1G
you mean what form of polity, as, for example, democracy or
oligarchy, or aristocracy or monarchy? For I suppose that
you would not include tyranny.

Ath, Which of you will answer first, to which of these classes
your own government is to be referred ?

Meg. Ought I to answer first, since I am the elder?

Cle. Perhaps you should.

Meg. And yet, Stranger, I perceive that I cannot say,
without more thought, what I should call the government of
Lacedaemon, for it seems to me to be like a tyranny; the

BOOK IV. 285

power of our Ephors is marvellously tyrannical; and sometimes
it appears to me to be of all cities the most democratical ;
and who can reasonably deny that it is an aristecracy? We
have also a monarchy which is held for life, and is said by
all mankind, and not by ourselves only, to be the most ancient
of all monarchies; and, therefore, when asked on a _ sudden,
I cannot precisely say which form of government the Spar-
tan is.

Cle. I am in the same difficulty, Megillus, for I do not feel
confident that the polity of Cnosus is any of these.

Ath, The reason is, my excellent friends, that you really
have polities, but the cities of which we were speaking are
mere aggregations of citizens who are the subjects and servants
of parts of their own state; they are named after their several
ruling powers, and are not polities at all. But if states are
to be named after their rulers, the true state ought to be called
by the name of the God who rules over wise men.

Cle. And who is this God?

Ath. May I still make use of fable to some extent, in the
hope that I may be better able to answer your question:
shall I?

Cle. By all means.

Ath, In the primeval world, and a long while before the
cities came into being whose settlements we have described,
there 1s said: to.-have, been iAn-tne,.time ob Cronos 2 blessed
state and way of life, of which the best-ordered of existing
states is a copy.

Cle. It will be very necessary to hear about that.

Ath. I quite agree with you ; and therefore I have introduced
the subject.

Cle. Most appropriately ; and since the tale is to the point,
you will do well in giving us the whole story.

Ath. I will do as you suggest. There is a tradition of the
happy life of mankind in days when all things were spontaneous
and abundant. And of this the reason is said to have been
as follows:—Cronos knew what we ourselves were declaring,
that no human nature invested with supreme power is able to
order human affairs and not overflow with insolence and wrong.
Which reflection led him to appoint not men but demigods, who

286 LAWS.

are of a higher and more divine race, to be the kings and rulers
of our cities; he did as we do with flocks of sheep and other
tame animals. For we do not appoint oxen to be the lords
of oxen, or goats of goats; but we ourselves are a superior
race, and rule over them. In like manner God, in His love
of mankind, placed over us the demons, who are a superior
race, and they with great case and pleasure to themselves,
and no less to us, taking care of us and giving us peace and
reverence and order and justice never failing, made the tribes
of men happy and peaceful. And this tradition, which is true,
declares that cities of which some mortal man and not God
is the ruler, have no escape from evils and toils. Still we
must do all that we can to imitate the life which is said to
have existed in the days of Cronos, and, as far as the principle
of immortality dwells in us, to that we must hearken, both in
private and public life, and regulate our cities and houses
according to law, meaning by the very term ‘law, the distri-
bution of mind’. But if either an oligarchy or a democracy
has a soul eager after pleasures and desires—wanting to be
filled with them, yet retaining none of them, and perpetually
afflicted with an endless and insatiable disorder; and this evil
soul, having first trampled the laws under foot, becomes the
master either of a state or an individual,—then, as I was
saying, there is no possibility of salvation. And now, Cleinias,
we have to consider whether you will or will not accept my
view.

Cle. Certainly we will.

Ath. Do you know that there are often said to be as many
forms of laws as there are of governments? And how many
there are of these we have already stated. And this you must
regard as a matter of very great importance. For what is to
be the standard of just and unjust, is once more the point at
issue. Men say that the law ought not to regard either peace
or war, or virtue in general, but only the interests and power
and preservation of the existing form of government; this is
thought by them to be the best way of expressing the natural
definition of justice.

Cle. How? |

at , eo f
voxshLos = Vou Oltavopy,

71

BOOK IV. 987

Ath. Justice is said by them to be the interest of the
stronger. ;

Cle. Speak plainer.

Ath, I will; they surely assume that the governing power
makes whatever laws have authority in any state?

Cle. True.

Ath, Well, they would say, and do you suppose that tyranny
or democracy, or any other conquering power, does not make
the continuance of the power which is possessed by them the
first or principal object of their laws?

Cle. How can they have any other?

Ath, And whoever transgresses these laws is punished as an
evil-doer by the legislator, who calls the laws just?

Cle. Naturally.

Ath, This, then, is always the mode and fashion in which
justice exists?

Cle. Certainly, if we are correct in our view.

Ath, Why, yes, this is one of the evil forms of government to
which we were referring.

Cle. What were they?

Ath. Those which we were examining when we spoke of
who ought to govern whom. Did we not arrive at the con-
clusion that parents ought to govern their children, and the
elder the younger, and the noble the ignoble? And there were
many other principles, if you remember, and they were not
always consistent. One principle was that of Pindar; he spoke
of law in the order of nature doing and justifying violence.

Cle. Yes; I remember.

Ath. Consider, then, to whom our state is to be entrusted.
For there is a thing which has occurred times without number
in states

Cle, What ?

Ath, That when there has been a contest for power, and the
conquerors have monopolized the government, and have refused
all share to the defeated party and their descendants, they have
lived watching one another, in perpetual fear that some one will
come into power who has a recollection of former wrongs, and
will rise up against them. Now, according to our view, such
governments are not polities at all, nor are laws right which are

288 Lea IVS.

passed for the good of particular classes and not for the good of
the whole state. States which have such laws are not polities
but parties, and their notion of justice is simply unmeaning.
I say this, because I am going to assert that we must not
entrust the government in your state to any one because he is
rich, or because he possesses any advantage, such as strength,
or stature, or again birth: but he who is most obedient to the
laws of the state, he shall win the palm; and to him who is
victorious in the first degree shall be given the highest office
and chief ministry of the gods; and the second to him who
bears the second palm; and in a similar ratio shall all the other
offices be assigned to their holders. And when I call the rulers
servants or ministers of the law, I give them this name not for
the sake of novelty, but because I certainly believe that upon
their service or ministry depends the well- or ill-being of the
state. For that state in which the law is subject and has no
authority, I perceive to be on the highway to ruin; but I see
that the state in which the law is above the rulers, and the
rulers are the inferiors of the law, has salvation, and every
blessing which the Gods can confer.

Cle. Truly, Stranger, you see with the keen vision of age.

Ath, Why, yes; every man when he is young has that sort of
vision dullest, and when he is oldest most keen.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, And now, what is to be the next step? May we not
suppose the colonists to have arrived, and proceed to make our
speech to them?

Ge Cettainly:

Ath, ‘Friends, we say to them,—‘ God, as the old tradition
declares, holding in His hand the beginning, middle, and end
of all that is, moves according to His nature in a straight line
towards the accomplishment of His end. Justice always follows
Him, and is the punisher of those who fall short of the divine
law. “To that law, he who would be happy holds fast, and
follows it in all humility and order; but he who is lifted up
with pride, or money, or honour, or beauty, who has a soul
hot with folly, and youth, and insolence, and thinks that he
has no need of a guide or ruler, but is able himself to be the
guide of others, he, I say, is left deserted of God; and being

BOOK IV. 2809

thus deserted, he takes to him others who are like himself, and
dances about, throwing all things into confusion, and many think
that he is a great man, but in a short time he pays a penalty
which justice cannot but approve, and is utterly destroyed, and
his family and city with him. Wherefore, seeing that human
things are thus ordered, what should a wise man do or think,
or not do or think?’

Cle. Every man ought to make up his mind that he will be
one of the followers of the God ; there can be no doubt of that.

Ath, Then what life is agreeable to God, and becoming in
his followers? One only, according to the old saying that ‘like
agrees with like, with measure measure, but things which have
no measure agree neither with themselves nor with the things
which have measure. Now, God is the measure of all things,
in a sense far higher than any man, as they say, can ever
hope to be. And he who would be dear to God must, as
far as is possible, be like Him and such as He is. Wherefore
the temperate man is the friend of God, for he is hike Him ;
and the intemperate man is unlike Him, and different from
Him, and unjust. And the same holds of other things, and
this is the conclusion, which is also the noblest and truest of
all sayings :—that for the good man to offer sacrifice to the
Gods, and hold converse with them by means of prayers and
offerings and every kind of service, is the noblest and best of
all things, and also the most conducive to a happy life, and
very fit and meet. But with the bad man, the opposite of this
holds: for the bad man has an impure soul, whereas the good
is pure; and from one who is polluted, neither a good man nor
God is right in receiving gifts. And therefore the unholy waste

17 their much service upon the Gods, which, when offered by any

holy man, is always accepted of them. Such is the mark at
which we ought to aim. But what weapons shall we use, and
how shall we direct them? In the first place, we affirm that
next after the Olympian Gods, and the Gods of the State,
honour should be given to the Gods below; they should receive
everything in even numbers, and of the second choice, and of
evil omen, while the odd numbers and the first choice, and the
things of lucky omen, are given to the Gods above, by him who
would rightly hit the mark of piety. Next to these Gods,

VOU. Va U

290 (SoM Aa:

a wise man will do service to the demons or spirits, and then to
the heroes, and after them will follow the sacred places of
private and ancestral Gods, having their ritual according to law.
Next comes the honour of living parents, to whom, as is meet,
we have to pay the first and greatest and oldest of all debts,
considering that all which a man has belongs to those who gave
him birth and brought him up, and that he must do all that
he can to minister to them: first, in his property ; secondly, in
his person; and thirdly, in his soul; paying the debts due to
them for the care and travail which they bestowed upon him
of old, in the days of his infancy, and which he is now to pay
back to them when they are old and in the extremity of their
need. And all his life long he ought never to utter, or to
have uttered, an unbecoming word to them; for of all light and
winged words he will have to give an account; Nemesis, the
messenger of justice, is appointed to watch over them. When
they are angry and want to satisfy their feelings in word or
deed, he should not resist them; for a father who thinks that
he has been wronged by his son may be reasonably expected
to be very angry. At their death, the most moderate funeral
is best, neither exceeding the customary expense, nor yet falling
short of the honour which has been usually shown by the former
generation to their parents; and let a man not forget to pay
the yearly tribute of respect to the dead, honouring them chiefly
by omitting nothing that conduces to a perpetual remembrance 7
of them, and giving a reasonable portion of his fortune to the
dead. Doing this, and living after this manner, we shall receive
our reward from the Gods and those who are above us; and
we shall spend our days for the most part in good hope. And
how a man ought to order what relates to his descendants and
his kindred and friends and citizens, and the rites of hospitality
taught by Heaven, and the intercourse which arises out of them,
all with a view to the embellishment and orderly regulation of
his own life—these things, I say, the laws, as we proceed with
them, will accomplish, partly persuading, and partly when na-
tures do not yield to the persuasion of custom, chastising them
by might and right, and will thus render our state, if the Gods
co-operate with us, prosperous and happy. But of what has to
be said, and must be said by the legislator who is of my way of

BOOK IV. 291

thinking, and yet, if said in the form of law, would be out of
place—of this I think that he may give a sample for the instruc-
tion of himself and of those for whom he is legislating; and
then when, as far as he is able, he has gone through all the
preliminaries, he may proceed to the work of legislation. Now,
what will be the form of such prefaces? There may be a diffi-
culty in including or describing them all under a single form,
but I think that we may get some notion of them if we can
guarantee one thing.

Cle. What is that?

Ath, 1 should wish the citizens to be as receptive of virtue
as possible ; this will surely be the aim of the legislator in all
his laws.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, What I have been proposing appears to me to have
some use; for a person will listen with more gentleness and
good-will to the precepts addressed to him by the legislator,
when his soul is not altogether unprepared to receive them.
Even a little done in the way of conciliation gains his ear, and
is always worth having. For there is no great inclination or
readiness on the part of mankind to be made as good, or as
quickly good, as possible. The case of the many proves the
wisdom of Hesiod, who says that the road to wickedness is
smooth and very short, and there is no need of perspiring :—

‘But before virtue the immortal Gods have placed the sweat of labour, and

19 long and steep is the way thither, and rugged at first; but when you have
reached the top, then, however difficult, it becomes easy.’

Cle. Yes; and he certainly speaks well.

Ath, Very true: and now let me tell you the effect which the
preceding discourse has had upon me.

Cle, Proceed.

Ath. Suppose that we have a little conversation with the
legislator, and say to him—‘O, legislator, speak ; if you know
what we ought to say and do, you can surely tell.’

Cle. Certainly, he can.

Ath, Did we not hear you just now saying, that the legislator
ought not to allow the poets to do what they liked? For that
they did not know in which of their words they went against the
laws, to the hurt of the state.

Une

292 LAWS.

Cie.« Anat 1s tie:

Ath. May we not fairly make answer to him on behalf of the
DOCis—

Cle. What answer shall we make to him?

Ath, That the poet, according to the tradition which has ever
prevailed among us, and is accepted of all men, when he sits
down on the tripod of the muse, is not in his right mind; like
a fountain, he allows the stream of thought to flow freely, and
his art being imitative, he is often compelled to represent men
under opposite circumstances, and thus to say two different
things; neither can he tell whether there is any truth in either
of them, or in one more than in the other. But this is not the
case in a law; the legislator must give not two rules about the
same thing, but one only. Take an example from what you
have just been saying. Of three kinds of funerals, there is one
which is too extravagant, another is too niggardly, the third in
a mean; and you choose and approve and order the last without
qualification. But if I had an extremely rich wife, and she
bade me bury her, and I were to describe her burial in poetry,
I should praise the extravagant sort ; and a poor miserly man,
who had not much money to spend, would approve of the
niggardly ; and the man of moderate means, who was himself
moderate, would praise a moderate funeral. Now you in the
capacity of legislator must not barely say ‘a moderate funeral,’
but you must define what moderation is, and how much; unless
you are definite, you must not suppose that you are speaking
a language that can become law.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And is our legislator to have no preface to his laws,
but to say at once Do this, avoid that—and then holding the
penalty in terrorem, to go on to another law; offering never a
word of advice or exhortation to those for whom he is legis-
lating, after the manner of some doctors? For of doctors, as
you doubtless know, there are two kinds, a gentler and a ruder,
and two modes of cure; and as children ask the doctor to be
gentle with them, so we will ask the legislator to cure our dis-
orders with the gentlest remedies. What I mean to say is, that
besides doctors there are their assistants, who are also styled
doctors,

~]

_

BOOK TV. 293

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And whether they are slaves or freemen makes no dif-
ference; they acquire their knowledge of medicine by obeying
and observing their masters; empirically and not rationally, as
the manner of freemen is, who have learned scientifically them-
selves the art which they impart to their pupils. You are aware
that there are these two classes of doctors?

Cle. To be sure.

Ath, And did you ever observe that there are two classes of
patients in states, slaves and freemen; and the slave doctors
run about and cure the slaves, and wait for them in the dispen-
saries—practitioners of this sort never talk to their patients
individually, or let them talk about their own individual com-
plaints? The doctor prescribes what he thinks good, out of the
abundance of his experience, as if he had no manner of doubt ;
and when he has given his orders, like a tyrant, he rushes off
with equai assurance to some other servant who is ill; and so
he relieves the master of the house of the care of his invalid
slaves. But the other doctor, who is a freeman, attends and
practises upon freemen; and he carries his enquiries far back,
and goes into the nature of the disorder; he enters into dis-
course with the patient and with his friends, and is at once
getting information from the sick man, and also instructing him
as far as he is able, and he will not prescribe for him until he
has first convinced him; at last, when he has brought the patient
more and more under his persuasive influences and set him on
the road to health, he attempts to effect a cure. Now, which is
the better way of proceeding in a physician and in a trainer?
Is he the better who accomplishes his ends in a double way,
or he who works in one way, and that the ruder and in-
ferior ?

Cle. I should say, Stranger, that the double way is far better.

Ath. Should you like to see an example of the double and
single method in legislation ?

Cle. Certainly I should.

Ath, What will be our first law? Will not the legislator,
observing the order of nature, begin by making regulations for
births ?

Cle. Certainly.

294 LAWS.

Ath. And in all states the birth of children goes back to the
_ connection of marriage ?

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Then, according to the true order, the laws relating to
marriage should be those which are first determined in every
state ?

Cle. Quite true.

Ath. Then let me first give the law of marriage in a simple
form, which may be as follows:—A man shall marry between
the ages of thirty and thirty-five, or, if he does not, he shall pay
such and such a fine, or shall suffer the loss of such and such
privileges. This would be the simple law about marriage. The
double law would run as follows :—A man shall marry between
the ages of thirty and thirty-five, considering that the human
race naturally partakes of immortality, of which all men have
the greatest desire implanted in them ; for the desire of every
man that he may become famous, and not lie in the grave
without a name, is only the love of continuance. Now, man-
kind are coeval with all time, and are ever following, and will
ever follow, the course of time; and so they are immortal, in-
asmuch as they leave children behind them, and partake of
immortality in the unity of generation. And for a man volun-
tarily to deprive himself of this gift, as he deliberately does who
will not have a wife or children, is impiety. He who obeys the
law shall be free, and shall pay no fine; but he who is dis-
obedient, and does not marry, when he has arrived at the age
of thirty-five, shall pay a yearly fine of a certain amount, in
order that his celibacy may not be a source of ease and profit
to him; and he shall not share in the honours which the young
men in the state give to the aged. Comparing now the two
forms of the law, you will be able to arrive at a judgment about
any other laws—whether they should be double in length even
when shortest, because they have to persuade as well as
threaten, or whether they shall only threaten and be of half
the length.

Meg. The Lacedaemonians, Stranger, would generally prefer »
the shorter form; although, for my own part, if any one were
to ask me which I myself prefer in the state, I should certainly
determine in favour of the longer; and I would have every law 72

POORLY . 295

made after the same pattern, if I had to choose. But I think
that Cleinias is the person to be consulted, for his is the state
which is going to use these laws.

Cle. Thank you, Megillus.

Ath. Whether, in the abstract, words are to be many or
few, is a very unmeaning question; the best form, and not
the shortest, is to be approved; nor is length at all to be
regarded. In the form of law which has been recited, the
one kind is not only twice as good in practical usefulness as
the other, but the case is like that of the two kinds of doctors,
of whom I was just now speaking. And yet legislators never
appear to have considered that whereas they have two in-
struments which they might use in legislation— persuasion
and force, in so far as a rude and uneducated multitude are
capable of being affected by them, they use one only; for
they do not mingle persuasion with antagonism, but employ
force pure and simple. There is a third point, swect friends,
which ought to be, and never is, regarded in our existing laws.

Cle. What is that?

Ath. A point arising out of our previous discussion, which
comes into my mind I know not how. All this time, from
early dawn until noon, have we been talking about laws in
this charming retreat: now we are going to promulgate our
laws, and what has preceded was only the prelude of them.
Why do I mention this? For this reason:—Because all
discourses and vocal exercises have preludes and overtures,
which are a sort of artistic beginnings intended to help the
strain which is to be performed; lyric measures and every
other sort of music have preludes framed with wonderful care.
But of the truer and higher strain of law and politics, no one
has ever yet uttered any prelude, or composed or published
any, as though there was no such thing in nature. Whereas
our present discussion seems to me to imply that there is—
these double laws, of which we were speaking, are not exactly
double, but they are in two parts, the law and the prelude of

23 the law. The arbitrary command, which was compared to
the commands of the physicians, whom we described as of
the meaner sort, was the law pure and simple; and that which
preceded, and was described by our friend as hortatory only,

{

was, in fact, an exhortation, and is analogous to the preamble
of a discourse. For I imagine that all this language of con-
ciliation, which the legislator has been uttering in the preface
of the law, was intended to create good-will in the person whom
he addressed, in order that, by reason of this good-will, he might
more intelligently receive his command, that is to say, the law.
And therefore, in my way of speaking, this is more rightly
described as the preamble than as the matter of the law.
And I must further proceed to observe, that the legislator
should not make laws which have no preambles; he should
remember how great will be the difference between them,
accordingly as they have, or have not, preambles, as in the
instance already given.

Cle. The lawgiver, if he asks my opinion, will certainly
legislate in the form which you advise.

Ath, J think that you are quite right, Cleinias, in affirming
that all laws have preambles, and that throughout the whole
of this work of iegislation every single law should have a
suitable preamble at the beginning; for that which is to follow
is most important, and whether this is clearly recorded or not
is a very serious matter. Yet we should be wrong in requiring
that all laws, small and great alike, should have preambles of
the same kind, any more than all songs or speeches; although
they may be natural to all, they are not always necessary,
and whether they are to be employed or not has to be left
to the judgment of the speaker or the musician, or, in the
present instance, of the lawgiver.

Cle. That I think is most true. And now, Stranger, without
delay, let us return to the argument, and, as people say in play,
make a second and better beginning, if you please, with the
principles which we have been laying down, which we never
thought of regarding as a preamble before, but of which we
may now make a preamble, and not merely consider them to
_be chance topics of discourse. Let us acknowledge, then, that
we have a preamble. About the honour of the Gods and
the respect of parents, enough has been already said; and we
may proceed to the topics which follow next in order, until
the preamble is deemed by you te be complete; and after
that you shall go through the laws themsclves.

BOOK GIS 297

24 Ath. I understand you to mean that we have made a
sufficient preamble about the Gods and demons, and about
parents living or dead; and now you would have us bring
the rest of the subject into the light of day?

Cle 7 xactly.

Ath. After this, as is meet and for the general interest, I
the speaker, and you the listeners, will try to estimate all that
relates to the souls and bodies and properties of the citizens,
as regards both their occupations and amusements, and thus
arrive, as far as in us lies, at the nature of education—that
will follow next in order.

Cle. Very good.

POO

Athenian Stranger. LISTEN, all ye who have just now heard 72

the laws about Gods, and about our dear forefathers :—Of all
the things which a man has, next to the Gods, his soul is the
most divine and most truly his own. Now in every man there
are two parts: the better and superior part, which rules, and
the worse and inferior part, which serves; and the ruler is

always to be preferred to the servant. Wherefore I am right 72

in bidding every one next to the Gods, who are our masters,
and those who in order follow them, to honour his own soul,
which every one seems to honour, but no one honours as he
ought; for honour is a divine good, and no evil thing is
honourable; and he who thinks that he can honour the soul
by word or gift, or any sort of compliance, without making
her in any way better, seems to honour her, but honours her
not at all. For example, every man, from his very boyhood,
fancies that he is able to know everything, and thinks that
he honours his soul by praising her, and he is very ready
to let her do whatever she may like. But I mean to say that
in acting thus he only injures his soul, and does not honour
her; whereas, in our opinion, he ought to honour her as
second only to the Gods. Again, when a man thinks that
others are to be blamed, and not himself, for the errors which
he has committed, and the many and great evils which befell
him in consequence, and is always fancying himself to be
exempt and innocent, he is under the idea that he is honour-
ine bic “soul sqwhereas the Very teveise is. tle idcy.40L me 1s
really injuring her. And when, disregarding the word and
approval of the legislator, he indulges in pleasure, then again
he is far from honouring her; he only dishonours her, and fills

BOOK V. 299

her full of evil and remorse; or when he does not endure to
the end the labours and fears and sorrows and pains which
the legislator approves, but gives way before them, then, by
yielding, he does not honour the soul, but by all such conduct
he makes her to be dishonourable; nor when he thinks that
life at any price is a good, does he honour her, but yet once
more he dishonours her; for the soul having a notion that the
world below is all evil, he yields to her, and does not resist
and teach or convince her that, for aught she knows, the world
of the Gods below, instead of being evil, may be the greatest
of all goods. Again, when any one prefers beauty to virtue,
what is this but the real and utter dishonour of the soul? For
such a preference implies that the body is more honourable
than the soul; and this is false, for there is nothing of earthly
birth which is more honourable than the heavenly, and he who
thinks otherwise of the soul has no idea how greatly he under-

28 values this wonderful possession ; nor, again, when a person is
willing, or not unwilling, to acquire dishonest gains, does he
then honour his soul with gifts >—far otherwise ; he sells her glory
and honour for a small piece of gold; but all the gold which
is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange
for virtue. Ina word, I may say that he who does not estimate
the base and evil, the good and noble, according to the standard
of the legislator, and abstain in every possible way from the
one and practise the other with all his might, does not know
that he is most foully and disgracefully abusing his soul, which
is the divinest part of man; for no one, as I may say, ever
considers that which is declared to be the greatest penalty of
evil-doing—namely, to grow into the likeness of bad men, and
growing like them to fly from the conversation of the good,
and be cut off from them, and cleave to and follow after the
company of the bad. And he who is joined to them must do
and suffer what such men by nature do and say to one another,
a suffering which is not justice but retribution; for justice and
the just are noble, whereas retribution is the suffering which
waits upon injustice; and whether a man escape or endure
this, he is miserable,—in the former case, because he is not
cured; while in the latter, he perishes in order that the rest
of mankind may be saved.

300 LAWS.

Speaking generally, our glory is to follow the better and
improve the inferior, which is susceptible of improvement, in
the best manner possible. And of all the possessions which
a man has, the soul is by nature most inclined to avoid the
evil, and search out and find the chief good; and having found,
to dwell with the good during the remainder of life. Wherefore
the soul also is second in honour; and third, as every one will
perceive, comes the honour of the body in natural order.
Having determined this, we have next to consider that there
is a genuine honour of the body, and that of honours some are
and some are not genuine. The legislator, as I suspect, ranks
them in the following order:—Honour is not to be given to
the fair, or the strong, or the swift, or the tall, or the healthy
body (although many may think otherwise), any more than to
their opposites; but the mean states of all these habits are by
far the safest and most moderate; for the one extreme makes
the soul braggart and insolent, and the other, illiberal and
mean; and money, and property, and distinction all go to the
same tune. The excess of any of these things is apt to be a
source of hatreds and divisions among states and individuals ;
and the defect of them is commonly a cause of slavery. And,
therefore, I would not have any one fond of heaping up riches
for the sake of his children, in order that he may leave them
as rich as possible. For the possession of great wealth is of
no use, either to them or to the state. The condition of youth
which is free from flattery, and at the same time not in need
of the necessaries of life, is the best and most harmonious of
all, being in accord and agreement with our nature, and making
life to be most entirely free from sorrow. Let parents, then,
bequeath to their children not riches, but the spirit of reverence.
We, indeed, fancy that they will inherit reverence from us, if
we rebuke them when they show a want of reverence. But
this quality is not really imparted to them by the present
style of admonition, which only tells them that the young
ought always to be reverential. A sensible legislator will rather
exhort the elders to reverence the younger, and above all to
take heed that no young man sees or hears him doing or saying
anything base; for where old men have no shame, there young
men will most certainly be devoid of reverence. The best way

BOOK V. 301

of training the young, is to train yourself at the same time;
not to admonish them, but to be always carrying out your
own principles in practice. He who honours his kindred, and
reveres those who share in the same Gods, and are of the same
blood and family, may fairly expect that the Gods who preside
over generation will be propitious to him, and will quicken his
seed. And he who deems the services which his friends and
acquaintances do to him, greater and more important than they
themselves deem them, and his own favours to them less than
theirs to him, will have their good-will in the intercourse of life.
And surely in his relations to the state and his fellow-citizens,
he is by far the best, who rather than the Olympic or any other
victory of peace or war, desires to win the palm of obedience
to the laws of his country; and who, of all mankind, is the
person reputed to have obeyed them best during his whole life.
In his relations to strangers, a man should consider that a
contract is a most holy thing, and that all concerns and wrongs
of strangers are more directly dependent on the protection of
God, than the wrongs done to citizens; for the stranger having
no kindred and friends, is more to be pitied by Gods and men.
Wherefore, also, he who is most able to assist him is most
zealous in his cause; and he who is most able is the divinity
and god of the stranger, who follows in the train of Zeus, the
god of strangers. And for this reason, he who has a spark of
caution in him, will do his best to pass through life without
sinning against the stranger. And of offences committed,
whether against strangers or fellow-countrymen, that against
suppliants is the greatest. For the God who witnessed to
the agreement made with the suppliant, becomes in a special
manner the guardian of the sufferer; and he will certainly
not suffer unavenged.

Thus we have fairly described the manner in which a man
is to act about his parents, and himself, and his own affairs ;
and in relation to the state, and his friends, and kindred, both
in what concerns his own countrymen, and in what concerns
the stranger. I will now describe what manner of man he
must be who would best pass through life in respect of those
other things which are not matters of law, but of praise and
blame only; in which praise and blame educate a man, and

302 LAWS.

make him more tractable and amenable to the laws which are
about to be imposed.

Truth is the beginning of every good thing, both in heaven
and on earth; and he who would be blessed and happy,
should be from the first a partaker of the truth, that he may
live a true man as long as _ possible, for then he can be
trusted; but he is not to be trusted who loves voluntary
falsehood, and he who loves involuntary falsehood is a fool.
Neither condition is to be desired, for the untrustworthy and
ignorant has no friend, and as time advances he becomes
known, and lays up in store for himself isolation in crabbed
age when life is on the wane: so that, whether his children
or friends are alive or not, he is equally solitary. Worthy of
honour, too, is he who does no injustice, and of more than
twofold honour if he not only does no injustice himself, but
hinders others from doing any; the first may count as one
man, the second is worth many men, because he informs the
rulers of the injustice of others. And yet more highly to be
esteemed is he who co-operates with the rulers in correcting
the citizens as far as he can—he shall be proclaimed the
great and perfect citizen, and bear away the palm of virtue.
The same praise may be given about temperance and wis-
dom, and all other goods which may be imparted to others,
as well as acquired by a man for himself; he who imparts
them shall be honoured as the man of men, and he who is
willing, yet is not able, may be allowed the second place;
but he who is jealous and will not, if he can help, allow 73
others to partake in a friendly way of any good, is deserving
of blame: the good, however, which he has, is not to be un-
dervalued because possessed by him, but to be acquired by
us to the utmost of our power. » Let every man, then, freely
Strive tor the prize of virtue, and.fet thete be. no envy... For
the unenvious nature increases the greatness of states—he
himself contends in the race and defames no man; but the
envious, who thinks that he ought to get the better by
defaming others, is less energetic himself in the pursuit of
true virtue, and reduces his rivals to despair by his unjust
slanders of them. And thus he deprives the whole city of
the proper training for the contest of virtue, and diminishes

732

DOOR? VG 303

her glory as far as in him lies. Now every man should be
valiant, but he should also be gentle. From the cruel, or
hardly curable, or altogether incurable acts of injustice done
by others, a man can only escape by fighting and defending
himself and conquering, and by never ceasing to punish
them; and no man who is not of a noble spirit is able to
accomplish this. As to the actions of those who do evil, but
whose evil is curable, in the first place, let us remember that
the unjust man is not unjust of his own free will. For no
man of his own free will would choose to possess the greatest
of evils, and least of all in the most honourable part of him-
self. And the soul, as we said, is of a truth deemed by all
men the most honourable. In the soul, then, which is the
most honourable part of him, no one, if he could help, would
admit, or allow to continue the greatest of evils. The un-
just and the unfortunate are always to be pitied in any case;
and one can afford to forgive as well as pity him who is
curable, and refrain and calm one’s anger, not giving way to
passion, and continuing wrathful like a woman who has been
piqued. But upon him who is incapable of reformation and
wholly evil, the vials of our wrath should be poured out;
wherefore, I say, that good men ought, when occasion arises,
to be both gentle and passionate. The greatest evil to men,
generally, is one which is innate in their souls, and which
a man is always excusing in himself and never correcting; I
mean, what is expressed in the saying, ‘that every man by
nature is and ought to be his own friend.’ Whereas the ex-
cessive love of Self is: in reality: the source. to: each mam of
all offences; for the lover is blinded about the beloved, so
that he judges wrongly of the just, the good, and the honour-
able, and thinks that he ought always to prefer his own in-
terest to the truth. But he who would be a great man,
ought to regard what is just, and not himself or his interests,
whether in his own actions, or those of others. Through a
similar error, men are induced to fancy that their own igno-
rance is wisdom, and thus we who may be truly said to know
nothing, think that we know all things; and because we will
not let others act for us in what we do not know, we are
compelled to act amiss ourselves. Wherefore, let every man

304 LAWS.

avoid excess of self-love,;and condescend to follow a better
man than himself, not allowing any false shame to stand in
the way. There are also lesser matters than these which are
often repeated, and with good reason; a man should recollect
them and remind himself of them. For when a stream is
flowing out, there should be water flowing in too; and recol-
lection is the flowing in of failing knowledge. Therefore I
say that a man should refrain from excess either of laughter
or tears, and should exhort his neighbour to do the same; he
should veil his immoderate sorrow or joy, and seek to behave
with propriety, whether the genius of his good fortune remains
with him, or whether at the crisis of his fate, when he seems
to be mounting high and steep places, the Gods oppose him
in some of his enterprises. Still he may hope, that when
calamities supervene upon the blessings which the God gives
him, he will lighten them and change existing evils for the
better; and as to the goods which are the opposite of these
evils, he will not doubt that they will be ever present with
him, and that he will be fortunate. Such should be men’s
hopes, and such should be the exhortations with which they
admonish one another, never losing an opportunity, but on
every occasion distinctly reminding themselves and others, of
all these things both in jest and earnest.

Enough has now been said of divine matters, both as
touching the practices which men ought to follow, and the
several characters which they ought to cultivate. But of
human things we have not as yet spoken, and we must; for
to men we are discoursing and not to Gods. Pleasures and
pains and desires are a part of human nature, and on them
every mortal being must of necessity hang and depend with
the most eager interest. And therefore we must praise the
noblest life, not only as the fairest in appearance, but if a
man will only taste, and not as in the days of youth run
away to another, he will find that this nobler life surpasses
also in the very thing which we all of us desire,—I mean in
having the greatest pleasure and the least pain during the
whole of life. And this will be plain, and will be quickly
and cleany ‘seen, if -a- man has acme tastesor them. but
what is a true taste? That we have to learn from the argu-

Bo.

BOOK V. 305

ment,—the point being what is according to nature, and what
is not according to nature. One life must be compared with
another; the more pleasurable with the more painful, after
this manner:— We desire to have pleasure, but we neither
desire nor choose pain; and the neutral state we are ready
to take in exchange, not for pleasure but for pain; and we
also choose less pain and greater pleasure, but less pleasure
and greater pain we do not choose; and an equal balance of
either we cannot venture to assert that we should desire. And
all these differ or do not differ severally in number and
magnitude and intensity and equality, and in the opposites of
these when regarded as objects of choice, in relation to the
will, And such being the necessary order of things, we choose
that life in which there are many great and intense elements
of pleasure and pain, and in which the pleasures are in ex-
cess, and do not choose that in which the opposites exceed ;
nor, again, do we choose that in which the elements of either
are small and few and feeble, and the pains exceed. And
when, as I said before, there is a balance of pleasure and pain
in, dife, thistis. to be regarded by us as the.’balanced. ile;
while other lives are preferred by us because they exceed in
what we like, or are rejected by us because they exceed in
what we dislike. All the lives of men may be regarded by
us as bound up in these, and we must also consider what sort
of lives we by nature choose. And if we wish for any others,
I say that we choose them only through some ignorance and
inexperience of the lives which actually exist.

Now, what lives are they, and how many in which, having
searched out and beheld the objects of will and desire and
their opposites, and making of them a law, choosing, I say,
the dear and the pleasant and the best and noblest, a man
may live in the happiest way possible? Let us say that the
temperate life is one kind of life, and the rational another,
and the courageous another, and the healthful another; and
to these four let us oppose four other lives,—the foolish, the
cowardly, the intemperate, the diseased. He who knows the
temperate life will describe it as in all things gentle, having
gentle pains and gentle pleasures, and placid desires and

34 loves not insane; whereas the intemperate life is impetuous

TOES IV: x

306 LAWS.

in all things, and has violent pains and pleasures, and vehe-
ment and stinging desires, and loves utterly insane; and in
the temperate life the pleasures exceed the pains, but in the
intemperate life the pains exceed the pleasures in greatness
and number and intensity. Hence one of the two lives is
naturally and necessarily more pleasant and the other more
painful, and he who would live pleasantly cannot possibly
choose to live intemperately. And if this is true, the in-
ference clearly is that no man is voluntarily intemperate; but
that the whole multitude of men lack temperance in their
lives, either from ignorance or from want of self-control or
both. And the same holds of the diseased and healthy
life; they both have pleasures and pains, but in health the
pleasure exceeds the pain, and in sickness the pain exceeds
the pleasure. Now, our intention in choosing the lives is not
that the painful should exceed, but the life in which pain is
exceeded by pleasure we determine to be the more pleasant
life. And we should say that the temperate life has the ele-
ments both of pleasure and pain fewer and minuter and less
concentrated than the intemperate, and the wise life than the
foolish life, and the life of courage than the life of cowardice ;
the one class exceeding in pleasure and the other in pain,
the courageous surpassing the coward, and the wise exceeding
the fool. And so in all lives the one class exceed the other
class in pleasure; the temperate and courageous and wise and
healthy exceed the cowardly and foolish and intemperate and
diseased lives; and generally speaking, that which has any virtue,
whether of body or soul, is pleasanter than the vicious life,
and far superior in beauty and rectitude and excellence and
goodness and reputation, and causes him who lives accordingly
to be infinitely happier than the opposite.

Enough of the preamble; and now the laws should follow;
or, to speak more correctly, an outline of them. As, then, in
the case of a web or any other tissue, the warp and the woof
cannot be made of the same materials, but the warp is neces-
sarily superior as being stronger, and having a certain character 7
of firmness, whereas the woof is softer and has a proper de-
gree of elasticity ;—in a similar manner those who are to hold
great offices in states, should be distinguished truly in each

BOOK V. 307

case from those who have been but slenderly proven by edu-
cation. I say, therefore, that there are two parts in the con-
stitution of a state—one the appointment of officers, the other
the rules which are prescribed for them.

But, before all this, comes the following consideration :—
The shepherd or herdsman, or breeder of horses or the like,
when he has received his animals will not begin to train them
until he has first purified them in a manner which befits a
community of animals; he will divide the healthy and un-
healthy, and the good breed and the bad breed, and will
send away the unhealthy and badly bred to other herds, and
tend the rest, reflecting that his labours will be vain and
without effect, either on the souls or bodies of those whom
nature and ill nurture have corrupted, and that they will in-
volve in destruction the pure and healthy nature and being
of every other animal, if he neglect to purge them away.
Now, the case of other animals is not so important ;— they
are only worth mentioning for the sake of illustration, but
what relates to man is of the highest importance; and the
legislator should make inquiries, and indicate what is proper
for each in the way of purification and of any other procedure.
Take, for example, the purification of a city—there are many
kinds of purification, some easier and others more difficult ; and
some of them, and the best and most difficult of them, the
legislator, if he be also a despot, may be able to effect ; but
he who without a despotism sets up a new government and
laws, even if he attempt the mildest of purgations, may think
himself happy if he can complete his work. The best kind
of purification is painful, like similar cures in medicine, in-
volving righteous punishment and inflicting death or exile in
the last resort. For in this way we commonly dispose of great
sinners who are incurable, and are the greatest injury of the

36 whole state. But the milder form of purification is as fol-
lows :—when men who have nothing, and are in want of food,
show a disposition to follow their leaders in an attack on the
property of the rich—these, who are the natural plague of the
state, are sent away by the legislator in a friendly spirit as far
as he is able; and this dismissal of them is euphemistically
termed a colony. And every legislator should contrive to

eae

308 LAWS.

do this at once. Our present case, however, is peculiar. For
there is no need to devise any colony or purifying separa-
tion under the circumstances in which we are placed. But,
as when many streams flow together from springs and moun-
tain torrents into a single lake, we ought to attend and take
care that the confluent waters should be perfectly clear, and
in order to effect this, should pump and draw off and divert
impurities, so in every political arrangement there may be
trouble and danger. But, seeing that we are discoursing
and not acting, let our selection be supposed to be completed,
and the desired purity attained. Touching evil men, who
want to join and be citizens of our state, we will not allow
them to come until we have tested them by persuasion and
time; but the good we will to the utmost of our ability re-
ceive as friends with open arms.

Another piece of good fortune must not be forgotten, which,
as we were saying, the Heraclid colony had, and which is also
ours,—that we have escaped division of land and the abolition
of debts; for these are always a source of dangerous contention,
and a city which is driven to legislation upon such matters can
neither allow the old ways to continue, nor yet venture to alter
them. We must have recourse to prayers, as men say, and hope
that a slight change may be cautiously effected in a length of
time. And such a change can be accomplished! by those who
have abundance of land, and having also many debtors, are
willing, in a kindly spirit, to share with those who are in want,
sometimes remitting and sometimes giving, holding fast in a
path of moderation, and deeming poverty to be the increase
of a man’s desires and not the diminution of his property. For
this is the chiefest foundation of a state, and upon this lasting
basis may be erected afterwards whatever political order is
suitable under the circumstances; but if the change be based
upon an unsound principle, the political superstructure which
is added will hardly succeed. That is a danger which, as I
am saying, is escaped by us, and yet we had better say how,
if we had not escaped, we might have escaped; and we may
venture now to assert that no other way of escape, whether
narrow or broad, can be devised but a just contentment—upon

? Reading tmdpyet.

—T

BOOT AL, 309

this rock our city shall be built; for there ought to be no
disputes among citizens about property. If there are quarrels
of long standing among them, no legislator of any degree of
sense will proceed a step in the arrangement of the state until
they are settled. But that they to whom God has given, as
He has to us, to be the founders of a new state free from
enmity—that they should create themselves enmities by reason
of their mode of dividing lands and houses, would be super-
human folly and wickedness.

How can we rightly order our citizens? In the first place,
their number has to be determined, and also the number and
size of the portions which are to be assigned to them; and
the land and the houses will then have to be apportioned by
us as fairly as we can. The number of citizens can only be
estimated satisfactorily in relation to the territory and the
neighbouring states. The territory must be sufficient to main-
tain a certain number of inhabitants in a moderate way of
life—more than this is not required; and the number of citizens
should be sufficient to defend themselves against the injustice
of their neighbours, and also to give them the power of aiding
their neighbours when they are wronged. Upon this basis we
will define the limits of theirs and their neighbours’ territory
both in theory and fact. And now, let us proceed to legislate
with a view to perfecting the form and outline of our state.
The number of our citizens shall be 5040—this will be a
convenient number; and these shall be owners of the land
and protectors of the ownership. The houses and the land
will be divided in the same way, so that every man may
correspond to a lot. Let the whole number be first divided
into two parts, and then into three; and the number is further
capable of being divided into four or five parts, or any number
of parts up to ten. Every legislator ought to know so much
arithmetic as to be able to tell what number is most likely

38 to be useful to all cities; and we are going to take that number
which contains the greatest and most regular and unbroken
series of divisions. The whole of number has every possible
division, and the number 5040 can be divided by exactly
fifty-nine divisors, and ten of these proceed without interval
from one to ten: this will furnish numbers for war and peace,

310 LAWS.

and for all contracts and dealings, including taxes and divisions.
These properties of number should be ascertained at leisure
by those who are bound by law to know them; for they are
true, and should be proclaimed at the foundation of the city,
with a view to use. Whether the legislator is establishing a
new state or restoring an old and decayed one, in respect of
Gods and temples,—the temples which are to be built in each
city, and the Gods or demi-gods after whom they are to be
called,—if he be a man of sense, he will make no change in
anything which the oracle of Delphi, or Dodona, or Ammon,
or any ancient tradition has sanctioned in whatever manner,
whether by apparitions or reputed inspiration of Heaven in
obedience to which mankind have established sacrifices in
connection with mystic rites, either originating on the spot,
or derived from Tyrrhenia or Cyprus or some other place,
and on the strength of these traditions have consecrated oracles
and images, and altars and temples, and made sacred groves
for each of them. The least part of all these ought not to
be disturbed by the legislator; but he should assign to the
several districts some God, or demi-god, or hero, and, in the
distribution of the soil, should give to these first their separate
domain and all things fitting, that the inhabitants of the district
may meet at fixed times, and that they may readily supply
their several wants, and entertain one another with sacrifices,
and become friends and acquainted; for there is no greater
good in a state than that the citizens should be known to one
another. When darkness and not light reigns in the daily
intercourse of life, no man will receive the honour of which
he is deserving, or the power or the justice to which he is
fairly entitled: wherefore, in every state, above all other things,
every man ought to take heed of this,—that he have no deceit
in him, but that he be always true and simple, and that no
other deceitful person take any advantage of him.

And now comes the movement of the pieces from the sacred 73
line as in the game of draughts. The form of constitution being
unusual, may excite wonder when mentioned for the first time ;
but, upon reflection and trial, will appear to us, if not the best,
to be the second best. And yet a person may not approve this
form, because he thinks that the sort of legislation is ill adapted

740

BOOK V. 311

to a legislator who has not despotic power. The truth is, that
there are three forms of government, the best, the second and
third best, which we may just mention, and then leave the
selection to the ruler of the settlement. Following this method
in the present instance, let us speak of that state which is first
and second and third in excellence, and then leave to Cleinias,
or to some one else, the selection of that form of polity which
he approves in his own country.

The first and highest form of the state and of the government
and of the law is that in which there prevails most widely
the ancient saying, that ‘Friends have all things in common.’
Whether there is now, or ever will be, this communion of women
and children and of property, in which the private and indi-
vidual is altogether banished from life, and things which are by
nature private, such as eyes and ears and hands, have become
common, and in some way see and hear and act in common, and
all men express praise and blame, and feel joy and sorrow, on
the same occasions, and the laws unite the city to the utmost,—
whether all this is possible or not, I say that no man, acting upon
any other principle, will ever constitute a state more exalted
in virtue, or truer or better than this. Such a state, whether
inhabited by Gods or sons of Gods, will make them blessed
who dwell therein; and therefore to this we are to look for
the pattern of the state, and to cling to this, and, as far as
possible, to seek for one which is like this. The state which
we have now in hand, when created, will be nearest to im-
mortality and unity in the next degree; and after that, by
the grace of God, we will complete the third one. And we
will begin by speaking of the nature and origin of the
second.

Let them at once distribute their land and houses, and not
till the land in common, since a community of goods goes be-
yond their proposed origin, and nurture, and education. But in
making the distribution, let the several possessors feel that their
particular lots also belong to the whole city; and seeing that
the earth is their parent, let them tend her more carefully
than children do their mother. For she is a goddess and their
queen, and they are her mortal subjects. Such also are the
feelings which they ought to entertain to the Gods and demi-

312 LAWS.

gods of the country. And in order that the distribution may
always remain, they ought to consider further that the present
number of families should be always retained, and neither
increased nor diminished. This may be secured for the whole
city in the following manner :—Let the possessor of a lot leave
the one of his children who is his best beloved, and one only,
to be the heir of his dwelling, and his successor in the duty
of ministering to the Gods, the family and the state, as well
the living as those who are departed; but of his other children,
if he have more than one, he shall give the females in marriage
according to the law to be hereafter enacted, and the males
he shall distribute as sons to such of the citizens as have no
children, and are likely to be thankful; or if there are none,
and particular individuals have too many children, male or
female, or too few, as in the case of barrenness—in all these
cases let the highest and most honourable magistracy created
by us, judge and determine what is to be done with the
redundant or deficient, and devise a means that the number
of 5040 houses shall always remain the same. There are many
ways of regulating numbers; for they in whom generation is
affluent may be made to refrain, and, on the other hand, special
care may be taken to increase the number of births by re-
wards and stigmas, and by the instruction and admonition of
the younger by their elders—in this way the object may be
attained. And if after all there be very great difficulty about
the preservation of the 5040 houses, and there be an excess of
citizens, owing to the too great love of those who live together,
and we are at our wit’s end, there is still the old device often
mentioned by us of sending out a colony, which will part friends
with us, and be composed of suitable persons. If, on the other
hand, there come a wave bearing a deluge of disease, or a
plague of war, and the inhabitants become much fewer than
the appointed number by reason of mortality, you ought not
to introduce citizens of spurious birth and education, if this
can be avoided ; but even God is said not to be able to fight
against necessity.

Wherefore let us suppose this ‘high argument’ of ours to
address us in the following terms:— Best of men, cease not
to honour in their natural order similarity and equality and

74)

BOOK Y. 213

sameness and agreement, as manifested in number and in
every quality of goodness and greatness. And, above all,
observe the aforesaid number 5040 throughout life; in the second
place, do not disparage the small and modest proportions of
the inheritances which you received in the distribution, by
buying and selling them to one another. For then neither will
the God who gave you the lot be your friend, nor will the
legislator; and indeed the law declares to the disobedient
the terms upon which he may or may not take the lot. In
the first place, the earth as he is informed is sacred to the
Gods; and in the next place, priests and priestesses will offer
up prayers over the sacrifices, once, twice, and thrice, that
he who buys or sells the houses or lands which he has re-
ceived, may suffer the punishment which he deserves; and
these their prayers they shall write down in the temples, on
tablets of cypress-wood, for the instruction of posterity. More-
over they will set a watch over all these things, that they
may be observed —the magistracy which has the sharpest
eyes shall keep watch that any infringements of their com-
mands may be discovered and punished as offences both
against the law and the God. How great is the benefit of
such an ordinance to all those cities, which obey and are
administered accordingly, no bad man can ever know, as the
old proverb says; but only a man of experience and good
habits. For in such an order of things, there will not be
much opportunity for making money; no man either ought,
or indeed will be, allowed to exercise any ignoble occupation,
of which the vulgarity deters a freeman, and disinclines hfm
to acquire riches by any such means,

Further, the law enjoins that no private man shall be
allowed to possess gold and silver, but only coin for daily
use, which is almost necessary in dealing with artisans, and
for payment of all those hirelings whose labour he may
require, whether slaves or immigrants. Wherefore our citizens,
as we say, should have a coin passing current among them-
selves, but not accepted among the rest of mankind; with a
view, however, to expeditions and journeys to other lands,—
for embassies, or for any other occasion which may arise of
sending out a herald, the state must also possess a common

314 LAWS.

Hellenic currency. If a private person is ever obliged to go
abroad, let him have the consent of the archons and go;
and if when he returns he has any foreign money remaining,
let him give the surplus back to the treasury, and receive a
corresponding sum in the local currency. And if he is dis-
covered to appropriate it, let it be confiscated, and let him
who knows and does not inform be subject to curse and dis-
honour equally with him who brought the money, and also
to a fine not less in amount than the foreign money which
has been brought back. In marrying and giving in marriage,
no one shall give or receive any dowry at all; and no one
shall deposit money with another whom he docs not trust as
a friend, nor shall he lend money upon interest; and the
borrower should be under no obligation to repay either capital
or interest. That these principles are best, any one may see
who compares them with the first principle and intention of a
state. The intention, as we affirm, of a reasonable statesman,
is not what the many declare to be the object of a good
legislator; namely, that the state for which he is advising
should be as great and as rich as possible, and should possess
gold and silver, and have the greatest empire by sea and
land ;—this they imagine to be the true object of legislation,
at the same time adding, inconsistently, that the true legis-
lator desires to have the city the best and happiest possible.
But they do-not’see that.some, of. these things, are possible;
and some of them are impossible; and he who orders the
state will desire what is possible, and will not indulge in vain
wishes or attempts to accomplish that which is impossible.
The citizen must indeed be happy and good, and the legislator
will seek to make him so; but very rich and very good at
tHe ysame timeane cannor ben Not.at leas 1m the aoclise. tn)
which the many speak of riches. For they describe by the
term ‘rich’ the few who have the most valuable possessions,
although the owner of them be a rogue. And if this is true,
I can never assent to the doctrine that the rich man will be
happy—he must be good as well as rich. And good in a
high degree, and rich in a high degree at the same time, he
cannot be. Some one will ask, why not? And we shall
answer,—because acquisitions which come from sources which

BOOTS 1c, ones

-are just and unjust indifferently, are more than double
those which come from just sources only; and the sums
which are expended neither honourably nor disgracefully,
are only half as great as those which are expended honour-
ably and on honourable purposes. Thus, if one acquires
double and spends half, the othér who is in the oppo-
site case and is a good man cannot possibly be wealthier
than he. The first—I am speaking of the saver and not of
the spender—is not always bad; he may indeed in some
cases be utterly bad, but, as I was saying, a good man he
never is. For he who receives money unjustly as well as
justly, and spends neither justly nor unjustly, will be a rich
man if he be also thrifty. On the other hand, the utterly bad
is in general profligate, and therefore poor; while he who
spends on noble objects, and acquires wealth by just means
only, can hardly be remarkable for riches, any more than he
can be very poor. The argument then is right, in declaring
that the very rich are not good, and, if they are not good,
they are not happy. But the intention of our laws was,
that the citizens should be as happy as possible, and as
friendly as possible to one another. And men who are
always at law with one another, and amongst whom there
are many wrongs done, can never be friends to one another,
but only those among whom crimes and lawsuits are few and
slight. Therefore, we say that gold and silver ought not to
be allowed in the city, nor much of the vulgar sort of trade
which is carried on by lending money, or rearing the meaner
kinds of live stock; but only the produce of agriculture, and
only so much of this as will not compel us in pursuing
it to neglect that for the sake of which riches exist,—I mean,
soul and body, which without gymnastics, and without educa-
tion, will never be worth anything; and therefore, as we have
said not once but many times, the care of riches should have
the last place in our thoughts. For there are in all three
things about which every man has an interest; and the in-
terest about money, when rightly regarded, is the third and
lowest of them: midway comes the interest of the body;
and, first of all, that of the soul; and the state which we are
describing will have been rightly constituted if it ordains

316 LAWS.

honours according to this scale. But if, in any of the laws 744
which have been ordained, health be preferred to temperance,

or wealth to health and temperate habits, that law must clearly

be wrong. Wherefore, also, the legislator ought often to
impress upon himself the question—‘What do I want?’ and
‘Do I attain my aim, or do I miss the mark?’ In this way,
and in this way only, he may acquit himself and free others
from the work of legislation. Let the allottee then hold his
lot upon the conditions which we have mentioned.

It would be well that every man should come to the colony
having all things equal; but seeing that this is not possible,
and one man will have greater possessions than another, for
many reasons and in particular for the sake of equality in the
various occasions of the state, qualifications of property must
be unequal, in order that officers and contributions and dis-
tributions may be proportioned to the value of each person’s
wealth, and not solely to the virtue of his ancestors or himself,
nor yet to the strength and beauty of his person, but also to
the measure of his wealth or poverty; and so by a law of
inequality, which will be in proportion to his wealth, he will
receive honours and offices as equally as possible, and there
will be no quarrels and disputes. ‘To which end there should
be four different standards appointed: there should be a first
and a second and a third and a fourth class, in which the citi-
zens will be placed, and they will be called by these and similar
names: they may continue in the same rank, or pass into
another in any individual case, on becoming richer from being
poorer, or poorer from being richer. The form of law which
I should propose would be as follows:—JIn a state which is
desirous of being saved from the greatest of all plagues—
not faction, but rather distraction—there should exist among
the * citizens neither: extrettic “poverty, nor, again, excessive
wealth, for both are productive of both these evils. Now the
legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty
or wealth. Let the limit of poverty be the value of the lot;
this ought to be preserved, and no ruler, nor any one else
who aspires after a reputation for virtue, will allow the lot
to be impaired in any case. This the legislator gives as a
measure, and he will permit a man to acquire double or triple,

BOOT LI. aa

or as much as four times the amount of this. But if a per-
son have yet greater riches, whether he has found them, or
they have been given to him, or he has made them in busi-
ness, or has acquired by any stroke of fortune that which is

45 in excess of the measure, if he give them back to the state,

and to the Gods who are the patrons of the state, he shall
suffer no penalty or loss of reputation; but if he disobeys
this our law, any one who likes may inform against him and
receive half the value of the excess, and the delinquent shall
pay a sum equal to the excess out of his own property, and
the other half of the excess shall belong to the Gods. And
let every possession of every man, with the exception of the
lot, be publicly registered with the archons whom the law
appoints, in order that all suits rclating to money may be
easy and quite simple.

The next thing to be noted is, that the city should be placed
as nearly as possible in the centre of the country; we should
choose a place which possesses what is suitable for a city, and
this may easily be imagined and described. Then we will di-
vide the city into twelve portions, first founding a temple to
Hestia and Zeus and Athene, to be termed the Acropolis, which
we surround with a circular enclosure, and make the division of
the entire city and country radiate from this point. The
twelve portions shall be equalized in the following man-
ner:— The smaller portions shall be of good land and the
larger of inferior land; and the lots shall be 5040 in number.
Further, each of them shall be divided into two, and the two
sections shall form one allotment, having a share of the land
which is near the city and of the land which is at a distance:
let the portion which is close to the city be added to that
which is farthest, and form one lot, and the portion which is
next nearest be added to the portion which is next farthest,
and so on of the rest. Moreover, in the two sections of
the lots the same principle of equalization of the soil ought
to be maintained; the badness and goodness shall be com-
pensated by more and less. And the legislator shall divide
the citizens into twelve parts, and arrange the rest of their
property, as far as possible, so as to form twelve equal parts ;
and there shall be a description of all. After this they shall

318 LAWS.

assign twelve lots to twelve Gods, and call them by their names,
and dedicate to each God their several portions, and call the
tribes after them. And they shall distribute the twelve divi-
sions of the city in the same way in which they divided the
country ; and every man shall have two habitations, one near
the centre of the country, and the other at the extremity.
Enough, then, of the manner of settlement.

Now we ought to consider always that there can never be
such a happy concurrence of circumstances as we have de-
scribed ; neither can all things coincide as they are wanted.
Men who will not take offence at such a mode of living to- 746
gether, and will endure all their life long to have their property
fixed at a moderate limit, and to beget children in accordance
with our ordinances, and will allow themselves to be deprived
of gold and other things which the legislator, as is evident from
these enactments, will certainly forbid them; and will endure,
further, the two dwellings, the one centralized in the city and
the other round about ;—all this is like the legislator telling his
dreams, or making a city and citizens out of wax. There is
truth in these objections, and therefore every one should take
to heart what I am going to say. Once more, then, the legis-
lator shall appear and address us :—‘O, my friends,’ he will say
to us, ‘do not suppose me ignorant that there is a certain degree
of truth in these words; but I am of opinion that, in matters
which are not present but future, he who exhibits a pattern of
that at which he aims, should in nothing fall short of the fairest
and truest; and that he who finds any part of his work im-
possible of execution should avoid and not execute that part,
but he should contrive to carry out that which is nearest and
most akin to it; and he should let the legislator perfect his
design, and when it is perfected, he should join with him in
considering what part of his legislation is expedient and what
will arouse opposition ; for surely the artist who is to be deemed
worthy of any regard at all, ought always to make his work
self-consistent.’

Having determined that there is to be a distribution into
twelve parts, let us now see in what way this is to be accom-
plished. There is no difficulty in perceiving that the twelve
parts admit of the greatest number of divisions of that which is

47

BOOK V. 319

included under them, consisting of other parts which agree with
them, and are produced out of them up to 5040; and hence the
law ought to order phratries and demes and villages, and also
military ranks and movements, as well as coins and measures,
dry and liquid, and weights, so as to be commensurable and
agreeable to one another. Nor should we fear the appearance
of minuteness, if the law commands that all the vessels which
a man possesses should have a common measure, when we
consider that the divisions and variations of numbers have a use
in respect of all the variations of which they are susceptible,
both in themselves and as measures of height and depth, and in
all sounds and motions, as well those which proceed in a straight
direction, upwards or downwards, as in those which go round
and round. The legislator is to consider all these things, and to
bid the citizens, as far as possible, not to lose sight of numericat
order ; for no single instrument of youthful education has such
mighty power, both as regards domestic economy and politics,
and in the arts, as the study of arithmetic. Above all, arith-
metic stirs up him who is by nature sleepy and dull, and makes
him quick to learn, retentive, shrewd, and aided by art divine
he makes progress quite beyond his natural powers. All these,
if only the legislator, by laws and institutions, can banish mean-
ness and covetousness from the souls of the disciples, and enable
them to profit by them, will be excellent and suitable instru-
ments of education. But if he cannot, he will unintentionally
create in them, instead of wisdom, the habit of craft, which evil
tendency may be observed in the Egyptians and Phoenicians,
and many other races, through the general illiberality of their
pursuits and possessions, whether some unworthy legislator of
theirs has been the cause, or some impediment of chance or
nature. For we must not fail to observe, O Megillus and Clei-
nias, that there is a difference in places, and that some beget
better men and others worse ; and we must legislate accordingly.
Some places are subject to strange and fatal influences by
reason of diverse winds and violent heats, some by reason of
waters; or, again, from the character of that subsistence which
the earth supplies them, which not only affects the bodies of
men for good or evil, but produces similar results in their souls.
And in all such qualities those spots excel in which there is

220 LAWS.

a divine inspiration, and in which the Gods have their appointed
lots, and are propitious to the dwellers in them. To all these
matters the legislator, if he have any sense in him, must attend
as far as man can, and frame his laws accordingly. And this is
what you, Cleinias, must do, and to matters of this kind you
must turn your mind since you are going to colonize a new
country.

Cleinias. Your words, Athenian Stranger, are excellent, and
I will do as you say.

51

doe) C) Ke aay

Athenian Stranger. AND now having made an end of the
preliminaries we will proceed to the appointment of the
magistrates.

Cletntas. Very good.

Ath. In the government of a state there are two parts: first,
the number of the magistrates, and the mode of appointing
them ; and, secondly, when they have been appointed, laws will
have to be provided for each of them, in nature and number
suitable to them. But before electing the magistrates let us
stop a little and say a word in season.

Cle. What have you got to say?

Ath, This is what I have to say ;—every one can see, that
although the work of legislation is a most important matter,
yet if a well-ordered city superadd to good laws unsuitable
officers, there will be no use in having the good laws; not
only are they ridiculous and useless, but the greatest political
injury and evil accrues from them.

Cle. Of course.

Ath, Then now, my friend, let us observe what will happen
in the constitution of our intended state. In the first place,
you will acknowledge that those who are duly appointed to
magisterial power, and their families, should severally give
satisfactory proof of what they are, from their youth upward
until the time of their election; in the next place, those who
are to elect should be trained in habits of law, and be well
educated, that they may have a right judgment, and may be
able to select or reject men whom they approve or disapprove,
as they are worthy of either. But how can we imagine that
those who are brought together for the first time, and are

VOL, V. a"

322 LAWS.

strangers to one another, and also uneducated, will avoid making
mistakes in the choice of magistrates?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, The matter is serious, and excuses will not serve the
turn. I will tell you, then, what you and I will have to do,
since you, as you tell me, with nine others, have offered to
settle the state on behalf of the people of Crete, and I am
to help you, which is my reason for inventing this romance. 7,
I certainly should not like to leave the tale wandering all
over the world without a head;—a headless monster is such
a hideous thing.

Cle. Excellent, Stranger.

Ath. Yes; and I will be as good as my word.

Cle. Let us by all means do as you propose.

Ath. That we will, by the grace of God, if old age will only
permit us.

Cle. But God will be gracious.

Ath. Yes; and under His guidance let us consider a further
point.

Cle. What is that?

Ath, Let us remember what a courageously mad and daring
creation this our city is.

Cle. What had you in your mind when you said that?

Ath, I had in my mind the free and easy manner in which
we are ordaining that the inexperienced colonists shall receive
our laws. Now a man need not be very wise, Cleinias, in
order to see that no one can easily receive laws at their first
imposition. But if we could anyhow wait until those who have
been imbued with them from childhood, and have been nurtured
in them, and become habituated to them, take their part in the
public elections; I say, if this could be accomplished, and
rightly accomplished by any way or contrivance,—then, I think
that there would be very little danger, at the end of the time,
of a state thus trained not being permanent.

Cle. That may be believed.

Ath. Then let us consider if we can find any way of doing
as you say; for I maintain, Cleinias, that the Cnosians, above
all the other Cretans, should not be satisfied with barely
discharging their duty to the colony, but they ought to take

BOOK VT. 230

the utmost pains to establish the principal offices of the state
in the best and surest manner. Above all, this applies to
the selection of the guardians of the law, who must be chosen
first of all, and with the greatest care; the others are of less
importance.

Cle. What method can we devise of electing them?

Ath, This will be the method :—Sons of the Cretans, I shall

say to them, inasmuch as the Cnosians have precedence over
the other states, they should, in common with those who join
this settlement, choose of themselves a body of thirty-seven in
all, nineteen of them being taken from the settlers, and the
93 remainder from the citizens of Cnosus. Of these latter the
Cnosians shall make a present to your colony, and you yourself
shall be one of the eighteen, and shall become a citizen of
the new state; and if you and the others will not agree, they
may fairly use a little violence in order to accomplish their
end.

Cle. But why, Stranger, do not you and Megillus take a
part in our new city?

Ath, O, Cleinias, Athens is proud, and Sparta too; and they
are both a long way off. But you and the other colonists are
conveniently situated as you describe. I have been speaking
of the way in which the new citizens may be best managed
under present circumstances; but in after ages, and when the
city is permanently established, let the election be on this wise.
All who are horse or foot soldiers, or have taken part in war
during the age for military service, shall share in the election
of magistrates; and the election shall be held in whatever
temple the state deems most venerable, and every one shall
carry his vote to the altar of the God, writing down on a tablet
the name of his father, and tribe, and ward; and at the side
he shall write his own name in like manner. Any one who

is dissatisfied with that which he has written may, if he pleases,
take away his tablet, and, within a period of not less than thirty
days, replace it in the agora. The tablets which are judged to
be first, to the number of 300, shall be exhibited by the archons
to the whole city, and the city shall in like manner select from
these the candidates whom they prefer; and this second
selection, to the number of 100, shall be again exhibited to
V2

224 LAWS.

the citizens; in the third, let any one who pleases select out
of the 100, walking through the parts of victims, and let them
choose for magistrates and proclaim the seven-and-thirty who
have the greatest number of votes. But who, Cleinias and
Megillus, will order for us in the colony all this matter of the
magistrates, and the scrutinies of them? If we reflect, we shall
see that the cities which are thus constituted must originally
have some such persons, who cannot possibly be elected before
there are any magistrates! ; and yet they must be elected in some
way, and they are not to be inferior men, but the best possible.
For as the proverb says, ‘a good beginning is half the business ;’
and ‘to have begun well’ is praised by all, and in my opinion
is a great deal more than half the business, and has never been
praised by any one enough.

Cle. That is very true.

Ath, Then let us recognise the difficulty, and make clear
to our own minds how the beginning is to be accomplished.
There is only one proposal which I have to offer, and that is
one which, under our circumstances, is both necessary and
expedient.

‘Cle. What is that?

Ath, I maintain that this colony of ours has a father and
mother, which is no other than the colonizing state. Well, I
know that many colonies have been, and will be, at enmity with
their parents. But in early days the child, as in a family, loves
and is beloved; even if there come a time later when the tie
is broken, still, while he is in want of education, he naturally
loves his parents and is beloved by them, and flies to them
for protection, and finds in them his natural defence in time
of need; and this parental feeling already exists in the Cnosians,
as is shown by their care of the new city; and there is a similar
feeling on the part of the young city towards Cnosus. And
I repeat what I was saving—for there is no harm in repeating
what is good—that the Cnosians should take a public interest
in all these matters, and choose, as far as they can, the eldest
and best of the colonists, to the number of not less than a
hundred; and let there be another hundred of the Cnosians
themselves. These, I say, on their arrival, should have a joint

* Reading mp6 racdv.

75

BOOK VI. 325

care that the magistrates should be appointed according to
law, and that when they are appointed they should undergo
a scrutiny. When this has been effected, the Cnosians shall
return home, and the new city do the best she can for her own
preservation and happiness. I would have the seven-and-thirty
now, and in all future time, chosen to fulfil the following duties :
Let them, in the first place, be the guardians of the law; and,
secondly, of the registers in which each one registers before the
magistrate the amount of his property, excepting four minae
which are allowed to citizens of the first class, three to the
second, two to the third, and a single mina to the fourth. And
if any one, despising the laws, for the sake of gain be found to
possess anything more which has not been registered, let all that
he has in excess be confiscated, and let him suffer a punishment
which shall be the reverse of honourable or fortunate. And let
any one who will, indict him on the charge of loving base gains,
5 and proceed against him before the guardians of the law. And
if he be cast, let him lose his share of the public possessions,
and when there is any public distribution, let him have nothing
but the original lot; and let him be written down a criminal
as long as he lives, in some place in which any one who pleases
can read about his crimes. The guardian of the law shall not
hold office longer than twenty years, and shall not be less than
fifty years of age when he is elected; or if he is elected when
he is sixty years of age, he shall hold office for ten years only ;
and upon the same principle, he must not imagine that he will
continue to hold such an important office as that of guardian
of the laws, after he is seventy years of age, if he live so long.
These are the three first ordinances about the guardians of
the law; as the work of legislation progresses, there will be
laws for each of them, which will assign to them their further
duties. And now we may proceed in order to speak of the
election of other officers; for generals have to be elected, and
these again must have their ministers, generals, and colonels
of horse, and commanders of brigades of foot, who would be
more rightly called by their popular name of brigadiers. The
guardians of the law shall propose generals, who are natives
of the city, and a selection from the candidates proposed shall
be made by those who are or have been of the age of military

326 LAWS.

service. And if one who is not proposed is thought by some-
body to be better than one who is, let him name him whom
he prefers in the place of the other, and make oath that he
is better, and propose him; and whichever of them is approved
by vote shall be taken; and the three who have the greatest
number of votes shall be appointed generals, and superintend-
ents of military affairs, after previously undergoing a scrutiny,
like the guardians of the law. And let the generals thus elected
propose twelve brigadiers, one for each tribe; and there shall
be a right of counter-proposal as in the case of the generals,
and the voting and decision shall take place in the same way.
Until the prytanes and council are elected, the guardians of the
law shall convene the assembly in some holy spot which is
suitable to the purpose, placing the hoplites by themselves, and
the cavalry by themselves, and in a third division all the rest
of the army. All are to vote for the general officers of foot
[and horse], but the brigadiers are to be voted for only by those
who carry shields. Let the body of cavalry choose phylarchs 75
for the generals; but captains of light troops, or archers, or any
other division of the army, shall be appointed by the generals
for themselves. There only remains the appointment of officers
of cavalry: these shall be proposed by the same persons who
proposed the generals, and the election and proposal of other
candidates shall be carried out in the same way as in the case
of the generals, and let the cavalry vote and the infantry look
on at the election; the two who have the greatest number of
votes shall be the leaders of all the horse. Disputes about the
voting may be raised once or twice; but if the dispute be raised
a third time, the presiding officers in each case shall decide.

The council shall consist of 360 members,—this will be a
convenient number for sub-division. If we divide the whole
number into four parts of ninety each, we get ninety counsellors
for each class. First, all the citizens shall vote for members
of the council taken from the first class ; they shall be compelled
to vote, and, if they do not, shall be duly fined. When the
candidates have been elected, some one shall mark them down;
this shall be the business of the first day. And on the following
day, the election shall be made from the second class in the
same manner and under the same conditions as on the previous

BOOK VI eM

day; and on the third day an election shall be made from the
third class, at which every one may if he likes vote, and the
three first classes shall be compelled to vote; but the fourth
and lowest class shall be under no compulsion, and any member
of this class who does not vote shall not be punished. On the
fourth day members of the council shall be elected from the
fourth and smallest class; they shall be elected by all, but he
who is of the fourth class shall suffer no penalty, nor he who
is of the third, if he be not willing to vote; but he who is of
the first or second class, if he does not vote shall be punished ;—
he who is of the second class shall pay a fine triple the fine
which was exacted at first, and he who is of the first class
quadruple. On the fifth day the rulers shall bring out the
names noted down, in the presence of all the citizens, and every
man shall choose out of them, under pain, if he do not, of
suffering the first penalty; and when they have chosen 180 out
of each of the classes, they shall choose one-half of them by lot,
who shall undergo a scrutiny :—These are to form the council
for the year.

The mode of election which has been described, is in a mean
between monarchy and democracy, and such a mean the state

7 ought always to observe; for servants and masters never can

be friends, nor good and bad, merely because they are said to
have equal privileges. For to unequals equals become unequal,
if they are not harmonised by measure; and both by reason
of equality, and by reason of inequality, cities are filled with
seditions. The old saying, that ‘equality makes friendship,’ is
witty and also true; but there is obscurity and confusion as
to what sort of equality is meant. For there are two equalities
which are called by the same name, but are in reality in many
ways almost the opposite of one another; one of them may
be introduced without difficulty, by any state or any legislator
in the distribution of honours: this is the rule of measure,
weight, and number, which regulates and apportions them.
But there is another equality, of a better and higher kind, which
is not at once recognised. This is the judgment of Zeus, which
has little place in human things; that little, however, is the
source of the greatest good to individuals and states. For it
gives to the greater more, and to the inferior less always and

328 LAWS.

e)

in proportion to the nature of each; and, above all, greater
honour to the greater virtue, and to the less less; and to either
in proportion to their respective measure of virtue and education.
And this is justice, and is ever the true principle of politics,
at which we ought to aim, and according to this rule order
the new city which we are founding, and any other city which
may be hereafter founded. To this the legislator should look,—
not to the interests of tyrants one or more, or to the power
of the people, but to justice always; which, as I was saying,
is the distribution of natural equality among unequals. But
there are times at which every state is compelled to use the
words, ‘just’ ‘equal,’ in a secondary sense, in the hope of escaping
in some degree from factions. For equity and indulgence are
infractions of the perfect and strict rule of justice. And this
is the reason why we are obliged to use the equality of the lot,
in order to avoid the discontent of the people; and we invoke
God and fortune in our prayers, and beg that they themseives
will direct the lot with a view to supreme justice. And there-
fore, although we are compelled to use both equalities, we
should use that into which the element of chance enters as
seldom as possible.

Thus, O my friends, and for the reasons given, should a state
act which would endure and be saved. But as a ship sailing
on the sea has to be watched night and day, in like manner
a city also is sailing on a sea of politics, and is liable to all sorts
of insidious assaults; and therefore from morning to night, and
from night to morning, rulers must join hands with rulers, and
watchers succeed watchers, receiving and giving up their trust
in a perpetual order. A multitude can never fulfil a duty of
this sort with anything like energy; moreover, the greater
number of the senators will have to be left during the greater
part of the year to order their concerns at their own homes.
They must be arranged in twelve portions, answering to twelve
months, and serve as guardians each portion for a single month.
Their business is to be at hand and receive any foreigner or
citizen who comes to them, whether to give information, or to
put questions of which other states are to receive the answers ;
or when the city desires to ask a question and receive an
answer; or again, when there is a likelihood of internal com-

BOOK VT. 329

motions, which are always liable to happen in some form or
other, they will, if they can, prevent their occurring; or if they
have already occurred, will lose no time in making them known
to the city, and healing the evil. Wherefore, also, this which
is the presiding body of the state ought always to have the
control of their assemblies, and the dissolutions of them, regular
as well as occasional. All this is to be ordered by the twelfth
part of the council, which is always to keep watch together with
the other officers of the state during one portion of the year,
and to rest during the remaining eleven portions.

Thus will the city be fairly ordered. And now, who is to
have the superintendence of the country, and what shall be
the arrangement? Seeing that the whole city and the entire
country have been both of them divided into twelve portions,
ought there not to be appointed superintendents of the ways
of the city, and of the houses, and buildings, and harbours,
and the agora, and fountains, and groves, and temples, and the
like?

Cle. To be sure there ought.

59 Ath. Let us assume, then, that there ought to be servants
of the temples, and priests and priestesses, and three kinds of
officers who shall preside over roads and buildings, and the order
of them ;' and over men that they may keep them from crime,
and over beasts who are within the enclosure and suburb of
the city, according to the requirements of the city. Those
who have the care of the city shall be called wardens of the
city; and those who have the care of the agora shall be
called wardens of the agora; and those who have the care of
the temples shall be called priests. Those who hold the here-
ditary office of priest or priestess, shall not be disturbed; but
if there be few or none such, as is probable at the foundation
of a new city, priests and priestesses shall be appointed to be
servants of the Gods who have no servants. Some of them
shall be elected, and others appointed by lot, and they shall
mingle in a friendly manner those who are of the people and
those who are not of the people in every place and city, that
the state may be as far as possible of one mind. The officers
of the temple shall be appointed by lot; in this way their
election will be committed to God, who will do what is agree-

330 LAWS.

able to Him. And he who obtains a lot shall undergo a
scrutiny, first, as to whether he is sound of body and of legi-
timate birth; and in the second place, in order to show that
he is of a perfectly pure family, not stained with homicide or
any similar impiety in his own person, and also that his father
and mother have led a similar unstained life. Now the laws
about all divine things should be brought from Delphi, and
they should use them under the direction of the interpreters
of them. The tenure of the priesthood should always be for
a year and no longer; and he who will duly execute the sacred
office, according to the laws of religion, must be not less than
sixty years of age,—the laws shall be the same about priest-
esses; and let the twelve tribes taken by fours appoint inter-
preters, one out of each tribe, and let this be done thrice ; and
let the three who have the greatest number of votes undergo
a scrutiny, and the remaining nine go to Delphi, in order that
the God may return one out of each triad; their age shall be
the same as that of the priests, and the scrutiny of them shall
be conducted in the same manner; let them be interpreters
for life, and when any one dies let the tribes, taken as before
by fours, select another from the tribe of the deceased: more-
over, they shall choose treasurers of the property of the several
temples, and of the sacred groves, who shall have authority
over the produce and the letting of them; and three of them 7‘
shall be chosen from the highest classes for the greater tem-
ples, and two for the lesser, and one for the least of all; the
manner of their election and the scrutiny of them shall be
the same as that of the generals. This shall be the order of
the temples.

Let everything have a guard as far as possible; and let the
defence of the city be committed to the generals, and taxiarchs,
and hipparchs, and phylarchs, and prytanes, and the wardens
of the city, and of the agora, when the election of them has
been completed. The defence of the country shall be provided
for as follows :—The entire land has been already distributed
into twelve as nearly as possible equal parts, and let one tribe,
taken by lot, provide annually for each division five wardens
of the country and commanders of the watch; and let each
of the five have the power of selecting twelve others out of

BOOK V1. 331

the youth of their own tribe,—these shall be not less than
twenty-five years of age, and not more than thirty. And let
there be allotted to them severally every month one of the
twelve portions of the land, in order that they may all ac-
quire knowledge and experience of the whole country. This
duty and service of commanders and of watchers shall continue
during two years. At first, they will have their stations allotted
to them, and will afterwards go from place to place in regular
order, making their round from left to right as their commanders
direct them; (when I speak of going to the right, I mean
that they are to go to the east). And at the commencement
of the second year, in order that as many as possible of the
guards may not only get a knowledge of the country at any
one season of the year, but may also have experience of the
manner in which different places are affected at different
seasons of the year, their then commanders shall lead them
again towards the left, from place to place in succession,
until they have completed the second year. In the third
year they shall choose other wardens of the country, and com-
manders of the watch, five in number, who are to be the

‘superintendents of the bands of twelve. While on service at

-

each station, their attention shall be directed to the following
points :—In the first place, they shall see that the country is
well protected against enemies; they shall trench and dig
wherever this is required, and, as far as they can, they shall
confine in fastnesses the evil-disposed, in order to prevent
them from doing any harm to the country or the property;
they shall use the beasts of. burden and the labourers whom
they find on the spot: these will be their instruments whom
they will superintend, taking them, as far as possible, at the times
when they are not engaged in their regular business. They
shall make every part of the country inaccessible to enemies,
and as accessible as possible to friends; there shall be ways

for man and beast, and they shall take care to have them always

as smooth as they can; and shall provide against the rains
doing harm instead of good to the land, when they come down
from the mountains into the hollows; and shall keep them back
by the help of works and ditches, in order that they may re-
ceive and drink up the rain from heaven, and making fountains

332 LAWS.

and streams in the fields and places which are underneath,
may furnish even to the dry places plenty of good water. The
fountains of waters, whether of rivers or of springs, shall be
ornamented with plantations and buildings for beauty ; and let
them bring together the streams in subterraneous channels, and
make water plentiful by irrigation at all seasons of the year ;
and if there be a sacred grove or dedicated precinct in their
neighbourhood, they shall let the stream have a way to the
actual temples of the Gods. Everywhere in such places the
youth shall make gymnasia for themselves, and warm baths
for the aged, placing by them abundance of dry wood, for the
benefit of those labouring under disease—there the weary frame
of the rustic, worn with toil, will be kindly received, and
experience far better treatment than at the hands of a not
over-wise doctor.

The building of these and the like works will be useful and
ornamental ; they will provide a pleasing amusement, but they
will be a serious employment too; for the companies of sixty
will have to guard their own positions, not only with a view
to enemies, but also with an eye to professing friends. When a
quarrel arises among neighbours or citizens, and any one whether
slave or freeman wrongs another, let the five rulers decide
small matters on their own authority; but where the charge
against another relates to greater matters, the seventeen com-
posed of the five and the twelve, shall determine any charges
which one man brings against another, not involving more than
three minae. Every judge and ruler shall be liable to give
an account of his conduct in office, except those who, like kings,
have the final decision. Moreover, as regards the aforesaid
wardens of the country, if they do any wrong to those of whom
they have the care, whether by imposing upon them unequal
tasks, or by taking the produce of the soil or implements of 7¢
husbandry without their consent; also if they receive anything
in the way of a bribe, or decide suits unjustly, or if they yield
to the influences of flattery, let them be publicly dishonoured ;
and in regard to any other wrong which they do to the in-
habitants of the country, if the question be of a mina, let them
submit to the decision of the villagers in the neighbourhood ;
but in suits of greater amount, or in case of the lesser if they

BOOK VI, 333

refuse to submit, trusting that their monthly removal into
another part of the country will enable them to escape—in
such cases the injured party may bring his suit in the com-
mon court, and if he obtain a verdict he may exact from the
defendant who refused to submit a double penalty.

The rulers and the wardens of the country, while on their two
years’ service, shall have common meals at their several stations,
and shall all live together ; and he who is absent from the daily
meal, or sleeps out at night, unless by order of the rulers, or by
reason of absolute necessity, if the five denounce him and in-
scribe his name in the agora as not having kept his guard, let
him be deemed to have betrayed the city, and let him be dis-
graced and beaten with impunity by any one who meets him
and is willing to punish him. If any of the rulers is guilty of
such an irregularity, the whole company of sixty shall see to it,
and he who is cognisant of the offence, and does not bring the
offender to trial, shall be amenable to the same laws as the
younger offender himself, and shall pay a heavier fine, and be
incapable of ever commanding the young. The guardians of
the law are to be careful inspectors of these matters, and shall
either prevent or punish offenders. Every man should re-
member the universal rule, that he who is not a good servant
will not be a good master; a man should pride himself more
upon serving well than upon commanding well: first upon
serving the laws, which is also the service of the Gods; in the
second place, upon having served ancient and honourable men
in the days of his youth. Moreover, during the two years in
which he is a warden of the country, his daily food ought to
be of a simple and humble kind. When the twelve are gathered

93 together, let them take counsel with the five, and determine
that they will serve themselves, and will not have other slaves
and servants for their own use, neither will they use those of
the villagers and husbandmen for their private advantage, but
for the public service only; and in general let them make up
their minds to live independently by themselves, servants of the
state and their own. Further, at all seasons of the year,
summer and winter alike, let them survey minutely the whole
country, bearing arms and keeping guard,—at the same time
acquiring a perfect knowledge of every locality. There can be

334 LAWS.

no more important kind of information than the exact know-
ledge of a man’s own country ; and for this as well as for more
general reasons of pleasure and advantage, hunting with dogs
and other kinds of sports should be pursued by the young.
The service to whom this is committed may be called the secret
police or wardens of the country; the name does not much
signify, but every one who has the safety of the state at heart
will use his utmost diligence in this service.

After the wardens of the country, we have to speak of the
election of wardens of the agora and of the city. The wardens
of the country were sixty in number, and the wardens of the
city will be three, and will divide the twelve parts of the city
into three; like the former, they shall have care of the ways,
and of the different high roads which lead out of the country
into the city, and of the buildings, that they may be all made
according to law ;—also of the waters, which those who super-
intend and preserve the waters convey to them, care being
taken that they may reach the fountains pure and abundant, and
be both an ornament and a benefit to the city. These also
shall be men of ability, and at leisure to take care of the public
interest. Let every man propose as warden of the city any
one whom he likes out of the highest class, and when the
vote has been given on them, and the number is reduced to
the six who have the greatest number of votes, let the electing
officers choose by lot three out of the six, and when they
have undergone a scrutiny let them hold office according to
the law appointed for them. Next, let the wardens of the
agora be elected in like manner, out of the first and second
class, five in number: ten are to be first elected, and out of
the ten five are to be chosen by lot, as in the election of the
wardens of the city ; and when they have undergone a scrutiny,
they shall be proclaimed wardens of the agora. Every one
shall vote for all the ten, and he who will not vote, if he be
informed against before the archons, shall be fined fifty
drachmae, and shall also be deemed a bad citizen. Let any 4
one who likes go to the assembly and to the general council ;
this shall be compulsory on citizens of the first and second
class, and they shall pay a fine of ten drachmae if they be
found not answering to their names at the assembly. But the

BOOK VI. 335

third and fourth class shall be under no compulsion, and shall
be let off without a fine, unless the rulers have commanded
all to be present, in consequence of some urgent necessity.
The wardens of the agora shall observe the order appointed
by law for the agora, and shall have the charge of the temples
and fountains which are in the agora; and they shall see that
no one injures them, and punish him who does so, with stripes
and bonds, if he be a slave or stranger; but if he be a citizen
who misbehaves in this way, they shall have the power them-
selves of inflicting a fine upon him to the amount of a hundred
drachmae, or with the consent of the wardens of the city up
to double that amount. And let the wardens of the city have
a similar power of imposing punishments and fines in their own
department ; and let them impose fines by their own authority,
up to a mina, or up to two minae with the consent of the
wardens of the agora.

In the next place, it will be proper to appoint ministers of
music and gymnastic, two of each kind—one whose business
will be education, and the other for the superintendence of con-
tests. In speaking of education, the law means to speak of
those who have the care of order and instruction in gymnasia
and schools, and of the going to school and lodging of boys
and girls; and in speaking of contests, the law refers to the
judges of gymnastics and of music; these again are divided
into two classes, the one having to do with music, the other
with gymnastic; and the same who judge of the gymnastic
contests of men, shall judge of horses ; but in music there shall
be one set of judges of solo singing, and of imitation—I mean
of rhapsodists, players on the harp, the flute and the like, and
another who shall judge of choruses. First of all, we must
choose leaders for the choruses of boys, and men, and maidens,
whom they shall follow in the amusement of the dance, and
in our other musical arrangements ;—one leader will be enough

5 for them, and he should be not less than forty years of age.
One leader of the solo singers will also be enough to intro-
duce them, and to give judgment on the competitors, and he
ought not to be less than thirty years of age. The leader
and regulator of the choruses shall be elected after the following
manner :—Let any persons who commonly take an interest in

336 LAWS.

re)

such matters go to the meeting, and be fined if they do not go
(the guardians of the law shall judge of their fault), but those
who have no interest shall not be compelled. The elector shall
propose as leader some one who understands music, and in
the scrutiny he may be challenged on the one part by those
who say he has no skill, and defended on the other hand by
those who say that he has. Ten are to be elected by vote,
and he of the ten who is chosen by lot shall undergo a
scrutiny, and lead the choruses for a year according to law.
And in like manner the competitor who wins the lot shall be
leader of the solo and concert music for that year; and he
{who is elected] shall refer the judgment of them to the judges.
In the next place, we have to choose judges in the contests
of horses and of men; these shall be selected from the third
and also from the second class of citizens, and the three first
classes shall be compelled to go to the election, but the lowest
class shall not be compelled; and let there be three elected
by lot out of the twenty who have been chosen previously,
and they must also have the vote and approval of the ex-
aminers. But if any one is rejected in the scrutiny at any
ballot or decision, others shall be chosen in the same manner,
and undergo a similar scrutiny.

There remains the minister of the education of youth, male
and female; he too will rule according to law, being a single
magistrate of fifty years old at least ;—-the father of children
lawfully begotten, of both sexes, or of one at any rate. He
who is elected, and he who is the elector, should consider that
of all the great offices of state this is the greatest ; for the first
shoot of any plant rightly tending to the perfection of its own
nature, has the greatest effect on its maturity; and this is not
only true of plants, but of animals wild and tame, and also
of men. Man, as we say, is a tame or civilized animal ; never-
theless, he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature,
and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most
civilized ; but if he be insufficiently or ill educated he is the
most savage of earthly creatures. Wherefore the legislator
ought not to allow the education of children to become a
secondary or accidental matter. In the first place, he who
would be rightly provident about them, should begin by taking

BOOK V7. REY,

care that he is elected, who of all the citizens is in every re-
spect the best; him they shall do their best to appoint as
guardian and superintendent. To this end all the magistrates,
with the exception of the council and prytanes, shall go to the
temple of Apollo, and elect by ballot him of the guardians of
the law whom they severally think will be the best super-
intendent of education. And he who has the greatest number
of votes, after he has undergone a scrutiny at the hands of all the
magistrates who have been his electors, with the exception
of the guardians of the law,—shall hold office for five years ;
and in the sixth year let another be chosen in like manner
to fill his office. 3

If any one dies while he is holding a public office, and more
than thirty days before his term of office expires, let those
who are concerned with the matter elect another to the office
in the same manner as before. And if any one who is entrusted
with orphans dies, let the relations both on the father’s and
mother’s side, who are residing at home, including cousins, ap-
point another guardian within ten days, and be fined a drachma
a day for neglect.

A city which has no regular courts of law ceases to be a
city; and again, if a judge is silent and says no more than the
litigants in preliminary trials and in private arbitrations, he
will never be able to decide justly; wherefore a multitude of
judges will not easily judge well, nor a few if they are not
good judges. The point in dispute should be made clear by
both parties; and time, and deliberation, and repeated exami-
nation, greatly tend to clear up doubts. For this reason, he
who goes to law with another, should go first of all to his
neighbours and friends who know best the questions at issue.

67 And if he be unable to obtain from them a satisfactory de-
cision, let him have recourse to another court ; and if the two
courts cannot settle the matter, let the third put an end to
the suit.

Now the establishment of courts of justice may be regarded
as a choice of magistrates, for every magistrate must also be
a judge of some things; and the judge, though he be not a
magistrate, yet in certain respects is a very important magis-
trate on the day on which he is determining a suit. Regarding

A. 6 ae Z

338 LAWS.

then the judges also as magistrates, let us say who are fit to
be judges, and of what they are to be judges, and how many
of them are to judge in each suit. Let that be the supreme
tribunal which the litigants agree to appoint in common for
themselves. And let there be two other tribunals: one for
private individuals, who desire to have causes of action de-
cided against one another; the other for public causes, in which
some citizen is of opinion that the public has been wronged by
an individual, and is willing to vindicate the common interests.
And we must not forget to mention how the judges are to be
qualified, and who they are to be. In the first place, let there
be a tribunal open to all private persons who are trying causes
one against another for the third time, and let this be composed
as follows: All the officers of state, as well annual as those
holding office for a longer period, at the beginning of the new
year, in the month which follows the summer solstice, shall meet
on the evening before the expiration of the year in some temple,
and calling God to witness, shall dedicate one judge of every
court to be their first-fruits, choosing the one in each office who
seems to them to be the best, and whom they deem likely to
decide the causes of his fellow-citizens during the ensuing year
in the best and holiest manner. And when the election is com-
pleted, a scrutiny shall be held in the presence of the electors
themselves, and if any one be rejected another shall be chosen
in the same manner. Those who have undergone the scrutiny
shall judge the causes of those who have declined the inferior
courts, and shall give their vote openly. The counsellors and
other magistrates who have elected them shall be required to be
hearers and spectators of the causes; and any one else may be
present who pleases. If one man charges another with having
intentionally decided wrong, let him go to the guardians of the
law and lay his accusation before them, and he who is found
guilty in such a case shall pay damages to the injured party
equal to half the injury ; but if he shall appear to deserve a
greater penalty, the judges shall determine what additional
punishment he shall suffer, and what he ought to pay to
the public treasury, or to the party who brought the original
suit.

In the judgment of offences against the state, the people 7

BOOK Ia 330

ought to participate, for when any one wrongs the state they are
all wronged, and may reasonably complain if they are not
allowed to share in the decision. Such causes ought to origi-
nate with the people, and they ought also to have the final
decision of them, and the trial of them shall take place before
three of the highest magistrates, upon whom the plaintiff and
the defendant shall agree; and if they are not able to come
to an agreement themselves, the council shall choose one of
the two proposed. And in private suits, too, as far as is
possible, all should have a share; for he who has no share
in the administration of justice, is apt to imagine that he has
no share in the state at all. And for this reason there shall
be a court of law in every ward, and the judges shall be
chosen by lot;—they shall give their decisions at once, and
shall be inaccessible to entreaties. The final judgment shall
rest with that court which, as we maintain, has been established
in the most incorruptible form of which human things admit:
this shall be the court established for those who are unable
to get rid of their suits either in the courts of the neighbours
or of the tribes. ,

Thus much of the courts of law, which, as I was saying,
cannot be defined either as being or not being offices; a
superficial sketch has been given of them, and some things
have been told and others omitted. For the right place of an
exact statement of the laws respecting suits, under their several
heads, will be at the end of the body of legislation ;—let us
then expect them at the end. Hitherto our legislation has
been chiefly occupied with the appointment of offices. Perfect
unity and exactness, extending to the whole and every par-
ticular of political administration, cannot be attained to the
full, until the discussion shall have a beginning, middle, and
end, and is complete in every part. At present we have
reached the election of rulers, and this may be regarded as a
sufficient termination of what has preceded. And now there
need no longer be any delay or hesitation in making laws.

Cle. I like your way, Stranger, both in what you have said,
and still more in what you are going to say. I particularly
approve of your manner of joining the beginning to the
end.

Z2

340 LAWS.

Ath, Thus far, then, the old man’s game of play has gone?
off well.

Cle. I suppose you mean to say rather their serious and noble
pursuit?

Ath. Perhaps; but I should like to know whether you and
I are agreed about a certain thing?

Cle. What is that?

Ath. You know the endless labour which painters expend
upon their pictures—they and their apprentices are always
putting in or taking out colours, or performing some operation
of this sort; they seem as if they would never cease touching
up their works, which are always being made brighter and more
beautiful.

Cle. I know something of them from report, although I have
never had much acquaintance with their art.

Ath. No matter; we may make use of the illustration not-
withstanding :—Suppose that some one had a mind to paint
a figure in the most beautiful manner, in the hope that his work
instead of losing would always improve as time went on—do
you not see that being a mortal, unless he leaves some one
to succeed him who will correct the flaws which time has
introduced, and be able to add what is left imperfect through
the defect of the artist, and who will brighten up and improve
the picture, all his great labour will last but a short time?

Cle. Tre,

Ath, And is not the aim of the legislator similar? First, he
desires that his laws should be written down with the requisite
exactness; in the second place, as time goes on and he has
made an actual trial of his decrees, will he not find omissions?
Do you imagine that there ever was a legislator so foolish as
not to know that many things are necessarily omitted, which
some one coming after him must observe and correct, if the
constitution and the order of government is not to deteriorate,
but to improve in the state which he is establishing?

Cle. Certainly, that is the sort of thing which every one would
desire.

Ath. And if any one possesses any means of accomplishing
this by word or deed, or has any way great or small by which
he can teach a person to understand how he can maintain and

BOOK VI. 341

amend the laws, he should finish what he has to say, and not
leave the work incomplete.

Cle. Certainly.

10) 6 Ath. ‘And is not this what you arfd I have to do at the
- present moment ?

Cle. What have we to do?

Ath. As we are about to legislate and have chosen our
guardians of the law, and are ourselves in the evening of life,
and they as compared with us are young men, we ought not
only to legislate for them, but to endeavour to make them both
lawgivers and guardians of the law themselves as far as this is
possible.

Cle. Certainly ; if we can.

Ath. At any rate, we must do our best.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, We will say to them,—O friends and saviours of our
laws, in laying down any law, there are many particulars which
we shall omit, and this cannot be helped; at the same time,
we will do our utmost to describe what is important, and will
give an outline which you shall fill up. And I will explain
to what principle you are to look in accomplishing this work.
Megillus, and I, and Cleinias, have often spoken to one another
touching these matters, and we are of opinion that we have
spoken well. And we hope that you will be of the same mind
with us, and become our disciples, and keep in view the things
which in our united opinion the legislator and guardian of the
law ought to keep inview. There was one principle in particular
about which we were agreed—that a man’s whole energies
throughout life should be devoted to the acquisition of the
virtue proper to a man, whether this was to be gained by study,
or habit, or some kind of possession, or desire, or opinion, or
knowledge—and this applies equally to men and women, old
and young—the aim of all should always be such as I have
described ; anything which may be an impediment, the good
man ought to show that he utterly disregards. And if at last
necessity plainly compels him to be an outlaw from his native
land, rather than bow his neck to the yoke and be ruled by
inferiors, and he has to fly, he must be an exile and endure
all these things rather than accept another form of government,

342 LAWS.

which is likely to make men worse. These are our original
principles; and do you now, fixing your eyes upon the standard
of what a man and a citizen ought to be, praise and blame the
laws—blame those which have not this power of making the
citizen better, but embrace those which have; and with gladness 7
receive and live in them; bidding a long farewell to other
institutions which aim at goods, as they are termed, of a different
kind.

Let us proceed to another class of laws, beginning with their
foundation in religion. And we must first return to the number
5040—the entire number had, or rather has, a great many
convenient divisions, and the number of the tribe which was a
twelfth part of the whole, being correctly formed by 21 x 20,
also has them. And not only is the whole number divisible
by twelve, but also the number of each tribe is divisible ‘by
twelve. Now every portion should be regarded by us as a
sacred gift of Heaven, corresponding to the months and to the
movement of the universe. Every city has a guiding or sacred
principle given by nature, but in some the division or distribution
has been more right than in others, and has been more sacred
and fortunate. In our opinion, nothing can be more right than
the selection of the number 5040, which may be divided by all
numbers from one to twelve with the single exception of eleven,
and that admits of a very easy correction; for if two families
be deducted from 5040, the division by eleven is restored. And
the truth of this may be easily proved when we have leisure.
But for the present, trusting to the mere assertion of this
principle, let us divide the state; and assigning to each portion
some God or son of a God, let us give them altars and sacred
rites, and at the altars let us hold assemblies for sacrifice twice
in the month—twelve assemblies for the tribes, and twelve for
the city, according to their divisions; the first in honour of the
Gods and divine things, and the second to promote friendship
and ‘better acquaintance, as the phrase is, and every sort of
good fellowship with one another. For people must be
acquainted with those into whose families they marry and
to whom they are given in marriage; in such matters, as far
as possible to avoid mistakes is all important, and with this
serious purpose let games be instituted in which youths and

3

BOOK V1. 343

/2 maidens shall dance together, seeing and being seen naked, at
- a proper age, and on a suitable occasion, not transgressing the
rules of modesty. The masters of choruses will be the
superintendents and regulators of these games, and_ they,
together with the guardians of the law, will legislate in any
matters which we have omitted; for, as we were saying, where
there are numerous and minute details, the legislator cannot
but fail. And the annual officers who have experience, and
know what is wanted, must make arrangements and improve-
ments year by year, until such enactments and provisions are
sufficiently determined. A ten years’ experience of sacrifices
and dances, if extending to all particulars, will be quite
sufficient ; and if the legislator be alive they shall communicate
with him, but if he be dead then the several officers shall
bring the omissions which come under their notice before the
guardians of the law, until all is perfect; and from that time
there shall be no more change, and they shall establish and
‘use the new laws with the others which the legislator originally
gave them, and of which they are never, if they can help, to
change aught; or, if some necessity overtakes them, the
magistrates must be called into counsel, and the whole people,
and they must go to all the oracles of the Gods; and if they
are all agreed, in that case they may make the change, but in
any other case he who objects according to law shall prevail.
Whenever any one of twenty-five years of age, seeing and
being seen, believes himself to have found a marriage connection
which is to his mind, and suitable for the procreation of children,
let him marry if he be under the age of five-and-thirty years ;
but let him first hear how he ought to seek after what is suitable
and appropriate. For, as Cleinias says, every law like a strain
of music should have a suitable prelude.
Cle. You recollect at the right moment, Stranger, and do not
miss the opportunity of saying a word in season.
773. Ath. I thank you. We will say to him:—O my son, he who
is born of good parents ought to make such a marriage as wise
men would approve. Now they would advise you neither to
avoid a poor marriage, nor specially to desire a rich one; but
if other things are equal, always to honour inferiors, and with
them to form connections ;—this will be for the benefit of the

344 LAWS.

city and of the families which are united; for the equable and
symmetrical tends infinitely more to virtue than the unmixed.
And he who is conscious of being too headstrong, and carried
away more than is fitting in all his actions, ought to desire to
become the relation of orderly parents; and he who is of the
opposite temper ought to seek the opposite alliance. Let there
be one word concerning all marriages :—Every man shail follow,
not after the marriage which is most pleasing to himself, but
after that which is most beneficial to the state. For somehow
every one is by nature prone to that which is likest to himself,
and in this way the whole city becomes unequal in property and
in disposition ; and hence there arise in most states results which
we least desire to happen. Now, to add to the law an express
provision, not only that the rich man shall not marry into the
rich family, nor the powerful into the family of the powerful,
but that the slower natures shall be compelled to enter into
marriage with the quicker, and the quicker with the slower, may
awaken anger as well as laughter in the minds of many; for
there is a difficulty in perceiving that the city ought to be well
mingled like a cup, in which the maddening wine is hot and
fiery ; but when chastened by a soberer God, receives a fair ad-
mixture and becomes an excellent and temperate drink. Yet
in marriage no one is able to see the necessity of this. Where-
fore also the law must leave such matters, and try to charm the
spirits of men into believing the equability of their children’s
disposition to be of more importance than equality in excessive
fortune when they marry; and him who is too desirous of
forming a rich marriage they should endeavour to turn aside
by reproaches, not, however, by any compulsion of written law.
Let this then be our exhortation concerning marriage, not
forgetting what was said before—that man should cling to
immortality—and leave behind him posterity who shall be 77
servants of the God in his place. All this and yet more may
truly be said about the duty of marrying in the way of prelude.
But if a man will not listen, and remains unsocial and alien
among his fellow-citizens, and is still unmarried at thirty-five
years of age, let him pay a yearly fine ;—he who is of the highest
class shall pay a fine of a hundred drachmae, and he who is
of the second class a fine of seventy drachmae; the third class

BOOK Ff. 345

shall pay sixty drachmae, and the fourth thirty drachmae, and
let the money be sacred to Here; he who does not pay the fine
in the year shall owe ten times the sum, which the treasurer
of the goddess shall exact; and if he fails in doing so, let him
be answerable and give an account of the money at his audit.
He who refuses to marry shall be thus punished in money, and
also be deprived of all honour which the younger show to the
elder; let no young man voluntarily obey him, and, if he
attempt to punish any one, let every one come to the rescue and
defend the injured person, and he who is present and does not
come to the rescue, shall be pronounced by the law to be a
coward and a villain. Of the marriage portion I have already
spoken; and again I say for the benefit of poor men that he
who neither gives nor receives a dowry on account of poverty,
has a compensation; for the citizens of our state have the
necessaries of life, and their wives will be less likely to be
insolent, and husbands to be mean and subservient to them
on account of property. And he who obeys this law will do
a noble action; but he who will not obey, and gives or receives
more than fifty drachmae as the price of the marriage garments
if he be of the lowest, or more than a mina, or a mina-and-a-half,
if he be of the third or second classes, or two minae if he be
of the highest class, shall owe to the public treasury a similar
sum, and that which is given or received shall be sacred to Heré
and Zeus; and -let the treasurers of these Gods exact the
money, as was said before about the unmarried —that the
treasurers of Here were to exact the money, or pay the fine
themselves.

The betrothal by a father shall be valid in the first degree,
that by a grandfather in the second degree, and in the third
degree, betrothal by brothers who have the same father ; but if
there are none of these alive, the betrothal by a mother shall be
valid in like manner; in cases of unexampled fatality, the next
of kin and the guardians shall have authority. What are to
be the rites before marriages, or any other sacred acts, relating
either to the future, or the present, or the past, shall be referred
to the interpreters; and he who follows their advice may be

75 satisfied. Touching the marriage festival, they shall assemble
not more than five male and five female friends of both families,

346 LAWS.

and a like number of members of the family of either sex, and
no man shall spend more than his means will allow ; he who
is of the richest class may spend a mina,—he who is of the
second, half a mina, and in the same proportion as the census
of each decreases: all men shall praise him who is obedient
‘to the law; but he who is disobedient shall be punished by
the guardians of the law as a man wanting in true taste, and
uninstructed in the hymeneal strains of the Muses. Drunken-
ness is always improper, except at the festivals of the God who
gave wine; and peculiarly dangerous, when a man is engaged
in the business of marriage; for at such a crisis of their lives
a bride and bridegroom ought to have all their wits about them,
and they ought to take care that their offspring may be born
of reasonable beings; and who can tell on what day or night
Heaven will give them increase? Moreover, they ought not to
be begetting children when their bodies are dissipated by intox-
ication, but their offspring should be compact and solid, quiet
and compounded properly ; whereas the drunkard is all abroad
in all his actions, and is beside himself both in body and soul.
Wherefore, also, the drunken man is bad and unsteady in
sowing the seed of increase, and is likely to beget offspring who
will be unstable and untrustworthy, and cannot be expected to
walk straight either in body or mind. Hence during the whole
year and all his life long, and especially while he is begetting
children, he ought to take care and not intentionally to do what
is injurious to health, or what involves insolence and wrong ;
for it needs must be that the souls and bodies of the children
receive the impress which is stamped upon them at birth, and
he begets children in every way inferior, And especially on
the day and night of marriage should a man abstain from
such things. For there is an original indwelling divinity in
man which preserves all things, if used with proper respect
by each individual. He who marries is to consider, that one ¥'
of the two houses in the lot is the nest and nursery of his
young, and there he is to marry and make the home of
himself and his children, going away from his father and
mother. For in friendships there must be some degree of
desire, in order to cement and bind toget her iversities of
character; but excessive intercourse not having the desire

BOOK VI. 34.7

which is created by time, insensibly dilutes friendships from
a feeling of satiety ; wherefore a man and his wife shall leave
to his and her father and mother their own dwelling-places,
and themselves go as to a colony and dwell there, and visit
and be visited by their parents ; and they shall beget and bring
up children, handing on the torch of life from one generation to
another, and worshipping the Gods according to law for ever.

In the next place, we have to consider what sort of property
will be most convenient. There is no difficulty either in un-
derstanding or acquiring most kinds of property, but there is
great difficulty in what relates to slaves. And the reason is,
that we speak about them in a way which is right and which
is not right; for what we say about our slaves is consistent
and also inconsistent with our practice about them.

Meg. I do not understand, Stranger, what you mean.

Ath, I am not surprised, Megillus, for the state of Helots
among the Lacedaemonians is of all Hellenic forms of slavery
the most controverted and disputed about, some approving and
some condemning it; there is less dispute about the slavery
which exists among the Heracleots, who have subjugated the
Mariandynians, and about the Thessalian Penestae. Looking
at these and the like examples, what ought we to do con-
cerning property in slaves? I made a remark, in passing, which
naturally elicited a question about my meaning from you. I
said that we should all agree as to the necessity of having the
best and most attached slaves whom we can get. For many
a man has found his slaves better in every way than brethren or
sons, and many times they have saved the lives and property
of their masters and their whole house — such tales are well
known. |

Meg. To be sure.

Ath, But may we not also say that the soul of the slave is
utterly corrupt, and that no man of sense ought to trust them

as a class? And the wisest of our poets, speaking of Zeus,
Says:

} ‘Far-seeing Zeus takes away half the understanding of men whom the day
177 of slavery subdues.’

Different persons have got these two different notions of slaves

348 LAWS.

in their minds—some of them utterly distrust their servants
as a class, and, as if they were wild beasts, chastise them with
goads and whips, and make their lives three times, or rather
many times, as slavish as they were before ;—and others do just
the opposite.

Meg. True.

Cle. Then what are we to do, Stranger, when, in our own
country, there are such differences in the treatment of slaves
by their owners?

Ath, Well, Cleinias, there can be no doubt that man is a
troublesome animal, and therefore is not, and is not likely to
become very manageable when you attempt to introduce the
necessary division of slave, and freeman, and master.

Cle. That is obvious.

Ath, He is a troublesome piece of goods, as has been often
shown in the frequent revolts of the Messenians, and the great
mischiefs which happen in states having many slaves who speak
the same language; and the numerous robberies and lawless
life of the Italian banditti, as they are called. A man who con-
siders all this is fairly at a loss. Two alternatives are open to us,
—not to have the slaves of the same country, or if possible, speak-
ing the same language; in this way they will more easily be held
in subjection : secondly, we should tend them carefully, not only
out of regard to them, but yet more out of respect to ourselves.
And the right treatment of slaves is to behave properly to
them, and to do to them, if possible, even more justice than to
those who are our equals; for he who really and naturally
reverences justice, and hates injustice, is discovered in his deal-
ings with any class of men to whom he can easily be unjust.
And he who in regard to the natures and actions of his slaves
is undefiled by impiety and injustice, will best sow the sceds of
virtue in them; and this may be truly said of every master, and
tyrant, and of every other having authority in relation to his
inferiors. Slaves ought to be punished as they deserve, and not
admonished as if they were freemen, which will only make them
conceited. The language used to a servant ought always to be
that of a command, and we ought not to jest with them, whether 77:
they are males or females—this is a foolish way which many
people have of setting up their slaves, and making the life of

BOOK . V7. 349

servitude more disagreeable both for them and for those who
command them.

Cle. True.

Ath. Now that each of the citizens is provided, as far as pos-
sible, with a sufficient number of suitable slaves who can help
him in what he has to do, we may next proceed to describe their
dwellings.

Cle. Very good.

Ath, The city being new and hitherto uninhabited, care ought
to be taken of all the buildings, and the manner of building
each of them, and also of the temples and walls. These,
Cleinias, were matters which properly came before the mar-
rlages ;—but, as we are only talking, there is no objection to
changing the order. If, however, our plan of legislation is ever
carried out, then the house shall precede the marriage if God
so will, and afterwards we will come to the regulations about
marriage ; but at present we are only describing these matters
in a general outline.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, The temples are to be placed all round the agora, and
the whole city built in a circle on the heights, for the sake of
defence and for the sake of purity. Near the temples are to be
placed the houses of the magistrates and the courts of law; in
these plaintiff and defendant will receive their rights, and the
places will be regarded as most holy, partly because they have
to do with holy things, and partly because they are the dwelling-
places of holy Gods: and in them will be the courts in which
cases of homicide and other trials of capital offences may fitly
take place. As to the walls, Megillus, I agree with Sparta in
thinking that they should be allowed to sleep in the earth, and
that we should not attempt to disinter them ; there is a poetical
saying, which is finely expressed, that ‘walls ought to be of steel
and iron, and not of earth;’ besides, how ridiculous of us to be
sending out our young men annually into the country to dig
and to trench, and to keep off the enemy by fortifications, under
the idea that they are not to be allowed to set foot in our
territory, and then, that we should surround ourselves with a
wall, which, in the first place, is by no means conducive to the
health of cities, and is also apt to produce a certain effeminacy

350 LAWS.

in the minds of the inhabitants, inviting men to run thither
instead of repelling their enemies, and leading them to imagine
that their safety is due not to their keeping guard day and
night, but that when they are protected by walls and gates,

77

then they may sleep in safety; as if they were meant not to ~

labour, and did not know that true repose comes from labour,
and that disgraceful indolence and a careless temper of mind is
only the renewal of trouble. If men must have walls, the private
houses ought to be so arranged from the first that the whole
city may be one wall, having all the houses capable of defence
by reason of their uniformity and equality towards the streets.
The form of the city being that of a single dwelling will have
an agreeable aspect, and being easily guarded will have great
advantages of security. At the first building of the city these
should be principal objects of the inhabitants; and the wardens
of the city should see to them, and should further impose a fine
on him who neglects them; and in all that relates to the city
they should have a care of cleanliness, and no citizen should en-
croach upon any public property either by buildings or diggings.
Further, they ought to take care that the rains from heaven
flow off easily, and of any other matters which may have to be
administered either within or without the city. The guardians
of the law shall pass any further enactments which their ex-
perience may show to be necessary, and supply any other
points in which the law may be deficient. And now that these
matters, and the buildings about the agora, and the gymnasia,
and places of instruction, and theatres, are all ready and waiting
for scholars and spectators, let us proceed to the subjects
which follow marriage in the order of legislation.

Cle. By all means.

Ath, Assuming that marriages exist already, Cleinias, the
mode of life during the year after marriage, before children are
born, will follow next in order. In what way bride and bride-
groom ought to live in a city which is to be superior to other
cities, is a matter not at all easy for us to determine. There have
been many difficulties already, but this will be the greatest of
them, and the most disagreeable to the many. Still I cannot
but say what appears to me to be right and true, Cleinias.

Cle. Certainly.

8

BOOK VI. 351

Ath. He who imagines that he can give laws for the public
conduct of states, while he leaves the private life of citizens
wholly to take care of itself; who thinks that individuals may
pass the day as they please, and ‘that there is no necessity of
order in all things; he, I say, who gives up the control of their
private lives, and supposes that they will conform to law in
their common and public life, is making a great mistake. Why
have I made this remark? Why, because I am going to enact
that the bridegrooms should live at the common tables, just as
they did before marriage. This was a singularity when first
enacted by the legislator in your parts of the world, Megillus
and Cleinias, as I should suppose, on the occasion of some war
or other similar danger, which caused the passing of the law,

and which would be likely to occur in thinly-peopled places,

=

and in times of pressure. But when men had once tried and
been accustomed to a common table, experience showed that
the institution greatly conduced to security ; and in some such
manner the custom of having common tables arose.

Cle. Likely enough.

Ath. I said that there may have been singularity and danger
in imposing such a custom at first, but that now there is not the
same difficulty. There is, however, another institution which is
the natural sequel to this, and would be excellent, but nowhere
exists at present. The institution of which I am about to speak
is not easily described or executed ; and would be like the
legislator setting the river on fire!, as people say, or performing
any other impossible feat.

Cle. What is the cause, Stranger, of this extreme hesitation ?

Ath, You shall hear without any further loss of time. That
which has law and order in a state is the cause of every good,
but that which is disordered or ill-ordered is often the ruin of
that which is well-ordered; and at this point the argument is
now waiting. For in your country, Cleinias and Megillus, the
common tables of men are a heaven-born and admirable insti-
tution, but you are mistaken in leaving the women unregulated
by law. They have no similar institution of public tables in the
light of day, and just that part of the human race which is by
nature prone to secrecy and stealth on account of their weak-

? Literally, carding the fire.

352 LAWS.

ness—I mean the female sex—has been left without regulation
by the legislator, which is a great mistake. And, in consequence
of this neglect, many things have grown lax among you, which
might have been far better, if they had been only regulated by
law; for the neglect of regulations about women may not only
be regarded as a neglect of half the entire matter, but in pro-
portion as woman’s nature is inferior to that of men in capacity
of virtue, in that proportion is she more important than the two
halves put together. The careful consideration of this matter,
and the arranging and ordering on a common principle all our
institutions relating both to men and women, greatly conduces to
the happiness of the state. But at present, such is the unfortunate
condition of mankind, that no man of sense will even venture
to speak of common tables in places and cities in which they
have never been established at all; and how can any one avoid
being utterly ridiculous, who attempts to compel women to show
how much they eat and drink in public? There is nothing at
which the sex is more likely to take offence. For women are
accustomed to creep into dark places, and when dragged out
into the light they will exert their utmost powers of resistance, |
and be far too much for the legislator. And therefore, as I said
before, in most places they will not endure to have the truth
spoken without raising an outcry, but in this state perhaps they
may. And if we may assume that our whole discussion about
the state has not been mere idle talk, I should like to prove to
you, if you will consent to listen, that this institution is good
and proper; but if you had rather not, I will refrain.

Cle. There is nothing which we should both of us like better,
Stranger, than to hear what you have to say.

Ath, Very good: And you must not be surprised if I go back
a little, for we have plenty of leisure, and there is nothing to
prevent us from considering in every point of view the subject
of law.

Cie. sl rue:

Ath. Then let us return once more to what we were saying
at first. Every man should understand that the human race,
either had no beginning at all, and will never have an end, but
always will be and has been; or had a beginning an immense
time ago,

BOOK VI. 4

cn
iS)

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. Well, and have there not been constitutions and
destructions of states, and all sorts of pursuits both orderly
and disorderly, and diverse desires of meats and drinks always,
and in all the world, and all sorts of changes of the seasons
in which animals may be expected to have undergone in-
numerable transformations?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And may we not suppose that vines appeared, which
had previously no existence, and also olives, and the gifts of
Demeter and her daughter, of which one Triptolemus was the
minister, and that, before they existed, animals took to devour-
ing each other as they do still?

C7. Pie:

Ath, And the practice of men sacrificing one another still exists
among many nations; and, on the other hand, we hear of other
human beings who did not even venture to taste! the flesh
of a cow and had no animal sacrifices, but only cakes and fruits
swimming in honey, and similar pure offerings, but no flesh
or animals ; from these they abstained under the idea that they
ought not to eat them, and might not stain the altars of the
Gods with blood. In former days men are said to have lived
a sort of Orphic life, having the use of all lifeless things, but
abstaining from all living things.

Cle. Such has been the constant tradition, and is very likely
true.

Ath, Some one might say to me, what is the drift of all this?

Cle. A very pertinent question, Stranger.

Ath. And therefore I will endeavour, Cleinias, if I can, to
draw the natural inference.

Gle> Proceed.

Ath, I see that among men all things depend upon three
wants and desires, of which the end is virtue, if they are rightly
led by them, or the opposite if wrongly. Now these are eating
and drinking, which begin at birth; every animal has a natural
desire for them, and is violently excited, and rebels against him
who says that he must not satisfy all his pleasures and appetites,

3 and get rid of the corresponding pains. And the third and

1 Reading or: and éeréApor.
NON rears!

354 LAWS.

greatest and sharpest want and desire breaks out last, and_
is the fire of sexual lust, which kindles in men every species
of wantonness and madness. And these three disorders we
must endeavour to master by the three great principles of fear
and law and right reason; turning them away from that which
is called pleasantest to the best, using the Muses and the Gods
who preside over contests to extinguish their increase and
influx.

But to return: After marriage let us speak of the birth of
children, and after their birth of their nurture and education.
In the course of discussion the several laws will be perfected,
and we shall at last arrive at the common tables. Whether
such associations are to be confined to men, or extended to
women also, we shall see better when we approach and take
a nearer view of them; and we may then determine what
previous institutions are required and will have to precede them.
As I said before, we shall see them more in detail, and shall
be better able to lay down the laws which are proper or suited
to them.

Cie ety true.

Ath, Let us keep in mind the words which have now been
spoken ; for hereafter there may be need of them.

Cle. What do you bid us keep in mind?

Ath. That which we comprehended under the three words—
first, eating; secondly, drinking; thirdly, the excitement of
love.

Cle. I shall be sure to remember, Stranger.

Ath. Very good. Then let us now proceed to marriage, and
teach persons in what way they shall beget children, threatening
them, if they disobey, with the terrors of the law.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath, The bride and bridegroom should consider that they
are to produce for the state the best and fairest specimens of
children which they can. Now all men who are associated in
any action always succeed when they attend and give their mind
to what they are doing, but when they do not give their mind
or have no mind, they fail; wherefore let the bridegroom give
his mind to the bride and to the begetting of children, and the
bride in like manner give her mind to the bridegroom, and

BOOK V1. 355

particularly at the time when their children are not yet born.
84 And let the women whom we have chosen to be the overseers
of these matters, whether many or few, in whatever number and
at whatever time the magistrates may command, assemble every
day in the temple of Eileithyia during a third part of a day, and
being there assembled, let them inform one another of any one
whom they see, whether man or woman, of those who are be-
getting children without due regard to the provisions of the law
concerning nuptial rites and sacrifices; and let the begetting of
children and the supervision of those who are begetting them
continue ten years and no longer, during the time when marriage
is fruitful. But if any continue without children up to this time,
let them take counsel with their kindred and with the women
holding office, and be divorced for their mutual benefit. If, how-
ever, any dispute arises about what is proper and for the interest
of either party, they shall choose ten of the guardians of the law
and abide by their permission and appointment. The women
who preside over these matters shall enter into the houses of
the young, and partly by admonitions and partly by threats
make them give over their ignorance and error; and if they
rebel, let them go and tell the guardians of the law, and they
shall prevent them ; and if they cannot prevent them, they shall
declare the matter to the public assembly ; and let them write
up their names and make oath that they cannot reform such
and such an one; and let him who is thus written up, if he
cannot in a court of law convict those who have inscribed his
name, be deprived of the privileges of a citizen in the following
respects :—let him not go to weddings nor to the birthday
solemnities of children; and if he go, let any one who pleases
strike him with impunity; and let the same regulations hold
about women: let not a woman be allowed to appear abroad,
or receive honour, or go to nuptial and birthday festivals, if she
in like manner be written up as acting disorderly and cannot
obtain a verdict. And if, when they themselves have done
begetting children according to the law, a man or woman have
connection with another man or woman who are still begetting
children, let the same penalties be inflicted upon them as upon
those who are still having a family ; and when the time for pro-
creation has passed let the man or woman who refrain in such
Ua ay

356 LAWS.

matters be held in esteem, and let those who do not refrain be
held in the contrary of esteem—that is to say, disesteem. Now, 78
if the greater part of mankind behave modestly, the enactments
of law may be left to slumber; but, if they are disorderly,
the enactments having been passed, let them be carried into
execution. To every man the first year is the beginning of
life, and the time of birth ought to be written down in the
temples of their fathers as the beginning of existence to every
child, whether boy or girl. Let every phratria have inscribed
on a whited wall the names of the successive archons by whom
the -yeats -ates teckoned.4)And- neae to. them: let. the living
members of the phratria be inscribed, and when they depart
life let them be erased. The limit of marriageable ages for
a woman shall be from sixteen to twenty years at the longest,—
for a man, from thirty to thirty-five years; and let a woman
hold office at forty, and a man at thirty years. Let a man
go out to war from twenty to sixty years, and for a woman,
if there appear any need to make use of her in military service,
let the time of service be after she shall have brought forth
children up to fifty years of age; and let regard be had to what
is possible and suitable to each.

TOO Som ble

‘88 AND now, assuming that children of both sexes have been
born, their nurture and education will properly follow next in
order ; this cannot be left altogether unnoticed, and yet may be
thought rather a subject for precept and admonition than for
law. In private life there are many little things, not always
apparent, arising out of the pleasures and desires and pains of
individuals, which are contrary to the intention of the legislator—
these minutiae alter and discompose the characters of the
citizens, and cause great evil in states; for they are so small
and of such frequent occurrence, that there would be an un-
seemliness and want of propriety in making them penal by law;
and if made penal, they are the destruction of the written law,
because mankind get the habit of frequently transgressing in
small matters. The result is that you cannot legislate about
them, and still less can you say nothing. I speak somewhat
darkly, but I shall endeavour also to bring my wares into the
light of day, for I acknowledge that at present there is a want
of clearness in what I am saying.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Am I not right in maintaining that a good education
is that which tends most to the improvement of mind and
body?

Cle. Undoubtedly.

Ath, And nothing can be plainer than that the fairest bodies
ought to grow up from infancy in the best and straightest
manner ?

Cle Very true.

Ath. And do we not further observe that the first shoot of

358 | LAWS.

every living thing is by far the greatest and fullest? Many
will even contend that a man at twenty-five does not grow to
twice the height which he attained at five.

Gi eed % A8t

Ath. Well, and is not rapid growth without proper and
abundant exercise the source of endless evils in the body ?

Cie. Nics.

Ath. And the body. should have the most exercise when
growing most?

Cle. But, Stranger, are we to impose this great amount of
exercise upon newly-born infants ?

Ath. Nay, rather on the bodies of infants still unborn.

Cle. What do you mean, my good sir? In the process of
gestation ?

Ath, Exactly. I am not at all surprised that you have never
heard of this very peculiar sort of gymnastic applied to such
little creatures, which, although strange, I will endeavour to
explain to you.

Cle. By all means.

Ath, The practice is more easy for us to understand than for
you, by reason of certain amusements which are carried to excess
at Athens. Not only boys, but often older persons, are in the
habit of keeping quails and cocks, which they train to fight one
another, And they are far from thinking that the contests in
which they stir them up to fight with one another are sufficient
exercise ; for, in addition to this, they carry them about—each
having a big bird tucked in under his arms, and the smaller in
his hands, and go for a walk of a great many miles for the sake
of health, that is to say, not their own health but the health of
the birds; and this proves to any one who is capable of under-
standing, that all bodies are benefited by shakings and move-
ments, when they are moved without weariness, whether the
motion proceeds from themselves, or from a swing, or at sea,
or on horseback, or is caused by other bodies in whatever way
moving, and thus gaining the mastery over food and drink, and
being able to impart beauty and health and strength :—admit-
ting all this, what follows? Shall we make a ridiculous law that
the pregnant woman shall walk about and fashion the embryo
within as we fashion wax before it hardens, and after birth

78

BOOK VII. 350

Jd

swathe it for two years. Suppose that we compel nurses, under
penalty of a legal fine, to be always carrying the children some-
where or other, either into the country, or to the temples, or to
their relations’ houses until they are well able to stand, and to
take care that their limbs are not distorted by leaning on them
when they are too young,—they should continue to carry them
until the infant has completed its third year; the nurses should
be strong, and there should be more than one of them. Shall
these be our rules, and shall we impose a penalty for the neglect
of them? No, no; penalty more than enough will fall upon our
own heads.

Cle. What penalty ?

Ath, Ridicule, and the difficulty of getting the feminine ser-
vant-like dispositions of the nurses to comply.

Cle. Then why was there any need to speak of the matter
at all?

Ath, The reason is, that masters and freemen in states when
they hear of it are very likely to arrive at a true conviction that
without due regulation of private life in cities, stability in the
laying down of laws is hardly to be expected; and he who
makes this reflection may himself adopt the laws just now
mentioned, and, adopting them, may order his house and state
well and be happy.

Cle. Likely enough.

Ath, And therefore let us proceed with our legislation until
we have determined the exercises which are suited to the souls
of young children, in the same manner as we have begun to go
through the rules which relate to their bodies.

Cle. By all means. ;

Ath, Let us assume, then, as a first principle in relation both
to the body and soul of very young creatures, that nursing and
moving about by day and night is good for them all, and that
the younger they are, the more they will need it; infants should
live, if that were possible, as if they were always rocking at sea.
This is the lesson which nurses have learned from experience,
and which we may also learn from the use of the remedy of
motion in the rites of the Corybantes; for when mothers want
their restless children to go to sleep they do not employ rest,
but, on the contrary, motion—rocking them in their arms; nor

360 LAWS.

do they give them silence, but they sing to them and lap them
in sweet strains; and the Bacchic women are cured of their
frenzy in the same manner by the use of the dance and of
music.

Cle. Well, Stranger, and what is the reason of this?

Ath. The reason is obvious.

Cle. What ?

Ath, The affection both of the Corybantes and of the children
is an emotion of fear; and fear springs out of an evil habit of
the soul. And when some one applies external agitation to
affections of this sort, the motion coming from without gets the 7
better of the terrible and violent internal one, and produces
a peace and calm in the soul, and quiets the restless palpitation
of the heart, which is a thing much to be desired, sending some
to sleep, and making others who are awake to dance to the pipe
with the help of the Gods to whom they offer acceptable sacri-
fices, and producing in them a sound mind, which takes the
place of their former agitations. And in this, as I would shortly
say, there is a considerable amount of sense.

Cle. Gertainly:

Ath. But if fear has such a power we ought to consider
further, that every soul which from youth upward has been
familiar with fears, will be made more liable to fear, and every
one will admit that this is the way to form a habit of cowardice
and not of courage.

Cre. .Gettainly.

Ath, And, on the other hand, the habit of overcoming, from
our youth upwards, the fears and terrors which beset us, may be
said to be an exercise of courage ?

Cle. True.

Ath. And we may say that the use of exercise and motion in
the earliest years of life has a great tendency to create a part of
virtue in the soul?

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, Further, a cheerful temper, or the reverse, may be re-
garded as having much to do with high spirit on the one hand,
or with cowardice on the other?

Cle 10 be sure:

Ath. Then now we must endeavour to show how and to what

9

acc

tN

BOOK VII. 361

extent we may, if we please, implant either character in the
young.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, There is a common opinion, that luxury makes the dis-
position of youth morose and irascible and vehemently excited
by trifles; that on the other hand excessive and savage servi-
tude makes men mean and abject, and haters of their kind, and
therefore makes them undesirable associates,

Cle. But how can the state educate those who do not as yet
understand the language of the country, and are therefore in-
capable of appreciating any sort of instruction ?

Ath, J will tell you how: Every animal that is born is wont
to utter some cry, and this is especially the case with man, and
he is also affected with the inclination to weep more than any
other animal.

Cle. -Ouite true.

Ath, Do not nurses, when they want to know what an
infant desires, judge by these signs?’—when anything is brought
to the infant and he is silent, then he is supposed to be pleased,
but, when he weeps and cries out, then he is not pleased. For
tears and cries are the inauspicious signs by which children
show what they love and hate. Now the time which is thus
spent is no less than three years, and is a very considerable
portion of life to be passed ill or well.

Cle, True.

Ath. Does not the morose and ill-natured man appear to
you to be full of lamentations and sorrows more than a good
man ought to be?

Cle. Certainly he does.

Ath, Well, but if during these three years every possible
care were taken that our nursling should have as little of
sorrow and fear, and in general of pain as was possible, might
we not expect in early childhood to make his soul more gentle
and cheerful ?

Cle. To be sure, Stranger,—more especially if we could pro-
cure him a variety of pleasures.

Ath. There I cannot agree with you, sweet Cleinias: to begin
educating him in that way would be his utter ruin. Let us
see whether I am right.

362 LAWS.

Cle. Proceed:

Ath. The point about which you and I differ is of great
importance, and I hope that you, Megillus, will help to decide
between us. For I maintain that the true life should neither
seek for pleasures, nor, on the other hand, entirely avoid pains,
but should embrace the middle state, which I just spoke of
as gentle or propitious, and is a state which we by some divine
presage and inspiration rightly ascribe to Gods Now, I say,
he among us who would be divine ought to pursue after this
mean habit—he should not rush headlong into pleasures, for he

will not be free from pains ; nor should we allow any one, young

or old, male or female, to be thus given any more than ourselves,
and least of all the newly-born infant, for in infancy more

than at any other time the character is engrained by habit.

Nay, more, if I were not afraid of appearing to be ridiculous,
I would say that a woman during her year of pregnancy
should of all women be most carefully tended, and kept from
violent or excessive pleasures and pains; and at that time
she should cultivate gentleness and benevolence and kindness.

Cle. You need not ask Megillus, Stranger, which of us has
most truly spoken; for I agree that all men ought to avoid
the life of unmingled pain or pleasure, and pursue always a
middle course. And having spoken well, may I add that you
have been well answered ?

Ath. Very good, Cleinias ; and now let us all three consider
a further point.

Cle. What is it?
Ath, That all the matters which we are now describing are
commonly called by the general name of unwritten customs, and
what are termed the laws of our ancestors are all of similar
nature. And then arises in-our minds the further reflection
that we ought not to call these things laws, nor yet to leave
them unmentioned ; for they are the bonds of the whole state,
and come in the intervals of the written laws which are or are
hereafter to be laid down; they are just ancient hereditary
customs, which, if they are rightly ordered and made habitual,
envelope and entirely preserve the previously existing written
law ; but if they depart from right and fall into disorder, then
they are like the props of builders which give way in the

79

BOOK VII. 363

centre and produce a common ruin in which one part drags
another down, and the fair superstructure falls because the
old foundations are undermined. Reflecting upon this, Cleinias,
you ought to bind together the new state in every possible
way, omitting nothing, whether great or small, of what are
called laws or manners or pursuits, for by these means a city
is bound together, and all these things are only lasting when
they depend upon one another; and, therefore, we must not
wonder if we find that many apparently trifling customs or
usages come pouring in and lengthening out our laws.

- Cle, Very true: we are disposed to agree with you.

Ath. Up to the age of three years, whether of boy or girl,
if a person strictly carries out our previous regulations and
makes them a principal aim, he will do much for the advantage
of the young creatures. But at three, four, five, and six years
the childish nature will require sports; now is the time to
get rid of self-will in him, punishing him, not so as to disgrace
him. As we were saying about slaves, that we ought neither
to punish them in hot blood or so as to anger them, nor yet
4 to leave them unpunished lest they become self-willed, a like
rule is to be observed in the case of the free-born. Children
at that age have certain natural modes of amusement which
they find out for themselves when they meet. And all the
children who are between the ages of three and six ought to
meet at the temples of the villages, the several families of
a village uniting on one spot, and the nurses seeing that the
children behave properly and orderly,—they themselves and
their whole company being under the care of one of the
twelve women aforesaid annually appointed out of their number
by the guardians of the law to inspect and order each com-
pany. Let the twelve be appointed by the women who have
authority over marriage, one out of each tribe and all of the
same age; and when appointed, let them hold office and go
to the temples every day, punishing all offenders, male or
female, who are slaves or strangers, by the help of some of
the public servants; but if any citizen disputes the punishment,
let her bring him before the wardens of the city; or, if there
be no dispute, let her punish him herself. After the age of
six years the time has arrived for the separation of the sexes,—

364 LAWS,

let boys live with boys, and girls in like manner with girls. Now
they must begin to learn—the boys going to teachers of horse-
manship and the use of the bow, the javelin, and sling; and
if they do not object, let women also go to learn if not to
practise ; above all, they ought to know the use of arms; for
I may note, that the practice which now almost universally
prevails is due to ignorance.

Cle. In what respect?

Ath. In this respect, that the right and left hand are supposed
to differ by nature when we use them; whereas no difference
is found in the use of the feet and the lower limbs; but in the
use of the hands we are in a manner lame, by reason of the
folly of nurses and mothers; for although our several limbs
are by nature balanced, we create a difference in them by bad
habit. In some cases this is of no consequence, as, for example,
when we hold the lyre in the left hand, and the plectrum in
the right, but it is downright folly to make the same distinction
in other cases. The custom of the Scythians proves our error;
for they not only hold the bow from them with the left hand
and draw the arrow to them with their right, but use either
hand for both purposes. And there are many similar examples
in charioteering and other things, from which we may learn
that those who make the left side weaker than the right act
contrary to nature. In the case of the plectrum, which is of
horn only, and similar instruments, as I was saying, it is of no
consequence, but makes a great difference, and may be of very
great importance to the warrior who has to use iron weapons,
bows and javelins, and the like; above all, when in heavy
armour, he has to fight against heavy armour. And there is
a very great difference between one who has learnt and one
who has not, and between one who has been trained in gym-
nastic exercises and one who has not been. For as he who
is perfectly skilled in the Pancratium or boxing or wrestling,
is not unable to fight from his left side, and does not limp
and draggle in confusion when his opponent makes him change
his position, so in heavy-armed fighting, and in all other things,
if I am not mistaken, the like holds—he who has these double
powers of attack and defence ought not in any case to leave
them either unused or untrained; and if a person had the

BOOK VII.

~)

65

wv

_

nature of Geryon or Briareus he ought to be able with his hun-

dred hands to throw a hundred darts. Now, the rulers, male and

| female, should see to all these things; the women superintend-

A ing the nursing and amusements of the children, and the men
superintending their education, that all of them, boys and girls
alike, may be sound hand and foot, and may not, if they can
help, spoil the gifts of nature by bad habits.

Education has two branches,—one of gymnastic, which is
concerned with the body, and the other of music, which is
designed for the improvement of the soul. And gymnastic has
also two parts—dancing and wrestling; and one sort of dancing
imitates musical recitation, and aims at preserving dignity and
freedom; the other aims at producing health, agility, and
beauty in the limbs and parts of the body, giving the proper
flexion and extension to each of them, diffusing and accom-
panying the harmonious motion of the dance everywhere. As

96 regards wrestling, the tricks which Antaeus and Cercyon de-
vised in their systems out of a vain spirit of competition, or
the tricks of boxing which Epeius or Amycus invented, are
useless for war, and do not deserve to have much said about
them; but the art. of wrestling erect and keeping free the
neck and hands and sides, working with energy and constancy,
with a composed strength, and for the sake of health—these
are always useful, and are not to be neglected, but to be
enjoined alike on masters and scholars, when we reach that
part of legislation; and we will desire the one to give their
instructions freely, and the others to receive them thankfully.
Nor, again, must we omit suitable imitations of war in our
dances >in, Crete there (are ithe. armed sports of: the Curctes:
and in Lacedaemon of the Dioscori. And our virgin lady,
delighting in the sports of the dance, thought it not fit to
dance with empty hands; she must be clothed in a complete
suit of armour, and in this attire go through the dance; and
youths and maidens should in every respect imitate her ex-
ample, honouring the Goddess both with a view to the actual
necessities of war, and to festive amusements: it will be right
also for the boys until such time as they go out to war to
make processions and supplications to the Gods in goodly
array, armed and on_ horseback, in dances and marches,

366 ri | W'S.

fast or slow, offering up prayers to the Gods and to the sons
of Gods; and also engaging in contests and preludes of con-
tests, if at all, with these objects. For these sort of exercises,
and no others, are useful both in peace and war, and are
beneficial both to states and to private houses. But other
labours and sports and excessive training of the body are
unworthy of freemen, O Megillus and Cleinias.

I have now completely described the kind of gymnastic
which I said at first ought to be described; if you know of
any better, will you communicate your thoughts ?

Cle. It is not easy, Stranger, to put these principles of
gymnastic aside and to enunciate better ones.

Ath. Next in order follow the gifts of the Muses and of
Apollo: before, we fancied that we had said all, and that
gymnastic alone remained to be discussed; but now we see
clearly what points have been omitted, and should be first pro-
claimed ; of these, then, let us proceed to speak.

Cle. By all means.

Ath. Hear me once more, although you have heard me say
the same before—that caution must be always exercised,
both by the speaker and by the hearer, about anything that
is singular and unusual. For my tale is one which many a
man would be afraid to tell, and yet I have a confidence which
makes me go on.

Cle. What have you to say, Stranger?

Ath, I say that in states generally no one has observed that
the plays of childhood have a great deal to do with the per-
manence or want of permanence in legislation. For when
plays are ordered with a view to children having the same
plays and amusing themselves after the same manner, and
finding delight in the same playthings, the more solemn institu-
tions of the state are allowed to remain undisturbed. Whereas
if sports are disturbed and innovations are made in them,
and they constantly change, and the young never speak of
their having the same likings, or the same established notions
of good and bad taste, either in the bearing of their bodies or
in their dress, but he who devises something new and out of
the way in figures and colours and the like is held in special
honour, we may truly say that no greater evil can happen in

BOOK VII. 307

a state; for he who changes the sports is secretly changing the
manners of the young, and making the old to be dishonoured
among them and the new to be honoured. And I affirm that
there is nothing which is a greater injury to all states than
saying or thinking thus. Will you hear me tell how great I
deem it to be?

Cle. You mean the evil of blaming antiquity in states?

Ath, Exactly.

Cle. If you are speaking of that, you will find in us hearers
who are disposed to receive what you say not unfavourably but
most favourably.

Ath. I should expect so.

Cle. Proceed.

wide Wells then, lek us. Cive: ai the: otreatc, heed to ope
anothers words. The argument says that to change from
anything except the bad is the most dangerous of all things ;
this is true in the case of the seasons and of the winds, in the
management of our bodies and the habits of our minds—true
of all things except, as I said before, of the bad. He who looks
at the constitution of individuals accustomed to eat any sort
of meat or drink any drink or do any work which they could
get, may see that they are at first disordered, but afterwards,
as time goes on, their bodies grow adapted to them, and they
learn to know and like variety, and have good health and enjoy-

‘98 ment of life ; and if ever afterwards they are confined again to
a superior diet, at first they are troubled with disorders, and
with difficulty become habituated to their new food. A similar
principle we may imagine to hold good about the minds of men
and the nature of their souls. For when they have been brought
up in certain laws, which by some Divine Providence have re-
mained unchanged during long ages, so that no one has any
memory or tradition of their ever having been otherwise than
they are, then every one is afraid and ashamed to change that
which is established. The legislator must somehow find a way
of implanting this reverence for antiquity, and I would propose
the following way :—People are apt to fancy, as I was saying
before, that when the plays of children are altered they are
merely plays, not seeing that the most serious and detrimental
consequences arise out of the change; and they readily comply

368 LAWS.

with the child’s wishes instead of deterring him, not considering
that these children who make innovations in their games, when
they grow up to be men will be different from the last genera-
tion of children, and, being different, will desire a different sort
of life, and under the influence of this desire will want other
institutions and laws; and no one ever apprehends that there
will follow what I just now called the greatest of evils to states.
Changes in bodily fashions are no such serious evils, but frequent
changes in the praise and censure of manners are the greatest of
evils, and require the utmost prevision.

Cle. To be sure.

Ath. And now do we still hold to our former assertion, that
rhythms and music in general are imitations of good and evil
characters in men? What say you?

Cle. That is the only doctrine which I can admit.

Ath, Must we not, then, try in every possible way to prevent
our youth desiring imitations and novelties either in dance or
song? nor must any one be allowed to offer them varieties of
pleasures.

Cle. Most true.

Ath. Can any better mode of effecting this object be imagined 79:
by any of us than that of the Egyptians?

Cle. What is their method?

Ath, They consecrate every sort of dance or melody, first
ordaining festivals,—calculating for the year what they ought
to be, and at what time, and in honour of what Gods, sons of
Gods, and heroes they ought to be celebrated; and, in the next
place, what hymns ought to be sung at the several sacrifices,
and with what dances the particular festival is to be honoured.
This is to be arranged at first by certain persons, and, when
arranged, the whole assembly of the citizens are to offer sacri-
fices and libations to the Fates and all the other Gods, and to
consecrate the several odes to Gods and heroes: and if any one
offers any other hymns or dances to any one of the Gods, the
priests and priestesses, with the consent of the guardians of
the law, shall religiously and lawfully exclude him, and he
who is excluded, if he do not submit, shall be liable all his
life long to have a suit of impiety brought against him by any
one who likes.

oOo

BOOK VII. 369

Cle. Very good.

Ath. In the consideration of this subject, let us remember
what is due to ourselves.

Cle. To what are you referring?

Ath, I mean that any young man, and much more any old
one, when he sees or hears anything strange or unaccustomed,
does not at once run to embrace the paradox, but he stands
considering, like a person who is at a place where three ways
meet, and does not very well know his way—he may be alone
or he may be walking with others, and he will say to him-
self and them, ‘Which is the way?’ and will not move forward
until he is satisfied that he is going right. And this is our
case, for a strange discussion-on the subject of law has arisen,
which requires the utmost consideration, and we should not
at our age be too ready to speak about such great matters,
or be confident that we can say anything certain all in a
moment.

Cle. Most true.

Ath, Then we will allow time for reflection, and decide when
we have given the subject sufficient consideration. But that we
may not be hindered from completing the natural arrangement of
our laws, let us proceed to the conclusion of them in due order ;
for very possibly, if God will, the exposition of them, when com-
pleted, may throw light on our present perplexity.

Cle. Excellent, Stranger; let us do as you propose.

Ath, Let us then affirm the paradox that strains of music are
our laws (véuo.), and this latter being the name which the
ancients gave to lyric songs, they probably would not have
very much objected to our proposed application of the word.
Some one, either asleep or awake, must have had a dreamy
suspicion of their nature. And let our decree be as follows :—
No one in singing or dancing shall offend against public and
consecrated models, and the general fashion among the youth,
any more than he would offend against any other law. And
he who observes this law shall be blameless; but he who is
disobedient, as I was saying, shall be punished by the guardians
of the laws, and by priests and priestesses: suppose that we
imagine this to be our law.

Cle. Very good.

NOT evs Bb

370 LAWS.

Ath, Can any one who makes such laws escape ridicule? Let
us see. I think that our only safety will be in first framing
certain models for them. One of these models shall be as
follows :—If when a sacrifice is going on, and the victims are
being burnt according to law,—if, I say, any one who may be
a son or brother, standing by another at the altar and over
the victims, horribly blasphemes, will he not inspire despondency
and evil omens and forebodings in the mind of his father and of
his other kinsmen ?

Cle. Of course.

Ath, And this is just what takes place in almost all our cities.
A. magistrate offers a public sacrifice, and there come in not
one but many choruses, who stand by themselves a little way
from the altar, and from time to time pour forth all sorts of
horrible blasphemies on the sacred rites, exciting the souls
of the audience with words and rhythms, and melodies most
sorrowful to hear; and he who can at the instant the city is
sacrificing make the citizens weep most, carries away the palm
of victory. Now, ought we not to forbid such strains as these?
And if ever our citizens must hear such lamentations, then on
some unblest and inauspicious day let there be choruses of
foreign and hired minstrels, like those who accompany the
departed at funerals with barbarous Carian chants. That is
the sort of thing which will be appropriate if we have such
strains at all; and let the apparel of the singers be not circlets
and ornaments of gold, but the reverse. Enough of the descrip-
tion. And now I will ask once more whether we shall lay down
as one of our principles of song

Cle. What?

Ath, That we should avoid every evil word. I need hardly 8
ask again, but shall assume that you agree with me.

Cle. By all means; that law is approved by the suffrage of
all of us.

Ath, But what shall be our next musical law or type? Ought
not prayers to be offered up to the Gods when we sacrifice ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And our third law, if Iam not mistaken, will be to the
effect, that our poets understanding prayers to be requests which
we make to the Gods, will take especial heed that they do not

02

BOOK . ITT. eu

by mistake ask for evil instead of good. To make such a
prayer would surely be too ridiculous.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Were we not a little while ago quite determined that
no silver or golden Plutus should dwell in our state? |

Cle. To be sure.

Ath, And what did this illustration mean? Did we not imply
that the poets are not always quite capable of knowing what
is good or evil? And if one of them utters a mistaken prayer
in song or words, he will make our citizens pray for the oppo-
site of what is good in matters of the highest import; than
which, as I was saying, there can be few greater mistakes.
Shall we then propose as one of our laws and models relating
to the Muses

Cle. What ?—will you explain the law more precisely?

Ath, Shall we make a law that the poet shall compose no-
thing contrary to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or beautiful,
or good, which are allowed in the state? nor shall he be per-
mitted to communicate his compositions to any private indi-
viduals, until he shall have shown them to the appointed judges,
and the guardians of the law, and they are satisfied with them.
As to the persons whom we appoint to be our legislators about
music and directors of education, they have been already in-
dicated. Once more then, as I have asked more than once,
shall this be our third law, and type, and model—What do
you say?

Cle. Yes, by all means.

Ath, Next it will be proper to have hymns and praises of the
Gods, intermingled with prayers; and after the Gods prayers
and praises should be offered in like manner to demigods and
heroes, suitable to their several characters.

Cle, Certainly.

Ath, In the third place there will be no objection to a law,
that citizens who are departed and have done good and ener-
getic deeds, either with their souls or with their bodies, and
have been obedient to the laws, should receive eulogies; this
will be very fitting.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, But to honour with hymns and panegyrics those who

Bb2 |

372 LAWS.

are still alive is not safe; a man should run his course, and
make a fair ending, and then we will praise him; and let
praise be given equally to women as well as men who have
been distinguished in virtue. The order of songs and dances
shall be as follows:—There are many ancient musical compo-
sitions and dances which are excellent, and from these the
_ government may freely select what is proper and suitable; and
they shall choose judges of not less than fifty years of age, who
shall make the selection, and any of the old poems which they
deem sufficient they shall include; any that is deficient or
altogether unsuitable, they shall either utterly throw aside,
or examine and amend, taking into their counsel poets and
musicians, and making use of their poetical genius; but ex-
plaining to them the wishes of the legislator in order that they
may regulate dancing, music, and all choral strains, according
to his mind ; and not allowing them to indulge, except in some
minor matters, their individual pleasures and fancies. Now, the
irregular strain of music is always made ten thousand times
better by attaining to law and order, and rejecting the honied
Muse—not however that we mean wholly to exclude pleasure,
which is the characteristic of all music. And if a man be
brought up from childhood to the age of discretion and matu-
rity in the use of the orderly and severe music, when he hears
the opposite he detests it, and calls it illiberal; but if trained
in the sweet and vulgar music, he deems the opposite cold
and displeasing. So that, as I was saying before, while he
who hears them gains no more pleasure from the one than
from the other, the one has the advantage of making those
who are trained in it better men, whereas the other makes
them worse.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, Again, we must distinguish and determine on some
general principle what songs are suitable to women, and what
to men, and must assign to them their proper melodies and
rhythms. It is shocking for a whole harmony to be inhar-
monical, or for a rhythm to be unrhythmical, and this will
happen when the melody is inappropriate to them. And,
therefore, the legislator must assign to them also their forms.
Now, both sexes have melodies and rhythms which of necessity

|

BOOK VII. 373

belong to them; and those of women are clearly enough indi-
cated by their natural difference. The grand, and that which
tends to courage, may be fairly called manly; but that which
inclines to moderation and temperance, may be declared both

03 in law and in ordinary speech to be the more womanly quality :

This, then, will be the general order of them.

Let us now speak of the manner of teaching and imparting
them, and the persons to whom, and the time when, they are
severally to be imparted. As the shipwright first lays down
the lines of the keel, and draws the design in outline, so do
I seek to distinguish the patterns of life, and lay down their
keels according to the nature of different men’s souls; seeking
truly to consider by what means, and in what ways, we may
go through the voyage of life best. Now, human affairs are
hardly worth considering in earnest, and yet we must be in
earnest about them,—a sad necessity constrains us. And hav-
ing got thus far, there will be a fitness in our completing the
matter, if we can only find some suitable means of doing so.
But what am I saying? and yet very probably there may be
a meaning latent in these very words.

Cle. To be sure.

Ath, I say that about serious matters a man should be
serious, and about a matter which is not serious he should not
be serious; and that God is the naturai and worthy object
of a man’s most serious and blessed endeavours; who, as I
said before, is made to be the plaything of God, and that this,
truly considered, is the best of him; wherefore every man and
woman should walk seriously, and pass life in the noblest of
pastimes, and be of another mind from what they now are. |

Cle. In what respect ?

Ath. Now they think that their serious pursuits should be
for the sake of their sports, for they deem war a serious pursuit,
which must be managed well for the sake of peace; but the
truth is, that there neither is, nor has been, nor ever will be,
either amusement or instruction in any degree worth speaking
of in war, which is nevertheless deemed by us to be the most
serious of our pursuits. And therefore, as we say, every one
of us should live the life of peace as long and as well as he can.
And what is the right way of living? Are we to live in sports

=

v1

374 LAWS.

always? If so, in what kind of sports? We ought to live
sacrificing, and singing, and dancing, and then a man will be
able to propitiate the Gods, and to defend himself against his
enemies and conquer them in battle. The type of song or
dance by which he will propitiate them has been described,
and the paths along which he is to proceed have been cut
for him. He will go forward in the spirit of the poet :—

‘Telemachus, some things thou wilt thyself find in thy heart, but other

things God will suggest; for I deem that thou wast not born or brought
up without the will of the Gods.’
And this ought to be the view of our alumni; they ought to
think that what has been said is enough for them, and that
any other things some God or a demi-God will suggest to
them—he will tell them to whom, and when, and to what
Gods severally they are to sacrifice and perform dances, and
how they may propitiate the deities, and live according to the
appointment of nature; being for the most part puppets, but
having some little share of reality.

Meg. You have a low opinion of mankind, Stranger.

Ath, Nay, Megillus, I was only comparing them with the
Gods; and under that feeling I spoke. Let us grant, if you
wish, that the human race is not to be despised, but is worthy
of some consideration.

Next follow the buildings for gymnasia and schools open to
all; ‘these-ate to. be in three places in the midst of the city ;
and outside the city and in the surrounding country there shall
be schools for horse exercise, and open spaces also in three
places, arranged with a view to archery and the throwing of
missiles, at which young men may learn and practise. Of these
mention has already been made; and if the mention be not
sufficiently explicit, let us speak further of them and embody
them in laws. In these several schools let there be dwellings
for teachers, who shall be brought from foreign parts by pay, and
let them teach the frequenters of the school the art of war and
the art of music, and the children shall come not only if their
parents please, but if they do not please; and if their education
is neglected, there shall be compulsory education, as the saying
is, of all and sundry, as far as this is possible; and the pupils
shall be regarded as belonging to the state rather than to their

BOOK "V7 {. 375

parents. My law would apply to females as well as males;
they shall both go through the same exercises. I assert without
fear of contradiction that gymnastic and horsemanship are as
suitable to women as to men. Of the truth of this I am per-
suaded from ancient tradition, and at the present day there
are said to be myriads of women in the neighbourhood of
the Black Sea, called Sauromatides, who not only ride on

‘5 horseback like men, but have enjoined upon them the use of

bows and other weapons equally with the men. And I further
affirm, that if these things are possible, nothing can be more
absurd than the practice which prevails in our own country of
men and women not following the same pursuits with all their
strength and with one mind, for thus the state, instead of being
a whole, is reduced to a half, and yet has the same imposts
to pay and the same toils to undergo; and what can be a
greater mistake for any legislator to make?

Cle. Very true; and much of what has been asserted by us,
Stranger, is contrary to the custom of states; still, in saying
that the discourse should be allowed to proceed, and that
when the discussion is completed, we should choose what seems
best, you have spoken very properly, and have made me feel
compunction for what I said. Tell me, then, what you would
next wish to say.

Ath. I should wish to say, Cleinias, as I said before, that
if the possibility of these things were not sufficiently proven
in fact, then there might be an objection to the argument, but
the fact being as I have said, he who rejects the law must
find some other ground of objection; and, failing this, our
exhortation will still hold good, nor will any one deny that
women ought to share as far as possible in education and in
other ways with men, for consider ;—if women do not share
in their whole life with men, then they must have some other
order of life.

Cle. Cettainty,

Ath, And what arrangement of life to be found anywhere is
preferable to this community which we are now assigning to
them? Shall we prefer that which is adopted by the Thracians
and many other races who use their women to till the ground
and to be shepherds of their herds and flocks, and to minister

376 LAWS.

to them like slaves? Or shall we do as we and people in our
part of the world do? getting together, as the phrase is, all our
goods and chattels into one dwelling—these we entrust to our
women, who are the stewards of them; and who also preside
over the shuttles and the whole art of spinning. Or shall we
take a middle course, as in Lacedaemon, Megillus, letting the g
girls share in gymnastic and music, while the grown-up women,
no longer employed in spinning wool, are actively engaged in
weaving the web of life, which will be no cheap or mean
employment, and in the duty of serving and taking care of the
household and bringing up children in which they will observe a
sort of mean, not participating in the toils of war; and if there
were any necessity that they should fight for their city and
families, unlike the Amazons, they would be unable to take
part in archery or any other skilled use of missiles, nor could
they, after the example of the Goddess, carry shield or spear,
or stand up nobly for their country when it was being destroyed,
and strike terror into their enemies, if only because they were
seen in regular order? Living as they do, they would never
dare at all to imitate the Sauromatides, whose women, when
compared with ordinary women, would appear to be like men.
Let him who will, praise your legislators, but I must say what
I think. The legislator ought to be whole and perfect, and
not half a man only; he ought not to let the female sex live
softly and waste money and have no order of life, while he
takes the utmost care of the male sex, and leaves half of life
only blest with happiness, when he might have made the whole
state happy.

Meg. What shall we do, Cleinias? Shall we allow a stranger
to run down Sparta in this fashion? :

Cle. Yes; for as we have given him liberty of speech we
must let him go on until we have perfected the work of
legislation. |

Meg. Very true.

Ath. Then now I may proceed?

Cle. By all means.

Ath, What will be the manner of life among men who may
be supposed to have their food and clothing provided for them
in moderation, and who have entrusted the practice of the arts

BOOK VII. 377

to others, and whose husbandry committed to slaves paying a
part of the produce, brings them a return sufficient for men
living temperately ; who, moreover, have common tables in
which the men are placed apart, and near them are the common
tables of their families, of their daughters and mothers, which
day by day, the rulers, male and female, are to inspect and

307 look to their mode of life and so dismiss them; after which

the magistrate and his attendants shall honour with libations
those Gods to whom that day and night are dedicated, and
then go home? To men whose lives are thus ordered, is there
no work to be done which is necessary and fitting, but shall
each one of them live fattening like a beast? Such a life is

neither just nor honourable, nor can he who lives it fail of

meeting his due; and the due reward of the idle fatted beast
is that he should be torn in pieces by some other valiant beast
whose fatness is worn down by labours and toils. These regu-
lations, if we duly consider them, will never perfectly take
effect under present circumstances, nor as long as women and
children and houses and all other things are the private pro-
perty of individuals; but if we can attain the second-best form
of polity, with that we may be satisfied.. And to men living
under this second polity there remains a work to be accom-
plished which is far from being small or insignificant, but is
the greatest of all works, and ordained by the appointment
of righteous law. For the life which is wholly concerned with
the virtue of body and soul may truly be said to be twice, or
inore than twice, as full of toil and trouble as the pursuit after
Pythian and Olympic victories, which debars a man from every
employment of life. For there ought to be no bye-work inter-
fering with the greater work of providing. the necessary
exercise and nourishment for the body, and instruction and edu-
cation for the soul. Night and day are not long enough for
the accomplishment of their perfection and consummation ; and
therefore to this end all freemen ought to arrange the time of
their employments during the whole course of the twenty-four
hours, from morning to evening and from evening to the morning
of the next sunrise. There may seem to be some impropriety
in the legislator determining minutely the little details of the
management of the house, including such particulars as the

378 LAWS.

duty of wakefulness in those who are to be perpetual watchmen
of the whole city; for that any citizen should continue during
the whole night in sleep, instead of being seen by all his 80
servants, always the first to awake and the first to rise—this,
whether the regulation is to be called a law or only a practice,
should be deemed base and unworthy of a freeman; also that
the mistress of the house should be awakened by her hand-
maidens instead of herself first awakening them, is what her
slaves, male and female, and her children, and, if that were
possible, everything in the house should regard as base. If
they rise early, they may all of them do much of their public
and of their household business, as magistrates in the city,
and masters and mistresses in their private houses, before the
sun is up. Much sleep is not required by nature, either for
our souls or bodies, or for the actions in which they are
concerned. For no one who is asleep is good for anything,
any more than if he were dead; but he of us who has the
most regard for life and reason keeps awake as long as he
can, reserving only so much time for sleep as is expedient
for health; and much sleep is not required, if the habit of not
sleeping be once formed. Magistrates in states who keep awake
at night are terrible to the bad, whether enemies or citizens,
and are honoured and reverenced by the just and temperate,
and are useful to themselves and to the whole state.

A night which is short and devoted to work, in addition to
all the above-mentioned advantages, infuses a sort of courage
into the minds of the citizens. When the day breaks, the time
has arrived for youth to go to their schoolmasters. Now,
neither sheep nor any other animals can live without a shepherd,
nor can children be left without tutors, or slaves without
masters. And of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable,
inasmuch as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet
regulated; he is the most insidious, sharp-witted, and insub-
ordinate of animals. Wherefore he must be bound with many
bridles; in the first place, when he gets away from mothers
and nurses, he must be under the control of tutors on account
of his childishness and foolishness; then, again, being a freeman,
he must have teachers and be educated by them in anything
which they teach, and must learn what he has to learn; but

a en

BOOK VII. 379

Jd

he is also a slave, and in that regard any freeman who comes
in his way may punish him and his tutor and his instructor,
if any of them does anything wrong; and he who comes across

9 him and does not inflict upon him the punishment which he
deserves, shall incur the greatest disgrace; and let the guardian
of the law, who is the director of education, see to him who
coming in the way of the offences which we have mentioned,
does not chastise them when he ought, or chastises them in a
way which he ought not; let him keep a sharp look-out, and
take especial care of the training of our children, directing
their natures, and always turning them to good according to
the law.

And how can our law sufficiently train the director of edu-
cation himself; for as yet all has been imperfect, and nothing
has been said either clear or satisfactory? Now, as far as
possible, the law ought to leave nothing to him, but to explain
everything, that he may be the interpreter and tutor of others.
About dances and music and choral strains, I have already
spoken both as to the character of the selection of them, and
the manner in which they are to be improved and consecrated.
But we have not yet spoken, O illustrious guardian of education,
of the manner in which your pupils are to use those strains
which are written in prose, although you have been informed |
what martial strains they are to learn and practise ; what relates
in the first place to the learning of letters, and secondly, to
the lyre, and also to calculation, which, as we were saying, is
needful for them all to learn, and any other things which are
required with a view to war and the management of house
and city, and, looking to the same object, what is useful in
the revolutions of the heavenly bodies—the stars and sun and
moon, and the various regulations about these matters which
are necessary for the whole state—I am speaking of the
arrangements of days in periods of months, and of months in
years, which are to be observed, in order that times and sacri-
fices and festivals may proceed in regular and natural order,
and keep the city alive and awake, the Gods receiving -the
honours due to them, and men having a better understanding
about them: all these things, O my friend, have not yet been
sufficiently declared by the legislator. Attend, then, to what

380 LAWS.

I am now going to say: We were telling you, in the first place,
that you were not sufficiently informed about letters, and the
objection made was to this effect,—‘ That you were never told
whether he who was meant to be a respectable citizen should
apply himself in detail to that sort of learning, or not apply
himself at all;’ and the same remark was made about the
lyre. But now we say that he ought to attend to them. A
fair time for a boy of ten years old to spend in letters is three §
years; at thirteen years he should begin to handle the lyre,
and he may continue at this for another three years, neither
more nor less, and whether his father or himself like or dislike
the study, he is not to be allowed to spend more or less time
in learning music than the law allows. And let him who
disobeys the law be deprived of those youthful honours of
which we shall hereafter speak. Hear, however, first of all,
what the young ought to learn in the early years of life, and
what their instructors ought to teach them. They ought to
be occupied with their letters until they are able to read and
write; but the acquisition of perfect beauty or quickness in
writing, if nature has not stimulated them to acquire these
accomplishments in the given number of years, they should
let alone. And as to the learning of compositions committed
to writing which are unaccompanied by song, whether metrical
or without rhythmical divisions, compositions in prose, as they are
termed, having no rhythm or harmony—seeing how dangerous
are the writings handed down to us by many writers of this
class—what will you do with them, O most excellent guardians
‘of the law? or how can the lawgiver rightly direct you about
them? I believe that he will be in great difficulty.

Cle. What troubles you, Stranger? and why are you so
perplexed in your mind?

Ath. You naturally ask, Cleinias, and to you, who are my
partners in the work of education, I must state the difficulties of
the case. ;

Cle. To what do you refer in this instance?

Ath. I will tell you. There is a difficulty in opposing many
myriads of mouths.

Cle. Well, and have we not already opposed the popular voice
in many important enactments?

|

_

BOOK VII. 381

Ath, That is quite true; and you mean to imply that the road
which we are taking may be disagreeable to some but is agree-
able to as many others, or if not to as many, at any rate to
persons not inferior to the others, and in company with them
you bid me, at whatever risk, proceed along the path of legis-
lation which has opened out of our present discourse, and to be
of good cheer, and not to faint.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And I do not faint; I say, indeed, that we have a great
many poets writing in hexameter, trimeter, and all sorts of mea-
sures—some who are serious, others who aim only at raising
a laugh—and all mankind declare that the youth who are
rightly educated should be brought up and saturated with
them; they should be constantly hearing them read at reci-
tations, and some would have them learn by heart entire poets ;
while others select choice passages and long speeches, and
make compendiums of them, saying that these shall be com-
mitted to memory, and that in this way only can a man be
made good and wise by experience and learning. And you
want me to say plainly in what they are right and in what
they are wrong.

Cle. Yes, I do.

Ath, But how can I in one word rightly comprehend all of
them? Iam of opinion, and, if I am not mistaken, there is a
general agreement, that every one of these poets has said many
things well and many things the reverse of well; and if this
be true, then I do affirm that. much learning brings danger to
youth, as eee er ra
Cle. Then how would you advise the guardian of the law to
act? . |

Ath. In what respect?

Cle. I mean to what pattern should he look as his guide in
permitting the young to learn some things and forbidding them
to learn others. Do not shrink from answering,

Ath. My good Cleinias, I rather think that I am fortunate.

Cle. In what ?

Ath, Y think that Iam not wholly in want of a pattern, for
when I consider the words which we have spoken from early

dawn until now, and which, as I believe, have been inspired by

382 LAWS.

‘Heaven, they appear to me to be quite like a poem. When I
reflected upon all these words of ours, I naturally felt pleasure,

for of all the discourses which I have ever learnt or heard, either
in poetry or prose, this seemed to me to be the justest, and most
suitable for young men to hear; I cannot imagine any better
pattern than this which the guardian of the law and the educator
can have. They cannot do better than advise the teachers to
teach the young these and the like words, and if they should
happen to find writings, either in poetry or prose, or even un-
written discourses like these of ours, and of the same family,
they should certainly preserve them, and commit them to
writing. And, first of all, they shall constrain the teachers
themselves to learn and approve them, and any of them who
will not, shall not be employed by them, but those whom they
find agreeing in their judgment, they shall make use of and shall
commit to them the instruction and education of youth. And 8
here and on this wise let my fanciful tale about letters and
teachers of letters come to an end.

Cle. I do not think, Stranger, that we have wandered out of
the proposed limits of the argument; but whether we are right
or not in the whole design I cannot be very certain.

Ath, The truth, Cleinias, may be expected to become clearer
when, as we have often said, we arrive at the end of the whole
discussion about laws.

Ce Ves:

Ath, And now that we have done with the teacher of letters,
the teacher of the lyre has to receive orders from us.

Cle, Certainly.

Ath, 1 think that we have only to recollect our previous dis-
cussions, and we shall be able to give suitable regulations
touching all this part of instruction and education to the teachers
of the lyre.

Cle. To what do you refer?

Ath, We were saying, if I remember rightly, that the sixty
years’ old choristers of Dionysus were to be specially quick in
their perceptions of rhythm and musical composition, that they
might be able to distinguish good and bad imitation, or in other
words, the imitation of the good or bad soul when under the
influence of passion, rejecting the one and displaying the other

BOOK VL. . 383
in hymns and songs, charming the souls of youth, and inviting
them to follow and attain virtue by the way of imitation.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And with this view the teacher and the learner ought to
use the sounds of the lyre because its notes are pure, the player
who teaches and his pupil giving note for note in unison ; but
complexity, and variation of notes, when the strings give one
sound and the poet or composer of the melody gives another ;
also when they make concords and harmonies in which lesser
and greater intervals, slow and quick, or high and low notes, are
combined; or, again, when they make complex variations of
rhythms, which they adapt to the notes of the lyre,—all that
sort of thing is not suited to those who have to acquire a speedy
and useful knowledge of music in three years; for opposite

' principles are confusing, and create a difficulty in learning, and
our young men should learn quickly, and their mere necessary
acquirements are not few or trifling, as will be shown in due
course. Let our educator attend to the principles concerning
music which we are laying down. As to the songs and words
themselves which the masters of choruses are to teach and the
character of them, they have been already described by us, and

313 are the same which we said were to be consecrated as may suit

the several feasts, and so furnish an innocent and useful amuse-
ment to cities.

Cle. That, again, is true.

Ath. Then let the musical president who has been elected re-
ceive these rules from us as the very truth; and may he prosper
in his office! Let us now proceed to lay down other rules about
dancing and gymnastic exercise in general. Having said what
remained to be said about the teaching of music,.let us speak in
like manner about gymnastic. For boys and girls ought to learn
to dance and practise gymnastic exercises—ought they not?

Cle. Yes.

Ath. Then the boys ought to have dancing masters, and the
girls dancing mistresses to exercise them.

Cle. Very good.

Ath. Then once more let us call him who will have the chief
trouble, the superintendent of youth ; he will have plenty to do,
if he is to have the charge of music and gymnastic.

384 LAWS.

Cle. But how will an old man be able to attend to such great
charges ? |

Ath, O, my friend, there will be no difficulty, for the law has
already given and will give him permission to select as _ his
assistants in this charge any citizens, male or female, whom he
desires ; and he will know whom he ought to choose, and will be
anxious not to make a mistake, from a sense of responsibility,
and from a consciousness of the importance of his office, and also
because he will consider that if young men have been and are
well brought up, then all things go swimmingly, but if not, it is
not meet to say, nor do we say, what will follow, lest the
regarders of omens should take alarm about our infant state.
Many things have been said by us about dancing and about
gymnastic movements in general; for we include under gym-
nastics all military exercises, such as archery,-and all hurling of —
weapons, and the use of the light shield, and all fighting with
heavy arms, and military evolutions, and movements of armies,
and encampments, and all that relates to horsemanship. Of all
these things there ought to be public teachers, receiving pay
from the state, and their pupils should be the men and boys in
the state, and also the girls and women, who are to know all
these things. While they are yet girls they should have
practised dancing in arms and the whole art of fighting—when
they are grown-up women, applying themselves to evolutions
and tactics, and the mode of grounding and taking up arms; if
for no other reason, yet in case the whole people should have to 81
leave the city and carry on operations of war outside, that the
young who are left to guard and the rest of the city may be
equal to the task; and, on the other hand (what is far from
being an impossibility), when enemies, whether barbarian or
Hellenic, come from without with mighty force and make a
violent assault upon them, and thus compel them to fight for
the possession of the city, great would be the disgrace to the
state, if the women had been so miserably trained that they
could not fight for their young, as birds will, against any creature
however strong, and die or undergo any danger, but must
instantly rush to the temples and crowd at the altars and
shrines, and bring upon human nature the reproach, that of all
animals man is the most cowardly.

|
Or

BOOK VII. 385

Cle. Such a want of education, Stranger, is certainly an
unseemly thing to happen in a state, and also a great mis-
fortune.

Ath. Suppose that we carry our law to the extent of saying
that women ought not to neglect military matters, but that all
citizens, male and female alike, shall attend to them?

Cle. I quite agree. ~

Ath, Of wrestling we have spoken in part, but of what I
should call the most important part we have not spoken, and
cannot easily speak without showing at the same time by
gesture as well as in word what we mean; when word and
action combine, and not till then, we shall explain clearly what
has been said, pointing out that of all movements wrestling is
most akin to the military art, and is to be pursued for the sake
of this, and not this for the sake of wrestling.

Cle; excellent.

Ath,-Thus far we have spoken of the palestra, and we will
now proceed to speak of other movements of the body. Such
motion may be in general called dancing, and is of two kinds:
one of nobler figures, imitating the honourable, the other of the
more ignoble figures, imitating the mean; and of both these
there are two further sub-divisions. Of the serious, one kind
is of those engaged in war and vehement action, and is the
exercise of a noble person and a manly heart; the other
exhibits a temperate soul in the enjoyment of prosperity and
modest pleasures, and may be truly called and is the dance of
peace. The warrior dance is different from the peaceful one, and
may be rightly termed Pyrrhic; this imitates the modes of
avoiding blows and darts, by dropping or giving way, or spring-
ing aside, or rising up or falling down; also the opposite
postures which are those of action, as, for example, the imitation
of archery and the hurling of javelins, and of all sorts of blows.
And when the imitation is of brave bodies and souls, and the
action is direct and muscular, giving for the most part a straight
movement to the limbs of the body—that, I say, is the true
sort ; but the opposite is not right. In the dance of peace the
consideration is whether a man bears himself naturally and
gracefully, and after the manner of well-conditioned men. But
before proceeding I must distinguish the dancing about which

Ad @) Dena Ce

386 LAWS.

there is any doubt, from that about which there is no doubt.
How shall we distinguish them? There are dances of the
Bacchic sort, in which they imitate, as they say, the Nymphs,
and Pan, and drunken Silenuses, and Satyrs, after whom they
name them, making purifications and celebrating mysteries,—all
this sort of dancing cannot be distinguished as having either a
peaceful or a warlike character, or indeed as having any mean-
ing whatever, and may, I think, be most truly described as
distinct from the warlike dance, and distinct from the peaceful,
and not suited fora city at all. Having left this behind us, we
will now proceed to the dances of war and peace, about which
there can be no doubt in our state. Now the unwarlike muse,
which honours in dance the Gods and the sons of the Gods, is
associated with the consciousness of prosperity ; and this may be
sub-divided into classes, of which one is expressive of an escape
from some labour or danger into good, and has greater pleasures;
the other expressive of preservation and increase of former good,
in which the pleasure is less exciting ;—in all these cases, every
man when the pleasure is greater, moves his body more, and
less when the pleasure is less; and, again, if he be more orderly
and disciplined he moves less; but if he be a coward, and has 81
no training or self-control, he makes greater and more violent
movements, and in general when he is speaking or singing he~
is not altogether able to control his body; and so out of the
imitation of words in gestures the art of dancing has originated.
And in these various kinds of imitation one man moves in an.
orderly, another in a disorderly manner; and as the ancients
may be observed to have given many names which are according
to nature and deserving of praise, so there is an excellent one
which they have given to those dances of men in their times of
prosperity, who are moderate in their pleasures—whoever he
was gave them a very true, and poetical, and rational name,
when he called them Emmeleiai, or dances of order; thus
establishing two kinds of dances of the nobler sort, the dance of
war which he called the Pyrrhic, and the dance of peace which
he called Emmeleia, or the dance of order; giving to each their
appropriate and becoming name. These things the legislator
should indicate in general outline, and the guardian of the law
should enquire into them and search them out, combining

BOOK - VI, 337
dancing with music, and assigning to the several sacrificial feasts
that which is suitable to them; and when he has consecrated
them all in due order, he shall for the future change nothing,
whether of dance or song. Thenceforward the city and the
citizens shall continue to have the same pleasures, themselves
being as far as possible alike, and shall live well and happily.

I have described the dances which are appropriate to noble
bodies and generous souls. But it is necessary also to consider
and know uncomely persons and thoughts, and those which are
intended to produce laughter in comedy, and have a comic
character both in respect to style, and song, and dance, whether
real or imitated. For serious things cannot be understood with-
out laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites, if a
man is really to have intelligence of either; but he cannot carry
out both in action, if he is to have any degree of virtue. And
for this very reason he should learn them both, in order that he
may not in ignorance do or say anything which is ridiculous and
out of place—he should command slaves and hired strangers to
imitate such things, but he should never take any serious interest
in them himself, nor should any freeman or freewoman be dis-
covered learning them; and there should always be some
element of novelty in the imitation. Let these then be laid
down, both in law and in our narrative, as the regulations of

817 laughable amusements which are generally called comedy.

And, if any of the serious or tragic poets, as they are termed,
come to us and say—‘O strangers, may we go to your city and
country or may we not, and shall we bring with us our poetry—
what is your will about these matters?’ How shall we answer
the divine men? I think that our answer should be as follows:
—Best of strangers, we will say to them, we also according to
our ability are tragic poets, and our tragedy the best and
noblest ; for our whole state is an imitation of the best and
noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truth of
tragedy. You are poets and we are poets, your rivals and
antagonists in the noblest of dramas, which true law will carry
out in act,as our hope is. Do not then suppose that we shall
all in a moment allow you to erect your stage in the agora, or
introduce the fair voice of your actors, speaking above our own,
and permit you to harangue our women and children, and the
Co 4

388 LAWS,

mass of mankind, about our institutions, in language other than
our own, and very often the opposite of our own. For a state
would be mad which gave you this licence, until the magistrates
had determined whether your poetry might be recited, and was
fit for publication or not. Wherefore, O ye sons and scions of
the softer Muses, first of all show your songs to the magistrates,
and let them compare them with our own, and if they are the
same or better we will give you a chorus; but if not, then, my
friends, we cannot. Let these, then, be the customs ordained by
law about all dances and the teaching of them, and let matters
relating to slaves be separated from those relating to masters, if
you do not object.

Cle, We can have no hesitation in assenting when you put the
matter thus.

Ath. There still remain three studies suitable for freemen.
Arithmetic is one of them; the measurement of length, surface,
and depth is the second; and the third has to do with the
revolutions of the stars in relation to one another. Not every
one has need to toil through all these things in a strictly 81!
scientific manner, but only a few, and who they are to be, we
will hereafter indicate in the proper place; not to know what
is necessary for mankind in general, and what is the truth,
is disgraceful to every one: and yet to enter into these matters
minutely is neither easy, nor at all possible for every one; but
there is something in them which is necessary and cannot be
set aside, and probably he who made the proverb about God
originally had this in view when he said, ‘that not even God
himself can fight against necessity ;—-he meant, if I am not
mistaken, divine necessity; for as to the human necessities of
which men often speak when they talk in this manner, nothing
can be more ridiculous than such an application of the words.

Cle. And what necessities of knowledge are there, Stranger,
which are divine and not human?

Ath, I conceive them to be those of which he who has no use
nor any knowledge at all cannot be a God, or demi-god, or hero
to mankind, or able to take any serious thought or charge of
them. And very unlike a divine man would he be, who is
unable to count one, two, three, or to distinguish odd and even
numbers; or is unable to count at all, or reckon night and day,

BOOK V1 389

and who is totally unacquainted with the revolution of the sun
and moon, and the other stars. There would be great folly in
supposing that all these are not necessary parts of knowledge
to him who intends to know anything about the highest kinds
of knowledge; but which these are, and how many there are
of them, and when they are to be learned, and what is to be
learned together and what apart, and the whole correlation of
them, must be rightly apprehended first; and these leading the
way we may proceed to the other parts of knowledge. For so
necessity grounded in nature constrains us, against which we
say that no God contends, or ever will contend.

Cle. I think, Stranger, that what you have now said is very
true and agreeable to nature.

Ath. Yes, Cleinias, I quite agree with you. But it is difficult
for the legislator to begin with these studies ; at a more con-
venient time we will make regulations for them.

Cle. You seem, Stranger, to be afraid of our habitual ignorance
of the subject : there is no reason why that should prevent you

819 from speaking out.

Ath, I certainly am afraid of the difficulties to which you
allude, but I am still more afraid of those who apply themselves
to this sort of knowledge, and apply themselves badly. For
entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is
far from being the greatest of all ; too much cleverness and too
much learning, accompanied with ill bringing up, are far more
fatal.

Cle. True.

Ath. All freemen, I conceive, should learn as much of these
branches of knowledge as every child in Egypt is taught when
he learns his alphabet. In that country arithmetical games
have been actually invented for the use of children, which they
learn as a pleasure and amusement. They have to distribute
apples and garlands, using the same number sometimes for a
larger and sometimes for a lesser number of persons; and they
arrange pugilists and wrestlers as they pair together by lot or
remain over, and show the order in which they follow. Another
mode of amusing them is by distributing vessels, some in which
gold, brass, silver, and the like are mixed, others in which they
are unmixed; as I was saying, they adapt to their amusement

390 LAWS,

the numbers in common use, and in this way make more
intelligible to their pupils the arrangements and movements of
armies and expeditions, and in the management of a household
they make people more useful to themselves, and more wide
awake; and again in measurements of things which have length,
and breadth, and depth, they free us from that natural igno-
rance of all these things which is so ludicrous and ee

Cle. What kind of ignorance do you mean?

Ath. O my dear Cleinias, I, like yourself, have late in life
heard with amazement of our ignorance in these matters; to
me we appear to be more like pigs than men, and I am
quite ashamed, not only of myself, but of all Hellenes.

Cle. About what? Say, Stranger, what you mean.

Ath, I will; or rather I will show you my meaning by a
question, and do you please to answer me: You know, I
suppose, what length is?
stoi. Certainly.

Ath, And what breadth is?

Cie. Po De: sure,

Ath. And you know that these are two distinct things, and
that there is a third thing called depth ?

Cle. Of course.

Ath. And do not all these seem to you to be commensurable
with one another ? |

Cle. Yes.

Ath, That is to say, length is naturally commensurable with
length, and breadth with breadth, and depth in like manner
with depth? :

Cle. Undoubtedly.

Ath. But if some things are commensurable and others wholly
incommensurable, and you think that all things are commen-
surable, what is your position in regard to them?

Cle. Clearly, far from good.

Ath. Concerning length and breadth when compared with
depth, or breadth and length when compared with one another,
are not all the Hellenes agreed that these are commensurable
with one another in some way?

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, But if they are absolutely neon menseritle and yet

Bin. Vit: 391

all of us regard them as commensurable, have we not reason
to be ashamed of our compatriots; and might we not say to
them :—O ye best of Hellenes, is not this one of the things of
which we were saying that not to know them is disgraceful,
and of which to know only what is necessary is no great
distinction ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And there are other things akin to these, in which
there spring up other errors of the same family.

Cle. What are they?

Ath. The natures of commensurable and incommensurable
quantities in their relation to one another. A man who is good
for anything ought to be able, when he thinks, to distinguish
them ; and different persons should compete with one another
in asking questions, which will be a far better and more
graceful way of passing their time than the old man’s game
of draughts.

Cle. I dare say ; and these pastimes are not so very unlike a
game of draughts.

Ath. And these, as I maintain, Cleinias, are the studies
which our youth ought to learn, for they are innocent and not
difficult; the learning of them will be an amusement, and they
will benefit the state. If any one is of another mind, let him
say what he has to say.

Cle. Of course you are right.

Ath. Then if these studies are such as we say, we will include
them ; if not, they shall be excluded.

Cle. Assuredly: but may we not now, Stranger, prescribe
these studies as necessary, and so fill up the lacunae of our
laws ?

Ath. They shall be regarded as pledges which may be
refused hereafter by the state, if they do not please either
us who impose them, or you upon whom they are imposed.

Cle. A fair condition. |

Ath. Next let us see whether we are willing that the study
of astronomy shall or shall not be proposed for our youth.

Cle, Proceed.

Ath, Here occurs a strange phenomenon, which certainly
cannot in any point of view be tolerated.

392 LAWS.

Cle. To what are you referring ? 82

Ath. Men say that we ought not to enquire into the supreme
God and the nature of the universe, nor busy ourselves in
searching out the causes of things, and that such enquiries
are impious ; whereas the very opposite is the truth.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. Perhaps what I am saying may seem paradoxical, and
at variance with the usual language of age. But when any one
has any good and true notion which is for the advantage of the
state and in every way acceptable to God, he cannot abstain
from expressing it.

Cle. Your words are reasonable enough; but shall we find
any good or true notion about the stars?

Ath. My good friends, at this day all of us Hellenes speak
falsely, if I may use such an expression, of those great Gods,
the Sun and the Moon.

Cle. What is the falsehood ?

Ath, We say that they and divers other stars do not keep
the same path, and we call them planets or wanderers.

Cle. Very true, Stranger; and in the course of my life I have
often myself seen the morning star and the evening star and
divers others not proceeding in their own path, but wandering
out of their path in all manner of ways, and I have seen the
sun and moon doing what we all know that they do.

Ath, Just so, Megillus and Cleinias, and I maintain that
our citizens and our youth ought to learn about the nature of
the Gods in heaven, so far as to be able to offer sacrifices and
pray to them in pious language, and not to blaspheme about
them.

Cle. There you are right, if such a knowledge be only attain-
able; and if we are wrong in our mode of speaking now, and
can be better instructed and learn to use better language, then
I quite agree with you that such a degree of knowledge as will
enable us to speak rightly should, if attainable, be acquired by
us. And now do you try to explain to us your whole meaning,
and we, on our part, will endeavour to understand you.

Ath. There is some difficulty in understanding my meaning,
but not a very great one, nor will any great length of time be
required ; and of this Iam myself a proof; for I did not know

BOOK VII. 393

these things long ago, nor in the days of my youth; and yet

I can explain them to you in a brief space of time, whereas if
| they had been difficult I could certainly never have explained
~ them all, old as I am, to old men like yourselves.

Cle. True; but what is this study which you describe as
wonderful and fitting for youth to learn, but of which we are
ignorant? Try and explain the nature of it to us as clearly as
you can.

Ath. Twill. For, O my good friends, that other doctrine
about the wandering of the sun and the moon and the other
stars is not the truth, but the very reverse of the truth. Each
of them moves in the same path—not in many paths, but in one
only, which is circular, and the varieties are only apparent.
Nor are we right in supposing that the swiftest of them is the
slowest, nor conversely, that the slowest is the quickest. And
if what I say is true, only just imagine that we had a similar
notion about horses running at Olympia, or about men who
ran in the long course, and that we addressed the swiftest as
the slowest and the slowest as the swiftest, and sang the praises
of the vanquished as though he were the victor,—in that case
our praises would not be true, nor very agreeable to the runners,
though they be but men; and now, to commit the same error
about the Gods which would have been ludicrous and erroneous
in the case of men,—is not that ludicrous and erroneous?

Cle. Worse than ludicrous, I should say.

Ath, At all events, the Gods cannot like us to be spreading
a false report of them.

Cle. Most true, if such is the fact.

Ath. And if we can show that such is really the fact, then all
these matters ought to be learned so far as is necessary for
the avoidance of impiety; but if we cannot, they may be
let alone, and let this be our decision.

Cle. Very good.

Ath. Enough of laws relating to education and learning. But
hunting and similar pursuits in like manner claim our attention.
For the legislator appears to have a duty imposed upon him
which goes beyond mere legislation. There is something over
and above law which lies in a region between admonition and
law, and has several times occurred to us in the course of dis-

LS)

394 LA WS.

cussion ; for example, in the education of very young children
there were things, as we maintain, which are not to be defined,
and to regard them as matters of positive law is a great
absurdity. Now, our laws and the whole constitution of our
state having been thus delineated, the praise of the virtuous
citizen is not complete when he is described as the person who
serves the laws best and obeys them most, but the highest form
of praise is that which describes him as the good citizen who
goes through life undefiled and is obedient to the words of the 8
legislator, both when he is giving laws and when he assigns
praise and blame. This is the truest word than can be spoken
in praise of a citizen; and the true legislator ought not only to
write his laws, but also to interweave with them all such things
as seem to him honourable and dishonourable. And the perfect
citizen ought to seek to strengthen these no less than the principles
of law which are sanctioned by punishments. I will adduce an
example which will clear up my meaning, Hunting is of wide
extent, and has a name under which many things are included,
for there is a hunting of creatures in the water, and of creatures
in the air; and there is a great deal of hunting of land animals
of all sorts, and not of wild beasts only; the hunting after man
is also worthy of consideration; there is the hunting after him
in war, and there is often a hunting after him in the way of
friendship, which is praised and also blamed; and there is
thieving, and the hunting which is practised by robbers, and
that of armies against armies. Now the legislator, in laying
down laws about hunting, can neither abstain from noting these
things, nor can he make threatening ordinances which will assign,
rules and penalties about all of them. What is he to do? He
will have to praise and blame hunting with a view to the
discipline and exercise of youth, And, on the other hand, the
young man must listen obediently ; neither pleasure nor pain
should hinder him, and he should regard as his standard of
action the praises and injunctions of the legislator rather than
the punishments which he imposes by law. This being pre-
mised, there will follow next in order moderate praise and
censure of hunting; the praise being assigned to that which will
make the souls of young men better, and the censure to that
which has the opposite effect. And now let us address young

BOOK VII. 305

men in the form of a pious wish for their welfare : O, my friends,
we will say to them, may no desire or love of hunting in the
sea, or of angling or of catching the creatures in the sea, ever
take possession of you, either when you are awake or when you
are asleep, by hook or with weels, which latter is a very lazy
contrivance; and let not any desire of catching men and of
piracy by sea enter into your souls and make you cruel and
lawless hunters. And as to the desire of thieving in town or
country, may it never enter into your most passing thoughts ;
nor let the insidious fancy of catching birds, which is hardly
worthy of freemen, come into the head of any youth. There
remains therefore for our athletes only the hunting and catching
of land animals, of which the one sort is called hunting by
night, in which the hunters sleep in turn and are lazy; this is
not to be commended any more than that which has intervals of
rest, in which the wild strength of beasts is subdued by nets and
snares, and not by the victory of a laborious spirit. Thus, only
the best kind of hunting is allowed at all—that of quadrupeds,
which is carried on with horses and dogs and men’s own persons,
and they get the victory over the animals by running them
down and striking them and hurling at them, those who have
a care of godlike manhood taking them with their own hands.
The praise and blame which is assigned to all these things has
now been declared; and let the law be as follows: Let no one
hinder our sacred hunters from following the chase wherever
and whithersoever they will; but the nightly hunter, who trusts
to his nets and springs, shall not be allowed to hunt anywhere.
The fowler in the mountains and waste places shall be permitted,
but on cultivated ground and on consecrated wilds he shall not
be permitted ; and any one who meets him may stop him. As
to the hunter in waters, he may hunt anywhere except in
_ harbours or sacred streams or marshes or pools, provided only
that he do not trouble the water with poisonous mixtures.
And now we may say that all our enactments about education
are complete.

Cle. Very good.

BOM OR Oe Wi Wie

Athenian Stranger. NEXT, with the help of the Delphian §
oracle, we have to institute festivals and make laws about
them; and to determine what sacrifices will be for the good
of the city, and to what Gods they shall be offered; but when
they shall be offered, and how often, may be partly regulated
by us.

Cletntas. The number—yes.

Ath. Then we will first determine the number; and let the
whole number be 365—one for every day,—so that one magis-
trate at least will sacrifice daily to some God or demi-god on
behalf of the city, and the citizens, and their possessions, And
the interpreters, and priests, and priestesses, and prophets shall
meet, and, in company with the guardians of the law, ordain
those things which the legislator of necessity omits; and I may
remark that they are the very persons who ought to take note
of what is omitted. The law will say that there are twelve
feasts dedicated to the twelve Gods, after whom the several
tribes are named; and that to each of them they shall sacrifice
every month, and appoint choruses, and musical and gymnastic
contests, corresponding to the several Gods and seasons of the
year. And they shall have festivals of women, distinguishing
those which ought to be separated from the men’s festivals, and
those which ought not. Further, they shall not confuse the
infernal deities and their rites with the Gods who are termed
heavenly and their rites, but shall separate them, giving to Pluto
his own in the twelfth month, which is sacred to him, according
to the law. To such a deity warlike men should entertain no

BOOK VIII. 397

aversion, but they should honour him as being always the best
friend of man. For the connection of soul and body is no way
better than the dissolution of them, as Iam ready to maintain
quite seriously. Moreover, those who would regulate these
matters rightly, should consider, that our city among existing
cities has indeed no fellow, either in respect of leisure or com-
mand of the necessaries of life, but also like an individual ought
«9 to live happily. And those who would live happily should in
the first place do no wrong to one another, and ought not them-
selves to be wronged by others; to attain the first is not diffi-
cult, but there is great difficulty in acquiring the power of not
being wronged. No man can be perfectly secure against wrong,
unless he has become perfectly good; and cities are like indi-
viduals in this, for a city if good has a life of peace, but if evil,
a life of war within and’ without. Wherefore the citizens ought
to practise war—not in time of war, but rather while they are
at peace. And every city which has any sense, should go on
military expeditions at least for one day in every month, and
for more if the magistrates think fit, taking no thought about
winter cold or summer heat; and they should go out in one
body, including their wives and their children, when the magis-
trates determine to lead forth the whole people, or in such por-
tions as are summoned by them; and they should always
provide that there should be games and sacrificial feasts, and
they should have tournaments, imitating in as lively a manner
as they can real battles. And they should distribute prizes of
victory and valour to the competitors, passing censures and
encomiums on one another according to the characters which
they bear in the contests and in their whole life; honouring him
who seems to be the best, and blaming him who is the opposite.
And let poets celebrate the victors,—not however every poet,
but only one who in the first place is not less than fifty years
of age; nor should he be one who, although he may have
musical and poetical gifts, has never in his life done any noble
or illustrious action; but those who are good and honourable
in the state, poets of noble actions—let their poems be sung,
even though they be not very musical. And let the judgment
of them rest with the instructor of youth and the other guardians
of the laws, who shall give them this privilege, and they alone

398 LAWS.

shall be free to sing; but the rest of the world shall not havé
this liberty. Nor shall any one dare to sing a song which has
not been approved by the judgment of the guardians of the
laws, not even if his strain be sweeter than the songs of Tha-
myras and Orpheus; but only such poems as have been judged
sacred and dedicated to the Gods, and such as are the works
of good men, works of praise or blame which have been deemed
to fulfil their design fairly.

The regulations about war, and about liberty of speech in
poetry, ought to apply equally to men and women. The legis-
lator may be supposed to argue the question in his own mind:
—Who are my citizens for whom I have set in order the city?
Are they not competitors in the greatest of all contests, and §
have they not innumerable rivals? To be sure, is the natural
reply. Well, but if we were training boxers, or pancratiasts, or
any other sort of athletes, would they never meet until the hour
of contest arrived; and should we do nothing to prepare our-
selves previously? Surely, if we were boxers, we should have
been learning to fight for many days before, and exercising
ourselves in imitating all those blows and wards which we were
intending to execute in the hour of conflict; and in order that
we might come as near to reality as possible, instead of cestuses
we should put on boxing-gloves, that the blows and the wards
might be practised by us to the utmost of our power. And
if there were a lack of competitors, the fear of ridicule would
not deter us from hanging up a lifeless image and practising
at that. Or if we had no adversary at all, animate or inanimate,
should we not venture in the dearth of antagonists to spar by
ourselves? In what other manner could we ever study the art
of self-defence?

Cle. The way which you mention, Stranger, would be the
only way.

Ath, And shall the warriors of our city, who are destined
when occasion calls to enter the greatest of all contests, and
to fight for their lives, and their children, and their property,
and the whole city, be worse prepared than boxers? And will
the legislator, because he is afraid that their practising with
one another may appear ridiculous, abstain from commanding
them to go out and fight; will he not ordain that soldiers shall

Ln

BOOK VIII. 399

oO

perform lesser exercises without arms every day, making dancing
and all gymnastic tend to this end; and also will he not require
that they shall practise some gymnastic exercises, greater as
well as lesser, as often as every month; and that they shall
have contests one with another in every part of the country,
seizing upon posts and lying in ambush, and imitating in every
respect the reality of war; fighting with boxing-gloves and
hurling javelins, and using weapons somewhat dangerous, and
as nearly as possible like the true ones, in order that the sport
may not be altogether without fear, but may have terrors and
to a certain degree show the man who has and who has not
courage; and that the honour and dishonour which are assigned
to them respectively, may prepare the whole city for the true
conflict of life? If any one dies in these mimic contests, the
homicide is involuntary, and we will make the slayer, when he
has been purified according to law, to be pure of blood, con-
sidering that if a few men should die, others as good as they
will be born ; but that if fear is dead, then the citizens will never
find a test of superior and inferior in desert, which is a far
greater evil to the state than the loss of a few.

Cle. We are quite agreed, Stranger, that we should legislate
about such things, and that the whole state should practise
them.

Ath, And what is the reason that dances and contests of this
sort hardly ever exist in states, at least not to any extent worth
speaking of? Is this due to the ignorance of mankind and
their legislators?

Cle. Perhaps.

Ath. Certainly not, sweet Cleinias; there are two causes,
which are quite enough to account for the deficiency.

Cle. What are they?

Ath, One cause is the love of wealth, which wholly absorbs
men, and never for a moment allows them to think of anything
but their own private possessions; on this the soul of every
citizen hangs suspended, and can attend to nothing but his
daily gain; mankind are ready to learn any branch of know-
ledge, and to follow any pursuit which tends to this end, and
they laugh at every other:—that is one reason why a city will
not be in earnest about war or any other good and honourable

400 LAWS.

pursuit. From an insatiable love of gold and silver, every man
is willing to endure the practice of any art or contrivance,
seemly or unseemly, in the hope of becoming rich; and will
make no objection to performing any action, holy, or unholy
and utterly base, if only like a beast he have the power of
eating and drinking all sorts of things, and procuring for him-
self in every sort of way the gratification of his lusts.

Cre. Prue.

Ath, Let this, then, be deemed one of the causes which pre-
vent states from pursuing in an efficient manner the art of war,
or any other noble aim, but makes the orderly and temperate
part of mankind into merchants, and captains of ships, and
servants, and converts the valiant sort into thieves and burglars,
and robbers of temples, and violent, tyrannical persons ; many
of whom are not without ability, but they are unfortunate.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. Must not they be truly unfortunate whose souls are
compelled to pass through life always hungering ?

Cle. Then that is one cause, Stranger; but you spoke of
another.

Ath. Thank you for reminding me.

Cle. ‘The insatiable lifelong love of wealth, as you were say-
ing, is one cause which absorbs mankind, and prevents them
from rightly practising the arts of war:—Granted; and now
tell me, what is the other?

Ath. Do you imagine that I delay -because I am in a per-
plexity ?

Cle. No; but we think that you are too severe upon the
money-loving temper, of which you seem in the present dis-
cussion to have a peculiar dislike.

Ath. That is a very fair rebuke, Stranger; and I will now
proceed to the second cause,

Cle. Proceed.

Ath. I say that governments are a cause—democracy, oligar-
chy, tyranny, concerning which I have often spoken in the pre-
vious discourse; or rather governments they are not, for none
of them exercises a voluntary rule over voluntary subjects; but
they may be truly called states of discord, in which while the
government is voluntary, the subjects always obey against their

DO ODE LLL, 401

will, and have to be coerced; and the ruler fears the subject,
and will not, if he can help, allow him to become either noble,
or rich, or strong, or valiant, or warlike at all. These two are
the causes of almost all evils, and of the evils of which I have
been speaking they are the special causes. But our state has
escaped both of them; for her citizens have the greatest leisure,
and they are not subject to one another, and will, I think, be
made by these laws the reverse of lovers of money. Such
a constitution may be reasonably supposed to be the only one
existing which will accept the education which we have de-
scribed, and the martial pastimes which have been perfected
according to our idea.

Cle. Good.

Ath, Then next we must remember, about all gymnastic con-
tests, that only the warlike sort of them are to be practised and
to have prizes of victory; and those which are not military
are to be given up. The military sort had better be completely
described and established by law; and first, let us speak of
running and swiftness.

Cle. Very good.

Ath, Certainly the most military of all qualities is general
activity of body, whether of foot or hand. For escaping or

33 for capturing an enemy, quickness of foot is required; but
hand-to-hand conflict and combat need vigour and strength.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Neither of them can attain their greatest efficiency
without arms.

Cle. How can they?

Ath, Then our herald, in accordance with the prevailing prac-
tice, will first summon the runner ;—he will appear armed, for
to an unarmed competitor we will not give a prize. And he
shall enter first who is to run the single course bearing arms ;
next, he who is to run the double course; third, he who is to
run the horse-course; and fourthly, he who is to run the long
course; the fifth class whom we start, shall be the first who
goes forth in heavy armour,—and he shall run a course of sixty
stadia to some temple of Ares—him we will call the heavy-
armed runner; he shall run over smooth ground, and his com-
petitor shall be an archer, and carry the equipments of an

VOL. V: Dd

402 LAWS.

archer, and he shall run a distance of 100 stadia over the
mountains, and across every sort of country, to the temple of
Apollo and Artemis; this shall be the order of the contest, and
we will wait for them until they return, and will give a prize
to the conqueror in each.

Cle. Very good.

Ath. Let us suppose that there are three sorts of contests,—
one of boys, another of beardless youths, and a third of men.
For the youths we will fix the length of the contest at two-
thirds, and for the boys at half of the entire course, whether
they contend as archers or as heavy-armed. Touching the
women: let the girls who are not grown up compete naked
in the stadium and the double course, and the horse-course
and the long course, and let them run on the race-ground itself ;
those who are thirteen years of age and upwards until their
marriage shall continue to share in contests if they are not
more than twenty, and shall be compelled to run up to eighteen;
and they shall descend into the arena in suitable dresses. Let
these be the regulations about contests in running both for men
and women.

Respecting contests of strength, instead of wrestling and
similar contests of the heavier sort, we will institute conflicts
in armour of one against one, and two against two, and so on
up to ten against ten. As to what a man ought not to suffer or
do, and to what extent, in order to gain the victory—as in
wrestling, the masters of the art have laid down what is fair
and what is not fair, so in fighting in armour—we ought to
call in skilful persons, who shall judge for us and be our
assessors in the work of legislation; they shall say who deserves
to be victor in combats of this sort, and what he is not to do
or suffer, and in like manner what rule determines who is 83¢
defeated ; and let the same ordinances apply to women until
they are married as well as to men. The pancration shall
have a counterpart in a combat of the light-armed; they shall
contend with bows and with light shields and with javelins
and with slings and throwing of stones by hand; and laws
shall be made about it, and rewards and prizes given to him
who best fulfils the ordinances of the law.

Next in order we shall have to legislate about the horse

be eevee Gere ee cea | a)

DOO RV TLL, 403

contests. Now, we do not need many horses, for they cannot
‘be of much use in a country like Crete, and hence we naturally
do not take much pains about the rearing of them or about
horse races. There is no one who keeps a chariot among us,
and any rivalry in such matters would be altogether out of
place; there would be no sense nor any shadow of sense in
instituting contests which are not after the manner of our
country. And, therefore, we give our prizes for single horses
and for colts who have not cast their teeth, and for those who
are intermediate between the full-grown horses themselves; and
thus our equestrian games will accord with the nature of the
country. Let them have conflict and rivalry in these matters
in: accordance with the law, and let the colonels and generals
of horse decide together about all courses and about the armed
competitors in them. But we have nothing to say to the
unarmed either in gymnastic exercises or in these contests.
On the other hand, the Cretan bowman or javelin-man who
fights in armour on horseback is useful, and therefore we may
as well place a competition of this sort among our amusements.
Women are not to be forced to compete by laws and ordinances ;
but if they have acquired the habit and are strong enough and
like to share in the contest, let them be allowed, girls as well
as boys, and no blame to them.

Thus the competition and the mode of learning gymnastic
have been described ; and we have spoken also of the toils of
the contest, and of daily exercise in the house of the teacher.
Likewise, what relates to music has been, for the most part,
completed. But as to rhapsodes and their vocation, and the
contests of choruses which are to perform at feasts, these shall
be arranged when the months and days and years have been
appointed for Gods and demi-gods, whether every third year,

or again every fifth year, or in whatever way or manner the
835 Gods may put into men’s minds the distribution and order of
them. At the same time, we may expect that the musical
contests will be celebrated in turn by the command of the
judges and the instructor of youth and the guardians of the
law meeting together for this purpose, and themselves becoming
legislators of the times and nature and conditions of the choral
contests and of dancing in general. What they ought severally
Dd2

404 LAWS.

to be in language and song, and in the admixture of harmony
with rhythm and the dance, has been often declared by the
original legislator; and his successors ought to follow him,
making the games and sacrifices duly to correspond at fitting
times, and appointing public festivals. It is not difficult to
determine how these and the like matters may have a regular
order; nor, again, is the alteration of them of any serious
importance to the state. There is, however, another matter
of great importance and difficulty, concerning which God should
legislate, if there were any possibility of obtaining from him
an ordinance about it. But seeing that divine aid is not to be
had, there appears to be a need of some bold man who specially
honours plainness of speech, and will say outright what is best
for the city and citizens,—ordaining what is good and con-
venient for the whole state amid the corruptions of human souls,
opposing the mightiest lusts, and having no man his helper
but himself, standing alone and following reason only.

Cle. What is this, Stranger, that you are saying? For thus
far we do not understand your meaning.

Ath, Very likely; I will endeavour to explain myself more
clearly. When I came to the subject of education, I beheld
young men and maidens holding friendly intercourse with one
another. And there naturally arose in my mind a sort of
apprehension—I could not help thinking how one is to deal
with a city in which youths and maidens are well nurtured,
and have nothing to do, and are not undergoing the excessive
and servile toils which extinguish wantonness, and whose only
cares during their whole life are sacrifices and festivals and
dances. How, in such a state as this, will they abstain from
desires which thrust many a man and woman into perdition ;
and from which reason, assuming the functions of law, commands
them to abstain? The ordinances already made may possibly get 836
the better of most of these desires ; the prohibition of excessive
wealth is a very considerable gain in the direction of temperance,
and the whole education of our youth imposes a law of mode-
ration on them; moreover, the eye of the rulers is required
always to watch over the young, and never to lose sight of
them; and these provisions do, as far as human means can
effect anything, exercise a regulating influence upon the desires

BOOK VIII. 405

in general. But how can we take precautions against the
unnatural loves of either sex, from which innumerable evils
have come upon individuals and cities? How shall we devise
a remedy and way of escape out of so great a danger? Truly,
Cleinias, here is a difficulty. In many ways the island of Crete
and Lacedaemon furnish a great help to those who make
peculiar laws; but in the matter of love, as we are alone, I
must confess that they are quite against us. For if any one
following nature should lay down the law which existed before
the days of Laius, and denounce these lusts as contrary to
nature, adducing the animals as a proof that such unions were
monstrous, he might prove his point, but he would be wholly
at variance with the custom of your states. Further, they are
repugnant to a principle which we say that a legislator should
always observe, for we are always enquiring which of our enact-
ments tends to virtue and which not. And suppose we grant
that these loves are accounted by law to be honourable, or at
least not disgraceful, how about virtue? Will such passions
implant in the soul of him who is seduced the habit of courage,
or in the soul of the seducer the principle of temperance? Who
will ever believe this?—or rather, who will not blame the
effeminacy of him who yields to pleasures and is unable to
hold out against them? Will not all men censure as womanly
him who imitates the woman? And who would ever think of
establishing such a practice by law? Certainly no one who
had in his mind the image of true law. How can we prove
837 that what I am saying is true? He who would rightly consider
these matters must see the nature of friendship and desire, and
of these so-called loves, for they are of two kinds, and out of
the two arises a third kind, having the same name; and this
similarity of name causes all the difficulty and obscurity.

Cle. How is that?

Ath, Dear is the like in virtue to the like, and the equal
to the equal; dear also, though after another fashion, is he who
has abundance to him who is in want. And when either of
these friendships becomes excessive, we term the excess love.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. The friendship which arises from contraries is horrible
and coarse, and has often no tie of communion; but that which

406 LAWS.

arises from likeness is gentle, and has a tie of communion,
which lasts through life. As to the mixed sort which is made
up of them both, there is, first of all, a difficulty in determining
what he who is possessed by this third love desires; more-
over, he is drawn different ways, and is in doubt between the
two principles; the one exhorting him to enjoy the beauty of
youth, and the other forbidding him. For the one is a lover of
the body, and hungers after beauty, like ripe fruit, and would
feign satisfy himself without any regard to the character of
the beloved; the other holds the desire of the body to be
a secondary matter, and looking rather than loving with his
soul, and desiring the soul of the other in a becoming manner,
regards the satisfaction of the bodily love as wantonness; he
reverences and respects temperance and courage and mag-
nanimity and wisdom, and wishes to live chastely with the
chaste object of his affection. Now the sort of love which is
made up of the other two is that which we have described as
the third. Seeing then that there are. these three sorts of love,
ought the law to prohibit and forbid them all to exist among
us? Is it not rather clear that we should wish to have in the
state the love which is of virtue and which desires the beloved
youth to be the best possible; and the other two, if possible,
we should hinder? What do you say, friend Megillus?

Meg. I think, Stranger, that you are perfectly right in what
you have been now saying.

Ath, 1 knew well, my friend, that I should obtain your assent,
which I accept and therefore have no need to analyse your
custom any further. Cleinias shall be prevailed upon to give
me his assent at some other time. Enough of this; and now
let us proceed to the laws.

Meg. Very good.

Ath. Upon reflection I see a way of imposing the law,
which, in one respect, is easy, but in another is of the utmost
difficulty. 7

Meg. What do you mean?

Ath. We are all aware that most men, in spite of their
lawless natures, are very strictly and precisely restrained from
intercourse with the fair, and this not at all against their
will, but entirely with their will.

BOOK VIII. 407

Meg. What do you mean?

Ath. When any one has a brother or sister who is fair; and
about a son or daughter the same unwritten law holds, and is a
most perfect safeguard, so that no open or secret connection
ever takes place between them. Nor does the thought of such
a thing ever enter at all into the minds of most of them.

Meg. Very true.

Ath. Does not a little word extinguish all pleasures of that
sort?

Meg. What word?

Ath, Yhe deciaration that they are oe hated of God, and
most infamous; and is not the reason of this that no one has
ever said the opposite, but every one from his earliest days
has heard men saying the same about them always and every-
where, whether in comedy or in the graver language of tragedy?
When the poet introduces on the stage a Thyestes or an Oedipus,
or a Macareus having secret intercourse with his sister, he re-
presents him, when found out, ready to kill himself as the
penalty of his sin.

Meg. You are very right in saying that tradition, if no breath
of opposition ever assails it, has a marvellous power.

Ath. Am I not also right in saying that the legislator who
wants to master any of the passions which master man may
easily know how to subdue them? He will consecrate the
tradition of their evil character among all, slaves and freemen,
women and children, throughout the city:—that will be the
surest foundation of the law which he can make.

Meg. Yes; but will he ever succeed in making all mankind
use the same language about them?

Ath. A good objection; but was I not just now saying that
I had a way to make men use natural love and abstain from

839 unnatural, not intentionally destroying the seeds of human in-
crease, or sowing them in stony places,in which they will take
no root; and that I would command them to abstain too from
any female field of increase in which that which is sown is not
likely to grow? Now, if a law to this effect could only be made
perpetual, and gain an authority such as already prevents inter-
course of parents and children—such a law extending to other
sensual desires, and conquering them, would be the source of

408 LAWS:

ten thousand blessings. For, in the first place, moderation is
the appointment of nature, and deters men from all frenzy and
madness of love, and from all adulteries and immoderate use
of meats and drinks, and makes them good friends to their own
wives. And innumerable other benefits would result if such a
law could only be enforced. I can imagine some lusty youth
who is standing by, and who, on hearing this enactment, declares
in scurrilous terms, that we are making foolish and impossible
laws, and fills the world with his outcry. And therefore I said
that I knew a way of enacting and perpetuating such a law,
which was very easy in one respect, but in another most difficult.
There is no difficulty in seeing that such a law is possible, and
in what way; for, as I was saying, the ordinance once conse-
crated would master the soul of every man, and terrify him into
obedience. But matters have now come to such a pass that
the enactment of the law seems to be impossible, and never
likely to take place, just as the continuance of an entire state
in the practice of common meals is also deemed impossible.
And although this latter is partly disproven by the fact of
their existence among you, still even in your cities the common
meals of women would be regarded as unnatural and impossible.
I was thinking of the rebelliousness of the human heart when
I said that the permanent establishment of these things is very
difficult.

Meg. Very true.

Ath. Shall I try and find some sort of persuasive argument
which will prove to you that such enactments are possible, and
not beyond human nature?

Cle. By all means.

Ath, Is a man more likely to abstain from the pleasures of
love and to do what he is bidden about them, when his body is
in a good condition, or when he is in an ill condition, and out of
training ?

Cle. He will be far more temperate when he is in training.

Ath, And have we not heard of Iccus of Tarentum, who, with
a view to the Olympic and other contests, in his zeal for his art, 84e
and also because he was of a manly and temperate constitution,
never had any connection with a woman or a youth during the
whole time of his training? And the same is said of Crison and

841

PHO TS th Ll 409

Astylus and Diopompus and many others; and yet, Cleinias,
they were far worse educated in their minds than your and my
fellow citizens, and in their bodies far more lusty.

Cle. No doubt this fact has been often affirmed positively by
the ancients of these athletes.

Ath, And shall they be willing to abstain from what is ordi-
narily deemed a pleasure for the sake of a victory in wrestling,
running, and the like; and our young men be incapable of a
similar endurance for the sake of a much nobler victory, which
is the noblest of all, as from their youth upwards we will tell
them, charming them, as we hope, into the belief of this by
tales in prose and verse?

Cle. Of what victory are you speaking ?

Ath, Of the victory over pleasure, which if they win, they will
live happily, or if conquered the reverse of happily. And,
further, will not the fear of impiety enable them to master that
which other inferior people have mastered ?

Cle. I dare say.

Ath, And since we have reached this point in our legislation,
and have fallen into a difficulty by reason of the vices of man-
kind, I affirm that our ordinance should simply run in the
following terms: Our citizens ought not to fall below the nature
of birds and beasts in general, who are born in great multitudes,
and yet remain until the age for procreation virgin and un-
married, and when they have reached the proper time of life are
coupled, male and female, and lovingly pair together, and live
the rest of their lives in holiness and innocence, abiding firmly
in their original compact :—surely, we will say to them, you
should be better than the animals. But if they are corrupted
by the other Hellenes and the common practice of barbarians,
and they see with their eyes and hear with their ears of the so-
called illicit love everywhere prevailing among them, and they
themselves are not able to get the better of the temptation, the
guardians of the law, exercising the functions of lawgivers, shall
devise a second law against them.

Cle. And what law would you advise them to pass if this one
failed ?

Ath, Clearly, Cleinias, the one which would naturally follow.

Cle. What is that?

410 TB we 6 Bey

Ath. Our citizens should not allow pleasures to strengthen
with indulgence, but should by toil divert the aliment and
exuberance of them into other parts of the body; and this will
happen if no immodesty be allowed in the practice of love.
Then they will be ashamed of frequent intercourse, and they will
find pleasure, if seldom enjoyed, to be a less imperious mistress.
They should not be found out doing anything of the sort.
Concealment shall be honourable, and sanctioned both by
custom and unwritten law; on the other hand, to be detected
shall be esteemed dishonourable, but not, to abstain wholly.
In this way there will be a second legal standard of honourable
and dishonourable, having a second notion of right. Three
principles will comprehend all those corrupt natures whom we
call inferior to themselves, which is their common class, and will
compel them not to transgress.

Cle. What are they?

Ath, The principle of piety, the love of honour, and the desire
of beauty, not in the body but in the soul. These are, perhaps,
romantic aspirations; but they are the noblest of aspirations,
if they could only be realized in any state, and, God willing, in
the matter of love we may be able to enforce one of two things
—either that no one shall venture to touch any person of the
freeborn or noble class except his wedded wife, or sow the un-
consecrated and bastard seed among harlots, or in barren and
unnatural lusts; or at least we may abolish altogether the con-
nection of men with men; and as to women, if any man has
to do with any but those who come into his house duly married
by sacred rites, whether they be bought or acquired in any
other way, and he offends publicly in the face of all mankind,
we shall be right in enacting that he be deprived of civic
honours and privileges, and be deemed to be, as he truly is, a
stranger. Let this law, then, whether it is one, or ought rather
to be called two, be laid down respecting love in general, and
the intercourse of the sexes which arises out of the desires,
whether rightly or wrongly indulged.

Meg. I, for my part, Stranger, would gladly receive this 842
law. Cleinias shall speak for himself, and tell you what is his
opinion,

Cle. I will, Megillus, when an opportunity offers ; at present,

isi OLOr ey of Wy & ALI

I think that we had better allow the Stranger to proceed with
his laws.

Meg. Very good.

Ath. We had got about as far as the establishment of the
common tables, which in most places would be difficult, but in
Crete no one would think of introducing any other custom.
There might arise a question about the manner of them—
whether they shall be such as they are here in Crete, or such
as they are in Lacedaemon,—or is there a third kind which may
be better than either of them? The answer to this question
might be easily discovered, but the discovery would do no good,
for at present they are very well ordered.

Leaving the common tables, we may therefore proceed to the
means of providing life. Now, in cities the means of life are
gained in many ways and from divers sources, and in general
from two sources, whereas our city has only one. For most of
the Hellenes obtain their food from sea and land, but our
citizens from land only. And this makes the task of the
legislator less difficult—half as many laws will be enough, and
much less than half; and they will be of a kind better suited to
free men. For he has nothing to do with laws about shipowners
and merchants and retailers and innkeepers and tax-collectors
and mines and moneylending and compound interest and in-
numerable other things—bidding good-bye to these, he gives
laws to husbandmen and shepherds and bee-keepers, and the
guardians and superintendents of their implements; and he
has already legislated for greater matters, as, for example, what
relates to marriage and the procreation and nurture of children,
and education, and the establishment of offices—and now he
must direct his enactments to those who labour in providing
food.

Let us first of all, then, have a class of laws which shall be
called the laws of husbandmen. And let the first of them be
the law of Zeus, the god of boundaries. Let no one shift the
boundary line either of a fellow-citizen who is a neighbour, or, if
he dwells at the extremity of the land, of any stranger who is

43 contiguous to him, considering that this is truly ‘to move the
immovable,’ and every one should be more willing to move the
largest rock, which is not a landmark, than the least stone which

412 LAWS.

is the sworn arbiter of friendship and hatred between neigh-
bours; for Zeus, the god of kindred, is the witness of the
citizen, and Zeus, the god of strangers, of the stranger, and when
aroused, terrible is their wrath. He who obeys the law will
never know the fatal consequences of disobedience, but he who
despises the law shall be liable to a double penalty, the first
coming from the Gods, and the second from the law. For let
no one voluntarily remove the boundaries of his neighbour's
land, and if any one does, let him who will, inform the land-
owners, and let them bring him into court, and if he be
convicted of re-dividing the land by stealth or by force, let the
court determine what he ought to suffer or pay. In the next
place, many small injuries done by neighbours to one another
through their multiplication, may cause a weight of enmity, and
make neighbourhood a very disagreeable and bitter thing.
Wherefore a man ought to be very careful of committing any
offence against his neighbour, and especially of encroaching on
his neighbour's land; for any man may easily do harm, but not
every man can do good to another. He who encroaches on his
neighbour’s land, and transgresses his boundaries, shall make
good the damage, and, to cure him of his impudence and also
of his meanness, he shall pay a double penalty to the injured
party. Of these and the like matters the wardens of the
country shall take cognizance, and be the judges of them and
assessors of the damage; in the more important cases, as has
been already said, the whole military force belonging to any
one of the twelve divisions shall decide, and in the lesser cases
the officers: or, again, if any one pastures his cattle on his
neighbour’s land, they shall see the injury, and adjudge the
penalty. And if any one, by decoying the bees, gets possession
of another’s swarms and draws them to himself by making
noises, he shall pay the damage; or if any one sets fire to his
own wood and takes no care of his neighbour’s property, he
shall be fined at the discretion of the magistrates. And if in
planting he does not leave a fair distance between his own
and his neighbour’s land, he shall be punished, in accordance
with the enactments of many lawgivers, which we may use,
not deeming it necessary that the great legislator of our state 8.
should determine all the trifles which might be decided by any

BOOK VIII. 413

body ; for example, husbandmen have of old had excellent laws
about waters, and there is no reason why we should let the
stream of our discourse diverge from them: he who likes may
draw water from the fountain-head of the common stream on
to his own land, if he do not cut off the spring which clearly
belongs to some other owner; and he may take the water in any
direction which he pleases, except through a house or temple or
sepulchre, but he must be careful to do no harm beyond the
channel. And if there be in any place a natural dryness of the
earth, which absorbs the rain from heaven, and there is a defici-
ency in the supply of water, let him dig down on his own land
as far as the brick clay, and if at this depth he finds no water,
let him carry water from his neighbours, as much as is required
for his servants’ drinking, and if his neighbours, too, are limited
in their supply, let him have a fixed measure, which shall be
determined by the wardens of the country. This he shall
receive each day, and on these terms have a share of his neigh-
bour’s water. If there be heavy rain, and one of those on the
lower ground injures some tiller of the upper ground, or some
one who has a common wall refuses to give his neighbour an
outlet for water; or, again, if some one living on the higher
ground recklessly lets off the water on his lower neighbour, and
they cannot come to terms with one another, let him, if he will,
summon the offender, if he be in the city, before the warden of
the city, or if he be in the country before the warden of the
country, and let him obtain a decision determining what each of
them is to do. And he who will not abide by the decision shall
suffer for his malignant and morose temper, and pay a fine
equivalent to double the value of the injury, because he was
unwilling to submit to the magistrates.

Now, the participation of fruits shall be ordered on this wise.
The goddess of Autumn has two gracious gifts: one, the joy’ of
Dionysus which is not treasured up; the other, which nature
intends to be stored. Let this be the law, then, concerning the
fruits of autumn: he who tastes the common or storing fruits of
autumn, whether grapes or figs, before the season of vintage
which coincides with Arcturus, either on his own land or on that

1 Reading macdiar.

414 LAWS.

of others,—let him pay fifty drachmae, which shall be sacred to
Dionysus, if he pluck them from his own land; and if from his
neighbour’s land a mina, and if from any others two-thirds of a
mina. And he who would gather the fresh grapes or the fresh
figs, as they are now termed, if he take them off his own land let
him pluck them how and when he likes; but if he takes them
from the ground of others without their leave, let him in that
case be always punished in accordance with the law which
ordains that he should not move what he has not laid down.
And if a slave touches any fruit of this sort, without the consent 8:
of the owner of the land, he shall be beaten with as many blows
as there are grapes on the bunch, or figs on the fig-tree. Leta
metic purchase the fresh autumnal fruit, and then, if he pleases,
he may gather it; but if a stranger is passing along the road,
and desires’ to eat, let him take of the fresh grape for himself
and a single follower without price, as a tribute of hospitality.
The law however forbids strangers from sharing in the sort
which is not used for eating; and if any one, whether he be
master or slave, takes of them in ignorance, let the slave be
beaten, and the master be dismissed with admonitions, and
instructed to take of the other autumnal fruits which are unfit
for making raisins and wine, or for laying by as dried figs. As
to pears, and apples, and pomegranates, and similar fruits, there
shall be no disgrace in taking them secretly; but he who is
found out, if he be of less than thirty years of age, shall be
struck and beaten off, but not wounded; and no freeman shall
have any right of satisfaction for such blows. Of these fruits the
stranger may partake just as he may of the fruits of autumn.
And if an elder who is more than thirty years of age, eat of
them on the spot, let him, like the stranger, be allowed to
partake of all such fruits, but he must carry away nothing. If,
however, he will not obey the law, let him run the risk of failing
in the competition of virtue, in case any one takes notice of his
actions before the judges.

Water is the greatest element of nutrition in gardens, but is
easily polluted. You cannot poison the soil, or the sun, or the
air, which are the other elements of nutrition in plants, or divert
them, or steal them ; but all these things may very likely happen
in regard to water, which must therefore be protected by law:

BOOK. VILL. AI5

and let this be the law —If any one intentionally pollutes the
water of another, whether the water of a spring, or collected in
reservoirs, either by poisonous substances, or by digging, or by
theft, let the injured party bring the cause before the wardens
of the city, and claim in writing the value of the loss; and if
he be found guilty of injuring the water by deleterious sub-
stances, let him not only pay damages, but purify the stream
or the vessel which contains the water, in such manner as the
laws of the interpreters order the purification to be made by the
parties in each case.
With respect to the gathering in of the fruits of the soil, let
a man, if he pleases, carry his own fruits through any place in
346 which he either does no harm to any one, or himself gains three
times as much as his neighbour loses. Now of these things the
archons should be made cognisant, as of all other things in which
a man intentionally does injury to another or to the property
of another, by fraud or force, in the use which he makes of his
own property. All these matters a man should lay before the
magistrates, and receive damages, supposing the injury to be
under three minae; or if he have a charge against another
which involves a larger amount, let him bring the suits into the
public courts and have the evil-doer punished. But if any of
the magistrates appears to give unjust punishments in the
penalties which he imposes, let him be adjudged to pay double
to the injured party. Any one may bring the offences of
magistrates, in any particular case, before the public courts.
There are innumerable little matters relating to the modes of
punishment, and applications for suits, and the summonses and
witnesses to summons; for example, whether two witnesses
should be required for a summons, or how many, and all such
details, which cannot be omitted in legislation and are beneath
the wisdom of an aged legislator. These lesser matters, as they
indeed are, in comparison with the greater ones, let a younger
generation regulate by law, after the patterns which have pre-
ceded, and according to their own experience of the usefulness
and necessity of them; and when they are duly regulated let
there be no alteration, but let the citizens live in the observance
of them.
Now of artizans, let the regulations be as follows:—In the

416 LAWS,

first place, let no native or servant of a native be occupied in
handicraft arts; for a citizen who is to make and preserve the
public order of the state, has an art which requires much study
and many kinds of knowledge, since it does not admit of being
made a secondary occupation; and hardly any human being is
capable of pursuing two professions or two arts rightly, or of
practising one art himself, and superintending some one else
who is practising another. Let this, then, be our first principle
in the state: No one who is a smith shall also be a carpenter,
and if he be a carpenter he shall not superintend the smith’s
art rather than his own, under the pretext that in superintending
many servants who are working for him, he is likely to super-
intend them better, because more revenue will accrue to him
from them than from his own art; but let every man in the
state have one art, and get his living by that. Let the wardens 847
of the city labour to maintain this law, and if any citizen inclines
to any other art rather than the study of virtue, let them punish
him with disgrace and infamy, until they bring him back into
his own right course; and if any stranger profess two arts, let
them chastise him with bonds and money penalties, and expul-
sion from the state, until they compel him to be one only and
not many.

But as touching payments for hire, and contracts of work, or
in case any one does wrong to any of the citizens, or they do
wrong to any other, up to fifty drachmae, let the wardens of
the city decide the case; but if a greater amount is involved,
then let the public courts decide according to law. Let no one
pay any duty either on the importation or exportation of goods ;
and as to frankincense and similar perfumes, used in the service
of the Gods, which come from foreign parts, and purple and
other dyes which are not produced in the country, or the
materials of any art which have to be imported, and which are
not necessary—no one should import them; nor, again, should
any one export anything which is wanted in the country. Of
all these things let there be inspectors and superintendents,
taken from the guardians of the law; and they shall be the
twelve next in order to the five seniors. Concerning arms, and
all military implements, if there be need of introducing any art,
or plant, or metal, either for the purpose of making chains, or

BOOK AVE. 417

bridles and reins for animals, let the commanders of the horse
and the generals have authority over their importation and
exportation; the city shall give them out and receive them
again, and the guardians of the law shall make fit and proper
laws about them. But let there be no retail trade for the sake
of moneymaking, either in this or any other article, in the city
or country at all.

With respect to food and the distribution of the produce of
the country, the right and proper way seems to be nearly that
which: 15.-the-custom of Crete ;..for there all ate requixed ‘to
distribute the fruits of the soil into twelve parts, and in this way

348 consume them. Let the twelfth portion of each (as for instance
of wheat and barley, which the rest of the fruits of the earth
shall follow, as well as the animals which are sold in each of
the twelve divisions) be further divided into three parts; one
part for freemen, another for their servants, and a third part for
craftsmen, and in general for the strangers, and any sojourners
who may be dwelling in the city, and like other men must live;
and there may be those who come on some business which they
have with the state, or with some individual. Let only a third
part of all necessaries be required to be sold; out of the other
two-thirds no one shall be compelled to sell. And how will
they be best distributed? In the first place, we see clearly that
the distribution will be of equals in one point of view, and in
another point of view of unequals.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. I mean that the earth of necessity produces and nourishes
the various articles of food, sometimes better and sometimes
worse.

Cle. Of course.

Ath. Such being the case, let no one of the three portions be
greater than either of the other two ;—neither that which is
assigned to masters and slaves, nor again that of the stranger ;
but let the distribution to all be alike, and let every one of the
citizens who gets his two portions have power to determine how
much, and of what quality, he will distribute to slaves and
freemen. And what remains he shall distribute by measure
and number among the animals who have to be sustained from
the earth, taking the whole number of them.

MO Tee Ve Ee

418 LAWS.

In the second place, our citizens should have separate houses
duly ordered ; and this shall be the order of them. There shall
be twelve hamlets, one in the middle of each twelfth lot, and in
each hamlet they shall first separate off a market-place, and the
temples of the Gods, and of their attendant demi-gods, and if
there be any local deities of the Magnetes, or holy seats of other
ancient deities, whose memory has been preserved—to these let
them pay their ancient honours. But Hestia, and Zeus, and
Athene, and whatever other God may preside in each of the
twelve portions, shall have temples everywhere. And the first
erection of houses shall be around these temples, where the
ground is highest, in order to provide the safest and most
defensible place of retreat for the guards. All the rest of the
country they shall settle in the following manner:—They shall
make thirteen divisions of the craftsmen; one of them shall
dwell in the city, and this, again, they shall subdivide into
twelve lesser divisions, among the twelve districts of the city,
distributed in the outskirts all around; and in each village they
shall settle various classes of craftsmen, with a view to the
convenience of the husbandmen. And the chief officers of the 84¢
wardens of the country shall watch over all these matters, and
see how many of them, and which class of them, each place
requires; and fix them where they are likely to give the least
inconvenience, and to be most useful to the husbandman. And
the officers of the wardens of the city shall see to similar matters
in the city.

Now the wardens of the agora ought to see to the details of
the agora. Their first care, after the temples have been cared
for, should be to prevent any one from doing any wrong in
dealings between man and man; in the second place, as being
inspectors of temperance and violence, they should chastise him
who requires chastisement. Touching articles of sale, they
should first see whether the articles which the citizens are
under regulations to sell to strangers are sold to them, as the
law ordains. And let the law be as follows:—On the first day
of the month, the persons in charge, whoever they are, whether
strangers or slaves, who have the charge, shall produce to the
strangers the portion which falls to them, in the first place, a
twelfth portion of the corn ;—the stranger shall purchase corn

850

Ta SO2 aes GS & OS 419

for the whole month, and other food, on the first market day ;
and on the tenth day of the month the one party shall sell, and
the other buy, liquids sufficient to last during the whole month;
and on the twenty-third day there shall be a sale of animals
and of utensils, and of other things which husbandmen require,
such as skins and all kinds of clothing, either woven or made of
felt, and other goods of the same sort; and strangers shall be
compelled to buy and purchase them from others. As to the
retail trade in these things, whether of barley or wheat made
into flour, or any other kind of food, no one shall sell them to
citizens or their slaves, nor shall any citizen buy them; but let
the stranger sell them in the market of strangers, to artizans and
their slaves, making an exchange of wine and food, which is
commonly called retail trade. And butchers shall likewise offer
for sale dismembered animals to the strangers, and artisans, and
their servants. Let any stranger who likes buy fuel from day
to day wholesale, from those who have the care of it in the
country, and let him sell to the strangers as much as he pleases
and when he pleases. As to other goods and implements which
are likely to be wanted, they shall sell them in the common
market, at any place which the guardians of the law and the
wardens of the market and city, choosing according to their
judgments, shall determine; at such places they shall exchange
money for goods, and goods for money, neither party giving
credit to the other; and he who gives credit, whether he obtain
his money or not, must be satisfied, for in such exchanges he
will not be protected by law. But whenever property has been
bought or sold, greater in quantity or value than is allowed by
the law, which has determined within what limits a man may
increase and diminish his possessions, let the excess be registered
in the books of the guardians of the law; or in case of dimi-
nution, let there be an erasure made. And let the same rule
be observed about the registration of the property of the metics.
Any one who likes may come and be a metic on certain con-
ditions ; a foreigner, if he likes, and is able to settle, may dwell
in the land, but he must practise an art, and not abide more
than twenty years from the time at which he has registered
himself; and he shall pay no sojourner’s tax, however small,
except good conduct, nor any other tax for buying and selling.
be 2

420 LAWS.

But when the twenty years have expired, he shall take his
property with him and depart. And if in the course of these
years he should chance to distinguish himself by any considerable
benefit which he confers on the state, and he thinks that he
can persuade the council and assembly, either to grant him
delay in leaving the country, or to allow him to remain for the
whole of his life, let him go and persuade the city, and whatever
they assent to at his instance shall take effect. For the children
of the metics being artisans, and of fifteen years of age, let the
time of their sojourn commence after their fifteenth year; and
let them remain for twenty years, and then go where they like;
but any of them who wishes to remain, may remain, if he can
persuade the council and assembly. And if he do not remain,
let him erase all the entries which have been made by him in
the registry kept by the archons.

0) OK ex,

853 NEXT to the matters which have preceded in the natural
order of legislation, will come suits of law. Of suits those
which relate to agriculture have been already described, but
the more important have not been described. Having men-
tioned them severally under their usual names, we will proceed
to say what punishments are to be inflicted for each offence,
and who are to be the judges of them.

Cle. Very good.

Ath, There is a sense of disgrace in legislating, as we are
about to do, for all the details of crime in a state which, as
we say, is to be well regulated and will be perfectly adapted
to the practice of virtue. To assume that in such a state there
will arise some accomplice in crimes as great as any which are
ever perpetrated in other states, and that we must legislate
for him by anticipation, and threaten and make laws against
him if he should arise; in order to deter him, and punish his
acts, under the idea that he will arise—this, as I was saying,
is in a manner disgraceful. But seeing that we are not like
the ancient legislators, who gave laws to demi-gods and sons
of Gods, being themselves, according to the popular belief, the
offspring of the Gods, and legislating for others, who were also
the children of divine parents, whereas we are only men who
are legislating for the sons of men, there is no uncharitableness
in apprehending that some one of our citizens may be like a
seed which has touched the ox’s horn, and have a heart which
cannot be softened any more than those seeds can be softened
by fire. Among our citizens there may be those who cannot
be subdued by all the strength of the laws; and for their sake,
though an ungracious task, I will proclaim my first law about

422 LAWS

the robbing of temples, in case such a crime should ever be
committed. I do not expect or imagine that any well-brought-
up citizen will ever take the infection, but their servants, and
strangers, and strangers’ servants may be guilty of many im-
pieties. And with a view to them especially, and yet not 854
without a provident eye to the weakness of human nature
generally, I will proclaim the law about robbers of temples
and similar incurable, or almost incurable, criminals. Having
already agreed that such enactments ought always to have
a short prelude, we may speak to the criminal whom some
tormenting desire by night and by day tempts to go and rob,
a temple, in words of admonition and exhortation :—O sir, we
will say to him, the impulse which moves you to rob temples
is not an ordinary human malady, nor yet a visitation of heaven,
but a madness which is begotten in a man from ancient and
unexpiated crimes of his race, destroying him when his time is
come ;—against this you must guard as well as you can, and
how you are to guard I will explain to you. When any such
thought comes into your mind, go and perform expiations, go
as a suppliant to the temples of the Gods who avert evils, go to
the society of those who are called good men among you; hear
them tell and yourself try to repeat after them, that every man
should honour the noble and the just. Fly from the company
of the wicked—fly and turn not back; and if your disorder is
lightened by these remedies, well and good, but if not, then
acknowledge death to be nobler than life, and depart hence.
Such are the preludes which we sing to all who have thoughts
of unholy and treasonable actions, and to him who hearkens to
them the law has nothing more to say. But to him who is
disobedient when the prelude is over, cry with a loud voice—
He who is taken in the act of robbing temples, if he be a slave
or stranger, shall have his evil deed engraven on his face and
hhands, and shall be beaten with as many stripes as may seem
good to the judges, and be cast naked beyond the borders of
the land. And if he suffers this punishment he will probably
be corrected and improved; for no penalty which the law
inflicts is designed for evil, but always makes him who suffers
either better or not so bad. But if any citizen be found guilty
of any great or unmentionable wrong, either in relation to the

BOOK 1X 423

Gods, or his parents, or the state, let the judge deem him to
be incurable, remembering what an education and training he
has had from youth upward, and yet has not abstained from
the greatest of crimes. The penalty of death is to him the

855 least of evils; and others will be benefited by his example, if
he be put away out of the land with infamy. But let his
children and family, if they avoid the ways of their father, have
glory, and let honourable mention be made of them, as having
nobly and manfully escaped out of evil into good. None of
them should have their goods confiscated to the state, for the
lots of the citizens ought always to continue the same and
equal.

Touching the exaction of penalties, when a man appears to
have done anything which deserves a fine, he shall pay the
fine, if he have anything in excess of the lot which is assigned
to him; but more than that he shall not pay. And to secure
exactness, let the guardians of the law refer to the registers,
and inform the judges of the precise truth, in order that none
of the lots may go uncultivated for want of money. But if any
one seems to deserve a greater penalty, let him be imprisoned
for a time and otherwise dishonoured, unless some of his friends
are willing to be surety for him, and liberate him by becoming
partners in the fine. And let no one be outlawed for any offence
whatever, nor be banished beyond the frontier, but let him re-
ceive punishment—death, or bonds, or blows, or degrading posts
or positions, or removed to some temple on the borders of the
land, or let him pay money penalties,as we said before. In
cases of death, let the judges be the guardians of the law, and
a court selected by merit from last year’s magistrates. But
how the causes are to be brought into court, and the summonses,
and manner of proceeding and the like, may be left to the
younger generation of legislators to determine; the manner of
voting we must determine ourselves.

Let the vote be given openly; but before they come to the
vote let the judges sit in order of seniority over against plaintiff
and defendant, and let all the citizens who can spare time hear
and take a serious interest in listening to such causes. First
of all the plaintiff shall make one speech, and then the defendant
shall make another; and after the speeches have been made the

424 LAWS.

eldest judge shall begin to examine the parties, and proceed to
make a satisfactory enquiry into what has been said; and after
the oldest has spoken, every one shall proceed in order to ex-
amine either party as to what he may have said or omitted
to say; and he who has nothing more to ask shall pass over
the examination to another. And on so much of what has
been said as is to the purpose, they shall put the seals of all
the judges with their signatures in writing, and place the
writings on the altar of Hestia. On the next day they shall 856
meet again, and in like manner put their questions and go
through the cause, and again set their seals upon the evidence ;
and when they have three times done this, and have had wit-
nesses and evidence enough, they shall each of them give a holy
vote, after promising by Hestia that they will decide justly and
truly to the utmost of their power; and so they shall put an
end to the suit.

Next, after what relates to the Gods, follows what relates to
the dissolution of the state:—Whoever by promoting a man
to power enslaves the laws, and subjects the city to factions,
using violence and stirring up sedition contrary to law, him
we will deem the greatest enemy of the whole state. But he
who takes no part in such proceedings, and yet being the chief
magistrate of the state, knowing of them or not knowing of
them, by reason of cowardice does not interfere on behalf of
his country, such an one we must consider nearly as bad.
Every man who is worth anything will inform the magistrates,
and bring the conspirator to trial for making a violent and
illegal attempt to change the government. The judges of the
traitor shall be the same as of the robbers of temples; and let
the whole proceeding be carried on in the same way, and the
vote of the majority condemn to death. But let there be a
general rule, that the disgrace and punishment of the father
is not to be visited on the children, except in the case of
some one whose father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have
successively undergone the penalty of death. Such persons
the city shall send away with all their possessions, reserving
only and wholly their appointed lot to their original city and
country. And out of the citizens who have more than one son
of not less than ten years of age, they shall select ten whom

BOOT AN: 425

their father or grandfather by the mother’s or father’s side shall
appoint, and let them send to Delphi the names of those who
are selected, and him whom the God appoints they shall establish
as heir of the house which has failed; and may he have better
fortune than his predecessors!

Cle. Very good.

Ath, Once more let there be a third general law respecting
the judges who are to give judgment, and the manner of con-
ducting suits against those who are tried on an accusation of

857 treason; and as concerning the remaining or departure of their
descendants,—there shall be one law for all three, for the traitor,
and the robber of temples, and the subverter by violence of the
laws of the state. For a thief, whether he steal much or little,
let there be one law, and one punishment for all alike; in the
first place, let him pay double the amount of the theft if he
be convicted, and if he have so much over and above the allot-
ment. If he have not, he shall be bound until he pay the
penalty, or persuade him who has obtained the sentence against
him to forgive him. But if a person is convicted of a theft
apainst the state,tnen if he can persuade the tity, or ib he
will pay back twice the amount of the theft, he shall be set
free from his bonds.

Cle, What makes you say, Stranger, that a theft is all one;
whether the thief may have taken much or little and either
from sacred or secular places—and these are not the only dif-
ferences in thefts :—seeing, then, that they are of many kinds,
ought not the legislator to adapt himself to them, and impose
upon them entirely different penalties?

Ath, Excellent. I was running on too fast, Cleinias, and you
impinged upon me, and brought me to my senses, reminding
me of what, indeed, had occurred to my mind already, that
legislation was never yet rightly worked out, as I may say in
passing :—Do you remember the image in which I likened the
men for whom laws are now made to slaves who are doctored
by slaves? For of this you may be very sure, that if one of
those empirical physicians, who practise medicine without
science, were to come upon the gentleman physician talking
to his gentle patient, and using the language almost of philo-
sophy—beginning at the beginning of the disease and dis-

426 LAWS.

coursing about the whole nature of the body, he would burst
into a hearty laugh—he would say what most of those who
are called doctors always have at their tongue’s end :—Foolish
fellow, he would say, you are not healing the sick man, but
you are educating him; and he does not want to be made
a doctor, but to get well.

Cle. And would he not be right?

Ath, Perhaps he would; and he might remark upon us, that
he who discourses about laws, as we are now doing, is giving
the citizens education and not laws; that would be rather a
telling observation.

Cie N ery true:

Ath. But we are fortunate.

Cle. In what way?

Ath, Inasmuch as we are not compelled to give laws, but we
may take into consideration every form of government, and
ascertain what is best and what is most needful, and how they
may both be carried into execution; and we may also, if we
please, at this very moment choose what is best, or, if we prefer,
what is most necessary—which shall we do?

Cle. There is something ridiculous, Stranger, in our proposing
such an alternative, as if we were legislators, simply bound
under some great necessity which cannot be deferred to the
morrow. But we, as I may by the grace of Heaven affirm,
like gatherers of stones or beginners of some composite work,
may collect a heap of materials, and afterwards, at our leisure,
select what is suitable for our intended construction. Let us
then suppose ourselves to be at leisure, not of necessity build-
ing, but rather lke men who are partly providing materials,
and partly putting them together. And we may truly say
that some of our laws, like stones, are already fixed in their
places, and others lie about.

Ath. Certainly, in that case, Cleinias, our view of law will be
more in accordance with nature. For there is another matter
affecting legislators, which I must earnestly entreat you to
consider.

Cle, What is that ?

Ath, Divers other persons, and not legislators only, have com-
posed writings and speeches.

S

BOOK IX. 4

to

7

Cle. To be sure.

Ath. Shall we give heed rather to the writings of those others,
—poets and the like, who either in metre or out of metre have
recorded their own notes of life, and not to the writings of legis-
lators, or shall we give heed to them above all?

Cle. Yes; to them above all others.

Ath, And ought not the legislator to have an opinion con-
cerning those who write about the beautiful, the good, and the
just, and to teach what they are, and how they are to be pur-
sued by those who intend to be happy?

Cle. Certainly he should.

Ath. And is it disgraceful for Homer and Tyrtaeus and other
poets to lay down evil precepts in their writings respecting life
and the pursuits of men, but not disgraceful for Lycurgus and
Solon and others who were legislators as well as writers? Of
all the writings which there are in cities, are not those which
relate to laws, when you unfold and read them, found to be
by far the noblest and the best, and do not other writings either
agree with them, or if they disagree, are they not ridiculous?
We should consider whether the laws of states ought to have
the character of loving and wise parents, or of tyrants and
masters, who command and threaten, and, after writing their
decrees on walls, go their ways; and whether, in discoursing
of laws, we shall take the gentler view of them which may
or may not be attainable, but to which we, at any rate, will
show our readiness to give effect, and be prepared to undergo
whatever may be the result. And may the result be good, and
by the favour of Heaven it shall be good!

Cle. Excellent ; let us do as you say.

Ath. Then we will now consider accurately, as we proposed,
what relates to robbers of temples, and all kinds of thefts and
offences in general; and we must not be annoyed if, in the
course of legislation, we have enacted some things, and have
not made up our minds about some others; for as yet we are
not legislators, but we may be some day. Let us, then, if you
please, consider these matters.

Cle. By all means. ;

Ath. Concerning all principles of honour and justice, let us
endeavour to ascertain how far we are consistent with ourselves,

428 LAWS.

and how far we are inconsistent, acknowledging indeed that. our
aim is to contradict the majority—and we may note how far the
many are inconsistent with one another.

Cle. What are the inconsistencies which you observe in us?

Ath. 1 will endeavour to explain. If I am not mistaken,
we are agreed that justice and just men and things and actions
are all fair, and, if a person were to maintain that just men, even
when they are deformed in body, are still perfectly beautiful in
respect of the excellent justice of their minds, no one would say
that there was any inconsistency in this.

Cle. They would be quite right.

Ath. Perhaps; but let us. consider further, that even if all
things which are just are fair and honourable, there are always
passive states deemed by us to be equivalent to the active
ones.

Cle. And what is the inference?

Ath, The inference is, that a just action in partaking of
the just= pattakes “also vin ‘the same decree Of the tat and
honourable?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And must not a suffering which partakes of the just
principle <be sadmitted tobe in “the -same~"deoree “fair. and S|
honourable, if the argument is consistently carried out?

Cle. “True:

Ath. But then if we admit suffering to be just and yet
dishonourable, and the term ‘dishonourable’ is applied to justice,
will not the just and the honourable disagree?

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. A thing not difficult to understand; the laws which
have been already enacted would seem to announce principles
directly opposed to what we are saying.

Cle. To what?

Ath, We were saying, if I am not mistaken, that the robber
of temples, and he who was the enemy of law and order, might
justly be put to death, and we were proceeding to make divers
other enactments of a similar nature. But we refrained, because
we saw that these inflictions of sufferings are infinite in number
and degree, and are, at once, the most just and also the most
dishonourable of all sufferings. And if this is true, are not

=

BOOK EX. 4209

the just and the honourable at one time all the same, and at
another time in the most diametrical opposition ?

Cle. Such appears to be the case.

Ath, In this discordant and inconsistent fashion does the
language of the many rend asunder the honourable and just.

Cle, Nery. true; Stranger:

Ath, Then now, Cleinias, let us see how far we are consistent
about these matters.

Cle. Consistent in what?

Ath, I think that I have clearly stated in the former part
of the discussion, but if I did not, let me now state

Cle. What?

Ath, That all bad men are always involuntarily bad; and
from this I must proceed to draw a further inference.

Cle. What is it?

Ath. That the unjust man may be bad, but that he is bad
against his will. Now that an action which is done involuntarily
should be voluntary is a contradiction ; wherefore he who main-
tains that injustice is involuntary will deem that the evil-doer
does evil involuntarily. I admit therefore that all men do evil
involuntarily, and if any contentious or disputatious person says
that men are evil-doers against their will, and yet that many
do evil willingly, I certainly cannot agree with him. But, then,
how can I avoid being inconsistent with myself, if you, Cleinias,
and you, Megillus, say to me,—Well, Stranger, and how about
legislating for the city of the Magnetes—shall we legislate or
not—what do you advise? Certainly we will, I should reply.
Then will you determine for them what are voluntary and what
are involuntary crimes, and shall we make the punishments
greater of voluntary errors and crimes and less for the in-
voluntary ; or shall we make the punishment of all to be alike,
under the idea that there is no such thing as voluntary crime?

Cle. Very good, Stranger; and what shall we say in answer
to these objections?

Ath, That is a very fair question. In the first place, let

us
Cle. Do what?
Ath. Let us remember what has been well said by us already,
that our ideas of justice are in the highest degree confused

430 LAWS.

and inconsistent. Bearing this in mind, let us proceed to ask.
ourselves once more whether we have discovered a way out
of the difficulty. Have we ever determined in what respect
these two classes of actions differ from one another? For in
all states and by all legislators whatsoever, two kinds of actions
have been distinguished—the one, voluntary, the other, in-
voluntary ; and they have legislated about them accordingly.
But shall this new word of ours, like an oracle of God, be only
spoken, and have no explanation or verification? How can a
word not understood be the basis of legislation? Impossible.
Before proceeding to legislate, then, we must prove that they
are two, and what is the difference between them, that when
we impose the penalty upon either, every one may understand
our proposal, and be able in some way to judge whether the
penalty is fitly or unfitly enacted.

Cle. I agree with you, Stranger; for one of two things is
certain: either we must not say that all unjust acts are involun-
tary, or we must show the meaning and truth of this statement.

Ath. Of these two alternatives, the one is quite intolerable—
not to speak what I know to be the truth would be to me
unlawful and unholy. But if acts of injustice cannot be divided
into voluntary and involuntary, I must endeavour to find some
other distinction in them.

Cle. Very true, Stranger; there cannot be two opinions
among us upon that point.

Ath. Reflect, then; there are hurts of various kinds done by
the citizens to one another in the intercourse of life, affording
plentiful examples both of the voluntary and involuntary.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. I would not have any one suppose that all these hurts
are injuries, and that injuries are of two kinds,—one, voluntary,
and the other, involuntary ; for the involuntary hurts are quite
as many and as great as the voluntary. And please to consider 8
whether I am right or not in what I am going to say; for I deny,
Cleinias and Megillus, that he who harms another involuntarily
does him an injury involuntarily, nor should I legislate about
Suchadl. acts Uneer.the idea that. 1 am, lesisiatine. for, an
involuntary injury. But I should rather say that such a hurt,
whether great or small, is not an injury at all; and, on the

WO eT he Ast
other hand, if I am right, when a benefit is wrongly conferred,
the author of the benefit may often be said to injure. For I
maintain, O my friends, that the mere giving or taking away
of anything is not to be described either as just or unjust; but
the legislator has to consider whether any one does good or
harm to another out of a just principle and intention. On the
distinction between injustice and hurt he must fix his eye; and
when there is hurt, he must, as far as he can, make the hurt
good by law, and save that which is ruined, and raise up that
which is fallen, and make that which is dead or wounded whole.
And when compensation is given, the law must always seek
to win over the doers and sufferers of the several hurts from
feelings of enmity to those of friendship.

Cle. Very good. :

Ath. Then as to unjust hurts (and gains also, supposing the
injustice to bring gain), of these we may heal as many as are
capable of being healed, regarding them as diseases of the soul,
and the cure of injustice will take the following direction

Cle. What direction ?

Ath. When any one commits any injustice, small or great,
the law will admonish and compel him either never at all to
do the like again, or never voluntarily, or at any rate in a far
less degree ; and he must in addition pay for the hurt. Whether
the end is to be attained by word or action, with pleasure or
pain, by giving or taking away privileges, by means of penalties
or gifts, or in whatsoever way the law shall proceed to make a
man hate injustice, and love or not hate the nature of the just,—
this is quite the noblest work of law. But if the legislator sees
any one who is incurable, for him he will appoint a law and
a penalty. He knows quite well that to such men themselves
there is no profit in the continuance of their lives, and that they
would do a double good to the rest of mankind if they would

63 take their departure, inasmuch as they would be an example
to other men not to offend, and they would relieve the city
of bad citizens. In such cases, and in such cases only, the
legislator ought to inflict death as the punishment of offences.

Cle. What you have said appears to me to be very reason-
able, but will you favour me by stating a little more clearly
the difference between hurt and injustice, and the various

432 LAWS.

)

complications of the involuntary and voluntary which arise
in these cases?

Ath, I will endeavour to comply with your request : Concern-
ing the soul, thus much would be generally said and allowed,
that one element in her nature is passion; which may be de-
scribed either as a state or a part of the soul, and is hard to be
striven against and contended with, and by irrational force over-
turns many things.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. And pleasure is not the same with passion, but has an
opposite power, working by persuasion and by the force of
deceit in all things.

Cie, Outre trie.

Ath, A man may truly say that ignorance is a third cause
of crimes. Ignorance, however, may be conveniently divided
by the legislator into two sorts: there is simple ignorance,
which is the source of lighter offences, and double ignorance,
which is accompanied by conceit of wisdom; and he who is
under the influence of the latter, fancies that he knows all about
matters of which he knows nothing. This second kind of
ignorance, when possessed of power and strength, will be held
by the legislator to be the source of great and monstrous crimes,
but when attended with weakness will only result in the errors
of children and old men; and these he will treat as errors, and
will make laws accordingly for those who commit them, which
will be the mildest and most merciful of all laws.

Cie Ouite neht.

Ath. We all of us remark of one man that he is superior to
pleasure and passion, and of another that he is inferior to them ;
and this is true.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, But no one was ever yet heard to say that one of
us is superior and the other inferior to ignorance.

Cle. Very true.

Ath. We are speaking of motives which incite men to the
fulfilment of their will; although they may often draw an
individual in opposite directions at the same time.

Cle. Yes, often.

Ath. And now I can define to you clearly, and without

BOOK IX. 433

ambiguity, what I mean by the just and unjust, according to
my notion of them: When anger and fear, and pleasure and
pain, and jealousies and desires, tyrannize over the soul, whether

14 they do any harm or not—I call them all injustice. But when
the opinion of the best, whatever states or individuals may
suppose that to be, has dominion in the soul and orders the
life of every man, even if it be sometimes mistaken, yet what
is done in accordance therewith, and the principle in individuals
which obeys this rule, and is best for the whole life of man,
is to be called just; although the action, done in error, is
thought by the multitude to be involuntary injustice. Leaving
the question of names, about which we are not going to quarrel,
and having already delineated three sorts of errors, we may
begin by recalling them somewhat more vividly to our memory :
One kind was of the painful sort, which we denominate anger
and fear?

Cle, Quite right.

Ath. There was a second class of pleasures and desires, and a
third class of hopes, which aimed at true opinion about the best.
This latter being further subdivided into three, there arise five
kinds of actions, and for these five kinds we will make laws of
two kinds.

Cle. What are the two kinds?

Ath, There is one kind of actions done by violence and in the
light of day, and another kind of actions which are done in
darkness and with secret deceit, or sometimes both with violence
and deceit; the laws concerning these last ought to have a
character of severity.

Cle. Naturally.

Ath, And now let us return from this digression and complete
the work of legislation. Laws have been already enacted by
us concerning the robbers of the Gods, and concerning traitors ;
and also concerning those who corrupt the laws for the purpose
of subverting the government. A man may very likely commit
some of these crimes, either in a state of madness or when
affected by disease, or under the influence of extreme old age,
or in a fit of childish wantonness, himself no better than a child.
And if this be made evident to one of the judges elected to try
the cause, on the appeal of the criminal or his advocate, and

VOL. V. et

434 LAWS.

he be judged to have been in this state when he committed
the offence, he shall simply pay for the hurt which he may
have done to another; but he shall be exempt from other
penalties, unless he have slain some one, and have on his hands
the stain of blood. And in that case he shall go to another land
and country, and theré dwell for a year; and if he return be-
fore the expiration of the time which the law appoints, or even
set his foot at all on his native land, he shall be bound by the
guardians of the law and shall be the bondsman of the state for
two years, and then go free.

Having begun to speak of homicide, let us endeavour to
lay down laws concerning every different kind of homicide ;
and, first of all, concerning violent and involuntary homicides.
If any one in an athletic contest, and at the public games,
involuntarily kills a friend, and he dies either at the time or
afterwards of the blows which he has received; or if the like
misfortune happen to any one in war or military exercises, or
mimic contests of which the rulers enjoin the practice, whether
with or without arms, when he has been purified according to
the law brought from Delphi relating to these matters, he shall
be innocent. And so in the case of physicians, if their patient
die against their will, they shall be held guiltless by the law.
And if one slay another with his own hand, but unintentionally,
whether he be unarmed or have some instrument or dart in
his hand; or if he kill him by giving him food and drink, or by
the application of fire or cold, or by suffocating him, whether
he do the deed by his own hand, or by the agency of others,
he shall be regarded as the agent, and shall suffer the following
penalties :—If he kill the slave of another in the belief that he
is his own, he shall bear the master of the dead man harmless
from loss, or shall pay a penalty of twice the value of the dead
man, which the judges shall assess ; but they must use purifica-
tions greater and more than in the case of those who committed
homicide at the games ;—what they are to be, the interpreters
whom the God appoints shall be authorized to declare. And
if a man kills his own slave, when he has been purified ac-
cording to law, he shall be quit of the homicide. And if a
man kills a freeman unintentionally, he shall undergo the same
purification as he did who killed the slave. But let him not

BOOK IX. 435

forget also a tale of olden time, which is to this effect: He who
has suffered a violent end, when newly dead, if he has had the
soul of a freeman in life, is angry with the author of his death ;
and being himself full of fear and panic by reason of his violent
death, when he sees his murderer walking about in his own
accustomed haunts, he is said to become disordered, which
disorder of his, aided by the guilty recollection of the other,
is communicated by him with overwhelming force to the mur-
derer and his deeds. Wherefore also the doer must avoid
the sufferer for the entire period of a year, and must not
be found in any of the places that belong to him in the whole
country. And if the dead man be a stranger, he shall abstain
66 from the whole country of the stranger during a like period.
If any one voluntarily obey this law, the next of kin to the
deceased seeing all that has happened shall take pity on him,
and make peace with him, and deal with him as he ought. But
if any one is disobedient, and either ventures to go to any of
the temples and sacrifice unpurified, or will not continue in
exile during the appointed time, the next of kin to the deceased
shall proceed against him for murder; and if he be convicted
every part of his punishment shall be doubled. And if the
next of kin do not proceed against the perpetrator of the crime,
then the pollution shall be deemed to fall upon his own head ;—
the sufferer shall call for vengeance upon his kinsman, and
he who has a mind to proceed against him may compel him
to be absent from his country during five years, according to
law. If a stranger involuntarily kill a stranger who is dwelling
in the city, he who likes shall prosecute the cause according
to the same rules. If he be a metic, let him be absent for a
year, or if he be an entire stranger, in addition to the purifica-
tion, whether he slay a stranger, or a metic, or a citizen, he
shall be banished for life from the country which is under
the dominion of our laws. And if he return contrary to law,
let the guardians of the law punish him with death; and let
them hand over his property, if he have any, to him who is
next of kin to the sufferer. And if he be wrecked, and driven
on the coast against his will, he shall take up his abode on
the sea-shore, wetting his feet in the sea, and watching for
an opportunity of sailing; but if he be brought by land, and
Ff 2

436 LAWS.

is not his own master, Jet the magistrate whom he first comes
across in the city, release him and send him unharmed over the
border.

If any one slays a freeman with his own hand, and the deed
be done in passion, in the case of such actions we must begin
by making a distinction. For a deed is done from passion
either when men suddenly, and without intention to kill,
cause the death of another by blows and the like on a mo-
mentary impulse, and are sorry for the deed immediately
afterwards ; or again, when after having been insulted in deed
or word, men pursue revenge, and kill a person intentionally,
and are not sorry for their deed. And, therefore, we must
assume that there are two kinds of homicide, both of them
arising from passion, which may be justly said to be in a
mean between the voluntary and involuntary; at the same 86
time, they are neither of them anything more than a likeness
or shadow of either. He who treasures up his anger, and
avenges himself, not immediately and at the moment, but with
insidious design, and after an interval, is like the voluntary ;
but he who does not treasure up his anger, and takes ven-
geance on the instant, and without malice prepense, approaches
to the involuntary; and yet even he is not altogether in-
voluntary, but is only the image or shadow of the involuntary ;
wherefore about homicides committed in hot blood, there is a
difficulty in determining whether in legislating we shall reckon
them as voluntary or as partly involuntary. The best and truest
view is to regard either, as a likeness only of the voluntary or
involuntary. We may, however, divide them accordingly as
they are done with or without premeditation. And we make
the penalties heavier for those who commit homicide with angry
premeditation, and lighter for those who do not premeditate,
but smite upon the instant; for that which is like a greater evil
should be punished more severely, and that which is like a
less evil should be punished less severely: this shall be the
rule of our laws.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. Let us proceed: If any one slays a freeman with his
own hand, and the deed be done in a moment of anger, and
without premeditation, let the offender suffer in other respects

BOOK IX. 437

as the involuntary homicide would have suffered, undergoing
an exile of two years, that he may learn to school his passions.
But he who slays another from passion, yet with premeditation,
shall undergo the same penalty as the former; and to this
shall be added an exile of three instead of two years,— his
punishment is to be longer because his passion is greater. The
manner of their return shall be on this wise: (and here the
law has difficulty in determining exactly ; for in some cases the
murder which is judged by the law to be worse may really
be the less cruel, and he who is judged the less cruel may be
really the worse, and may have executed the murder in a
more savage manner, whereas the other may have been gentler.
But in general the degrees of guilt will be such as we have
described them. Of all these things the guardians of the law must
take cognizance) :—When either of them has completed his term
of exile, they shall send twelve judges to the borders of the land;
these during the interval shall have been informed of the actions
of the criminals, and they shall judge respecting their pardon and
68 reception ; and the homicides shall abide by their judgment.
But if after they have returned home, either of them in a
moment of anger repeats the deed, let him be an exile, and
return no more; or if he return, let him suffer as the stranger
was to suffer in a similar case. He who kills his own slave
shall undergo a purification, but if he kills the slave of another
in anger, he shall pay twice the amount of the loss to his owner.
And if a homicide is disobedient to the law, and without
purification pollutes the agora, or the games, or the temples,
he who pleases may bring to trial the next of kin to the dead
man for permitting him, and the murderer with him, and may
compel the one to exact and the other to suffer a double amount
of fines and purifications ; and the accuser may himself receive
the fine which is imposed by law. If a slave in a fit of passion
kills his master, the kindred of the deceased man may do with
the murderer (provided only they do not spare his life) what-
ever they please, and they will be pure; or if he kills a freeman,
who is not his master, the owners shall give up the slave to the
relatives of the deceased, and they shall be under an obligation
to put him to death, but this may be done in any manner which
they please. And if (which is a rare occurrence, but does some-

438 LAWS.

times happen) a father or a mother in a moment of passion
slay a son or daughter by blows, or some. other violence, they
shall undergo the same purification as in other cases, and be
exiled during three years ; but when they return from exile the
wife shall separate from the husband, and the husband from the
wife, and they shall never afterwards beget children together, or
live under the same roof, or partake of the same sacred rights
with those whom they have deprived of a child or of a brother.
And he who is impious and disobedient in. such a case shall
be brought to trial for impiety by any one who pleases. If
in a fit of anger a husband kills his wife, or the wife her hus-
band, they shall undergo the same purification, and their term
of exile shall be three years. And when he who has committed
any such crime returns, let him have no communion in sacred
rites with his children, neither let him sit at the same table
with them, and the father or son who disobeys shall be liable
to be brought to trial for impiety by any one who pleases. If
a brother or a sister in a fit of passion kills a brother or a sister,
they shall undergo a purification and a year’s exile, as was
the case with parents who kill their offspring: they shall not
come under the same roof, or share in the sacred rites of those
whom they have deprived of their brethren, or of their children.
And he who is disobedient shall be justly liable to the law 86,
concerning impiety, which relates to these matters. If any one
is so violent in his passion against his parents, that in the
madness of his anger he dares to kill one of them, if the dead
man, when dying, of his own accord acquits the murderer, let
him undergo the purification which is assigned to those who
have been guilty of involuntary homicide, and do as they do,
and he shall be pure. But if he be not acquitted, the per-
petrator of such a deed shall be amenable to many laws, for
he shall be amenable to the extreme punishments for assault, and
impiety, and robbing of temples, for he has robbed his parent
of life; and if a man could be slain more than once, most
justly would he who in a fit of passion has slain father or mother,
undergo many deaths, How can he, whom, even in defence
of his life, and when about to suffer death at the hands of his
parents, no law will allow to kill his father or his mother who
are the authors of his being, and whom the legislator will

BOGE. EX. 439

command to endure any extremity rather than this—how can
he, I say, lawfully receive any other punishment? Let death
then be the appointed punishment of him who in a fit of
passion slays his father or his mother. But if brother kill brother
in a civil broil, or under other like circumstances, if the other
have begun, and he only defend himself, let him be free from
guilt, as he would be if he had slain an enemy. And if a citizen
kill a citizen, or a stranger a stranger; or if a stranger kill a
citizen, or a citizen a stranger, let him be free from guilt
in like manner ; and so in the case of a slave who has killed a
slave; but if a slave have killed a freeman in self-defence,
let him be subject to the same law as he who has killed
a father; and let the law about the remission of penalties in
the case of parricide apply equally to every other remission.
Whenever any sufferer of his own accord remits the guilt of
homicide to another, and declares his act to have been in-
voluntary, let the perpetrator of the deed undergo a purification
and remain in exile for a year, according to law.

Enough has been said of murders violent and involuntary
and committed in passion: we have now to speak of voluntary
crimes done with injustice of whatever kind and premeditation,
through the influence of pleasures, and desires, and jealousies.

Cle. Very good.

Ath, Let us first speak, as far as we are able, of their number
and nature. The greatest cause of them is lust, which gets
the mastery of the soul maddened by desire; and this is most
commonly found to exist where the passion reigns which is
strongest and most prevalent among the mass of mankind: I
mean where the power of wealth breeds endless desires of
never-to-be-satisfied acquisition, originating in natural dispo-
sition, and a miserable want of education. Of this want of
education, the false admiration of wealth which is bruited about
among Hellenes and barbarians is the cause; they deem that
to be the first of goods which in reality is only the third. And
in this way they wrong both posterity and themselves, for
nothing can be nobler and better than that the truth about
wealth should be spoken in all states—namely, that riches are
for the sake of the body as the body is for the sake of the soul.
They are good, and wealth is intended by nature to be for the

440 LAWS.

sake of them, and is therefore inferior to them both, and third
in order of excellence. This argument teaches us that he
who would be happy ought not to seek to be rich, or rather
he should seek to be rich justly and temperately, and then
there would be no murders in states, which require to be
purged away by other murders. But now, as I said at first,
avarice is the chiefest cause and source of voluntary homicide,
and hence the worst trials arise. A second cause is ambition:
this creates jealousies, which are troublesome companions, above
all to the jealous man himself, and in a less degree to the
chiefs of the state. And a third cause is cowardly and unjust
fear, which has been the occasion of many murders. When
a man is doing or has done something which he desires that
no one should know him to be doing or to have done, he
will take the life of those who are likely to inform of such
things, if he have no other means of getting rid of them. Let
this be said as a prelude concerning crimes in general; and
I must not omit to mention a tradition which is firmly believed
by many, and has been received from those who are learned
in the mysteries; they say that the crime will be punished in
the world below, and also that when the perpetrators return to
this world they will suffer what they did by a compensation
of nature, and end their lives in like manner by the hand of
another. If he who is about to commit a crime believes this,
and is induced by the prelude to fear such a penalty, there
is no need to proceed with the proclamation of the law. But
if he will not listen, let the following law be declared and
registered against him:— Whoever shall wrongfully and of 87
design slay with his own hand any of his kinsmen, shall in
the first place be deprived of legal privileges; and he shall
not pollute the temples, or the agora, or the harbours, or any
other place of meeting, whether he is forbidden of men or
not; for the law, which represents the whole state, forbids him,
and always is and will be in the attitude of forbidding him.
And he who, being of the kindred of the deceased, whether
on the male or female side, does not prosecute the homicide
when he ought, and proclaim him an outlaw, shall in the first
place be involved in the pollution, and incur the hatred of
the Gods, even as the curse of the law stirs up the voices of

BOOK AX nes

men against him; and in the second place he shall be in the
power of any one who is willing to inflict retribution on behalf
of the dead. And he who wishes to punish him shall observe
all the precautionary ceremonies of lavation, and any others
which the Gods command in cases of this kind. Let him make
proclamation, and then go forth and compel the perpetrator
to suffer the execution of justice according to the law. Now the
legislator may easily show that these things must be accom-
plished by prayers and sacrifices to certain Gods, who are
concerned with the prevention of murders in states. But who
these Gods are, and what should be the true manner of bringing
such trials before the God, the guardians of the law, aided
by the interpreters, and the prophets, and the God, shall de-
termine, and when they have determined let them carry on the
prosecution at law. The cause shall have the same judges who
are appointed to decide finally in the case of those who plunder
temples. Let him who is convicted be punished with death,
and let him not be buried in the country of the murdered man,
for this would be shameless as well as impious. But if he
fly and will not stand his trial, let him fly for ever; or, if
he set foot anywhere on any part of the murdered man’s
country, let any relation of the deceased, or any other citizen
who may first happen to meet with him, kill him with impunity,
or bind and deliver him to the archons who determined the
suit, that they may put him to death; and let the prosecutor
demand surety of him whom he prosecutes; three sureties
sufficient in the opinion of the magistrates who try the cause
shall be provided by him, and they shall undertake to produce
him at the trial. But if he is unwilling or unable to provide
sureties, then the magistrates shall take him and keep him in
bonds, and produce him at the day of trial. If a man do not
commit the murder with his own hand, but has contrived the
death of another, and is the author of the deed in intention
and design, having his soul not pure of the guilt of murder,
and he is dwelling in the city, let him be tried in the same way,
except in what relates to the sureties; and also, if he be found

x guilty, he shall have burial in his native land, but in all other

respects this case shall be as the former; and whether a stranger
shall kill a citizen, or a citizen a stranger, or a slave a slave, there

442 LA WKS.

shall be no difference as touching the mere intention and the
actual performance, except in the matter of sureties ; and these,
as has been said, shall be required of the actual murderer only,
and he who brings the accusation shall bind them over at the
time. If a slave be convicted of killing a freeman volun-
tarily, or of plotting to kill him, let the public executioner
take him either to the sepulchre, or to a place at which he can
see the sepulchre of the dead, and inflict upon him as many
stripes as the person who took him orders, and if he survives,
let him put him to death. And if any one kills a slave who
has done no wrong, because he is afraid that he may inform
of some base and evil deeds of his own, or for some similar
reason, in such a case let him pay the penalty of murder, as
he would have done if he had slain a citizen. There are things
about which it is terrible and unpleasant to legislate, but im-
possible not to legislate. If, for example, there should be
murders of kinsmen, either perpetrated by the hands of kins-
men, or by their contrivance, and out of malice prepense, which
may often happen in ill-regulated states, and perhaps even in a
country where a man would not expect to find them, we must
repeat once more the tale, which we narrated a little while ago,
in the hope that he who hears us will be the more disposed to
abstain voluntarily on these grounds from murders, which are
utterly abominable. For the tale of tradition, whether under
this or some other name, has been plainly set forth by: priests
of old; they have pronounced that the justice which inspects
and avenges the blood of kindred, follows the law of retaliation,
and ordains that he who has done any murderous act should of
necessity suffer that which he has done. He who has slain a
father shall himself be slain at some time or other by his
children, and if he have slain his mother he shall of necessity
take a woman’s nature, and lose his life at the hands of his
offspring in after ages; for where a family is polluted with blood
there is no other purification, nor can the pollution be washed
out until the homicidal soul which did the deed has given life
for life, and has propitiated and laid to sleep the wrath of the 873
whole family. These are the retributions of Heaven, and by
such punishments men should be deterred. But if they are not
deterred, and any one should be incited by some fatality to

BOOK IX. 443

deprive his father, or mother, or brethren, or children, of life
voluntarily and of purpose, for him the earthly lawgiver legislates
as follows:—There shall be the same proclamations about
outlawry, and there shall be the same sureties which have been
enacted in the former cases. But in his case, if he be convicted,
the servants of the judges and the magistrates shall slay
him at an appointed place where three ways meet, and cast
him naked out of the city, and all the magistrates on be-
half of the whole city shall carry stones, and each of them
shall cast a stone upon the head of the dead man, and deliver
the city from pollution; and after that, they shall bear him to
the borders of the land, and throw him out unburied, accord-
ing to law. And what shall he suffer who slays him who of all
men, as they say, is his own best friend? I mean the suicide,
who deprives himself by violence of his appointed share of life,
not because the law of the state requires him, nor yet under
the compulsion of some painful and inevitable fortune which
has come upon him, nor because he has had to suffer from irre-
mediable and intolerable shame, but from sloth or want of
manliness; imposes upon himself an unjust penalty. For him,
what ceremonies there are to be of purification and burial God
knows, and about these the next of kin should enquire of the
interpreters and of the laws, and do according to their injunc-
tions. They who meet their death in this way shall be buried
alone, and none shall be laid by their side ; they shall be buried
ingloriously in the borders of the twelve portions of the land, in
such places as are uncultivated and nameless, and no column or
name shall mark the place of their interment. And if a beast
of burden or other animal cause the death of any one, except
in the case of anything of that kind happening in the public
contests, the kinsmen of the deceased shall prosecute the slayer
for murder, and the wardens of the country, such, and so many
as the kinsmen appoint, shall try the cause, and let the beast
when condemned be slain by them, and cast beyond the borders.
And if any lifeless thing deprive a man of life, except in the
case of a thunderbolt or other fatal dart sent from the Gods,—
whether a man is killed by lifeless objects falling upon him,
874 or by his falling upon them, the nearest of kin shall appoint the
nearest neighbour to be a judge, and thereby acquit himself

444 LAWS.

and the whole family of guilt. And he shall cast forth the
guilty thing beyond the border, as has been said about the
animals.

If a man is found dead, and his murderer be unknown, and
after a diligent search cannot be detected, there shall be the
same proclamation as in the previous cases, and the same
interdict on the murderer; and they shall proceed against
him, and announce in the agora, that he who has slain such
and such a person, and has been convicted of murder, shall
not set his foot in the temples, nor at all in the country of
the murdered man, and if he appears and is discovered he
shall die, and be cast forth unburied beyond the border. Let
us enact this, which shall be one of our laws about murder.

Enough of murder: and now let the cases in and for which
the murderer may rightly be deemed pure be recited :—If a man
catch a thief coming into his house by night to steal, and he
take him and kill him, or if he slay a footpad in self-defence,
he shall be guiltless. And any one who does violence to a free
woman or a youth, shall be slain with impunity by the injured
person, or by his or her father or brothers or sons. If a man
find his wife suffering violence, he may kill the violator, and
be guiltless in the eye of the law; or if a person kill another
in warding off death from his father or mother or children or
brethren or wife who are doing no wrong, he shall assuredly
be guiltless. :

Thus much as to the nurture and education of the living
soul of man, having which, he can, and without which, if he
unfortunately be without them, he cannot live; and also con-
cerning the punishments which are to be inflicted for violent
deaths, let thus much be enacted. Of the nurture and education
of the body we have spoken before, and now we have to speak
of deeds of violence, voluntary and involuntary, which men do
to one another ; these we will now distinguish according to their
nature and number, and determine what will be the suitable
penalties of each; assigning them their proper place in the
series of our enactments. The poorest legislator will have no
difficulty in determining that wounds and mutilations arising
out of wounds should follow next in order after deaths. Let
wounds be divided as homicides were divided—into those which

BOOK IX. 445

are involuntary, and which are given in passion or from fear,
and those which are voluntary and premeditated acts. Con-
cerning all this, we must make some such proclamation as
the following :—Mankind must have laws, and conform to
875 them, or their life would be as bad as that of the most savage
beast. And the reason of this is that no man’s nature is able
to know what is best for the social state of man; or knowing,
always able to do what is best. In the first place, there is a
difficulty in apprehending that the true art of politics is
concerned, not with private but with public good ;—for public
good binds together states, but private only distracts them,—
nor do men always see that the gain is greater both to the
individual and the state, when the state and not the individual
is first considered. In the second place, even if a person know
as a matter of science that this is the truth, but is possessed
of absolute and irresponsible power, he will never be able to
abide in this principle or to persist in regarding the public good
as primary in the state, and the private good as secondary.
Human nature will be always drawing him into avarice and
selfishness, avoiding pain and pursuing pleasure without any
reason, and will bring these to the front, obscuring the juster
and better; and so working darkness in his soul will at last
fill with evils both him and the whole city. For if a man
were born so divinely gifted that he could naturally apprehend
the truth, he would have no need of laws to rule over him;
for there is no law or order which is above knowledge, nor
can mind, without impiety, be deemed the subject or slave of
any man, but rather the lord of all. I speak of mind, true and
free, and in harmony with nature. But then there is no such
mind anywhere, or at least not much; and therefore we must
choose law and order, which are second best. Yet these look
at things as they exist for the most part only, and are unable
to survey the whole of them. And therefore we make laws.
And now we will determine what penalty he ought to pay
or suffer who has hurt or wounded another. Any one may
easily imagine the questions which have to be asked :—What
did he wound, or whom, or how, or when? for there are
innumerable particulars of this sort which greatly vary from
one another. And to allow courts of law to determine all

446 LAWS.

these things, or not to determine any of them, is alike im-
possible. There is one particular which they must determine in
all cases—the question of fact. And then, again, that the legis-
lator should not permit them to determine what punishment is 87
to be inflicted in any of these cases, but should himself decide
about all of them, small or great, is next to impossible.

Cle. Then what is to be the inference?

Ath, The inference is, that some things should be left to
courts of law; others the legislator must decide for himself.

Cle. And what ought the legislator to decide, and what ought
he to leave to the courts of law?

Ath. I may reply, that in a state in which the courts are bad
and mute, and decide causes secretly and clandestinely ; or what
is worse, when they are disorderly and noisy, as in a theatre,
clapping or hooting in turn this or that orator—I say that then
there is a very serious evil, which affects the whole state.
Unfortunate is the necessity of having to legislate for such
courts, but where the necessity exists, the legislator should only
allow them to ordain the penalties for the smallest offences ;
if the state for which he is legislating be of this character, he
must take most matters into his own hands and speak distinctly.
But when a state has good courts, and the judges are well
trained and scrupulously tested, the determination of the
penalties or punishments which shall be inflicted on the guilty
may fairly and with advantage be left to them. And we are
not to be blamed for not legislating concerning all that large
class of matters which judges far worse educated than our’s
would be able to determine, assigning to each offence the due
proportion of wrong done and suffered. They are best able
to judge, and therefore to them the greater part may be left.
At the same time, as I have often said, we should exhibit to
the judges, as we have done, the outline and form of the
punishments to be inflicted, and then they will not transgress
the just rule. That was an excellent practice, which we
observed before, and now that we are resuming the work of
legislation, may with advantage be repeated by us.

Let the enactment about wounding be in the following terms:
If any one has a purpose and intention to slay another who is
not his enemy, and whom the law does not permit him to slay,

BOOK LX. 447

and he wounds him, but is unable to kill him, he who had the
877 intent and has wounded him is not to be pitied—he should be
regarded as a murderer and be tried for murder. Still having
respect to the fortune which has in a manner favoured him, and
to the providence who in pity to him and to the wounded man
saved the one from a fatal blow, and the other from an accursed
fate and calamity—as a thank-offering to this deity, and in
order not to oppose his will—in such a case the law will remit
the punishment of death, and only compel the offender to
emigrate to a neighbouring city during his life; where he
shall remain in the enjoyment of all his possessions. But if
he ,|have injured the wounded man, he shall make such
compensation for the injury as the court deciding the cause
shall assess, and the same judges shall decide who would have
decided if the man had died of his wounds. And if a child
intentionally wound his parents, or a servant his master, death
shall be the penalty. And if a brother or a sister intentionally
wound a brother or a sister, and is found guilty, death shall
be the penalty. And if a husband wound a wife, or a wife a
husband, with intent to kill, let him or her undergo perpetual
exile; if they have sons or daughters who are still young, the
guardians shall take care of their property, and have charge
of the children as orphans. If their sons are grown up, they
shall be under no obligation to support the exiled parent, but
they shall possess the property themselves. And if he who
meets with such a misfortune has no children, his kindred to
the degree of sons of cousins of the exiled man, both on the
male and female side, shall meet together, and after consulting
with the guardians and the priests, shall appoint a 5040th
citizen to be the heir of the house, considering and reasoning
that no house of all the 5040 belongs to the inhabitant or to
the whole family, but is the public and private property of ©
the state. Now, the state should seek to have its houses as
holy and happy as possible. And if any one of the houses
be unfortunate, and stained with impiety, and the heir leave
no posterity, and dies unmarried, or married and childless, having
suffered death as the penalty of murder or some other crime
committed against the Gods or against his fellow-citizens, of
which death is the penalty distinctly laid down in the law;

448 LAWS.

or if any of the citizens be in perpetual exile, and also childless,
that house shall first of all be purified and undergo expiation
according to law; and then let the kinsmen of the house, as
we were just now saying, and the guardians of the law, meet
and consider what family there is in the state which is of the 87%
highest repute for virtue and also for good fortune, in which
there are a number of sons; and let them adopt one of them,
and introduce him to the father and forefathers of the dead
man, and call him their son, for the sake of the omen, that
he may be the continuer of their family, the keeper of their
hearth, and the minister of their sacred rites with better fortune
than his father had ; and when they have made this supplication,
they shall make him heir according to law, and the offending
person they shall leave nameless and childless and portionless
when calamities such as these overtake him.

Now, there is not in all things a limit which touches limit;
many things have a common boundary which is betwixt and
between them; and we were saying that what is done from
passion is of this nature, and is in a mean between the voluntary
and involuntary. If a person be convicted of having inflicted
wounds in a passion, in the first place he shall pay twice the
amount of the injury, if the wound be curable, or, if incurable,
four times the amount of the injury; or if the wound be curable,
and at the same time cause great and notable disgrace to the
wounded person, he shall pay fourfold. And whenever any one
in wounding another injures not only the sufferer, but also the
city, and makes him incapable of defending his country against
the enemy, he, besides the other penalties, shall pay a penalty
for the loss which the state has incurred. And the penalty shall
be, that in addition to his own times of service, he shall serve
on behalf of the disabled person, and shall take his place in
war; or, if he refuse, he shall be liable to be convicted by law
of refusal to serve. The amount of the injury, whether to
be paid twofold or threefold or fourfold, shall be fixed by the
judges who convict him. And if, in like manner, a brother
wounds a brother, the parents and kindred of either sex,
including the children of cousins, whether on the male or female
side, shall meet, and when they have judged the cause, they
shall entrust the assessment of damages to the parents, as is

BOOT 1G A49

natural; and if the estimate be disputed, then the arbitrators
on the male side shall make the estimate, or if they cannot,
they shall commit the matter to the guardians of the law. And
when similar charges of wounding are brought by children
against their parents, those who are more than sixty years of
age, having children of their own, not adopted, shall be required
to decide; and if any one is convicted, they shall determine
whether he ought to die, or suffer some other punishment either

“79 greater than death, or, at any rate, not much less. A kinsman
of the offender shall not be allowed to judge the cause, not even
if he be of the age which is permitted by the law. If a slave in
a fit of anger wound a freeman, the owner of the slave shall give
him up to the wounded man, who may do as he pleases with
him, and if he do not give him up he shall make good the
injury. And if any one says that the slave and the wounded
man are conspiring together, let him argue the point, and if he
is cast, he shall pay the injury three times over, but if he convict
the other two, the freeman who conspired with the slave shall
be liable to be made a slave. And if any one unintentionally
wounds another he shall simply pay for the harm, for no
legislator is able to control chance. In sucha case the judges
shall be the same as those who are appointed in the case of
children and their parents; and they shall estimate the amount
of the injury.

All the preceding injuries and every kind of assault are deeds
of violence; and every man, woman, or child ought to consider
that the elder has the precedence of the younger in honour, both

- among the Gods and also among men who would live happily.
Wherefore it is a foul thing and hateful to the Gods to see
an elder man assaulted by a younger in the city; and it is
reasonable that a young man when struck by an elder should
lightly endure his anger, laying up in store for himself a like
honour when he is old. Let this be the law :—Every one shall
reverence his elder in word and deed; he shall respect any one
who is twenty years older than himself, whether male or female,
regarding him or her as his father or mother; and he shall
abstain from laying hands on any one who is of an age to have
been his father or his mother out of reverence to the Gods who
preside over birth; and in like manner he shall abstain from

VOL Gg

450 LAWS.

a stranger, whether he be an old inhabitant or newly arrived ;
he shall not venture to correct such an one by blows, either as
the aggressor or in self-defence. If he thinks that some stranger
has struck him out of wantonness or insolence, and ought to be
punished, he shall take him to the wardens of the city, but let
him not strike him, that he may be kept far away from the
possibility of lifting up his hand against a citizen, and let the
wardens of the city take the offender and examine him, not
forgetting their duty to the God of Strangers, and in case the
stranger appear to have struck the citizen unjustly, let them
inflict upon him as many blows as he has himself inflicted, and
quell his insolence. But if he have done no wrong, then they
shall threaten and rebuke the accuser, and let them both go.
If a person strike another of the same age or somewhat older 88
than himself, who has no children, whether he be an old man
who strikes an old man or’a young man who strikes a young
man, let him defend himself in the natural way without a
weapon and with his hands only. He who, being more than
forty years of age, dares to fight with another, whether he be
the aggressor or in self-defence, shall be regarded as rude and
ill-mannered and slavish ;—this will be a disgraceful punishment,
and therefore suitable to him. The obedient nature will readily
yield to such exhortations, but the disobedient, who heeds not
the prelude, shall have the law ready for him. If any man
smites another who is older than himself, either by twenty or
by more years, in the first place, he who meets him, not being
younger than the combatants, or their equal in age, shall
separate them, or be disgraced according to law; but if he
be the equal in age of the person who is struck or younger,
he shall defend the person injured as he would a brother or
father or still older relative. Further, let him who dares to
smite an elder be tried for assault, as I have said, and if he
be found guilty, let him be imprisoned for a period of not less
than a year, or for a longer period at the pleasure of the judges.
But if a stranger or metic smite one who is older by twenty
years or more, the same law shall hold about the bystanders
assisting, and he who is found guilty in such a suit, if he be
a stranger and not a sojourner, shall be imprisoned during a
period of two years; and let him who is a metic and disobeys

31

BOOK IX. 451

the laws be imprisoned for three years, unless the court assign
him a longer time of punishment. And let him who was
present in any of these cases and did not assist according to
law be punished, if he be of the highest class, by paying a
fine of a mina; or if he be of the second class, of fifty drachmas ;
or if of the third class, by a fine of thirty drachmas; or if he
be the fourth class, by a fine of twenty drachmas; and the
generals and taxiarchs and phylarchs and hipparchs shall form
the court in such cases.

Laws are partly framed for the sake of good men, in order
to instruct them how they may live on friendly terms with
one another, and partly for the sake of those who refuse to
be instructed, whose spirit cannot be subdued, or softened, or
hindered from plunging into evil. These are the persons who
cause the word to be spoken which I am about to utter; for
them the legislator legislates of necessity, and in the hope that
there may be no need of his laws. He who shall dare to lay
violent hands upon his father or mother, or any still older
relative, having no fear either of the wrath of the Gods above,
or of the punishments that are spoken of in the world below,
but transgresses in contempt of ancient and universal traditions
as though he were too wise to believe in them, requires some
extreme measure of prevention. Now death is not the worst
that can happen to men; far worse are the punishments which
are said to pursue them in the world below. But although they
are most true tales, they work on such souls no prevention ; for
if they had any effect there would be no slayers of mothers,
or impious hands lifted up against parents, and therefore the
punishments of this world which are inflicted during life ought
not in such cases to fall short, if possible, of the terrors of the
world below. Let our enactment then be as follows:—If a
man dare to strike his father or his mother, or their fathers
or mothers, he being at the time of sound mind, then let any
who may be near come to the rescue as has been already said,
and the metic or stranger who comes to the rescue shall be
called to the first place in the games; but if he do not come
he shall suffer the punishment of perpetual exile. He who is
not a metic, if he comes to the rescue shall have praise, and
if he do not come blame. And if a slave come to the rescue

eticme)

452 LAWs.

let him be made free, but if he do not come to the rescue let
him receive 100 strokes of the whip, by order of the wardens
of the agora, if the occurrence take place in the agora, or if in
any place in the city the wardens of the city who are within
reach shall punish him; or if in the country then the chief
officers of the wardens of the country. But if he who is near
at the time be an inhabitant of the land, whether he be a youth,
or man, or woman, let him come to the rescue and call upon the
impious offender by name; and he who does not come to the
rescue shall fall under the curse of Zeus, the God of kindred and
of ancestry, according to law. And if any one is found guilty
of assaulting a parent, let him in the first place be for ever
banished from the city into the country, and let him abstain
from all sacred rites; and if he do not abstain, the wardens of
the country shall punish him with blows, or in any way which
they please, and if he return he shall be put to death. And
if any freeman eat or drink, or have any other sort of intercourse
with him, or only meeting him has voluntarily touched him,
he shall not enter into any temple, nor into the agora, nor into
the city, until he be purified; for he should consider that he has
become a partaker of a fatal crime. And if he disobey the law,
and pollute the city and the temples contrary to law, the
magistrate who sees him and does not indict him, shall have
to answer for an offence of the worst kind.

If a slave strike a freeman, whether a stranger or a citizen, 8§
let any one who is present come to the rescue, or pay the
penalty already mentioned; and let the companions of the
wounded man bind him, and deliver him up to the injured
person, and he receiving him shall put him in chains, and inflict
on him as many stripes as he pleases; but having punished
him he must surrender him to his master according to law,
and: not deprive. him ‘of “his propeity.. Let the law. be: as
follows :—The slave who strikes a freeman, not at the command
of the magistrates, his owner shall receive bound from the man
whom he has stricken, and not release him until the slave has
persuaded the man whom he has stricken that he ought to
be released and live. And let there be the same laws about
women in relation to women, and about men and women in
relation to one another.

iB AOKOL Gay,@

384. AND now having spoken of assaults, let us sum up all acts
of violence under a single law, which shall be as follows :—No
one shall take or carry away any of his neighbour’s goods,
neither shall he use anything which is his neighbour’s without
the consent of the owner; for these are the offences which
are and have been, and will ever be, the source of all the
aforesaid evils. The greatest of them are excesses and
insolences of youth, and are offences against the greatest
when they are done against religion; and especially great
when in violation of public and holy rites, or of those in

385 which tribes and phratries partake; and in the second degree
great when they are committed against private rites and
sepulchres, and in the third degree (not to repeat the acts
formerly mentioned), when insults are offered to parents; the
fourth kind of violence is when any one regardless of the
authority of the rulers, takes or carries away or makes use
of anything which belongs to them, not having their consent ;
and the fifth kind is when the violation of the civil rights of
individual citizens invites retaliation: There should be a
common law embracing all these cases. For we have already
said in general terms what shall be the punishment of sacrilege,
whether fraudulent or violent, and now we have to determine
what is to be the punishment of those who speak or act
insolently toward the Gods. But first we must give them
an admonition which may be in the following terms:—No
one ever intentionally did any unholy act, or uttered any
unlawful word, retaining a belief in the existence of the Gods,
but he must have supposed one of three things,—either that
they did not exist,—which is the first possibility, or secondly,
that, if they did, they took no care of man, or thirdly, that

454 LAWS.

they were easily appeased by sacrifices, or turned from their
course by prayers.

Cle. What shall we say or do to these persons?

Ath. My good friend, let us first hear the jests which I
suspect that they in their superiority will utter against us.

Cle. What jests?

Ath, They will make some irreverent speech of this sort:
O inhabitants of Athens, and Sparta, and Cnosus, they will
reply, in that you speak truly; for some of us deny the very
existence of the Gods, while others, as you say, are of opinion
that they do not care about us; and others that they are turned
from their course by gifts. Now we have a right to claim, as
you yourself allowed, in the matter of the laws, that before you
are hard upon us and threaten us, you should argue with us and
convince us—you should first attempt to teach and persuade us
that there are Gods by reasonable evidences, and also that they
are too good to be unrighteous, or to be propitiated, or turned
from their course by gifts. For when we hear these and the
like things said of them by those who are esteemed to be the
best of poets, and orators, and prophets, and priests, and in-
numerable others, the thoughts of most of us are not set upon
abstaining from unrighteous acts, but upon doing them and
making atonement for them. When lawgivers profess that they
are gentle and not stern, we think that they should first of all
use persuasion to us, and show us the existence of Gods, if not
in a better manner than other men, at any rate in a truer;
and who knows but that we shall hearken to them? If then
our request is a fair one, please to accept our challenge.

Cle. But is there any difficulty in proving the existence of the
Gods?

Ath, How would you prove their existence? 88¢

Cle. How? In the first place, the earth and the sun, and the
stars and the universe, and the fair order of the seasons, and the
division of them into years and months, furnish proofs of their
existence; and also there is the fact that all Hellenes and
barbarians believe in them.

Ath. I am afraid, my sweet friend, though [will not say I
am ashamed, of the contempt with which the profane will be
likely to assail us. For you do not understand the nature of

PI OT XG A55

their complaint, and fancy that their minds rush into impiety
only from a love of sensual pleasure.

Cle. Why, Stranger, what other reason is there?

Ath. One which you who live in another part of the world
would never guess.

Cle. What is it?

Ath, A very grievous sort of ignorance which is imagined to
be the greatest wisdom.

Cle, What do you mean?

Ath, At Athens there are tales preserved in writing which
the virtue of your state, as I am informed, refuses to admit.
They speak of the Gods in prose as well as verse, and the
oldest of them tell of the origin of the heavens and of the
world, and not far from the beginning of their story they
proceed to narrate the birth of the Gods, and how after they
were born they behaved to one another. Whether these stories
have a good or a bad influence, I should not like to be severe
upon them, because they are ancient; but I must say that,
looking at them with reference to the duties of children to their
parents, I cannot praise them, or think that they are useful, or
at all true. Of the words of the ancients I have nothing more
to say; and I should wish to say of them only what is pleasing
to the God. But as to our younger generation and their wisdom,
I cannot let them off when they do mischief. For do but mark
the effect of their words: when you and I argue for the existence
of the Gods, and produce the sun, moon, and stars, claiming for
them a divine being, if we! would listen to the aforesaid
philosophers we should say that they are earth and stones
only, which can have no care at all of human affairs, and that
all religion is a cooking up of words and a make-believe.

Cle. One such teacher, O Stranger, would be bad enough, and
you imply that there are many of them, which is worse.

Ath, Well, then; what shall we say or do?—shall we assume
that some one is accusing us among unholy men, and that they,

387 and not we, are the real defendants in the matter of legislation ;
they will say of us—How dreadful that we should legislate on
the supposition that there are Gods! shall we make a defence?
or shall we leave them and return to our laws, lest the preamble

1 Reading Aéyoper.

456 LAWS.

should become longer than the law? For the discourse will
certainly extend to great length, if we are to treat the impiously
disposed as they desire, partly arguing with them, as they
demand, partly frightening them, or inspiring aversion in them,
and then proceed to the requisite enactments.

Cle. Yes, Stranger; but then how often have we repeated
already that there is no reason why brevity should be preferred

to length; for there is nobody to hurry us, and it would be

paltry and ridiculous to prefer the shorter to the better. It
is a matter of no small consequence, in some way or other to
prove that there are Gods, and that they are good, and regard
justice more than men. The demonstration of this. would be
the best and noblest preamble of all our laws. And therefore,
without impatience, and without hurry, let us unreservedly
consider the whole matter; summoning up all the power of
persuasion which we possess.

Ath, When I see you thus earnest, I feel impelled to offer up
a prayer, and can no longer refrain. Who can be calm when he
is called upon to prove the existence of the Gods? Who can
avoid hating and abhorring the men who are and have been the
cause of this argument; I speak of those who will not believe!
the words which they have heard as babes and sucklings from
their mothers and nurses, repeated by them both in jest and
earnest, like charms, who have also heard and seen their parents
offering up sacrifices and prayers—-sights and sounds delightful
to children—sacrificing, I say, in the most earnest manner on
behalf of them and of themselves, and with eager interest
talking to the Gods, and beseeching them, as though they were
firmly convinced of their existence; who likewise see and hear
the genuflexions and prostrations which are made by Hellenes
and barbarians to the rising and setting sun and moon, in all the
various turns of good and evil fortune, not as if they thought
that there were no Gods, but as if there could be no doubt of
their existence, and no suspicion of their non-existence ; when
men, knowing all these things, despise them on no real grounds,
as would be admitted by all who have any particle of intelli-

’ The text in this sentence is corrupt; we may read Aeyouevous, or suppose

the genitive in construction with dxovovres suggested by the sound of the
preceding genitive.

888

BOOK X. 457

gence, and when they force us to say what we are now saying,
how can any one in gentle terms remonstrate with the like of
them, when he has to begin by proving to them the very ex-
istence of the Gods? Yet the attempt must be made; for it
would be unseemly that one-half of mankind should go mad
in their lust of pleasure, and the other half in righteous in-
dignation at them. Our address to these lost and perverted
natures should not be spoken in passion; let us suppose our-
selves to select some one of them, and gently reason with him,
smothering our anger:—-O my son, we say to him, you are
young, and the advance of time will make you reverse many of
the opinions which you now hold. Wait, therefore, until the
time comes, and do not attempt to judge of high matters at
present ; and that is the highest of which you think nothing—
to know the Gods rightly and to live accordingly. And in the
first place let me indicate to you one point which is of great im-
portance, and of the truth of which I am quite certain :—You
and your friends are not the first who have held this opinion
about the Gods. There have always been persons more or less
numerous who have had the same disorder. I have known
many of them, and can tell you, that no one who had taken up
in youth this opinion, that the Gods do not exist, ever continued
in the same until he was old; the two other notions certainly do
continue in some cases, but not in many; the notion, I mean,
that the Gods exist, but take no heed of human things, and also
the notion that they do take heed of them, but are easily
propitiated with sacrifices and prayers. What may be the true
doctrine, if you are patient, and take my advice, you will here-
after discover, by the help of the legislator and of others. In the
meantime take heed lest you offend about the Gods. For the
duty of the legislator is and always will be to teach you the
truth of these matters.

Cle. Your address, Stranger, thus far, is excellent.

Ath. Most true, Megillus and Cleinias, but I am afraid that we
have unconsciously lighted on a strange doctrine.

Cle. What doctrine do you mean?

Ath. The wisest of all doctrines, in the opinion of many.

Cle. I wish that you would speak plainer.

Ath. The doctrine that all things which are or have been or

458 LALA.

will be, exist, some by nature, some by art, and some by
chance.

Cle. Is not that true?

Ath, Well, philosophers are probably right; at any rate we
may as well follow in their track, and examine what is the 88
meaning of them and their disciples.

Cle. By all means.

Ath. They say that the greatest and fairest things are done
by nature and chance, and the lesser by art, which receives from
nature all the greater and primeval creations, and fashions them
in detail ; and these lesser works are generally termed artificial.

Cle. What do you and they mean?

Ath. You will understand their meaning better if I take the
elements as an example; they mean to say that fire and water,
and earth and air, all exist by nature and chance, and not by
art, and that as to the bodies which come next in order,—earth,
and sun, and moon, and stars,—they are created by the help of
these absolutely inanimate existences, and that they are severally
moved by chance and some inherent influence according to
certain affinities of hot with cold, or of dry with moist, or of
soft with hard, and other chance admixtures of opposites which
have united of necessity, and that on this manner the whole
heaven has been created, and all that is in the heaven, in-
cluding animals and all plants, and that all the seasons come
from these elements, not by the action of mind, as they say,
or of any God, or from art, but as I was saying, by nature
and chance only; and that art sprang up after these and out
of them, mortal and of mortal birth, and produced in play
certain images and very partial imitations of the truth, having
an affinity to one another, such as music and painting create
and their companion arts, And there are other arts which have
a serious purpose, and these co-operate with nature, such, for
example, as medicine, and husbandry, and gymnastic. And they
say that politics co-operate with nature, but in a less degree,
and have more of art; also that legislation is entirely a work
of art, and is based on assumptions which are not true.

Cle. How do you mean?

Ath, In the first place, my dear friend, they would say that
the Gods exist neither by nature nor by art, but only by the

390

BOOK X. 459

laws of states, which are different in different places, according
to the agreement of those who make them; and that the
honourable is one thing by nature and another thing by law, and
that the principles of justice have no existence at all in nature,
but that mankind are always disputing about them and altering
them ; and that the alterations which are made by art and by
law have no basis in nature, but are of authority for the moment
and at the time at which they are made: these, my friends, are
the sayings of wise men, poets and prose writers, which find a
way into the minds of youth. They are told by them that the
highest right is might, and in this way the young fall into
impieties, under the idea that the Gods are not such as the law
bids them imagine them ; and hence arise contentions—the philo-
sophers inviting them to lead a true life according to nature, that
is, to live in real dominion over others, and not in legal sub-
jection to them.

Cle. What a dreadful picture, Stranger, have you given of
young men, and how great is the injury which they inflict on
states and families ! |

Ath, True, Cleinias; but then what should the lawgiver do
when this evil is of long standing ? should he only rise up in the
state and threaten all mankind, declaring that if they will not
say and think that the Gods are such as the law ordains (and
this may be extended generally to the honourable, the just, and
all other important principles which have to do with virtue and
vice), he will insist on their actions conforming to the copy
which the law gives them; and that he who will not submit to
the established religion shall die, or suffer stripes and bonds, or
privation of citizenship, or in some cases be punished by loss of
property and exile? Should he not rather, when he is making
laws for men, at the same time infuse the spirit of persuasion
into his words, and mitigate the severity of them as far as
he can?

Cle. Why, Stranger, if such persuasion be at all possible,
then a legislator who has anything in him ought never to weary
of persuading men; he ought to leave nothing unsaid in support
of the ancient opinion that there are Gods, and of all those
other truths which you were just now mentioning ; he ought to
support the law and also art, and acknowledge that both alike

450 LAWS.

exist by nature, or by that which is not inferior to nature, if
they are the creations of mind in accordance with right reason,
as you appear to me to maintain, and I am disposed to agree
with you in thinking.

Ath, Yes, my enthusiastic Cleinias ; but are not these things
when spoken to a multitude hard to be understood, not to men-
tion that they take up a dismal length of time?

Cle. Why, Stranger, shall we, whose patience failed not when
drinking or music were the themes of discourse, weary now of
discoursing about the Gods, and about divine things? And the
ereatest help to rational legislation is that the laws when once
written down are always at rest; they can be put to the test 89)
at any future time, and therefore, if on first hearing they seem
difficult, there is no reason for apprehension about them, because
any man however dull can understand them, if he go over them
often; nor if they are tedious but useful, is there any reason
or religion in any man refusing to maintain the principles of
them to the utmost of his power.

Meg. Stranger, I like what Cleinias is saying.

Ath. Yes, Megillus, and we should do as he proposes ; for if
impious discourses were not scattered, as I may say, throughout
the world, there would have been no need of the argument in
support of the existence of the Gods—but seeing that they are
spread far and wide, such arguments are needed; and who
should come to the rescue of the greatest laws, when they are
being undermined by bad.men, but the legislator himself?

Meg. There is no more proper champion of them.

Ath, Well, then, tell me, Cleinias, for I must ask you to be my
partner,—does not he who talks in this way conceive fire and
water and earth and air to be the first elements of all things?
these he calls nature, and out of these he supposes the soul
to be formed afterwards; and this is not a vague suspicion
of his, but he really means and confidently asserts such to
Devthe Gace au

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Then, by Heaven, we have discovered the source of
this vain opinion of all those physical investigators; and I
would have you examine them with the utmost care, for
their impiety is a very serious matter; they not only make a bad

392

BOOK 461

and mistaken use of dialectic, but they lead away the minds of
others: that is my opinion of them.

Cle. Very true ; but I should like to know how this happens.

Ath. | am afraid that the argument might seem singular.

Cle. Do not hesitate, Stranger; I see that you are afraid of
such a discussion carrying you beyond the limits of legislation.
But if there be no other way of showing our agreement in the
belief of the Gods whom the law is now said to approve, let us
take this way, my good sir.

Ath, Then I suppose that I must repeat the singular argu-
ment of those who manufacture the soul according to their own
impious notions; they affirm that which is the first cause of the
generation and destruction of all things, to be not first but last,
and that which was last to be first, and hence they have fallen
into error about the true nature of the Gods.

Cle, Still I do not understand you.

Ath, Nearly all of them, my friends, seem to be ignorant
of the nature and power of the soul, especially in what relates
to her origin: they do not know that she is among the first of
bodies, and before them all, and is the chief author of their
changes and transpositions. And if this is true, and if the soul
is older than the body, must not the things which are of the
soul’s kindred be of necessity before those which appertain to
the body?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Then thought and attention and mind and art and law
will be prior to that which is hard and soft and heavy and light ;
and the great and primitive works and actions will be works of
art ; they will be the first, and after them will come nature and
works of nature, which however is a wrong term to apply to
them ; these will follow, and will be under the government of
art and mind.

Cle. But why is the word ‘nature’ wrong?

Ath. Because those who use the term mean to say that nature
is the first creative power; but if the soul turn out to be the
primeval element and not fire or air, then in the truest sense and
beyond other things the soul may be said to have a natural or
creative power: and this would be true if you proved that the
soul is older than the body, but not otherwise.

462 LAWS.

‘Cle, You are quite right.

Ath. Shall we, then, take this as the next point to which
our attention should be directed ?

Cle, By all means.

Ath, I fear that we may be quite deceived, and that the
greenness with which we let the argument escape us, may
ludicrously contrast with the ripeness of our ages. Who knows
but we may be aiming at the greater, and fail of attaining the
lesser? Suppose that we three have to pass a rapid river, and I,
being the youngest of the three and experienced in rivers, have
the duty thrown upon me of making the attempt first by myself ;
leaving you in safety on the bank, I am to examine whether
the river is passable by older men like yourselves, and if such
appears to be the case then I will invite you to follow, and help
you across by my knowledge; but if the river is impassable by
you, then I shall have had all the danger myself,—does not that
seem to be a very fair proposal? I mean to say that the argu-
ment in prospect is likely to be too much for you, and out
of your depth, and I should be afraid that the stream of my 89;
questions might create in you who are unaccustomed to dia-
lectics, giddiness and confusion of mind, and hence a feeling of
unpleasantness and unsuitableness might arise. I think there-
fore that I had better first ask and answer the questions myself
while you listen in safety ; in that way I can carry on the argu-
ment until I have completed the proof that the soul is prior
to the body.

Cle. Excellent, Stranger, and I hope that you will do as you
propose. |

Ath, Come, then, and if ever we are to call upon the Gods,
let us call upon them now in all seriousness to come to the
demonstration of their own existence. And so holding fast to
the rope we will venture upon the depths of the argument.
When questions of this sort are asked of me, my safest answer
would appear to be as follows: Some one says to me, ‘O
Stranger, are all things in rest and nothing in motion, or is
the exact opposite of this true, or are some things in motion
and others at rest?’—To this I shall reply that some are in
motion and others at rest. ‘And do not things which move move
in a place, and are not the things which are at rest at rest in

BOOK X. 463

J

a place?’ Certainly. ‘And some move or rest in one place
and some in more places than one?’ You mean to say, we
shall rejoin, that those things which rest at the centre move in
the same place as when the circumference goes round and the
circle is said to be at rest? ‘Yes.’ -And we observe that, in
the revolution, the motion which carries round the larger and
the lesser circle at the same time is proportionally distributed
to greater and smaller, and is greater and smaller in a certain
proportion. Here is a wonder which might be thought an
impossibility, that the same motion should impart swiftness
and slowness in due proportion to larger and lesser circles.
Very true. ‘And when you speak of bodies moving in many
places, you seem to me to mean those which move from one
place to another, and sometimes have one centre of motion
and sometimes several in the course of their revolutions; and
sometimes impinging upon each other they come against bodies
which are at rest, and are divided by them, or meeting other
bodies which are coming violently from an opposite direction
unite with them and interpenetrate them:’ I admit the truth
of this. Also when they unite they grow, and when they are
divided they waste away,—that is, supposing the constitution
of each to remain, or if that fails, then there is a second reason
of their dissolution. ‘And when are all things created and
394 how?’ Clearly, they are created when the principle of motion

receives increase and attains the second dimension, and from
this arrives at the one which is neighbour to this, and after
reaching the third becomes perceptible to sense. Everything
which is thus changing and moving is in process of generation,
and has real existence only when at rest, but when passing into
another state is destroyed utterly. Have we not mentioned all
the kinds of motion, and by the help of number comprehended
them under their kinds with the exception, my friends, of two?

Cle. Which are they?

Ath. Just the two, with which our present enquiry is con-
cerned.

Cle. Speak plainer.

Ath. 1 suppose that our enquiry has reference to the soul?

Cle, Very true.

Ath, Let us assume that there is a motion able to move other

464 LAWS.

things, but not to move itself;—that is one kind; and there is
another kind which can move itself as well as other things,
working in composition and decomposition, by increase and
diminution, and generation and destruction,—that is also one
of the many kinds of motion?

Cle. Granted.

Ath. And we will assume that which moves other, and is |
changed by other, to be the ninth, and that which changes
itself and others, and has a place in every action and in every
passion, and is the true principle of change in all that truly is,—
that we shall be inclined to call the tenth.

Cle. Certainly,

Ath. And which of these ten motions ought we to prefer as
being the mightiest and most efficient ?

Cle. I must say that the motion which is able to move itself
is ten thousand times superior to all the others.

Ath, Very good; but may I make one or two corrections in
what I have been saying ?

Cle. What are they?

Ath, When I spoke of the tenth sort of motion, that was not
quite correct.

Cle. What was the error? |

Ath, According to the true order, the tenth was really the
first in generation and power; then follows the second, which
was improperly termed the ninth by us.

Cle, What do you mean?

Ath. I mean this: when one thing moves another, and that
another, will there be any primary changing element? Can
there be, considering that what changes first will always have
been changed by another? There cannot. And when the
self-moved changes other, and that again other, and thus,
thousands upon tens of thousands of bodies are set in motion,
must not the beginning of all this motion be the change of the 895
self-moving principle?

Cle. Very true, and I quite agree.

Ath, Or, to put the question in another way: If, as most
of these philosophers have the audacity to affirm, all things were
at rest in one mass, which of the above-mentioned principles of
motion would first spring up among them?

BOOK X. 465

Cle. Clearly the self-moving ; for there could be no change in
them arising out of any external cause, if there had been no
previous change in themselves.

Ath, Then we must say that self-motion being the origin and
beginning of motion, as well among things at rest as among
things in motion, is the eldest and mightiest principle of change,
and that which is changed by another and yet moves other is
second.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath. At this stage of the argument let us put a question.

Cle. What question?

Ath. If I were to see this power existing in any earthy,
watery, or fiery substance, ma or compound—how should
we describe it?

Cle. You mean to ask whether we should call the self-moving
power life?

Ath, I do.

Cle. Certainly we should.

Ath, And when we see soul in anything, must we not do the
same—must we not admit that this is life?

Cle. We must.

Ath. And now, I beseech you, reflect;—you would admit
that we have a threefold knowledge of things?

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. I mean that we know the essence, and that we know
the definition of the essence, and the name,—these are the
three; and there are two more questions which may be raised
about anything.

Cle. How two?

Ath. Sometimes a person may give the name and ask the
definition; or he may give the definition and ask the name. I
may illustrate what I mean in this way

Cle. Howe?

Ath, Number like other things is capable of being divided
into equal parts; when thus divided, number is termed ‘even,’
and the definition of the term ‘even’ is ‘number divisible into
two equal parts’?

Cie” True,

Ath. I mean to say, that when we are asked about the

VOL.V: 13g

466 LAWS:

definition and give the name, or when we are asked about the
name and give the definition—in either case we are dividing
number into two equal parts, and the name and definition of
‘even’ have the same import.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, And what is the definition of that which is named
‘soul’? Can we conceive of any other than that which has 891
been already given—the motion which is self-moved?

Cle. You mean to say that the essence which is defined as
the self-moved is identical with that which we call soul?

Ath. Yes; and if this is true, do we still maintain that there
is anything wanting in the proof that the soul is the first origin
and moving power of all that is, or has been, or will be, and
their contraries, when she has been clearly shown to be the
source of change and motion in all things?

Cle. Certainly not; the soul as being the source of motion,
has been most satisfactorily shown to be the oldest of all
things.

Ath. And is not that motion which takes place in another,
or by reason of another, but never has any self-moving power
at all, being in truth the change of an inanimate body, to be
reckoned in the second degree, or in any lower degree which
you may prefer?

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Then we are right, and speak the most perfect and
absolute truth, when we say that the soul is prior to the body,
and that the body is second and comes afterwards, and is born
to obey the soul, which is the ruler?

Cle. Nothing can be more true.

Ath. Do you remember our old admission, that if the soul
was prior to the body the things of the soul were also prior to
those of the body?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, Then characters and manners, and wishes and reason-
ings, and true opinions, and reflections, and recollections are
prior to length and breadth and depth and strength of bodies,
if the soul is prior to the body.

Cie. OF course,

Ath, In the next place, must we not of necessity admit that

DOO RN: 467
the soul is the cause of good and evil, base and honourable, just
and unjust, and of all other opposites, if we suppose her to be
the cause of all things?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And as the soul orders and inhabits all things moving
every way, must we not say that she orders also the heavens?

Cle. Of course.

Ath, One soul or more? More than one—I will answer for
you; at any rate, we must not suppose that there are less
than two—one the author of good, and the other of evil.

Cle. Very true.

Aik, «Ves, Very: true; the souly then directs allthines in
heaven, and earth, and sea by her movements, and these are

897 described by the terms—will, consideration, attention, de-
liberation, opinion true and false, joy and sorrow, confidence,
fear, hatred, contentment, and other primary motions akin to
these; which again receive the secondary motions of corporate
substances, and guide all things to growth and decay, to
composition and decomposition, and to the qualities which ac-
company them, such as heat and cold, heaviness and lightness,
hardness and softness, blackness and whiteness, bitterness and
sweetness, and all those other qualities which the soul uses,
herself a goddess, when truly receiving the divine mind and
disciplining all things rightly to their happiness; but when the
companion of folly, doing the very contrary of all this. Shall
we assume so much, or do we still entertain doubts?

Cle. There is no room at all for doubt.

Ath, Shall we say then that soul is the nature which controls
heaven and earth, and the whole world? Is it the principle of
wisdom and virtue, or a principle which has neither wisdom nor
virtue? Suppose that we make answer as follows :—

Cle. How would you answer?

Ath. If, my friend, we say that the whole path of heaven,
and the movement of all that is therein, is by nature akin to
the movement and revolution and calculation of mind, and
proceeds by kindred laws, then, as is plain, we must say that
the best soul takes care of the world and guides it along the
good path.

Cle, True:

HH Oi2

468 LAWS.

Ath. But when the world moves wildly and irregularly, then
the evil soul guides it?

Cle. True again. .

Ath. Of what nature is the movement of mind?—Here we
are met by a difficulty, and therefore I ought to assist you in
framing the answer.

Cle. Very good.

- Ath. Then let us not answer as if we would look right at the
sun, making ourselves darkness from excess of light,—I mean
as if we were under the impression that we could see with
mortal eyes, or know adequately the nature of mind ;—it will
be safer to look at the image only.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath, Let us select of the ten motions the one which mind
chiefly resembles; this I will bring to your recollection, and
will then request you to assist me in giving the answer.

Cle. That will be excellent.

Ath, You will surely remember our saying that all things
were either at rest or in motion?

Cig Ves.
Ath, And that of things in motion some were moving in one
place, and others in more than one? 89!

Ceo hats tie.

Ath. Of these two kinds of motion, that which moves in
one place must move about a centre after the manner of a top,
and is most entirely akin and similar to the circular movement
Of Mind.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. In saying that both mind and the motion which is in
one place move in the same and like manner, in and about the
same, and in relation to the same, and according to one law and
order, and are like the motion of a top, we invented a fair image,
which did no discredit to our ingenuity.

Cle. It did us credit.

Ath, And the motion of the other sort which is not after the
same manner, nor in the same, nor about the same, nor in
relation to the same, nor in one place, nor in order, nor
according to any rule or proportion, may be said to be akin
to senselessness and folly.

BOOK: X 469

Cle. That is most true.

- Ath. Then, after what has been said, there is no difficulty in
distinctly stating, that since soul carries all things round, either
the best soul or the contrary must of necessity carry round and
order and arrange the revolution of the heaven.

Cle. And judging from what has been said, Stranger, there
would be impiety in asserting that any but the most perfect soul
or souls carries round the heavens.

Ath. You have understood my meaning right well, Cleinias,
and now let me ask you another question.

Cle. What are you going to ask?

Ath, If the soul carries round the sun and moon, and the
other stars, does she not carry round each individual of them?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath: Then of one of them (let us speak, and. the same
argument will apply to all.

Cle. Which will you take ?

Ath. Every one sees the body of the sun, but no one sees
his soul, nor the soul of any other body living or dead; and
yet there is great reason to believe that this nature, unperceived
by any of our senses, is circumfused around them all, but is
apprehended by mind only; and only by reflection do we
ascertain what I am about to mention.

Cle. What 1s: that?

Ath. Tf the soul carries round the sun, we shall not be far
wrong in supposing one of three alternatives.

Cle. What are they?

Ath, Either the soul which moves the sun this way and that,
resides within the circular and visible body, just as the soul in
us carries us about every way; or the soul provides herself with

899 an external body of fire or air, as some affirm, and violently
propels body by body; or thirdly, she is without a body, but
has some extraordinary and wonderful guiding power.

Cle. Yes, certainly ; the soul can only order all things in one
of these three ways.

Ath. And this soul of the sun, which is therefore better than
the sun, whether taking the sun about in a chariot to give light
to men, or acting from without, or in whatever way, ought by
every man to be deemed a God.

470 LAWS.

Cle. Yes, by every man who has the least particle of sense.

Ath, And of the stars too, and of the moon, and the years,
and months, and seasons, must we not say in like manner, that
since a soul or souls having every sort of excellence are the causes
of all of them, those souls are divine, whether they are living
beings and reside in bodies, and in this way order the whole
heaven, or whatever be the place and mode of their existence ;—
and will any one who admits all this venture to deny that all
things are full of Gods?

Cle. No one, Stranger, would be such a madman.

Ath. And now, Megillus and Cleinias, let us offer an alter-
native to him who has hitherto denied the existence of the Gods,
and leave him.

Cle. What alternative ?

Ath, Either he shall teach us that we were wrong in saying
that the soul is the original of all things, and arguing ac-
cordingly; or, if he be not able to say anything better, then
he must yield to us and live for the remainder of his life in
the belief that there are Gods: Let us see, then, whether we
have said enough or not enough to those who deny that there
are Gods.

Cle. Certainly quite enough, Stranger.

Ath. Then to them we will say no more. And now we are
to address him who, believing that there are Gods, believes also
that they take no heed of human affairs: To him we say, O
thou best of men, in believing that there are Gods you are
led by some affinity to them, which attracts you towards your
kindred and makes you honour and believe in them. But the
fortunes of evil and unrighteous men in private as well as public
life, which, though not really happy, are wrongly counted happy
in the judgment of men, and are sung or spoken of by poets and
prose writers, draw you aside from your natural piety. Perhaps
you have seen impious men growing old and leaving their 900
children’s children in high offices, and their prosperity shakes
your faith; you have known or heard or been yourself an
eyewitness of many monstrous impieties, and have beheld men
by these criminal means from small beginnings reaching the
pinnacle of greatness, and considering all these things you do
not like to accuse the Gods of them, because they are your

BOOK X. AS

relatives ; and so from some want of reasoning power, and also
from an unwillingness to find fault with them, you are led to
believe that they exist indeed, but have no thought or care
of human things. Now, that your present evil opinion may
not grow to still greater impiety, and that we may if possible
use arguments which may drive away the pollution of error,
we will add another argument to that which we addressed to
him who utterly denied the existence of the Gods. And do
you, Megillus and Cleinias, answer for the young man as you
did before; and if there is any difficulty or impediment in the
way, I will take the word out of your mouths, and carry you
over the river as I did before.

Cle. Very good; do as you say, and we will help you as well
as we can.

Ath. There will surely be no difficulty in proving to him
that the Gods care about the small as well as about the great.
For he was present and heard what was said, that they are
perfectly good, and that the care of all things is most entirely
natural to them.

Cle. He certainly heard that.

Ath, Let us consider together in the next place what we
mean by this virtue which we ascribe to them. Surely we
should say that to possess mind belongs to virtue, and the
contrary to vice?

Cle. Certainly. :

Ath. Yes; and courage is a part of virtue, and cowardice of
vice?

Cle. True.
Ath. And the one is dishonourable, and the other honour-
able?

Cle. To be sure.

Ath. And the one, like other meaner things, is a human
quality, but the Gods have no part in anything of the sort?

Cle. No one will deny that.

Ath. But do we imagine carelessness and idleness and luxury
to be virtues? What do you think?

Cle. Certainly not.

Ath. They rank under the opposite class?

Cle Nes:

472 LAWS.

Ath, And their opposites would fall under the opposite class? 90:

Cle. Yes.

Ath, But can we suppose that one who takes care of great
and small will be luxurious and heedless and idle, like those
whom the poet compares to stingless drones! ?

Cle. And the comparison is a most just one.

Ath. Surely God must not be supposed to have a nature
which he himself hates?—and if any one dares to say anything
of that sort, he must not be allowed for a moment.

Cle. He must not—of course not.

Ath. Should we not on any principle be entirely mistaken
in praising any one who has some special business entrusted
to him, if he have a mind which takes care of great matters
and no care of small ones? Reflect; he who acts in this way,
whether he be God or man, must act from one of two principles.

Cle. What are they?

Ath. Either he must think that the neglect of the small
matters is of no consequence to the whole, or if they are of
consequence, and he neglects them, his conduct must be
attributed to carelessness and indolence. Is there any other
way in which his neglect can be explained? For, surely, he
will not neglect anything, whether small or great, from any
impossibility of taking care of all—or be careless about those
things of which an inferior being, who has not the power,
whether God or man, might be unable to take care?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath. Now, then, let us examine the offenders, who both alike
confess that there are Gods, but with a difference,—the one say-
ing that they may be appeased, and the other that they have no
care of small matters: there are three of us and two of them,
and we will say to them, In the first place, you both acknow-
ledge that the Gods hear and see and know all things, and that
nothing can escape them which is matter of sense and know-
ledge :—do you admit this ?

Clas ES:

Ath. And do you admit also that they have all power which
mortals and immortals can have?

Cle. They will, of course, admit this also.

1 Hesiod, Works and Days, v. 307.

)02

BOOK X. 473

Ath, And surely we three and they two—five in all—have
acknowledged that they are good and perfect.

Cle. Assuredly.

Ath, But, if they are such as we conceive them to be, can
we possibly suppose that they ever act in the spirit of careless-
ness and indolence? For in us inactivity is the child of
cowardice, and carelessness of inactivity and indolence.

Cle. Most true.

Ath. Then not from inactivity and carelessness is any God
ever negligent ; for he has no cowardice in him,

Cle. That is very true.

Ath. Then the alternative which remains is, that if the Gods
neglect the lighter and lesser concerns of the universe, they
neglect them because they know that they ought not to care
about such matters—what other alternative is there but their
ignorance?

Cle. There is none.

Ath, And, O most excellent and best of men, do I understand
you to mean that they are ignorant, and do not know that they
ought to take care, or that they know and yet like the meanest
sort of men, knowing the better, choose the worse because they
are overcome by pleasures and pains?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, Do not all human things partake of the nature of soul ?
And is not man the most religious of all animals?

_ Cle, That is certainly true.

Ath. And we acknowledge that all mortal creatures are the
property of the Gods, to whom also the whole of heaven
belongs ?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath, And, therefore, whether a person says that these things
are to the Gods great or small—in either case the Gods who
own us and who are the most careful and the best of owners,
are not likely to neglect us. There is also a further con-
sideration.

Cle. What is that ?

Ath. Sensation and power are in an inverse ratio to each other
in respect to their ease and difficulty.

Cle. What do you mean?

474 LAWS.

Ath, I mean that there is greater difficulty in seeing and hear-
ing the small than the great, but more facility in moving them
and controlling them and taking care of them than of their
opposites.

Cle. Far more.

Ath. Suppose the case of a physician who is willing and able
to cure some living thing as a whole,—how will the whole fare at
his hands if he takes care only of the greater and neglects the
lesser ?

Cle. Certainly not well.

Ath, No better would be the result with pilots or generals, or
householders or statesmen, or any other class, if they neglected
the small and regarded only the great ;—as the builders say, the
larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.

Cle, Of course not.

Ath, Let us not, then, deem God inferior to human workmen,
who, in .proportion to their skill, finish and perfect their works,
small as well as great, by one and the same art; or that God,
the wisest of beings, who is willing and able to extend His
care to all things, like a lazy good-for-nothing, wants a holiday,
and takes no thought of smaller and easier matters, but of the
greater only.

Cle. Never, Stranger, let us admit a supposition about the
Gods which is both impious and false.

Ath. I think that we have now said enough to him who
charges the Gods with neglect.

Cle... Nes:

Ath. He has been forced to acknowledge that he is in error,
but he still seems to me to need some words of consolation.

Cle. What consolation will you offer him ?

Ath, Let us say to the youth: ‘The ruler of the universe has
ordered all things with a view to the preservation and perfection
of the whole, and each part has an appointed state of action
and passion ; and the smallest action or passion of any part
affecting the minutest fraction has a presiding minister. And
one of these portions of the universe is thine own, stubborn man,
which; however little, has the whole in view; and you do not
seem to be aware that this and every other creation is for the
sake of the whole, and in order that the life of the whole may

BOOK X. 475

be blessed ; and that you are created for the sake of the whole,
and not the whole for the sake of you. For every physician and
every skilled artist does all things for the sake of the whole,
directing his effort towards the common good, executing the
part for the sake of the whole, and not the whole for the sake of
the part. And you are annoyed because you do not see how
that which is best for you is, as far as the laws of the creation
admit, best also for the universe.’ Now, as the soul combining
first with one body and then with another undergoes all sorts of
changes, either of herself, or through the influence of another
soul, all that remains to the player of the game is that he should
shift the pieces; sending the better nature to the better place,
and the worse to the worse, and so assigning to them their
proper portion.

Cle. In what way?

Ath, In a way which may be supposed to make the care of
all things easy to the Gods. For if any one were to form or
fashion! all things without any regard to the whole,—if, for
example, he formed a living element of water out of fire, instead
of forming many things. out of one or one out of many in

04 regular order attaining to a first or second or third birth (cp.
Tim. 42 B. C.), the transmutation would have been infinite ; but
now the ruler of the world has a wonderfully easy task.

Cle. How so?

Ath. I will explain :—When the king saw that our actions had
life, and that there was much virtue in them and much vice, and
that the soul and body, although not eternal, were, like the Gods
of popular opinion, indestructible (for if either of them had been
destroyed, there would have been no generation of living beings) ;
and when he observed that the good of the soul was by nature
designed to profit men, and the evil to harm them—he, secing
all this, contrived so to place them in each of the parts that
their position might in the easiest and best manner procure the
victory of good and the defeat of evil in the whole. And
he contrived a general plan by which a thing of a certain
nature found a certain seat and room. But the formation? of
qualities he left to the wills of individuals. For every one of us

> ‘ Se = A ,
? Reading uy mpos ro odov. 2 Reading rov zrotov.

476 LAWS

is made pretty much what he is by the bent of his desires and
the nature of his soul.

Cle. Yes, that is probably true.

Ath, Then all things which have a soul change, and possess in
themselves a principle of change, and in changing move accord-
ing to law and the order of destiny: lesser changes of nature
move on level ground, but greater crimes sink into the abyss,
that is to say, into Hades and other places in the world below,
of which the very names terrify men, and about which they
dream that they live in them absent from the body. And
whenever the soul receives more of good and evil from her
own energy and the strong influence of others—when she has
communion with divine virtue and becomes divine, she is
carried into another and better place, which is also divine and
perfect in holiness ; and when she has communion with evil,
then she also changes the place of her life.

‘For that is the justice of the Gods who inhabit heaven ".’

O youth or young man, who fancy that you are neglected by the
Gods, know that if you become worse you shall go to the worse
souls, or if better to the better, and in every succession of life
and death you will do and suffer what like may fitly suffer at
the hands of like. This is a divine justice, which neither you
nor any other unfortunate will ever glory in escaping, and which
the ordaining powers have specially ordained ; take good heed 9
of them, for a day will come when they will take heed of you.
If you say :—I am small and will creep into the depths of the
earth, or I am high and will fly up to heaven, you are not so small
or so high but that you shall pay the fitting penalty, either in
the world below or in some yet more savage place still whither
you shall be conveyed. This is also the explanation of the fate
of those whom you saw, who had done unholy and evil deeds,
and from small beginnings had become great, and you fancied
that from being miserable they had become happy; and in their
actions, as in a mirror, you seemed to see the universal neglect
of the Gods, not knowing how they make all things work
together and contribute to the great whole. And _ thinkest
thou, bold man, that thou needest not to know this ?—which he

1 Hom. Odyss. xix. 43.

06

BOOK 477

who knows not can never have any true idea of happiness or
unhappiness, or say any true word respecting them. If Clei-
nias and this our reverend company succeed in proving to you
that you know not what you say of the Gods, then will God
help you; but should you desire to hear more, listen to what
we say to the third opponent, if you have any understanding
left in you. Tor I think that we have sufficiently proved the
existence of the Gods, and that they have the care of man,—
that they are appeased by wicked men, and take gifts is what
I will not allow, and what cvcry man should disprove to the
utmost of his power.

Cle. Very good ; let us do as you say.

Ath. Well, then, by the Gods themselves I conjure you to tell
me more about them,—if they are to be propitiated, how are
they to be propitiated? Who are they, and what is their
nature? Must not the eternal administrators of heaven be at
least rulers ?

Cle, True.

Ath, And to what earthly rulers can they be compared, or
who to them? How in the less can we find an image of the
greater? Are they charioteers of contending pairs of steeds, or
pilots of vessels? Perhaps they might be compared to the
generals of armies, or they might be likened to physicians pro-
viding against the strife of bodily disease, or to husbandmen
observing anxiously the effects of the seasons or the growth of
plants ; or perhaps to shepherds of flocks. For as we acknow-
ledge the heaven to be full of many goods and also of evils,
and of more evils than goods, there is, as we affirm, an immortal
conflict going on among us, which requires marvellous watch-
fulness; and in that conflict the Gods and demigods are our
allies, and we are their property. Injustice and insolence and
folly are the destruction of us, and justice and temperance and
wisdom are the salvation of us; and the place of these latter is
in the life of the Gods, and of their virtues some vestige may
occasionally be discerned among mankind. But upon this
earth there dwell souls who have an unjust spirit’, and they,
like brute animals, fawn upon thcir keepers, who may be dogs

1 Reading Anjpa.

478 LAWS.

or shepherds, or may be the best and most perfect masters ;
and upon these, as the wicked declare, they prevail by flattery
and prayers and incantations, and are allowed to make their
gains with impunity. And this sin, which is termed dishonesty,
is an evil of the same kind as what is termed disease in living
bodies or blight in the seasons, and in cities and governments
has another name, which is injustice.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath, What else can he say who declares that the Gods are
always lenient to the doers of unjust acts, if they divide the
spoil with them? As if wolves were to toss a portion of their
prey to the dogs, and they, mollified by the gift, suffered them
to tear the flocks. Must not he who maintains that the Gods
are to be propitiated argue thus?

Cle. Precisely so.

Ath. And to which of the above-mentioned classes of guard-
ians would any man compare the Gods without absurdity ?
Will he say that they are like pilots, who are themselves
turned away from their duty by draughts of wine and
the savour of fat, and at last overturn both ship and
sailors ?

Cle. Certainly not.

Ath, And surely they are not like charioteers who are bribed
to give up the victory to other chariots ?

Cle. That would be a fearful image of the Gods.

Ath. Nor are they like generals, or physicians, or husband-
men, or shepherds; and no one would compare them to dogs
who have been silenced by wolves.

Cle. A thing not to be spoken of.

Ath, And are not all the Gods the chiefest of all guardians, 9¢
and do they not guard our highest interests ?

Cle. Yes; the chiefest.

Ath, And shall we say that those who guard our noblest
interests, and are the best of guardians, are inferior in virtue to
dogs, and to men even of moderate excellence, who would
never betray justice, for the sake of gifts which unjust men
impiously offer them ?

Cle. Certainly not; nor is such a notion to be endured, and
he who holds this opinion may be fairly singled out and

908

BOOK X. 479

characterized as of all impious men the wickedest and most
impious,

Ath, Then are the three assertions—that the Gods exist, and
that they take care of men, and that they will not be entreated
to injustice, now sufficiently demonstrated? May we say that
they are?

Cle. You have our entire assent to your words,

Ath, | have spoken with vehemence because I was jealous of
evil men; and I will tell you, dear Cleinias, why I ami so.
I would not have the wicked suppose that they, having the
superiority in argument, may do as they like in accordance
with their various imaginations about the Gods; and this zeal
has led me to speak more vehemently ; but if we have at all
succeeded in persuading the men to hate themselves and love
their opposites, the preamble of our laws about impiety will not
have been spoken in vain,

Cle. So let us hope ; and even if we have failed, the style of
our argument will not discredit the lawgiver,

Ath, After the preamble shall follow a discourse, which will
be the interpreter of the law; this shall proclaim to all impious
persons that they must depart from their ways and go over
to the pious. And to those who disobey, let the law about
impiety be as follows :—If a man is guilty of any impiety in
word or deed, any one who happens to be present shall give
information to the rulers, in aid of the law; and let the rulers
who receive the information bring them before the appointed
court according to the law; and if the magistrate, after receiv-
ing information, refuses to act, he shall be tried for impiety
at the instance of any one who is willing to vindicate the laws ;
and if he be cast, the court shall estimate the punishment of
each act of impiety ; and let all such criminals be imprisoned.
There shall be three prisons in the state: the first of them is to
be the common prison in the neighbourhood of the agora for
the safe-keeping of the generality of offenders ; another is to be
in the neighbourhood of the nocturnal council, and is to be
called the ‘house of reformation’; another, to be situated in
some wild and desolate region in the centre of the country,
shall be called by some name expressive of retribution. Now,
men fall into impiety from three causes, which have been

480 TRL IES.

already mentioned, and from each of these causes arise two
sorts of impiety, in all six, requiring judicial decision, but
differing greatly in their degrees of guilt. For he who does not
believe in the gods, and yet has a righteous nature, hates the
wicked and dislikes and refuses to do injustice, and avoids
unrighteous men, and loves therighteous. But they who besides
believing that the world is devoid of Gods are intemperate, and
have at the same time good memories and quick wits, are worse ;
although both of them are unbelievers, much less injury is done
by the one than by the other. The one may talk loosely about
the Gods and about sacrifices and oaths, and perhaps by laugh-
ing at other men he may make them like himself, if he be not
punished. But the other unbeliever, who has ability, is full of
stratagem and deceit—men of this class are prophets and
jugglers of all kinds, and out of their ranks sometimes come
tyrants and demagogues and generals and hierophants of
private mysteries and the ingenuities of so-called Sophists.
There are many kinds of unbelievers, but two only for whom
legislation is required; one the hypocritical sort, whose crime
is deserving of death many times over, while the others need
only bonds and admonition. In like manner also the notion
that the Gods take no thought of men produces two other sorts of
crimes, and the notion that they may be propitiated produces
two more. Assuming these divisions, let those who have been
made what they are only from want of understanding, and not
from malice or an evil nature, be placed by the judge in the
house of reformation, and ordered to suffer imprisonment during 90
a period of not less than five years. And in the meantime let
them have no intercourse with the other citizens, except with
members of the nocturnal council, and with them let them
converse touching the improvement of their souls’ health. And
when the time of their imprisonment has expired, if any of
them be of sound mind let him be restored to sane company,
but if not, and if he be condemned a second time, let him be
punished with death. As to that class of monstrous natures
who not only believe that there are no Gods, or that they are
negligent, or to be propitiated, but conjure the souls of the
living and say that they can conjure the dead and promise to
charm the Gods with sacrifices and prayers, and will utterly

BOOK X., A8I

overthrow whole houses and states for the sake of money—
let him who is guilty of any of these things be condemned by
the judge to be bound according to law in the prison which is
in the centre of the land, and let no freeman ever approach him,
but let him receive the rations of food appointed by the magis-
trates from the hands of slaves; and when he is dead let him
be cast out of the borders unburied, and if any freeman assist
in burying him let him pay the penalty of impiety to any one
who is willing to bring a suit against him. But if he leaves
behind him children who are fit to be citizens, let the guardians
of orphans take care of them, just as they would of any other
orphans, from the day on which their father was convicted.

In all these cases there should be one law, which will make
men in general less liable to transgress in word or deed, and
less foolish, because they will not be allowed to practise religious
rites contrary to law. And let this be the simple form of the
law :—No man shall have sacred rites ina private house. But
when he is disposed to sacrifice, let him place his offerings in
the hands of the priests and priestesses, who have under their
care the holy rite, and let him pray himself, and let any one
who pleases join with him in prayer. The reason of this is as
follows :—Gods and temples are not easily established, and to
establish them rightly is the work of a mighty intellect. And
women especially, and men too, when they are sick or in
danger, or in any sort of difficulty, or again on their receiving
any good fortune, have a way of consecrating the occasion,
offering up prayers and sacrifices, and promising statues to
Gods, demigods, and sons of Gods; and when they are
awakened by terrible apparitions, and have dreams or remember
visions, they find in altars and temples the remedies of them,
and will fill every house and village with them, placing them in
the open air or in any chance place; and with a view to all
these cases we should act as the law enacts. The law has
also regard to the impious, and would not have them fancy
that by the secret performance of these actions—by raising
temples and altars in private houses, they can propitiate the
God secretly with sacrifices and prayers, while they are really
multiplying their crimes infinitely, bringing guilt from heaven
upon themselves, and also upon those who permit them, and who

VOL. V. Ti

482 LAWS.

are better men than they are; and the consequence is that the
whole state reaps the fruit of their impiety, which, in a certain
sense, is deserved: assuredly God will not blame the legis-
lator.

- Let this, then, be the language of the law:—No one ted
possess shrines of the Gods in private houses, and he who is
found to possess them, and perform any sacred rites not
publicly authorized,—supposing the offender to be some man
or woman who is not guilty of any other great and impious
crime,—shall be informed against by him who is acquainted
with the fact, which shall be announced by him to the guardians
of the law; and let them issue orders that he or she shall,
carry away his private rites to the public temples, and if they
do not persuade them, let them inflict a penalty on them until
they comply. And if a person be proven guilty of impiety, not
merely from childish levity, but such as grown-up men may be
guilty of, whether he have sacrificed publicly or privately to any
Gods, let him be punished with death, for his sacrifice is impure.
Whether the deed has been done in earnest, or only from
childish levity, let the guardians of the law determine, BOene
they prosecute the offender for impiety.

Is OO) GT,

13 IN the next place, dealings between man and man require to
be suitably regulated. The principle of them is very simple:
Thou shalt not touch that which is mine, if thou canst help, or
remove the least thing which belongs to me without my consent;
and may I, being of sound mind, do to others as I would that
they should do to me. First, let us speak of treasure-trove :
May I never pray the Gods to find the hidden treasure, which a
man has laid up for himself and his family, he not being one of
my ancestors, nor lift, if I should find, such a treasure. And
may I never have any dealings with the diviners, as they are
called, who\in any way or manner counsel me to take up the
deposit entrusted to the earth, for I should not gain so much in
the increase of my possessions, if I take up the prize, as I should
grow in justice and virtue of soul, if I abstain; and this will be a
better possession to me than the other in a better part of myself;
for the possession of justice in the soul is preferable to the
ee of wealth. And of many things it is well said,—

‘move not the immovables, and this may be truly regarded as
one of them. And we shall do well to believe the common
tradition which says, that such deeds prevent a man from having
a family. Now, as to him who is careless about having children
and regardless of the legislator, taking up that which neither he
deposited, nor any ancestor of his, without the consent of the
depositor, violating the simplest and noblest of laws which was
the enactment of no mean man: ‘Take not up that which you
have not laid down,—of him, I say, who despises these two
legislators, and takes up, not some small matter which he has

3 he 7

484 LAWS.

not deposited, but perhaps a great heap of treasure, what he
ought to suffer at the hands of the Gods, God only knows; but
I would have the first person who sees him go and tell the
wardens of the city, if the occurrence has taken place in the city,
or if the occurrence has taken place in the agora he shall tell the
wardens of the agora, or if in the country he shall tell the
wardens of the country and their officers. When information 91
has been received they shall send to Delphi, and, whatever the
God answers about the money and the remover of the money,
that the city shall do in obedience to the oracle; the informer,
if he be a freeman, shall have the honour of doing rightly, or
if he inform not, the dishonour of doing wrongly; and if he be
a slave who gives information,-let him be freed; as he ought to
be, by the state, which shall give his master the price of him;
but if he do not inform he shall be punished with death. Next in
order shall follow a similar law, which shall apply equally to
matters great and small: If a man happens to leave behind
him some part of his property, whether intentionally or unin-
tentionally, let him, who may meet. with the left property, suffer
it to remain, reflecting that such things are under the protection
of the Goddess of ways, and are dedicated to her by the law.
But if any one defies the law, and takes the property home with
him, let him, if he be a slave of little worth, be beaten with many
stripes by him who meets him, being a person of not less than
thirty years of age. Or if he be a freeman, in addition to being
thought a mean person and despiser of the laws, let him pay
ten times the value of the treasure which he has moved to the
leaver. And if some one accuses another of having anything
which belongs to him, whether little or much, and the other
admits that he has this thing, but says that the property in
dispute belongs to him, if the property be registered with the
archons according to law, the claimant shall summon the
possessor, who shall appear before the magistrates; and when
the, matter. 1s cleared 1p, if it be registered in the public
registers, to which of the litigants it belonged, let him take it
and go his way. Or if the property be registered as belonging
to some one who is not. present, whoever will give sufficient
surety on behalf of the absent person that he will give it up
to him, let him take it away as the representative of the other.

BOOK X1. 485

But if the property which is deposited be not registered with the
archons, let it remain until the time of trial with three of the
eldest of the archons; and if that for which bail is given
be an animal, then he who loses the suit shall pay the archons
for its keep, and the archons shall determine the cause within
three days.
Any one who is of sound mind may carry off his own slave,
and do with him whatever he will of such things as are lawful ;
and he may carry off the runaway slave of any of his friends
or kindred with a view to his safe-keeping. And if any one
takes away him who is being carried off as a slave, intending to
liberate him, he who is carrying him off shall let him go; but he
who takes him away shall give three sufficient sureties; and
if he give them, and not without giving them, he may take him
away, but if he take him away after any other manner he shall
be guilty of violence, and being convicted shall pay double the
(5 penalty of the loss to him from whom he has taken the slave.
Let him also carry off the freedman, if he do not pay respect
or not sufficient respect to him who freed him. Now the respect
shall be, that the freedman go three times in the month to the
house of the person who freed him, and offer to do whatever
he can and ought to do, and he shall agree to make such a
marriage as his former master pleases. He shall not be permitted
to have more property than he who gave him liberty, and what
more he has shall belong to his master. The freedman shall
not remain in the state more than twenty years, but like other
foreigners shall go away, taking his entire property with him,
unless he have the consent of the magistrates and of his former
master to remain. If a freedman or any other stranger have a
property greater than the census of the third class, at the
expiration of thirty days from the day on which this comes to
pass, he shall take that which is his and go his way, and in this
case he shall not be allowed to remain any longer by the
archons. And if any one disobeys this regulation, and is
brought into court and convicted, he shall be punished with
death, and his property. shall be confiscated. Suits about these
matters shall take place before the tribes, unless the plaintiff
and defendant have got rid of the accusation either before their
neighbours or before arbitrators. If a man lay claim to any

486 LAWS.

animal or anything else which he declares to be his, let him who
is the possessor refer to some honest and trustworthy person,
who has sold or given, or in some legitimate way made over the
property to him; if he be a citizen or a metic, sojourning in the
city, within thirty days, or, if the property have been delivered to
him by a stranger, within five months, of which the middle
month shall be the summer solstice. When goods are exchanged
by selling and buying,a man shall deliver them, and receive
the price of them, at a fixed place in the agora, and have done
with the matter; but he shall not buy or sell anywhere else,
nor give credit. And if in any other manner or in any other
place there be an exchange of one thing for another, and the
seller with whom he ts dealing give him credit, he must do this
on the understanding that the law gives no protection in cases of
things sold not in accordance with these regulations. Again, as
to contributions, any man who likes may go about collecting
contributions as a friend with. friends, but if any difference arises
about the collection, he is to act on the understanding that the
law gives no protection in such cases. He who sells anything
up to the value of fifty drachmas shall be required to’ remain in 9:
the city for ten days, and the purchaser shall be informed of the
house of the seller, with a view to the sort of charges which are
apt to arise in such cases, and the restitutions which the law
allows. And let legal restitution be on this wise: If a man
sells a slave who is in a consumption, or who has the disease of
the stone, or of strangury, or epilepsy, or some other tedious and
incurable disorder of body or mind, which is not discernible to
the ordinary man, if the purchaser be a physician or trainer, he
shall have no right of restitution; nor shall there be any right of
restitution if the seller has told the truth beforehand to the
buyer. But if a skilled person sells to another who is not
skilled, let the buyer appeal for restitution within six months,
except in the case of epilepsy, and then the appeal may be
made within a year, and shall be determined by such physicians
as the parties may agree to choose; and he who loses the suit
shall pay double the price at which he sold. If a private person
sell to another private person, he shall -have the right of resti-
tution, and the decision shall be given as before, but he who
loses the suit shall only pay back the price of the slave. If a

BOOK XI. 487

person sells a homicide to another, and they both know of the
fact, let there be no restitution in such a case, but if he do not
know of the fact, there shail be a right of restitution, whenever
the buyer makes the discovery ; and the decision shall rest with
five of the youngest guardians of the law, and if the decision be
that the seller was cognisant of the fact, he shall purify the
house of the purchaser, according to the law of the interpreters,
and shall pay back three times the purchase-money.

He who exchanges either money for money, or anything
whatever for anything else, either with or without life, let
him give and receive them genuine and unadulterated, in
accordance with the law. And let us have a preamble about
all this sort of roguery, like the preambles of our other laws.
Every man should regard adulteration as a particular kind of
falsehood, concerning which the many are too fond of saying
that at proper times the practice may often be right. But
they leave the time and place and occasion undefined and
unregulated, and from this want of definiteness in their lan-
guage they do a great deal of harm to themselves and to others.
Now, a legislator ought not to leave the matter undefined ;
he ought. to prescribe some limit, either greater or less. Let
this, then, be the limit prescribed: No one shall call the Gods
to witness, when he says or does anything false or deceitful
or dishonest, unless he would be the most hateful of mankind
917 to them. And he is most hateful to them who takes a false

oath, and never thinks of the Gods; and in the second place,
he who tells a falsehood in the presence of his superiors. Now,
better men are the superiors of worse men, and in general elders
are the superiors of the young; wherefore also parents are the
superiors of their children, and men of women and children, and
rulers of their subjects ; for all men ought to reverence any one
who is in any position of authority, and especially those who are
in state offices. And this is the reason why I have spoken of
these matters. For every one who is guilty of adulteration in the
agora tells a falsehood, and deceives, and when he invokes the
Gods, according to the customs and cautions of the wardens
of the agora, he is perjured, and has no respect either for God
or man. Certainly, it is an excellent rule not lightly to profane
the names of the Gods, after the fashion of men in general,

488 LAWS,

who care little about piety and purity in their actions. But if
a man will not conform to this rule, let the law be as follows :—
He who sells anything in the agora shall not ask two prices
of that which he sells, but he shall ask one price, and if he do
not obtain this, he shall take away his goods; and on that day
he shall not value them, either at more or less; and there shall
be no praising of any goods, or oath taken about them. Ifa
person disobeys this command, any citizen who is present, not
being less than thirty years of age; may chastise and beat the
swearer, and he shall be guiltless, but if he takes no heed and
disobeys, he shall be liable to the charge of having betrayed the
laws. Ifa man sell any adulterated goods and will not obey
these regulations, he who knows and can prove the fact, and
does prove it in the presence of the magistrates, if he be a slave
or a metic, shall have the adulterated goods; but if he be a
citizen, and do not prove it, he shall be disgraced and deemed
to have robbed the Gods of the agora ; or if he prove the charge,
he shall dedicate the goods to the Gods of the agora. He who
is proved to have sold any adulterated goods, in addition to
losing the goods themselves, shall be beaten with stripes,—a
stripe for a drachma, according to the price of the goods; and
the herald shall proclaim in the agora the offence for which he
is going to be beaten. The wardens of the agora and the
guardians of the law shall obtain information from experienced
persons about the rogueries and adulterations of the sellers,
and shall write up what the seller ought and ought not to do
in each case; and let them inscribe their laws on a column in
front of the court of the agora, that they may be clear instructors
of those who have business in the agora. Enough has been said gr
in what has preceded about the wardens of the city, and if any-
thing seems to be wanting, let them communicate with the
guardians of the law, and write down the omission, and place
on a column in the court of the city the first and second
regulations which are laid down for them about their office.
After the practices of adulteration naturally follow practices
of retail trade. Concerning these, we will first of all give a word
of counsel and reason, and the law shall come afterwards.
Retail trade in a city is not by nature intended to do any
harm, but quite the contrary; for is not he a benefactor who

BOOK X1. 489

reduces the inequalities and immeasurabilities of goods to
equality and measure? And this is what the power of money
accomplishes, and the merchant may be said to be appointed
for this purpose. The hireling and the tavern-keeper, and
many other occupations, some of them more and others less
seemly—all alike have this object ;—they seek to satisfy our
needs and equalize our possessions. Let us then endeavour
to see what is the accusation brought against retail trade,
and wherein lies the dishonour and unseemliness of it in order
that if not entirely we may yet partially remove the objection
by law. To effect this is no easy matter, and implies a great
deal of virtue.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath, Dear Cleinias, the class of men is small—they must
have been rarely gifted by nature, and trained by education,—
who, when compelled by wants and desires, are able to hold
out and observe moderation, and when they might make a
great deal of money are sober in their wishes, and prefer a
moderate to a large gain. But the mass of mankind are the
very opposite: their desires are unbounded, and when they
might gain in moderation they prefer gains without limit;
wherefore all that relates to retail trade and merchandise, and
keeping of taverns, is denounced and numbered among dis-
honourable things. For if what I trust may never be and will
not be, we were to compel, if I may venture to say a ridiculous
thing, the best men everywhere to keep taverns for a time, or
carry on retail trade, or do anything of that sort; or if, in
consequence of some dire necessity, the best women were
compelled to follow a similar calling, then we should know
how agreeable and pleasant all these things are; and all such
occupations if they were carried on according to pure reason,
would be honoured as we honour a mother or a nurse: but
now that a man goes to desert places and builds housés which

19 can only be reached by long journeys, for the sake of retail
trade, and receives strangers who are in need at the desired »
resting-places, and gives them peace and calm when they are .

tossed by the storm, or cool shade in the heat; and then
instead of behaving to them as friends, and showing the duties
of hospitality to his guests, treats them as enemies and captives

490 LAWS.

who are at his mercy, and will not release them until they have
paid the highest, most abominable, and dishonest price,—these
are the sort of practices, and foul evils they are, which cast
a reproach upon the succour of adversity. And the legislator
ought always to be devising a remedy for evils of this sort.
There is an ancient saying, which is also a true one—‘ To fight
against two opponents is a difficult thing,’ as is seen in diseases ©
and in many other cases. And in this case also the war is
against two enemies—wealth and poverty; one of whom
corrupts the soul of man with luxury, while the other drives
him by pain into utter shamelessness. What remedy can a
city of sense find against this disease? In the first place,
they must have as few retail traders as possible; and in the
second place, they must assign the occupation to that class of
men whose corruption will be the least injury to the state; and
in the third place, they must devise some way whereby the
followers of these occupations themselves will not readily fall
into habits of unbridled shamelessness and meanness.

After this preface let our law run as follows, and may fortune
favour us:—No landowner among the Magnetes, whose city the
God is restoring and resettling—no one, that is, of the 5040
families, shall become a retail trader either voluntarily or invo-
luntarily ; neither shall he be a merchant, or do any service
for private persons who are not his equals, except for his father
or his mother, and their fathers and mothers; and in general
for his elders who are freemen, and whom he serves as a free-
man. Now it is difficult to determine accurately the things
which are worthy or unworthy of a freeman, but let those who
have obtained the prize of virtue give judgment about them
in accordance with their feelings of right and wrong. He who.
in any way shares in the illiberality of retail trades may be
indicted by any one who likes for dishonouring his race, before
those who are judged to be the first in virtue; and if he appear
to throw dirt upon his father’s house by an unworthy occupation,
let him be imprisoned for a year and abstain from that sort of 92
thing; and if he repeat the offence, for two years; and every
time that he is taken let the time of his imprisonment be
doubled. This shall be the second law:—He who engages in
retail trade must be either a metic or a stranger. And a third

BOOK XJ. 4QI

law shall be: In order that the retail trader who dwells in our
city may be as good or as little bad as possible, the guardians
of the law shall remember that they are guardians not only
of those who may be easily watched and prevented from
becoming lawless or bad, because they are well-born and bred ;
but still more should they have a watch over those who are
of another sort, and follow pursuits which have a very strong
tendency to make men bad. And, therefore, in respect of
the multifarious occupations of retail trade, that is to say, in
respect of such of them as are allowed to remain, because they
seem to be quite necessary in a state,—about these the guard-
ians of the law should meet and take counsel with those
who have experience of the several kinds of retail trade,
as we before commanded concerning adulteration (which is
a matter akin to this), and when they ~meet they shall
consider what amount of receipts after deducting expenses
will produce a moderate gain, and they shall fix in writing
and strictly maintain what they find to be the right percent-
age of profit; this should be done by the wardens of the
agora, and by the wardens of the city, and by the wardens
of the country. And so retail trade will benefit every one,
and do the least possible injury to Bees in the state who
practise it.

When a man makes an agreement which he does not fulfil,
unless the agreement be af a nature which the law or a vote
of the assembly does not allow, or which he has made under
the influence of some unjust compulsion, or which he is pre-
vented from fulfilling against his will by some unexpected
chance, the other party may go to law with him in the courts
of the tribe, for not having completed his agreement, if the
parties are not able previously to come to terms before arbiters
or before their neiShbours. The class of craftsmen who have
furnished human life with the arts, is dedicated to Hephaestus
and Athene; and there is a class of craftsmen who preserve
the works of all craftsmen by arts of defence, the votaries of
Ares and Athene; and they also deserve to be dedicated to the
Gods. All these continue through life serving the country and
the people ; some of them are leaders in battle; others make
for hire implements and works, and they ought not to deceive

AQ2 LAWS.

in such matters, out of respect to the Gods who are theif 92
ancestors. If any craftsman through indolence omit to execute
his work in a given time, not reverencing the God who gives
him the means of life, but considering, foolish fellow, that he
is his own God and will let him off easily ; in the first place,
he shall suffer at the hands of the God; and in the second
place, the law shall follow in a similar spirit. He shall owe
to him who contracted with him the price of the works which
he has failed in performing, and he shall begin again and
execute them gratis in the given time. When a man under-
takes a work, the law gives him the same advice which was
given to the seller, that he should not attempt to raise the
price, but simply ask the value; this the law enjoins also
on the contractor; for the craftsman assuredly knows the
value of his work. Wherefore, in free states the man of art
ought not to attempt to impose upon private individuals by
the help of his art, which is by nature a true thing ; and he who
is wronged in a matter of this sort, shall have a right of action
against the party who has wronged him. And if any one lets
out work to a craftsman, and does not pay him duly according
to the lawful agreement, disregarding Zeus the saviour of the
city and Athene, who are the partners of the state, and over-
throws the foundations of society for the sake of a little gain,
in his case let the law and the Gods maintain the common
bonds of the state. And let him who, having already received
the work in exchange, does not pay the price in the time
agreed, pay double the price; and if a year has elapsed,
whereas usury in general is not to be taken on money lent in our
state, let him for every drachma which he owes to the contractor
pay a monthly interest of an obol.. Suits about these matters
are to be decided by the courts of the tribes ; and by the way,
now that we are mentioning craftsmen, we must not forget
to speak of generals and tacticians, who are the craftsmen of
our art of safety@@hich is war, and like other craftsmen under-
take some public work either of their own accord, or because
they are appointed by the state ; and if they execute their work
well the law will never be tired of praising him who gives them !

1 Reading, according to Schneider, 6s rovrois ad.

22

BOOK XT: 493

e]

those honours which are the just rewards of the soldier ; but if
any one, having already received the benefit of any noble
service in war, does not make the due return of honour, the law
will blame him. Let this then be the law, having an ingredient
of praise, not compelling but advising the great body of the
citizens to honour the brave men who are the saviours of the
whole state, whether by their courage or by their military
skill ;—they should honour them, I say, in the second place;
for the first and highest tribute of respect is to be given to
those who are able above other men to honour the words of
good legislators.

The greater part of the dealings between man and man
have been now regulated by us with the exception of those
that relate to orphans and the supervision of orphans by their
guardians. These follow next in order, and must be regulated
in some way. But to arrive at them we must begin with the
testamentary wishes of the dying and the case of those who may
have happened to die intestate. When I said, Cleinias, that
we must regulate them, I had in my mind the difficulty and
perplexity in which all such matters are involved. You cannot
leave them unregulated, for individuals would make regulations
at variance with one another, and repugnant to the laws and
habits of the living and to their own previous habits, if a
person were simply allowed to make any will which he pleases,
and this were to take effect in whatever state he may be at the
end of life ; for most of us lose our senses in a manner, and are
prostrated in mind when we think that we are soon about to die.

Cle. What do you mean, Stranger ?.

Ath. O, Cleinias, a man when he is about to die is a fearful
thing, and may cause a great deal of anxiety and trouble to the
legislator.

Cle. In what way?

Ath. He wants to have the entire control of all his property,
and will use angry words. ©.

Cle. Such as what ?

Ath. O ye Gods, he will say, how monstrous that I am not
allowed to give, or not to give, my own to whom I will—less to
him who has been bad to me, and more to him who has been
good to me, and whose badness and goodness has been tested by

494 LAWS.

me in time of sickness or in old age and in every other sort of
fortune ?

Cle. Well, Stranger, and may he not very fairly say that?

Ath, In my opinion, Cleinias, the ancient legislators were too
good-natured, and made laws without sufficient observation or
consideration of human things.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath, I mean, my friend, that they were afraid of the testator’s
reproaches, and so they passed a law to the effect that a man
should be allowed to dispose of his property in all respects as he
likes, but you and I, if Iam not mistaken, will have something
better to say to our departing citizens.

Cle. What?

Ath. O my friends, we will say to them, hard is it for you,
who are creatures of a day, to know what is yours,—hard, too,
to know yourselves, as the Delphic oracle says, at this hour.
Now I, as the legislator, regard you and your possessions, not as
belonging to yourselves, but as belonging to your whole family,
both past and future, and yet more do I regard both family and
possessions as belonging to the state; wherefore, if some one
steals upon you with flattery, when you are tossed on the sea of
disease or old age, and persuades you to dispose of your pro-
perty ina way that is not for the best, I will not, if I can help,
allow this; but I will legislate with a view to the whole, con-
sidering what is best both for the state and for the family,
esteeming as I ought the feelings of an individual at a lower
rate; and I hope that you will depart in peace and kindness
towards us, as you are going the way of all mankind; and we
will impartially take care of all your concerns, not neglecting
any of them, if we can possibly help. Let this be our warning
and consolation of the living and dying, Cleinias, and let the
law be as follows :—He who makes a disposition in a testament,
being a father and having children, shall first of all inscribe as
his heir any one of his sons whom he may think fit; and if
he have given any of his children to be adopted by another
citizen, let the adoption be inscribed. And if he has a son
remaining over and above who has not had any portion assigned
to him, and who may reasonably be expected to go out to
a colony according to law, to him his father may give as much

BOOK XI. 495

as he pleases of the rest of his property, with the exception
of the paternal lot and the property on the lot. And if
there are more sons than one, let the father distribute what
there is more than the lot in any way that he pleases. And
if one of the sons has the family inheritance, he shall not
give him of the money, nor shall he give money to a daughter
who is betrothed to a husband, but if she is not betrothed he
may give her money. And if any of the sons or daughters
shall be found to have a lot of land in the country, which has
accrued after the testament has been made, he shall leave the
lot which he has inherited to the heir of the man who has
made the will. If the testator has no sons, but only daughters,
let him choose the husband of any one of his daughters, and
leave and inscribe him as his son and heir. And if aman have
lost his son, when he was a child, and before he came to be
_ reckoned among grown-up men, whether his own or an adopted
son, let the testator make mention of the circumstance and
124 inscribe whom he will to be his second son, in hope of better
fortune; and if the testator has no children at all, he may
select and give to any one whom he pleases the tenth part
of the property which he has acquired. Let him, as he ought,
give all the rest to his adopted son, and make a friend of him
according to the law. If the sons of a man require guardians,
and he dies and makes a will appointing guardians who are
agreeable and willing to take charge of his children, whoever
they are, and as many as he pleases, let the choice of the
guardians have force according to what he has written. But
if he dies and has made no will, or a will in which he has
appointed no guardians, then the next of kin, two on the father’s
and two on the mother’s side, and one of the friends of the
deceased, shali have the authority of guardians; whom the
guardians of the law shall appoint when the orphans require
guardians. And fifteen of the eldest of the guardians of the
law, according to seniority, shall have the whole care and
charge of the orphans, and shall divide themselves into threes,
—a body of three for one year, and then another body of three
for the next year, until the cycle is complete, and this, as far as
possible, is to continue always. If a man dies, having made
no will at all, and leaves sons who require the care of guardians,

406 LAWS.

they shall share in the protection which is afforded by these
laws. And if a man dying by some unexpected fate leave
daughters behind him, let him pardon the legislator if he gives
his daughter in marriage, having a regard only to two out of
three conditions,—nearness of kin and the preservation of the
lot, and omits the third condition, which a father would
naturally consider, for he would choose out of all the citizens
a son for himself, and a husband for his daughter, with a view
to his character and disposition—he shall forgive the legislator,
I say, if he disregards this, which to him is an impossible
consideration, Let the law about these matters where prac-
ticable be as follows:—If a man dies without making a will,
and leaves behind him daughters, let his brother, being the
son of the same mother, having no lot, marry the daughter
and have the lot of the dead man, And if he have no
brother, but only a brother’s son, in like manner let them
marry, if they be of a suitable age; and if there be not even
a brother's son, but only the son of a sister, let them do
likewise, and so in the fourth degree if there be only
a father’s brother, or in the fifth degree a father’s brother's
son, or in a sixth degree the child of a father’s sister. Let
kindred be always reckoned in this way: if a person leaves
daughters the relationship shall proceed upwards through
brother's and brother's son, and first the males shall come,
and after them the females in the same family. The judge
shall consider and determine the suitableness or unsuitableness
of age in marriage; he shall make an inspection of the males
naked, and of the women naked down to the navel, And if
there be a lack of kinsmen in a family extending to grand-
children of a brother, or to the grandchildren of a grandfather's
children, the maiden may choose with the consent of her guard-
ians any one of the citizens whom she will, and he shall be the
heir of the dead man, and the husband of his daughter, Cir-
cumstances vary, and there may sometimes be a still greater
lack of relations within the limits of the state; and if any
maiden has no kindred living in the city, and there is some one
who has been sent out to a colony, and she is disposed to make
him the heir of her father’s possessions, if he be indeed of her
kindred, let him proceed to her lot according to the regulation

Qaf

BOCK X71. 497

of the law; but if he be not of her kindred, and there be no
kinsmen within the pale of the city, and he be chosen by the
daughter of the dead man, and empowered to marry by the
guardians, let him return home and take the lot of him who
died intestate. And if a man has no children, either male or
female, and dies without making a will, let the previous law in
general hold ; and let a man and a woman go forth from the
family and share the deserted house, and let the lot belong
absolutely to them; and let the heiress in the first degree be
a sister, and in a second degree a daughter of a brother, and in
the third, a daughter of a sister, in the fourth degree the sister
of a father, and in the fifth degree the daughter of a father’s
brother, and in a sixth degree of a father’s sister; and these
shall dwell with their male kinsmen, according to the degree of
relationship and right, as we enacted before. Now we must not
conceal from ourselves that such laws are apt to be oppressive
and that there may sometimes be a hardship in the lawgiver
commanding the kinsman of the dead man to marry his rela-
tion ; he may be thought not to have considered the innumerable
hindrances which may arise among men in the execution of
such ordinances; for there may be cases in which the parties
refuse to obey, and are ready to do anything rather than marry,
when there is some bodily or mental malady or defect among
those who are bidden to marry or be married. Persons may
fancy that the legislator never thought of this, but there they
are mistaken; wherefore let us make a common prelude on
behalf of the lawgiver and of his subjects, the law begging the
latter to forgive the legislator, in that he, having to take care
of the common weal, cannot order at the same time the various
circumstances of individuals, and begging him to pardon them
if they are sometimes unable to fulfil the act which he in his
ignorance imposes upon them.

Cle. And how, Stranger, can we act most fairly under the
circumstances ?

Ath. There must be arbiters chosen to deal with such laws
and the subjects of them.

Cle, What do you mean?

Ath, T mean to say, that a case may occur in which the
brother's son, having a-rich father, will be unwilling to marry

VOL. V. K k

408 LAWS.

the daughter of his uncle; he will have a feeling of pride, and
he will wish to look higher. And there are cases in which
the legislator will be imposing upon him the greatest calamity,
and he will be compelled to disobey the law, if he is required,
for example, to take a wife who is mad, or has some other
terrible malady of soul or body, such as makes life intolerable
to the sufferer. Then let what we are saying concerning these
cases be embodied in a law: If any one finds fault with the
established laws respecting testaments, both as to other matters
and especially in what relates to marriage, and asserts that the
legislator, if he were alive, would not compel him to obey,—that
is to say, would not compel those who are by our law required
to marry or be given in marriage, to do either,—and some
kinsman or guardian assent to this, let them say that the
legislator left the fifteen guardians of the law to be. arbiters
and fathers of orphans, male or female, and to them let the ~
disputants have recourse, and by their aid determine any
matters of the kind, admitting their decision to be final. But
if any one thinks that too great power is thus given to the
guardians of the law, let him bring his adversaries into the
court of the select judges, and there have the points in dispute
determined. And he who loses the cause shall have censure
and blame from the legislator, which, by a man of sense, is
felt to be a penalty far heavier than a great loss of money.
Thus will orphan children have a second birth: After their
first birth we spoke of their nurture and education, and after
their second birth, when they have lost their parents, we ought |
to take measures that the misfortune of orphanhood may be as
little sad as possible to them. In the first place, as we are
saying, we appoint them the guardians of the law, to be fathers
to them, not inferior to their natural fathers. Moreover, they
shall take charge of them year by year as of their own kin-
dred; and we have given both to them and to the children’s
own guardians a suitable admonition concerning the nurture
of orphans. And we seem to have spoken opportunely in our 92
former discourse, when we said that the souls of the dead have
the power after their death of taking an interest in human
affairs, about which there are many tales and traditions, long
indeed, but true; and seeing that they are so many and so

BOOK “XT. 499

ancient, we must believe them, and we must also believe the
lawgivers, who tell us that these things are true, if they are not
to be regarded as utter fools. But if these things are really
so, in the first place mea—should have a fear of the Gods
aboveg who regard the loneliness of the orphans; and in the
second place of the souls of the departed, who by nature
incline to take an especial care of their own children,
and they are friendly to those who honour them, and un-
friendly to those who do not. Men should also fear the
living who are aged; wherever a city is well ordered and
prosperous, their descendants cherish them, and so live happily ;
old persons are quick to see and hear all that relates to them,
and are propitious to those who are just in the fulfilment of
these duties, and they punish those who wrong the orphan and
the desolate, considering that they are the greatest and most
sacred of deposits. To all which matters the guardian and
magistrate ought to apply his mind, if he has any, and take
heed of the nurture and education of the orphans, seeking in
every possible way to do them good, and contributing to his
own good and that of his children. He who obeys the tale
which precedes the law, and does no wrong to an orphan, will
never have experience of the wrath of the legislator. But he
who is disobedient, and wrongs any one who is bereft of father
or mother, shall pay twice the penalty which he would have
paid if he had wronged one whose parents had been alive. As
touching other legislation concerning guardians in their relation
to orphans, or concerning magistrates and their superintendence
of the guardians, if they did not possess™ examples of the
manner in which children of freemen should be brought up
in the bringing up of their own children, and of the care
of their property in the care of their own; or, if they had
not just laws fairly stated about these very things,—there
would have been reason in making laws for them, under
the idea that they were a peculiar class, and we might dis-
tinguish and make separate rules for the life of those who
are orphans and of those who are not orphans. But as the
case stands, the condition of orphans with us is not different
from the case of those who have a father, though in regard
1 Reading ei pev pn.
Kka

500 LAWS.

to honour and dishonour, and the attention given to them,
the two are not usually placed upon a level. Wherefore, touch- 92
ing the legislation about orphans, the law speaks in serious
accents, both of persuasion and threatening, and such a threat as
the following will be by no means out of place: He who is
the guardian of an orphan of either sex, and he among the
guardians of the law who has the care of the guardians, shall
love the unfortunate orphan as though he were his own child,
and he shall be as careful and diligent as he would be in the
management of his possessions, or even more careful and dili-
gent than he would be if they were his own. Let every one
who has the care of an orphan observe this law. But if any one
acts contrary to the law on these matters, if he be a guardian
the archon may fine him, or if he be the archon, the guardian
may bring him before the court of select judges, and punish
him, if convicted, by a fine of double the amount, which the
court shall impose. And if a guardian appears to the relations
of the orphan, or to any other citizen, to act negligently or
dishonestly, let them bring him before the same court, and
whatever penalty is imposed upon him, let him pay fourfold,
and let half belong to the orphan and half to him who procured
the conviction. If any orphan arrives at years of discretion, and
thinks that he has been ill-used by his guardians, let him within
five years of the expiration of the guardianship be allowed
to bring his guardian to trial; and if he be convicted, the court
shall determine what he shall pay or suffer. And if the archon
shall appear to have wronged the orphan by his neglect, and he
be convicted, let the court determine what he shall suffer or pay
to the orphan, and if there be dishonesty in addition to neglect,
besides paying the fine, let him be deposed from his office of
guardian of the law, and let the state appoint another guardian
of the law for the city and for the country in his room.

Greater differences than there ought to be sometimes arise be-
tween fathers and sons, on the part either of fathers who will be
of opinion that the legislator should enact that they may, if they
wish, lawfully renounce their son by the proclamation of a herald
in the face of the world, or of sons who will be of opinion that
they should be allowed to indict their fathers on the charge of
‘imbecility when they are degraded by disease or old age. These

BOOK XI. 501

things only happen as a matter of fact, where the natures of men

‘are very bad; for where only half is bad, as, for example, if the

father be not bad, but the son is bad, or conversely, no bad effect
is the offspring of this amount of hatred. In another state, a
son disowned by his father would not of necessity cease to be a
citizen, but in our state, of which these are to be the laws, the

9 disinherited must necessarily emigrate into another country, for

no addition can be made even of a single family to the 5040
households; and, therefore, he who deserves to suffer these
things must be renounced not only by his father, who is a single
person, but by the whole family, and what is done in these cases
must be regulated by some such law as the following :—He who
in the sad disorder of his soul has a mind, justly or unjustly, to
expel from his family a son whom he has begotten and brought
up, shall not lightly or at once execute his purpose; but first of
all he shall collect together his own kinsmen, extending to
cousins, and in like manner his son’s kinsmen by the mother’s
side, and in their presence he shall accuse his son, setting forth
that he deserves at the hands of them all to be dismissed from
the family ; and the son shall be allowed to address them in a
similar manner, and show that he does not deserve to suffer any
of these things. And if the father persuades them, and obtains
the suffrages of more than half of his kindred, exclusive of the
father and mother and the offender himself—I say, if he obtain
more than half the suffrages of all the other grown-up members
of the family, of both sexes, the father shall be permitted to put
away his son, but not otherwise. And if any other citizen is
willing to adopt the son who is put away, no law shall hinder
him; for the characters of young men are subject to many
changes in the course of their lives. And if he has been put
away, and in a period of ten years no one is willing to adopt
him, let those who have the care of the superabundant popula-
tion that are sent out into colonies, see to him, in order that he
may be suitably provided for in the colony. And if disease or
age or harshness of temper, or all these together, make a man to
be more out of his mind than the rest of the world are,—but this
is not observable, except to those who live with him,—and he,
being master of his property, is the ruin of the house, and his son
doubts and hesitates about indicting his father for insanity, let

502 LAWS.

the law in that case ordain that he shall first of all go to the |
eldest guardians of the law and tell them of his father’s misfor-
tune, and they shall duly look into the matter, and take counsel
as to whether he shall indict him or not. And if they advise
him to proceed, they shall be both his witnesses and his
advocates; and if the father is cast, he shall henceforth be
incapable of ordering the least particular of his life; let him be
as a child dwelling in the house for the remainder of his days.
And if a man and his wife have an unfortunate incompatibility
of temper, ten of the guardians of the law, who are impartial,
and ten of the women who regulate marriages shall look to the 9:
matter, and if they are able to reconcile them they shall be
formally reconciled ; but if their souls are too much tossed with
passion, they shall endeavour to find other partners. Now, they
are not likely to have very gentle tempers ; and, therefore, we
must endeavour to associate with them deeper and softer
natures. Those who have no children, or but a few, at the time
of their separation, should choose their new partners with a view
to the procreation of children; but those who have a sufficient
number of children should separate and form new connections in
order that one of the two partners may be able to take care of °
the other in old age. If a woman dies, leaving children, male or
female, the law will advise rather than compel the husband to
bring up the children which they have, and not introduce into
the house a stepmother. But if he have no children, then he
shall be compelled to marry until he have begotten a sufficient
number of sons to his family and to the state. And if a man
die leaving a sufficient number of children, the mother of his
children shall remain with them and bring them up. But if she
appears to be too young to live virtuously without a husband, let
her relations communicate with the women who superintend
marriage, and let both together do what they think best in these.
matters; if there is a lack of children, let the choice be made
with a view to having them; two children, one of either sex,
shall be deemed sufficient in the eye of the law. When a child
is admitted to be the offspring of certain parents and is acknow-
ledged by them, but there is need of a decision as to which
parent the child is to follow,—in case a female slave have inter-
course with a male slave, or with a freeman or freedman, the

3

Lal

BOOK XI. 503

offspring shall always belong to the master of the female slave.
Again, if a free woman have intercourse with a male slave, the
offspring shall belong to the master of the slave; but if a child
be born either of a slave by her master, or of his mistress by a
slave—and this be proven—the offspring of the woman and its
father shall be sent away by the women into another country,
and the guardians of the law shall send away the offspring of the
man and the mother.

Neither God, nor a man who has understanding, will ever ad-
vise any one to neglect his parents. To a discourse concerning
the honour and dishonour of parents, a prelude such as the
following, about the service of the Gods, will be a suitable
introduction :—There are ancient customs about the Gods which
are universal, and they are of two kinds: some of the Gods we
see with our. eyes and honour them, of others we honour the
images ; raising statues of them which we adore; and though
they be lifeless, yet we imagine that the living Gods have a good
will and gratitude to us on this account. Now, if a man has
a father or mother, or their father or mother treasured up in his

house stricken in years, let him consider that no statue can be

more potent to grant his requests than they are, who are sitting
at his hearth, if only he knows how to show true service to them.

Cle. And what do you call the true mode of service?

Ath. 1 will tell you, O my friend, for such things are worth
listening to.

Cle. Proceed.

Ath, Oedipus, as tradition says, when dishonoured by his
sons, invoked on them the fulfilment of those curses from the
God which every one declares to have been heard and ratified
by the Gods, and Amyntor in his wrath invoked curses on his
son Phoenix, and Theseus upon Hippolytus, and innumerable
others have also called down wrath upon their children, which is
a plain proof that the Gods listen to the imprecations of parents ;
for the curses of a parent are, as they ought to be, mighty
against his children as no others are. And shall we suppose
that the prayers of a father or mother who is specially dis-
honoured by his or her children, are heard by the Gods in
accordance with nature; and that if a man is honoured by
them, and in the gladness of his heart earnestly entreats the

504 LAWS.

Gods in his prayers to do them good, he is not equally heard,
and that they do not minister to his request? If not, they
would be very unjust ministers of good, and that we affirm to be
contrary to their nature.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. May we not think, as I was saying just now, that we can
possess no image which is more honoured by the Gods, than
that of a father or grandfather, or of a mother stricken in years?
whom when aman honours, the heart of the God rejoices, and
he is ready to answer their prayers. And, truly, the figure of an
ancestor is a wonderful thing, far higher than that of a lifeless
image. For when they are honoured by us, they join in our
prayers, and when they are dishonoured, they utter imprecations
against us; but lifeless objects do neither. And, therefore, if a
man makes a right use of his father and grandfather and other
aged relations, he will have the best of all images which can
procure him the favour of the Gods.

Cle. Excellent.

Ath. Every man of understanding fears and respects the
prayers of his parents, knowing well that many times and to
many persons they have been accomplished. Now, these things |
being thus ordered by nature, good men think that they are the
gainers by having aged parents living to the end of their life, or 93:
if they depart early, they are deeply lamented by them; and to
the bad they are very terrible. Wherefore let every man hon-
our with every sort of lawful honour his own parents agreeably
to what has now been said. But if this prelude be an unmeaning
sound in the ears of any one, let the law follow, which may be
rightly imposed in these terms: If any one in this city be not
sufficiently careful of his parents, and do not regard and gratify
in every respect their wishes more than those of his sons and of
his other offspring or of himself,—let him who experiences this
sort of treatment either come himself, or send some one to
inform the three eldest guardians of the law, and three of the
women who have the care of marriages; and let them look to
the matter and punish the evildoers with stripes and imprison-
ment until they are thirty years of age, that is to say, if they be
men, or if they be women let them undergo the same punish-
ment up to forty years of age. But if, when they are still more

BOOK XI. 505

advanced in years, they continue the same neglect of their
parents, and do them any hurt, let them be brought before a
court, in which every single one of the eldest citizens shall be
the judges, and if the offender be convicted, let the court
determine what he ought to pay or suffer, and any penalty
may be imposed on him which a man can do or suffer. If the
person who has been wronged is unable to inform the archons,
let any freeman who hears of his case inform, and if he do not,
he shall be deemed base, and shall be liable to pay damages on
the requisition of any one who likes. And if a slave informs, he
shall be free, and if he be the slave of the injurer or injured
party he shall be enfranchised by the magistrates, or if he
belong to any other citizen the public shall pay a price on his
behalf to the owner, and let the archons take heed, that no
one wrongs him out of revenge, and because he has given
information.

As to cases in which one injures another by poisons, where
they are fatal we have already spoken of them; but about other
cases in which a person intentionally and of malice harms
another with meats, or drinks, or ointments, nothing has as yet
been determined. For there are two kinds of poisons used
among men, which cannot clearly be distinguished. There is
one kind of poison which injures bodies by the use of other

33 bodies according to a natural law, and of this we have spoken ;
but there is another kind which injures. by sorceries, and in-
cantations, and magic bonds, as they are termed, and induces
one class of men to injure others as far as they can, and
persuades others that they above all persons are liable to be
injured by the powers of the magician. Now it is not easy to
know the nature of all these things ; nor if a man do know can
he readily persuade others of his belief. And when men are
disturbed at the sight of waxen images fixed either at the doors,
or in a place where three ways meet, or in the sepulchres of
parents, there is no use in trying to persuade them that they
should despise all such things, because they have no certain
knowledge about them, But we must have a law in two parts,
concerning poisoning, in whichever of the two ways the attempt
is made, and we must entreat, and exhort, and advise men not
to have recourse to such practices, by which they scare the

506 LAWS.

multitude out of their wits, as if they were children, com-
pelling the legislator and the judge to heal the fears which the
sorcerer arouses, and to tell them in the first place, that he who
attempts to poison or enchant others knows not what he is
doing, either as regards the body (unless he have a knowledge of
medicine), or as regards his enchantments, unless he happens to
be a prophet or diviner. Let the law, then, run as follows —
about poisoning or witchcraft: He who employs poison to do
any injury not fatal to a man himself, or to his servants, or any
injury whether fatal or not, to his cattle or his bees, if he bea
physician, and be convicted of poisoning, shall be punished with
death ; or if he be a private person, the court shall determine
what he is to pay or suffer. But he who seems to be the sort of
man who injures others by magic knots, or enchantments, or
incantations, or any of the like practices, if he be a prophet or
diviner, let him die; and if, not being a prophet, he be convicted
of witchcraft, as in the previous case, let the court fix what he
ought to pay or suffer.

When a man does another any injury by theft or violence,
for the greater injury let him pay a greater penalty to the
injured man, and a less penalty for the smaller injury; but in
all cases, whatever the injury be, as much as will compensate
the loss. And besides the compensation of the wrong, let a
man pay a further penalty for the chastisement of his offence:
he who has done the wrong instigated by the folly of another !, 93
through the lightheartedness of youth or the like, shall pay a,
lighter penalty ; but he who has injured another through his
own folly, when overcome by pleasure or pain, in cowardice
and fear, or lust, or envy, or implacable anger, shall endure a
heavier punishment. Not that he is punished because he did
wrong, for that which is done can never be undone, but in order
that in future times, he, and those who see him corrected, may
utterly hate injustice, or at any rate abate much of their evil-
doing. Having an eye to all these things, the law, like a good™
archer, should aim at the right measure of punishment, and in
all cases at the deserved punishment. In the attainment of
this the judge shall be a fellow-worker with the legislator,

1 Putting the comma after dAXorpia.

BOOK XI. 507

whenever the law leaves to him to determine what the offender
shall suffer or pay ; and he, like a painter, shall fill up the out-
line with suitable details. This is what we must do, Megillus
and Cleinias, in the best and fairest manner that we can: saying
what the punishments are to be of all actions of theft and
violence, and giving laws of such a kind as the Gods and sons
of Gods would have us give.

If a man be mad he shall not be at large in the city, but his
relations shall keep him at home in any way which they can;
or if not, let them pay a penalty,—he who is of the highest
class shall pay a penalty of one hundred drachmas, whether
he be a slave or a freeman whom he neglects; and he of the
second class shall pay four-fifths of a mina; and he of the third
class three-fifths; and he of the fourth class two-fifths. Now,
there are many sorts of madness, some arising out of disease,
which we have already described; and there are other kinds,
which originate in an evil and passionate temperament, and are
increased by education; out of a slight quarrel this class of
madmen will often raise a storm of abuse against one another,
and nothing of that sort ought to be allowed to exist in a
well-ordered state. Let this, then, be the law about abuse,
which shall relate to all cases: No one shall speak evil of
another; and when a man disputes with another he shall teach
and learn of the disputant and the company, but he shall abstain
from evil speaking ; for out of the imprecations which men utter

)35 against one another, and the feminine habit of casting aspersions
on one another, and using foul names, beginning in words light
as air, they proceed to deeds, and the greatest enmities and
hatreds spring up. For the speaker gratifies his anger, which
is an ungracious element of his nature; and nursing up his
wrath by the entertainment of evil thoughts, and exacerbating
that part of his soul which was formerly civilized by education,
he lives in a state of savageness and moroseness, and pays a
bitter penalty for his anger. And in such cases almost all men
have a way of saying something ridiculous about their opponent,
and there is no man who is in the habit of laughing at another
who does not miss virtue-and earnestness altogether, or lose the
better half of greatness. Wherefore let no one say anything
of that sort at the temple, or at the public sacrifices, or at the

508 LAWS.

games, or in the agora, or in a court of justice, or in any public
assembly. And let him who has the charge of such matters
chastise an offender, and he shall be blameless; but if he fail
in doing so, he shall not claim the prize of virtue; for he is one
who heeds not the laws, and does not do what the legislator
commands. And if in any other place any one indulges in
these sort of revilings, whether he have begun the quarrel or
is only retaliating, let any elder who is present support the law,
and control with blows those who give way to passion, which
is another great evil; and if he fail, let him be liable to pay
the appointed penalty. And we say further, that he who is
engaged in the practice of reviling cannot revile without
attempting to say what is ludicrous; afd this is the use of
ridicule, employed in a moment of anger, which we condemn.
Again, do we admit into our state the comic writers who are
so fond of making mankind ridiculous, if they attempt in a
good-natured manner to turn the laugh against our citizens?
or do we draw the distinction of jest and earnest, and allow
a man to make use of ridicule in jest and without anger about
any thing or person; but as we were saying, not if he be angry
and have a set purpose? We forbid earnest—that is unalterably
fixed; but we have still to say who are to be sanctioned or
not to be sanctioned by the law in the employment of innocent
humour. A comic poet, or maker of iambic or satirical lyric
verse, shall not be permitted to ridicule any of the citizens,
either by word or image, either in anger or without anger.
And if any one is disobedient, the judges shall either at once
expel him from the place, or he shall pay a fine of three minae,
which shall be dedicated to the God who presides over the
contests. Those only who have already received permission
shall be allowed to write verses at one another without anger
and in jest, but in anger and in serious earnest they shall not
be allowed. The decision of this matter shall be left to the
superintendent of the general education of the young, and
whatever he may license, the writer shall be allowed to produce,
and whatever he rejects let neither the poet himself exhibit,
nor ever teach any other, slave or freeman, under the penalty of
being dishonoured, and held disobedient to the laws.

_ Now, he is not to be pitied who is only hungry, or who

BOOK X1. 509

suffers any bodily pain, but he who is temperate, or has other
virtues, and at the same time suffers from misfortune, he is to
be pitied; and it would be an extraordinary thing if such an
one, whether slave or freeman, were utterly forsaken and fell
into the extremes of poverty in any tolerably well-ordered city
or government. Wherefore the legislator may safely make a
law applicable to such cases in the following terms: Let there
be no beggars in our state; and if anybody begs, seeking to
collect the means of life by perpetual prayers, let the wardens
of the agora turn him out of the agora, and the wardens of the
city out of the city, and the wardens of the country send him
out of any other part of the country over the border, that so
the country may be cleared of this sort of animal.

If a slave of either sex injure anything, which is not his or
her own, through inexperience, or some improper practice, and
the injured person be not in part to blame, the master of the
slave who has done the harm shall either make full satisfaction,
or give up the person who has done the injury. But if the
master argue that the charge has arisen by collusion between
the injured party and the injurer, with the view of obtaining
the slave, let him sue him who says that he has been injured
for malpractices. And if he convict him let him receive double
the value which the court fixes as the price of the slave; and
if he lose his suit, let him make amends for the injury, and
give up the slave. And if an animal, whether horse, or dog,
or any other beast, injure a neighbour, the owner shall in like
manner pay for the injury.

If any man voluntarily refuses to be a witness, he who wants
him shall summon him, and he who is summoned shall come to
the trial; and if he knows and is willing to bear witness, let
him bear witness, but if he says he does not know let him swear
by the three divinities Zeus, and Apollo, and Themis, that he
37 does not know, and have done with the cause. And he who
is summoned to give witness and does not answer to his
summoner, shall be liable for the harm which ensues according
to law. And if any one summons as witness one who is a
judge, let him give his witness, but he shall not afterwards
vote in the cause. A free woman may give her witness and
plead, if she be more than forty years of age, and may

510 LAWS.

bring an action if she have no husband; but if her husband
be alive she shall only be allowed to bear witness. A slave
of either sex and a child shall be allowed to give evidence and
to plead, but they must produce sufficient sureties that they
will certainly remain until the trial, in case they should be
charged with false witness. And either of the parties in the
cause may bring an accusation of false witness against them,
touching their evidence in whole or in part, if he asserts that
such evidence has been given, previous to the final decision
of the cause. The magistrates shall preserve the accusations
of false witness, and have them kept under the seal of both
parties, and produce them on the day when the trial for false
witness takes place. If a man be twice convicted of false
witness, he shall not be required, and if thrice, he shall not
be allowed to bear witness; and if he dare to witness after he
have been convicted three times, let any one who pleases inform
against him to the magistrates, and let the magistrate hand him
over to the court, and if he be convicted he shall be punished
with death. And in any case in which the evidence is found
to be false, and yet to have given the victory to him who wins
the suit, and more than half the witnesses are condemned, the
decision which was gained by these means shall be rescinded,
and there shall be a discussion and a decision as to whether
the suit was determined by that false evidence or not; and in
whichever way the decision may be given, the previous suit
shall be determined accordingly.

There are many noble things in human life, but to most of
them attach evils which are fated to corrupt and spoil them.
Is not justice noble, which has been the civilizer of humanity?
How then can the advocate of justice be other than noble?
And yet upon this profession which is presented under the
fair name of science has come an evil reputation. In the first
place, we are told that by ingenious pleas and the help of an
advocate the law enables a man to win a particular cause,
whether just or unjust; and that both the art and the power 938
of speech which is thereby imparted are at the service of him
who is willing to pay for them. Now, in our state this so-called
art, whether really an art or only an experience and practice
destitute of any art, ought if possible never to come into

BOOK]. 511

existence, or if existing among us should listen to the request
of the legislator and go away into another land, and not speak
contrary to justice. If the offenders obey we say no more; but
if they disobey let them hear the voice of the law: If any one
thinks that he will pervert the power of justice in the minds of
the judges, and unseasonably litigate or advocate, let any one
who likes indict him for malpractices of law and dishonest
advocacy, and let him be judged in the court of select judges;
and if he be convicted let the court determine whether he may
be supposed to act from a love of money or from contentiousness,
And if he be supposed to act from contentiousness, the court
shall fix a time during which he shall not be allowed to institute
or plead a cause; and if he be supposed to act as he does from
love of money, in case he be a stranger he shall leave the
country, and never return under penalty of death; but if he be
a citizen he shall die, because he is a lover of money, however
gained; and equally, if he be judged to have acted more than
once from contentiousness, he shall die.

la OKO Cup. G b

IF any herald or ambassador carry a false message to any 941
other city, or bring back a false message from the city to which
he is sent, or be proved to have brought back, whether from
friends or enemies, in his capacity of herald or ambassador,
what they have never said, let him be indicted for having
offended, contrary to the law, in the sacred office and appoint-
ment of Hermes and Zeus, and let there be a penalty fixed,
which he shall suffer or pay if he be convicted.

Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing ; and none of
the sons of Zeus delight in fraud and violence, or ever practised
either. Wherefore let no one be deluded by poets or mytho-
logers into a mistaken belief of such things, nor let him suppose
when he thieves or is guilty of violence, that he is doing nothing
base, but only what the Gods themselves do. For such tales
are untrue and improbable; and he who steals or robs contrary
to the law, neither is nor ever was a God or the son of a God ;
of this the legislator ought to be a better judge than all the
poets put together. Happy is he and may he be for ever happy,
who is persuaded and listens to our words ; but he who disobeys
shall have the following law directed against him: If a man
steals anything belonging to the public, whether that which he
steals be much or little, he shall have the same punishment.
For he who steals a little steals with the same wish as he who
steals much, but with less power. He who takes up anything
more than he has deposited is unjust in the highest degree;
and therefore the law is not disposed to inflict a less penalty on
the one than on the other, because his theft is less, but on the

BOOK LN I. 513

ground that the thief may possibly be in the one case still
curable, and in the other case is incurable. If any one convict
in a court of law a stranger or a slave of a theft of public
property, let the court determine what punishment he shall
suffer, or what penalty he shall pay, bearing in mind that he is
probably not incurable. But the citizen who has been brought
up, as our citizens will have been, if he be found guilty of robbing
his country by fraud or violence, whether he be caught in the
act or not, shall be punished with death ; for he is incurable.

42 Now for expeditions of war much consideration and many
laws are required; the great principle of all is that no one of
either sex should be without a commander; nor should the
mind of any one be accustomed to do anything either in jest
or earnest of his own motion, but in war and in peace he should
look to and follow his leader, and in the least things be under
his guidance ; for example, he should stand or move, or exercise,
or wash, or take his meals, or get up in the night to keep guard
and deliver messages when he is bidden; and in the hour of
danger he should not pursue and not retreat except by order of
his superior ; and in a word, not teach the soul or accustom her
to know or understand how to do anything apart from others. Of
all: soldiers the life should be in common and together; there
neither is nor ever will be a higher, or better, or more scientific
principle than this for the attainment of salvation and victory in
war. And from youth upwards we ought to practise this habit
of commanding others, and of being commanded by others;
anarchy should have no place in the life of man or of the beasts
who are subject to man. I may add that all dances ought to be
performed with a view to military excellence, and agility and
ease should be cultivated with a similar view; and also endur-
ance of the want of meats and drinks, and winter cold and
summer heat, and hard couches; and, above all, care should be
taken not to destroy the natural qualities of the head and the feet
by surrounding them with extraneous coverings, and so hinder-
ing their natural growth of hair and soles. For these are the
extremities, and of all the parts of the body, whether they
are preserved or not is of the greatest consequence , the one is
the servant of the whole body, and the other the master,

43in whom all the ruling senses are by nature set. Let the

VOL. V. itt |

514 LA WS:

young man, when I say this, imagine that he hears the
praises of the military life; and the law shall be as follows:
He shall serve in war who is enrolled or appointed to some
special service, and if any one wrongly absents himself, and
without the leave of the generals, he shall be indicted before
the military commanders for failure of service when the army
comes home; and the soldiers shall be his judges ; the heavy-
armed, and the cavalry, and the other arms of the service shall
form separate courts ; and they shall bring the heavy-armed before
the heavy-armed, and the horsemen before the horsemen, and |
the others in like manner before their peers; and he who is
found guilty shall never be allowed to compete for the prize of
valour, or indict another for not serving on an expedition, or be
an accuser at all in any military matters. Moreover, the court
shall further determine what punishment he shall suffer, or
what penalty he shall pay. When the several suits for failure
of service are completed, the generals shall once more hold.
an assembly, and they shall adjudge the prizes of valour; and
he who likes shall give judgment in his own rank of the service,
saying nothing about any former expedition, nor producing any
proof or witnesses to confirm his statement, but speaking only of
the actual expedition. The crown of victory shall be an olive
wreath which the victor shall offer up at the temple of any war
God whom he likes, adding an inscription for a testimony to last
during life, that such an one has received the first, the second,
or the third prize. Ifany one goes on an expedition, and returns
home before the appointed time, when the generals have not
withdrawn the army, he shall be indicted for desertion before
the same persons who took cognizance of failure of service,
and if he be found guilty the same punishment shall be inflicted
on him. Now, every man who is engaged in any suit ought to
be very careful of bringing false witness against any one, either
intentionally or unintentionally, if he can help, for justice is
truly said to be an honourable maiden’, and falsehood is
naturally hateful to honour and justice. A witness ought to
be very careful not to sin against justice, as for example in what
relates to the throwing away of arms—he must distinguish the
throwing them away when necessary, and not make that a

1 Reading aidoiy.

BOOK XII. 515

reproach, or bring an action against some undeserving person
44on that account. To make the distinction may be difficult ;
but still the law must attempt to define the crime in some way.
Let me endeavour to explain my meaning by an illustration :
If Patroclus had been brought to the tent still alive but without
his arms (and this has happened to innumerable persons), the
original arms, which the poet says were given to Peleus by the
Gods as a nuptial gift when he married Thetis, remaining in
the hands of Hector, then the base spirits of that day might
have reproached the son of Menoetius with having cast away
his arms. Again, there is the case of those who have been
thrown down precipices and lost their arms; and of those who
at sea, and in stormy places, have been suddenly overwhelmed
by floods of water; and there are numberless things of this kind
which one might adduce by way of consolation, and with the
view of glossing over a misfortune which looks suspicious. We
must, therefore, endeavour to divide to the utmost of our power
the greater and more serious evil from the lesser. And lan-
guage admits of a distinction in the use of terms. A man
does not always deserve to be called the thrower away of his
shield; he may be only the loser of his arms. For there is a
great or rather absolute difference between him who is deprived
of his arms by a sufficient force, and him who voluntarily lets
his shield go. Let the law then be as follows: If a person
having arms be overtaken by the enemy and does not turn
round and defend himself, but lets them go voluntarily or
throws them away, choosing a base life and a swift escape
rather than a courageous and noble and blessed death—in such
a case of the throwing away of arms let justice be done; but
the judge need take no note of the case just now mentioned,
for the bad man ought always to be punished, in the hope that
he may be improved, but not the unfortunate, for there is no
use in that. And what shall be the punishment suited to him
who has thrown away his weapons of defence? Tradition says
that Caeneus, the Thessalian, was changed by a God from a
woman into a man; but the converse miracle cannot now be
wrought, or no punishment would be more proper than that
the man who throws away his shield should be changed into
‘a woman. This however is impossible, and therefore let us
io a

516 LAWS.

make a law as nearly like this as we can—that he who loves
his life too well shall be in no danger for the remainder of his
days, but shall live for ever under the stigma of cowardice.
And let the law be in the following terms: When a man is
found guilty of disgracefully throwing away his arms in war,
no general or military officer shall allow him to serve as a
soldier, or give him any place’Wt all in the ranks of soldiers;
and if he give him any place; he shall suffer a penalty which 94.
the public examiner shall exact of him; and the general who
gives him any place if he be of the highest class, shall pay a
thousand drachmae; or if he be of the second class, five minae ;
or if he be of the third; three minae; or if he be of the fourth
class, one mina. And he who is found guilty, shall not only
be dismissed from manly dangers, which is a disgrace appro-
priate to his nature, but he shall pay a thousand drachmae,
if he be of the highest class, and five minae if he be of the
second class, and three if he be of the third class, and a mina,
like the preceding, if he be of the fourth class.

What regulations will be proper about examiners, seeing that
some of our magistrates are elected by lot, and for a year, and
some for a longer time and from selected persons? Of such
persons who will be a sufficient censor or examiner, if any of
them, weighed down by the pressure of office and his own
inability to support the dignity of his office, be guilty of
any crooked practice—who will be a sufficient examiner of
these things? It is by no means easy to find a ruler who
excels rulers in virtue, but still we must endeavour to discover
some censor or examiner who is more than man. For the truth
is, that there are many elements of dissolution in a state, as
there -are also in a ship, or in an animal; they all have
their cords, and girders, and sinews, and one nature diffused
in many places, and called by many names; and the office
of examiner is a most important element in the preservation
and. dissolution of states. For if the examiners are better
than the magistrates, and their duty is fulfilled justly and
without blame, then the whole state and country flourishes and
is happy ; but if the examination of the magistrates is carried
on in a wrong way, then by the relaxation of that justice which
is the uniting principle of all constitutions, every power in

BOOK XII. 517

the state is rent asunder from every other; they no longer
incline in the same direction, but fill the city with faction,
and make many cities out of one, and soon bring all to de-
struction. Wherefore the censors ought to be admirable in
every sort of virtue. Let us invent a mode of creating them,
which shall be as follows :—Every year, after the summer solstice,
the whole city shall meet in the common precincts of Helios and
Apollo, and shall present to the God three men out of their own
number in the manner following: Each citizen shall select, not
946 himself, but some other citizen whom he deems in every way
the best, and who is not less than fifty years of age. And out
of the selected persons who have the greatest number of votes,
they shall make a further selection until they reduce them to
one-half, if they are an even number; but if they are not an even
number, they shall subtract the one who has the smallest number
of votes, and make them an even number, and then take the half
which has the greater number of votes. And if two persons have
an equal number of votes, and thus increase the number beyond
one-half, they shall withdraw the younger of the two and do away
the excess ; and then including all the rest they shall again vote,
until there are left three having an unequal number of votes. But
if all the three, or two out of the three, have equal votes, let
them commit the election to good fate and fortune, and separate
off by lot the first, and the second, and the third; these they
shall crown with an olive wreath and give them the prize of
excellence, at the same time proclaiming to all the world that
the city of the Magnetes, by the providence of the Gods, is again
preserved, and presents to the Sun her three best men as the
first-fruits of Apollo, dedicated according to the ancient law
to him and to the Sun, as long as their lives answer to the
judgment formed of them. And these shall appoint in their
first year twelve examiners, to continue until each has com-
pleted seventy-five years, to whom three shall afterwards be
added yearly; and let these divide all the magistracies into
twelve parts, and prove the holders of them freely by every sort
of test; and let them live while they hold office in the precinct
of Helios and Apollo, in which they were chosen, and let each
one form a judgment of some things individually, and of others
in company with his colleagues; and let him place a writing

518 LAWS.

in the agora about each magistracy, and what the magistrate
ought to suffer or pay, according to the decision of the ex-
aminers. And if a magistrate does not admit that he has
been justly judged, let him bring the examiners before the
select judges, and if he is acquitted by their decision, let him,
if he will, accuse the examiners themselves ; and if he be con-
victed, and have been condemned to death by the examiners,
let him die (and of course he can only die once). But any other
penalties which admit of being doubled let him suffer twice
over. .

And now let us pass under review the examiners themselves ;
when are they to be examined? and what rewards or punish-
ments are to be assigned to them? NDuring the life of these
men, whom the whole state counts worthy of the rewards of 947
virtue, they shall have the first seat at all public assemblies,
and at all Hellenic sacrifices and sacred missions, and other
public and holy ceremonies in which they share. The chiefs
of each sacred mission shall be selected from them, and they
only of all the citizens shall be adorned with a crown of laurel;
they shall all be priests of Apollo and Helios; and one of them,
who is judged first of the priests created in that year, shall be
high priest; and they shall write up his name in each year
to be a measure of time as long as the city lasts; and after
their death they shail be laid out and carried to the grave and
entombed in a manner different from the other citizens. They
shall be decked in a robe all of white, and there shall be no
cryings or lamentations over them; but a chorus of fifteen
youths, and another of men, shall stand around the bier on
either side, hymning the praises of the dead in alternate re-
sponses, the priests blessing them in song all day long; and
in the morning an hundred of the youths who practise gymnastic
exercises, and whom the relations of the departed shall choose,
shall carry the bier to the sepulchre, the young men march-
ing first, dressed in the garb of warriors, the cavalry with their
horses, the heavy-armed with their arms, and the others in
like manner. And the youths around the bier and in front
shall sing their national hymn, and maidens shall follow behind,
and with them the women who have passed the age of child-
bearing; next, unless the Pythian Oracle forbid them, shall

BOOK XII. 519

follow priests and priestesses, because this burial is free from
pollution, although they are interdicted from other burials. The
place of burial shall be an oblong vaulted chamber constructed
of tufa, which will last for ever, having stone couches placed
side by side. And here they will lay the blessed person, and
surround the sepulchre with a mound of earth and with a grove
of trees on every side but one; and on that side the sepulchre
shall be allowed to extend for ever, and will not need a mound.
Every year they shall have contests in music and gymnastics,
and in horsemanship, in honour of the dead. These are the
honours which shall be given to those who are acquitted by
the examiners ; but if any of them, trusting to the scrutiny
being over, should, after the judgment has been given, manifest
the wickedness of human nature, let the law ordain that he who
48 pleases shall indict him, and let the cause be tried in the
following manner. In the first place, the court shall be com-
posed of the guardians of the law, and to them the surviving
examiners shall be added, as well as the court of select judges ;
and let the pursuer lay his indictment in this form :—He shall
say that so-and-so is unworthy of the prize of virtue and of
his office; and if the defendant be convicted let him be deprived
of his office, and of the burial, and of the other honours given
him. But if the prosecutor do not obtain the fifth part of the
votes, let him, if he be of the first class, pay twelve minae, and
eight if he be of the second class, and six if he be of the third
class, and two minae if he be of the fourth class.
- The so-called decision of Rhadamanthus is worthy of all
admiration. He knew that the men of his own time believed
and had no doubt that there were Gods, which was a reasonable
belief in those days, because most men were the sons of Gods,
and according to tradition he was one himself. He appears
to have thought that he ought to commit judgment to no man,
but to the Gods only, and in this way suits were simply and
speedily decided by him. For he made the two parties at issue
take an oath respecting the points in dispute, and so got rid
of the matter speedily and safely. But now that a certain
portion of mankind do not believe at all in the existence of
the Gods, and others imagine that they have no care of us,
and the opinion of most men and of the worst men is that

520 LAWS.

in return for a’ small sacrifice and flattering words they will
aid them in abstracting a great deal of money, and deliver
them from divers and great penalties, the way of Rhadamanthus
is no longer suited to the needs of justice, for as the opinions
of men about the Gods are changed, the laws should also be
changed :—In the granting of suits a rational legislation ought
to do away with the oaths of the parties on either side—he who
obtains leave to bring in a lawsuit should write down the
charges, but not add an oath; and the defendant in like manner
should give his denial to the magistrates in writing, and not
swear; for it is a dreadful thing to know, when many lawsuits
are going on in a state, that almost half the people who are
in the habit of meeting one another at the public meals and
in other companies and relations of private life are perjured.
Let the law, then, be as follows:—-A judge who is about to give
judgment shall take an oath, and he who appoints the magistrates
of the state by oaths or by the giving of votes which he carries
from the temple, shall take an oath; and the judge of dances
and of all music, and the superintendents and umpires of 94
gymnastic and equestrian contests, and any others in which,
as far as men can judge, there is nothing to be gained by a
false oath; but all cases in which a denial confirmed by an
oath clearly results in a great advantage to the taker of the
oath, shall be decided without the oath of the parties to the
suit, and the presiding judges shall not permit either of them to
use an oath for the sake of persuading, nor to call down curses
on himself and his race, nor to use unseemly supplications or
womanish laments. But they shall teach and learn what is just
quietly, avoiding words of ill omen; and he who utters them shall
be supposed to speak beside the point, and the judges shall
again bring him back to the question at issue. On the other
hand, strangers in their dealings with strangers shall legally
give and receive oaths, for they will not grow old in the city
or leave a fry of young ones like themselves to be the sons
and heirs of the land.

In minor matters, when the penalty is less than stripes or im-
prisonment or death, permission shall be given to all persons
who wish to prosecute any freeman who disobeys the law. But
as regards the attendance at choruses or processions or any other

BOOK XII. 521
public shows or services, or the celebration of sacrifice in time of
peace, or the payment of contributions in war—in all these cases,
first the necessity of providing for the loss has to be met; and
by those who will not obey, there shall be security given to those
who are empowered by the city and the law to exact the sum
due; and if they forfeit their security, let the goods which they
have pledged be sold and the money given to the city; but
if they ought to pay a larger sum, the several magistrates shall
impose upon the disobedient a suitable penalty, and bring
them before the court, until they are willing to do what they
are ordered.

Now, a state which makes money from the cultivation of the
soil only, and has no foreign trade, must consider what it will do
about the emigration of its own people to other countries, and
the reception of strangers from elsewhere. About these matters
the legislator has to consider, and he will begin by using his
influence as far as he can. The intercourse of cities with one
another is apt to create a confusion of manners; strangers are
always suggesting novelties to strangers. When states are well
governed by good laws the mixture causes the greatest possible
injury; but seeing that most cities are the reverse of well
ordered, the confusion which arises in them from the reception
of strangers, and from the citizens themselves rushing off into
other cities, whenever any one young or old desires to travel
abroad at any time or to go anywhere, is of no consequence.
On the other hand, the refusal of states to receive others and
to allow their own citizens to go to other places is utterly impos-
sible, and to the rest of the world is likely to appear ruthless
and uncivilized ; we call the practice by the name xenelasia or

banishment of strangers, which is a hard word, and is descriptive

of hard and morose ways, as men think. And to be thought
or not to be thought well of by the rest of the world is no light
matter; for the many are not so far wrong in their judgment of
who are bad and who are good, as they are removed from the
nature of virtue in themselves. Even bad men have a divine
instinct which guesses rightly, and very many who are utterly
depraved form correct notions and judgments about the
differences of good and bad. Wherefore also the generality
of cities are right in exhorting men to valuc a good reputation

522 LAWS.

in the world, for there is no truth greater and more important
than this—that he who is really good (I am speaking of him
who would be perfect) seeks for reputation with, but not with-
out, the reality of goodness. And our Cretan colony ought also
to acquire the fairest and noblest reputation for virtue from
other men; and there is every reason-to expect that, if the
reality answers to the idea, there will be few like her among
well-ordered cities, beholding the face of the sun and of the
other Gods. Wherefore, in the matter of emigration to other
countries and the reception of strangers, we enact as follows :—
In the first place, let no one be allowed to go anywhere at
all into a foreign country who is less than forty years of age;
and no one shall go in a private capacity, but only in some
public one, as a herald, or on an embassy, or on a sacred mission.
Going abroad on an expedition or in war is not to be included
among travels of the class authorized by the state. To Apollo
at Delphi and to Zeus at Olympia and to Nemea and to the
Isthmus citizens should be sent to take part in the sacrifices
and games dedicated to these Gods; and they should send as
many as possible, and the best and fairest that can be found,
and they will make the city renowned at holy meetings in time
of peace, procuring a glory which shall be the converse of that 95:
which is gained in war; and when they come home they shall
teach the young that the institutions of other states are inferior
to their own. And they shall send spectators of another sort,
if they have the consent of the guardians, being such citizens as
desire to look a little more at leisure at the doings of other men;
and these no law shall hinder. For a city which has no experi-
ence of good and bad men or intercourse with them, can never
be thoroughly and perfectly civilized, nor, again, can the citizens
of a city properly observe the laws by habit only, and without
an intelligent understanding of them. And there always are
in the world a few inspired men whose acquaintance is beyond
price, and who spring up quite as much in ill-ordered as in
well-ordered cities. And he who lives in a well-ordered city
should be ever tracking them out, going forth by sea and land
to seek after him who is incorruptible—desiring to establish
more firmly institutions which are good already, and amending
what is deficient; for without this examination and enquiry a

i)

BOOK XII. 523

city will never continue perfect any more than if the examination
is ill-conducted.

Cle. How can these two objects be attained ?

Ath, In this way: In the first place, our spectator shall be of
not less than fifty years of age; he shall be a man of repute,
especially in military matters, who will exhibit to other cities
a model of the guardians of the law, but when he is more than
sixty years of age he shall no longer continue in his office of
spectator. And when he has carried on his inspection during
as many out of the ten years of his office as he pleases, on his
return home let him go to the assembly of those who review
the laws. This shall be a mixed body of young and old men,
who shall be required to meet daily between the hour of dawn
and the rising of the sun. They shall consist, in the first place,
of the priests who have obtained the rewards of virtue; and,
in the second place, of guardians of the law, choosing the ten
eldest of them; the general superintendent of education shall
also be a member, as well the last of them as those who have
been released from the office, and each of them shall take with
him as his companion a young man, whomsoever he chooses,
between the ages of thirty and forty. These shall compose
the assembly, and they shall always discourse about the laws
of their own city or any different ones of which they may hear
existing elsewhere; also about kinds of knowledge which may
appear to be of use, and will throw light upon the examination,
or of which the want will make the subject of laws dark and
uncertain to them. Any knowledge of this sort which the
elders approve, the younger men shall learn with all diligence ;
and if any one of those who have been invited appear to be
unworthy, the whole assembly shall blame him who invited him.
The rest of the city shall watch over those among the young
men who distinguish themselves, having an eye upon them,
and especially honouring them if they succeed, but dishonouring
them above the rest if they turn out to be inferior to the rest.
This is the assembly to which he who has visited the institutions
of other men, on his return home shall straightway go, and if
he have discovered any one who has anything to say about
the enactment of laws or education or nurture, or if he has
himself made any observations, let him communicate his dis-

524 LAWS.

coveries to the whole assembly. And if he be seen to have
come home neither better nor worse, let him be praised at any
rate for his enthusiasm; and if he be much better, let him be
much praised; and not only while he lives but after his death
let the assembly honour him with fitting honours. Or if on
his return home he appear to have been corrupted, pretending
to be wise when he is not, let him be prohibited from speaking
with any one, whether young or old; and if he will hearken
to the rulers, then he shall be permitted to live as a private
individual; but if he will not, let him die, if he be convicted
in a court of law of interfering about education and the laws.
And if he deserve to be indicted, and none of the magistrates
indict him, let that be counted as a disgrace to them when
the rewards of virtue are decided.

Let such be the character of the person who goes abroad, and
let him go abroad under these conditions. In the next place, the
stranger who comes from abroad should be received in a friendly
spirit. Now, there are four kinds of strangers, of whom we
must make some mention—the first is, he who comes and
stays throughout the summer; this class are like birds of
passage, taking wing in pursuit of commerce, and flying over
the sea to other cities, while the season lasts; he shall be
received in market-places and harbours and public buildings,
near the city but outside, by those magistrates who are ap-
pointed to superintend these matters; and they shall take care
that a stranger, whoever he be, duly receives justice; but he
shall not be allowed to make any innovation. They shall hold 9,
the intercourse with him which is necessary, and this shall be
as little as possible. The second kind is just a spectator who
comes to see with his eyes and hear with his ears the festival
of the Muses; such ought to have entertainment provided them
at the temples by hospitable persons, and the priests and
ministers of the temple should see and attend to them. But
they should not remain more than a reasonable time; let them
see and hear that for the sake of which they came, and then
go away, neither having suffered nor done any harm. The
priests shall be their judges, if any of them receives or does
any wrong up to the sum of fifty drachmae, but if any greater
charge be brought, in such cases the suit shall come before

BOOK. & TT: 525
the wardens of the agora. The third kind of stranger is he
who comes on some public business from another land, and
is to be received with public honours. He is to be specially
received by the commanders of horse and foot, and the host
by whom he is entertained, in conjunction with the Prytanes,
shall have a special care of what concerns him. There is a
fourth class of persons answering to our spectators, who come
from another land to look at ours. In the first place, such
visits will be rare, and the visitor should be at least fifty years
of age; he may possibly be wanting to see something that
is rich and rare in other states, or himself to show something
in like manner to another city. Let such an one, then, go
unbidden to the doors of the wise and rich, being himself one
of them: let him go, for example, to the house of the superin-
tendent of education, confident that he is a fitting guest of such
a host, or let him go to the house of some of those who have
gained the prize of virtue and hold discourse with them, both
learning from them, and also teaching them; and when he
has seen and heard all, he shall depart, as a friend taking leave
of friends, and be honoured by them with gifts and suitable
tributes of respect. These are the customs, according to which
our city should receive all strangers of either sex who come to
them from other countries, and should send forth her own
citizens, showing respect to Zeus, the God of hospitality, not
driving away strangers at meats and sacrifices and by savage
proclamations, as is the manner which prevails among the
children of the Nile.

When a man becomes surety, let him give the security in a
distinct form, acknowledging the whole transaction in a written
document, and in the presence of not less than three witnesses
if the sum be under a thousand drachmae, and of not less than
five witnesses if the sum be above a thousand drachmae. He

34 who is agent for another who sells dishonestly and is not able to
make good the loss, shall himself be responsible; the agent and
the principal shall be equally liable. If a person wishes to find
anything in the house of another, he shall enter naked, or having
only a short tunic and no upper girdle, having first taken an
oath by the customary Gods that he expects to find it there;
he shall then make his search, and the other shall throw open.

526 LAWS.

his house and allow him to search things both sealed and
unsealed, And if a person will not allow the searcher to make
his search, he who is prevented shall go to law with him,
estimating the value of the goods after which he is searching,
and if he be convicted he shall pay twice the value of the
article. If the master be absent from home, the dwellers in
the house shall let him search the unsealed property, and
on the sealed property the searcher shall set another seal, and
shall appoint any one whom he likes, to guard them during five
days; and if the master of the house be absent during a longer
time, he shall take with him the wardens of the city, and so
make his search, opening the sealed property as well as the
unsealed, and then, together with the members of the family
and the wardens of the city, he shall seal them up again as
they were before. There shall be a limit of time in the case
of disputed things, and he who has had possession of them
during a certain time shall no longer be liable to be disturbed.
This shall not, however, apply to houses and lands; but if a
man has any other possessions which he has used and openly
shown in the city and in the agora, and no one has put in a
claim to them, and the other says that he was looking for the
goods at the time, and the owner is proved to have made no
concealment, if they have continued for a year, the one having
the goods and the other looking for them, no one shall be
permitted to claim them after the expiration of a year; or if he
does not use or show the lost property in the market, but only
in the country, and no one offers himself as the owner during
five years, at the expiration of the five years the claim shall be
barred for ever after; or if he uses them in the city, where there
are houses, then the appointed time of claiming the goods shall
be three years, or ten years if he has them in the country in
private. And if he has them in another land, there shall be
no limit of time or prescription, and whenever any one finds
them he may claim them.

If any one prevents another by force from being present at a
trial, whether a principal party or his witnesses ;—if the witness
prevented be a slave, whether his own or belonging to another,
the suit shall be incomplete and invalid; but if he who is
prevented be a freeman, besides. the suit being incomplete

FESO) OG Gf 527

35 the other who has prevented him shall be imprisoned for a year,
and may be made a slave by any one who pleases. And if any
one hinders by force a rival competitor in gymnastic or music,
or any other sort of contest, from being present at the contest,
let him who has a mind inform the presiding judge, and they
shall liberate him who is desirous of competing; and if they
are not able, and he who hinders the other from competing
wins the prize, then they shall give the prize of victory to him
who is prevented, and inscribe him as the conqueror in any
temples which he pleases, and he who hinders the other shall
not be permitted to make any offering or inscription having
reference to that contest, and he shall be liable for damages,
whether he be defeated or whether he conquer.

If any one knowingly receives anything which has _ been
stolen, he shall undergo the same punishment as the thief, and
if a man receives an exile he shall be punished with death.
Every man should regard the friend and enemy of the state
as his own friend or enemy; and if any one makes peace or
war with another on his own account, and without the authority
of the state, he shall in like manner undergo the penalty of
death. And if any fraction of the city declare war or peace
against any, the generals shall indict the authors of this pro-
ceeding, and if they are convicted death shall be the penalty.
Those who serve their country ought to serve without receiving
gifts, and there ought to be no excusing or approving the say-
ing, ‘Men should receive gifts as the reward of good, but not
of evil deeds’; for to know what is good and to persevere in
what we know is no easy matter. The safest course is to obey
the law which says, ‘ Do no service for a bribe, and let him who
disobeys, if he be convicted, simply die. With a view to taxa-
tion, and for many reasons, every man ought to have had his pro-
perty valued : and the tribesmen should likewise bring a register
of the yearly produce to the wardens of the country, that in this
way there may be two valuations; and the public officers may
use annually whichever on consideration they deem the best,
whether they prefer to take a certain portion of the whole
value, or of the annual revenue, after subtracting what is paid
to the common tables.

Touching offerings to the Gods, the moderate man should,

528 LAS.

offer moderate ornaments. Now the land and the hearth of
the house of all men is sacred to all Gods; wherefore let no
man dedicate a second shrine to the Gods. In other cities,
gold and silver, whether possessed by private persons or in
temples, is an invidious thing, and ivory, the product of a dead 9:
body, is not a proper offering ; brass and iron, again, are instru-
ments of war—let a man, therefore, offer what he likes which
is made of wood only, and in like manner of stone to the public
temples, but of woven work let him not offer more than one woman
can execute in a month. White colours are suitable to the
Gods, especially in woven works, but dyes should only be used
for the adornments of war. The most divine of gifts are figures
of birds and similar offerings, and they should be such as one
painter can execute in a single day, and let other offerings
follow the same rule or pattern. |

Now that the whole city has been divided into parts of which
the nature and number have been described, and laws have been
given about all the most important contracts as far as this was
possible, the next thing will be to have justice done. In the
first place, there shall be elected judges in the courts, who shall
be chosen by the plaintiff and defendant in common: these
shall be called arbiters rather than judges. And in the second
place there shall be judges taken from the village and tribe,
a twelfth part of whom will be selected, and before these the
litigants shall go to contend for greater damages, if the suit
be not decided before the first judges; the defendant, if he be
defeated the second time, shall pay a fifth more than the damages
mentioned in the indictment; and if he finds fault with his
judges and would try a third time, let him carry the suit before
the select judges, and if he be again defeated, let him pay the
whole of the damages and half as much again. And the
plaintiff, if when defeated before the first judges he persist in
going on to the second, shall, if he wins receive a fifth part of
the damages, and if defeated he shall pay a like sum; but if
he is not satisfied with the previous decision, and will insist on
proceeding to a third court, then if he win he shall receive from
the defendant the amount of the damages and, as I said before,
half as much again, but if he lose he shall pay half the assessed
damages. Now of the assignation of courts and completion

BOOK XI: 529

of the number of the judges and the appointment of servants
to the different magistrates, and the times at which the several
causes should be heard, and the votings and delays and all
the things that necessarily concern suits and the order of causes
and the time in which answer is to be given and parties are to
appear—of these and other things akin to these we have indeed
already spoken, but there is no harm in repeating what is
right twice or thrice:—All lesser and easier matters which
the elder legislator has omitted may be supplied by the younger
57 one. Private courts will be sufficiently regulated in this way,
and the public and state courts, and those which the magistrates
must use in the administration of their several offices, exist in
many other states. Many very respectable institutions of this
sort have been framed by good men, and from them the guard-
ians of the law may by reflection derive what is necessary for
the order of our new state, considering and correcting them,
and bringing them to the test of experience, until every detail
appears to be satisfactorily determined ; and then putting the
final seal upon them, and making them irreversible, they shall
use them for ever afterwards. As to what relates to the silence
of judges and the abstinence from words of evil omen and the
reverse, and the differences that there are in the notions of the
just and good and honourable which exist in other states, they
have been partly mentioned already, and another part of them
will be mentioned in their place toward the end. To all these
matters he who would be an equal judge shall justly look,
and he shall possess writings about them that he may learn
them. For of all kinds of knowledge the knowledge of good
laws has the greatest power of improving the learner; other-
wise there would be no meaning in the divine and admirable
law possessing a name akin to mind (vods, véyos). And of all
other words, such as the praises and censures of individuals
which occur in poetry and also in prose, whether written down
or uttered in daily conversation, whether men dispute about
them in the spirit of contention or weakly assent to them, as
is often the case—of all these the one sure test is the writings
of the legislator, which the righteous judge ought to have in
his mind as the antidote of all other words, and’ thus make
himself and the city stand upright, procuring for the good
VOLO YN: Mm

530 LAWS.

the continuance and increase of justice, and for the bad, on the
other hand, a conversion from ignorance and intemperance, and
in general from all unrighteousness, as far as their evil minds
can be healed, but to those whose web of life is in reality
finished, giving death, which is the only remedy for souls in
their condition, as I may truly say again and again. And such 9
judges and chiefs of judges will be worthy of receiving praise
from the whole city.

When the suits of the year are completed the following laws
shall regulate their execution: In the first place, the judge
shall assign to the party who wins the suit the whole property
of him who loses, with the exception of mere necessaries, after
the votes have been announced by the herald in the hearing of
the judges, and when the month arrives following the month in
which the courts are sitting, (unless the gainer of the suit has
been previously satisfied,) the court shall follow up the case,
and hand over to the winner the goods of the loser; but if
they find that he has not the means of paying, and the sum
deficient is not less than a drachma, the insolvent person shall
not have any right of going to law with any other man until he
have satisfied the debt of the winning party ; but other persons
shall still have the right of bringing suits against him. And
if any one after he is condemned refuses to acknowledge the
authority which condemned him, let the magistrates who are
thus deprived of their authority bring him before the court of
the guardians of the law, and if he be cast, let him be punished
with death, as a subverter of the whole state and of the
laws.

Thus a man is born and brought up, and after this manner he
begets and brings up his own children, and has his share of
dealings with other men, and suffers if he has done wrong to
any one, and receives satisfaction if he has been wronged, and
so at the appointed time, under the dominion of the laws,
he grows old, and meets his end in the order of nature. Con-
cerning the dead of either sex, the religious ceremonies which
may fittingly be performed, whether appertaining to the Gods
of the under world or of this, shall be decided by the inter-
preters with absolute authority. Their sepulchres are to be
in places which are not cultivated, and there shall be no monu-

BOOK Xi, 531

ments to them, either large or small, but they shall occupy
that part of the country which is naturally adapted for receiving
and concealing the bodies of the dead with as little hurt as
possible to the living. No man, living or dead, shall deprive
the living of the sustenance which the earth, our mother, is
naturally inclined to bear to them. And let not the mound
be piled higher than would be the work. of five men completed
in five days; nor shall the stone which is placed over the
spot be larger than would be sufficient to receive the praises
of the dead included in four heroic lines. Nor shall the laying
59 out of the dead continue for a longer time than is sufficient
to distinguish between him who is in a trance only and him
who is really dead, and speaking generally, the third day after
death will be a fair time for carrying out the body to the
sepulchre. Now we must believe the legislator when he tells
us that the soul is in all respects superior to the body, and
that even in life what makes each one of us to be what we are
is only the soul; and that the body follows us about in the
likeness of each of us, and therefore, when we are dead, the
bodies of the dead are rightly said to be our shades or images ;
for that the true and immortal being of each one of us which
is called the soul goes on her way to other Gods, that before
them she may give an account—an inspiring hope to the good,
but very terrible to the bad, as the laws of our fathers tell us,
which also say that not much can be done in the way of helping
a man after he is dead. But the living—he should be helped by
all his kindred, that while in life he may be the holiest and
justest of men, and after death may have no great sins to be
punished in the world below. If this be true,a man ought not
to waste his substance under the idea that all this lifeless mass
of flesh which is in process of burial is connected with him ;
he should consider that the son, or brother, or the beloved one,
whoever he may be, whom he thinks he is laying in the earth, -
has gone away to complete and fulfil his own destiny, and that
his duty is rightly to order the present, and to spend moder-
ately on the lifeless altar of the Gods below. But the legislator
does not intend moderation to be taken in the sense of mean-
ness. Let the law, then, be as follows :—The expenditure on
the entire funeral, of him who is of the highest class, shall not
Mm 2

332 LAWS.

exceed five mimae. and for him who is of the second class, three
minae, and for him who is of the third class two mimae, and for

him who is of the fourth class one mina, will be a fair limit of ©

expense. The guardians of the law ought to take especial
care of the different ages of life, whether childhood or manhood,
or any other ace. And at the end of all, let there be some one
guardian of the law presiding, who shall be chosen by the

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=.
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-

ee sare

friends of the deceased to superintend, and let it be glory to —
him to manage with fairness and moderation the affairs of the —

dead, and a discredit to him if they are not well managed. Let
the laying out and other ceremonies be in accordance with the

law, but the lawgiver may also concede in some pomts to the ©
customs of his fellow citizens. It would be monstrous for ex- ©

ample that he should command any man to weep or abstain from
weeping over the dead ; but he may forbid cries of lamentation.

and not allow the voice of the mourner to be heard outside the of
house ; also, he may forbid the bringing of the dead body into —

the open streets, or the processions of mourners im the streets,
and may require that before daybreak they should be outside
the city. Let these. then, be our laws relating to such matters,
and let him who obeys be free from penalty; but he who
disobeys even a single guardian of the law shall be punished
by them all im a fitting penalty. Other modes of bumal, or
again of denial of burial, which is to be refused in the case of
robbers of temples and parricides and the like. have been
described and embodied in the preceding laws, so that now our
work of legislation is pretty near an end; but in all cases the
end does not consist in dog something or acquiring something
or building something, but the end will be attained and finally
accomplished, when we have provided for the perfect and
lasting continuance of our imstitutions; until then the work ts
incomplete.

Cie. That is very good, Stranger: but I wish you would teil
me more clearly what you mean.

Atk. O Cleinias, many things of old time were well said and
sung; and the saying about the Fates was one of them.

Cle. What is it?

Atk. The saying that Lachesis or the giver of the lots is the
first of them, and that Clotho or the weaver is the second of

161

BOOK XII. 533

them, and that Atropos or the unchanging one is the third of
them ; and that she is the preserver of the things which are
woven, [which may be compared in a figure to the welding
power of fire,] working! the quality of unchangeableness in them.
I am speaking of the things which ina state and government
give not only health and salvation to the body, but law, or
rather preservation of the law, in the soul; and, if I am not
mistaken, this seems to be still wanting in our laws: we have
still to see how we can implant in them this irreversible
nature.

Cle. It will be a great thing if we can only discover how
such a nature can be implanted.

Ath, But that is not impossible; so much I can quite clearly
see.

Cle. Then let us not think of desisting until we have imparted
this quality to our laws; for it is ridiculous, after a great deal
of labour has been spent, to place a thing at last on an insecure
foundation.

Meg. 1 approve of your suggestion, and am quite of the same
mind with you.

Cle. Very good: And now what, according to you, is to be
the salvation of our government and of our laws, and how is it
to be effected ?

Ath. Were we not saying that there must be in our city a
council which was to be of this sort: Ten of the oldest guard-
ians of the law, and all those who have obtained prizes of virtue,
were to meet, and the council was also to include those who
had visited foreign countries in the hope of hearing something
that might be of use in the preservation of the laws, and who,
having come safely home, and having been tested in these same
matters, had proved themselves to be worthy to take part in the
meeting ;—each of the members was to select some young man
of not less than thirty years of age, he himself judging in the
first instance whether the young man is worthy by nature and
education, and then introducing him to the others, and if he

seem to them also to be worthy he was to be adopted by them ;

but if not, they are forbidden to elect him, and still more is

1 Reading drepyaCopérny, as in Stallbaum’s note.

534 LAWS.

he forbidden to accept their nomination. The meeting of the
council was to be held early in the morning, when everybody
was at leisure from all other business, whether public or private,
—something of that sort was said by us before.

Cle. True.

Ath, Then now returning to the council, I would say further,
—that this institution having all the required conditions, might
save us all, and be the anchor of the state, if let down into the
sea. |
Cle. How so?

Ath, Now is the time for me to speak the truth in all earnest-
ness.

Cle. Well said, and I hope that you will fulfil your intention.

Ath, Know, Cleinias, that every work has a saviour, as of the
animal the soul and the head are the chief saviour.

Cle. Once more, what do you mean?

Ath. The well-being of those two is obviously the preserva-
tion of every living thing ?

Cle, How is that?

Ath. The soul, besides other things, contains mind, and the
head, besides other things, contains sight and hearing ; and the
mind, mingling with the noblest of the senses, and becoming one
with them, may be truly called the salvation of all things.

Cle. Yes, quite so.

Ath, Yes, indeed; but with what is that intellect concerned
which, mingling with the senses, is the salvation of ships in
storms as well as in fair weather? In the ship, is it not the
mind which pilots; and the sailors uniting their perceptions
with the piloting mind, preserve themselves and the ship?

Cle. Very true.

Ath, We do not want many illustrations about such matters:
—What aim would the general of an army, or what aim would a
physician propose to himself, if he were seeking to attain
salvation—?

Cle. Very good.

Ath. Does not the general aim at victory and superiority in 962
war, and do not the physician and his minister aim at producing
health in the body?

Cle, Certainly.

BOOK XII. 535

Ath. And a physician who is ignorant about the body, that
is to say, who knows not that which we just now called health,
or a general who knows not victory, or any others who are
ignorant of the particulars of the arts which we mentioned,
cannot be said to have understanding about any of these
matters ?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, And what would you say of the state, if a person proves
to be ignorant of the aim to which the statesman should look ?
Ought he to be called a ruler at all; and further, will he ever
be able to preserve that of which he does not even know the
aim?

Cle. Impossible.

Ath, And therefore, if our settlement of the country is to be
perfect, we ought to have some institution, which, as I was
saying, will tell what is the aim of the state, and will inform us
how we are to attain this, and what law or what man will advise
us with that view. Any state which has no such institution is
likely to be devoid of mind and sense, and in all her actions will
proceed by mere chance.

Cle. Very true.

Ath, In which, then, of the parts or institutions of the state is
any such guardian power to be found? Can we say?

Cle. Iam not quite certain, Stranger ; but I have a suspicion
that you are referring to the assembly which you just now said
was to meet at night.

Ath, You have answered rightly, Cleinias; and we must
assume, as the argument implies, that this council possesses all
virtue ; and the beginning of virtue is not to make mistakes by
guessing many things, but to look at one thing, and on this to
fix all our aims.

Cle. Quite true.

Ath. Then now we shall see why there is nothing wonderful
in states going astray—the reason is that their legislators have
such different aims; nor is there anything wonderful in some
laying down as their rule of justice, that certain individuals
should bear rule in the state, whether they be good or bad,
and others that the citizens should be rich, not caring whether
they are the slaves of other men or not. The tendency of

536 LAWS.
others, again, is towards freedom, and some legislate with a view
to both at once; they want to be at the same time free and
the lords of other states; but the wisest men, as they deem
themselves to be, look to all these and similar aims, and there
is no one of them which they exclusively honour, and to which
they would have all things look.

Cle. Then, Stranger, our old assertion will hold, for we were g¢€
saying that laws generally should look to one thing only ; and
this, as we admitted, was rightly said to be virtue.

WILL. WN CR,

Cle. And we said that virtue was of four kinds?

Ai Ouite true.

Cle. And that mind was the leader of all four, and that to
her the three other virtues and all other things ought to have
regard?

Ath. You follow me capitally, Cleinias, and I would ask you
to follow me to the end, for we have told you to what the mind
of the pilot, the mind of the general and of the physician ought
respectively to look; and now we may turn to mind political,
of whom, as of a human creature, we will ask a question: O
wonderful being, and to what are you looking? The physician
is able to tell his single aim in life, but you, the superior, as you
declare yourself to be of all intelligent beings, when you are
asked are not to able to tell. Can you, Megillus, and you,
Cleinias, say distinctly what is the aim of mind political, in
return for the many explanations of things which I have given
you?

Cle. We cannot, Stranger.

Ath, Well, but ought we not to desire to see it, and to see in
what it is found?

Cle. For example, in what ?

Ath, For example, we were saying that there are four kinds
of virtue, and as there are four of them, each of them must be
one.

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. And further, all four of them we call one; for we say
that courage is a virtue, and that prudence is a virtue, and
the same of two others, as if they were in reality not many
but one.

HOLBY GHG i 537

Cle. Quite so.

Ath, There is no difficulty in seeing in what way the two
differ from one another, and have received two names, and so of
the rest. But there is more difficulty in explaining why we call
these two and the rest of them by the single name of virtue.

Cle. How do you mean?

Ath. T have no difficulty in explaining what I mean. Let us
distribute the subject into questions and answers,

Cle. Once more, what do you mean?

Ath, Do you ask me what is that one thing which I call
virtue, and then again speak of as two, one part being courage
and the other wisdom? I will tell you how that occurs: One
of them has to do with fear; in this the beasts also participate,
and quite young chiidren,—I mean courage; for a courageous
temper is a gift of nature and not of reason. But without
reason there never has been, or is, or will be a wise and
understanding soul; hence the difference.

Cle. That is true.

Ath. I have now told you in what way the two are different,

964 and do you in return tell me in what way they are one and the
same. Suppose that I ask you in what way the four are one,
and when you have answered me, you will have a right to ask
of me in return in what way they are four; and then let us
proceed to enquire whether in the case of things which have
a name and also a definition to them, true knowledge consists
in knowing the name only and not the definition? Can he
who is good for anything be ignorant about great and glorious
truths without discredit?

Cle. I suppose not.

Ath. And is there anything greater to the legislator and the
guardian of the law, and to him who thinks that he excels all
other men in virtue, and has the rewards of virtues, than these
very qualities of which we are now speaking,—courage, tem-
perance, wisdom, justice ?

Cle. How can there be anything greater?

Ath. And ought not the interpreters, the teachers, the law-
givers, the guardians of others to excel all other men, and
perfectly to show him who desires to learn and know, or whose
evil actions require to be punished. and reproved, what is the

538 LAWS.

nature of virtue and vice—shall the teacher be some poet who
may find his way into the city, or some chance instructor of
youth who professes to be better than him who has won the
palm in every virtue? And can we wonder that when the
guardians are not adequate in speech or action, and have no
adequate knowledge of virtue, the city being unguarded should
experience the common fate of cities in our day?

Cle. Wonder! no.

Ath, Well, then, as I was saying just now, what are we to do?
How can we provide our guardians with a more than common
virtue in speech or action, or in what way can our city be
truly likened to the head and senses of rational beings because
possessing such a guardian power ?

Cle. What, Stranger, is the drift of your comparison?

Ath. Do we not see that the city is the trunk, and are not
the younger guardians, who are chosen for their natural gifts,
placed in the head of the state, having their souls all full of
eyes, with which they look about the whole city? They keep
watch and hand over their perceptions to the memory, and
inform the elders of all that happens in the city; and those 96:
whom we compared to the mind, because they have many
wise thoughts—that is to say, the old men—take counsel, and
making use of the younger men as their ministers, and advising
with them,—in this way both together truly preserve the whole
state :—Shall this be the order of our state, or shall we have
some other order? Shall we say that they are all alike the
owners of the state, and not merely individuals among them
who have had the most careful training and education?

Cle. That, my good sir, is impossible.

Ath. Then we ought to proceed to some more exact training
than that which has preceded.

Cle... Certainly;

Ath, And must not that of which we are in Need be the one
to which we were just now alluding?

Cle. Very true.

Ath. Did we not say that the workman or guardian, if he be
perfect in every respect, ought not only to be able to see the
many aims, but he should press onward to the one, which he
should know, and knowing, order all things with a view to that?

5 :
BOOK XII. 539

Cle. True.

Ath. And can any one have a more exact way of considering
or contemplating anything, than the being able to look at one
idea gathered from many different things ?

Cle. Perhaps not.

Ath, Not ‘perhaps not,’ but ‘certainly not, my good sir, is the
right answer. There never has been a truer method than this
discovered by any man.

Cle. I bow to your authority, Stranger; let us proceed in
the way which you propose.

Ath. Then, as would appear, we must compel the guardians
of our divine state to perceive, in the first place, what that
principle is which is the same in all the four—the same, as we
affirm, in courage and in temperance, and in justice and in
prudence, and which, being one, we call as we ought, by the
single name of virtue. To this, my friends, we will, if you please,
hold fast, and not let go until we have sufficiently explained
what that is to which we are to look, whether to be regarded
as one or as a whole, or as both, or in whatever way. Are we
likely ever to be in a virtuous condition, if we cannot tell
whether virtue is many, or four, or one? Certainly, if you
will take our advice, we shall in some way contrive that this
principle has a place amongst us; but if you have made up
your mind that we should let the matter alone, we will.

Cle. We must not, Stranger, by the God of strangers I
swear that we must not; for in our opinion you speak most
truly, but we should like to know how you will accomplish
your purpose.

966 Arh. Wait a little before you ask; and let us, first of all,
be quite agreed with one another that the purpose has to be
accomplished.

Cle. Certainly, if that is possible.

Ath. Well, and about the good and the honourable, are we to
take the same view—that cach of them are many, but that our
cuardians are to regard them as in some sense one?

Cle. We must consider in what sense.
Ath. And are we to consider only, and to be unable to say

what we think?
Cle. Certainly not; that would be the state of a slave.

540 LAWS.

Ath, And may not the same be said of all good men—that
the true guardians of the laws ought to know their truth, and
to be able to interpret them in words, and carry them out in
action, judging of what is and of what is not well, according
to nature?

Cle. Certainly.

Ath. Is not the knowledge of the Gods one of the noblest
sorts of knowledge ;—to know that they are and know how
great is their power, as far as in man lies? We do indeed
excuse the majority of mankind, who only follow the voice
of the laws, but refuse to admit as guardians any who do not
labour to obtain every possible evidence that there is respect-
ing the Gods; they are forbidden and not allowed to choose
as a guardian of the law, or to place in the select order of
virtue, him who is not an inspired man, and has not laboured
at these things.

Cle. It is certainly just, as you say, that he who is indolent
about such matters or incapable should be rejected, and that
things honourable should be put away from him.

Ath. Are we assured that there are two things which lead
men to believe in the Gods, as we have already stated?

Cle, What are they?

Ath. One is the argument about the soul, which has been
already mentioned—that it is the eldest and most divine of
all things, to which motion attaining generation gives perpetual
existence; the other was an argument from the order of motion
of the heavens, and of all things under the dominion of the
mind which ordered the universe. If a man look upon the
world not lightly or foolishly, there was never any one so
godless who did not experience an effect opposite to that
which the many imagine. For they think that those who
handle these matters by the help of astronomy, and the ac-
companying arts of demonstration, may become godless ;
because they see, as far as they can see, things happening by
necessity, and not by an intelligent will accomplishing good.

Cle. But what is the fact?

Ath. Just the opposite of the opinion which once prevailed
among men, that the sun and stars are without soul. Even
in those days men wondered about them, and that which is now

BOOK Xi 5 AI

ascertained was then conjectured by some who had a more exact
knowledge of them—that if they had been things without soul,
and had no mind, they could never have moved according to
‘such exact calculations; and even at that time some ventured
to hazard the conjecture that mind was the orderer of the
universe. But these same persons again mistaking the nature
of the soul, which they conceived to be younger and not older
than the body, once more overturned the world, or rather, I
should say, themselves, for what they saw before their eyes
in heaven, all appeared to be full of stowes, and earth, and
many other lifeless bodies, and to these they assigned the
various causes of all things. Such studies gave rise to much
atheism and perplexity, and the poets took occasion to be
abusive, comparing the philosophers to she-dogs uttering
vain howlings, and saying other nonsense of the same sort.
But now, as I said, the case is reversed.

Cle. How is that?

Ath. No man can be a true worshipper of the Gods who does
not know these two principles—that the soul is the eldest of
all things which are born, and is immortal and rules over all
bodies; moreover, as I have now said several times, he who
has not contemplated the mind of nature which is said to
exist in the stars, and gone through the previous training,
and seen the connection of them with music, and harmonized
them all with laws and institutions, is not able to give a reason
of such things as have a reason. And he who is unable to
acquire this in addition to the ordinary virtues of a citizen,

968 can hardly be a good ruler of a whole state; but he should
be the subordinate of other rulers. Wherefore, Cleinias and
Megillus, let us consider whether we may not add to all the
other laws which we have discussed this further one,—that the
nocturnal assembly of the magistrates, which has also been
associated with us in our whole scheme of education, shall be
a guard set according to law for the salvation of the state.
Shall we propose this?

Cle. Certainly, my good friend, we will if the thing is
possible.

Ath. Let us strive to the utmost that we may attain this
object; you shall have my best assistance. Of these matters

542 LAVVS,

I have had much experience, and have often considered them,
and I dare say that I shall be able to find others who will
also help.

Cle. I agree, Stranger, that we should proceed along the road
in which God is guiding us; and how we can proceed rightly
has now to be investigated and explained.

Ath, O, Megillus and Cleinias, about these matters we cannot
legislate further until the city is established ; when that is done,
then we will determine what authority the citizens shall have of
their own; but the explanation of how this is all to be ordered
would only be given rightly in a long discourse.

Cle. What do you mean?

Ath. In the first place, a list would have to be made out of
those who by their ages and studies and dispositions and habits,
are well fitted for the duty of a guardian. In the next place, it
will not be easy for them to discover themselves what they
ought to learn, or become the disciple of one who has already
made the discovery. Furthermore, to write down the times at
which, and during which, they ought to receive the several
kinds of instruction, would be a vain thing; for the learners
themselves do not know what is learned to advantage until
the knowledge which is the result of learning has found a place
in the soul of each. And so these details, although they could
not be truly said to be secret, might be said to be incapable
of being stated beforehand, because when stated they would
have no meaning.

Cle. What then are we to do, Stranger, under these circum-
stances? |

Ath, There is a proverb of universal application which may
also be applied to us: We must risk the whole constitution
on the chance of throwing thrice six or thrice ace, and I am
willing to share with you the danger of stating and explaining 96¢
to you my views about education and nurture, which is the
question coming to the surface again. The danger is not a
slight or ordinary one, and I would advise you, Cleinias, in
particular, to see to the matter; for if you order rightly the
city of the Magnetes, or whatever name God may give it, you
will obtain the greatest glory ; or at any rate you will be thought
the most courageous of men in the estimation of posterity.

BOOK XII. 543

J

Dear companions, if this our divine assembly can only be
established, to them we will hand over the city; none of the
present company of legislators, as I may call them, would
hesitate about that. And the state will be perfected and
become a waking reality, which a little while ago we attempted
to create as a dream and in idea only, mingling together reason
and mind in one image, in the hope that our citizens might
be duly mingled and rightly educated; and being educated,
and dwelling in the citadel of the land, might become perfect
guardians, such as we have never seen in all our previous life,
by reason of the saving virtue which is in them.

Meg. Dear Cleinias, after all that has been said, either we
must detain the Stranger, and by supplications and in all
manner of ways make him share in the foundation of the city,
or we must give up the undertaking.

Cle. Very true, Megillus; and you must join with me in
detaining him.

Meg. T will.

ee

PN DE

The following Index refers to the pages of Stephens, which are given in the
margin of the translation. The page of Stephens is divided into five parts by the
letters A, B, C, D, E, which are retained in the Index of Proper Names, though
they are not given in the margin. Thus the letter A signifies the first portion
of the page, the letter B the second, and so on.

The order in which the dialogues are arranged in the translation is as

follows:

NOD 1,
Charmides, pages 9Q— 37. Stephens, ii 153.
Lysis, » 46— 70. - ii. 203.
Laches, ee 7 9-— LOse 5 ae iy Vs
Protagoras, 9 I2I—I179. a i. 309.
Euthydemus, .. » 193—236. - rea hl
Jon, on 9» 243—256. a 155530
Meno, »» 269—304. . i370;
Euthyphro, » 315—333- . eyes
Apology, » 349—375- ” iy.
Crito, » 383—399. . hey
Phaedo, 3» 429—500. > i 57.
VO Tt.
Symposium, .. pages 23— 74. Stephens, ili. 172.
Phaedrus, » 103—I59. ‘3 i227,
Cratylus, 95 203—267. . 1453.
Gorgias, — 9» 315—409. - i. 447.
APPENDIX,
Lesser Hippias, » 423—439. - Hie 258.
First Alcibiades, » 447—492. PS i103.
Menexenus, .. » 499—514. - ite 2ak
Vite Ti.
Republic, pages 193—520. Stephens, ii. 327.
Timaeus, » 6o01—676. es ti 7:
Critias,. . » 087—703. 5 ili, 106.
VOTER AY:
Philebus, pages 49—II7. Stephens, hee ee
Parmenides, .. » 159—220. - ili. 126.
Theaetetus, » 285—370. P re
Sophist, 9 = 425—492. _ 12216:
Statesman, »» 5 33—600. Be ii. 250.
VOTRE N:
Laws, .. pages 193—544. Stephens, ii. 624.

PND ee

A.

ABARIS, the Hyperborean, his charms,
Charm. 158 B.

Abdera, Protagoras-of, Protag. 309 C;
Rep, 10; 600...

Abolition of debt, Laws 5. 736.

Abortion allowed, Rep. 5. 461.

Absolute, the, unknown, Parm. 133,
134; absolute knowledge possessed
by.Godsi29.. 134.

Abstract ideas, origin of, Rep. 7.
5233 Phaedo 74; abstract and con-
crete in opposition, Phaedo 103.
Cp. Ideas.

Academia, Lysis 203 B.

Acarnanians, the two, Euthyd. 271 C.

Accents, change of, Crat. 399 B.

Acesimbrotus, a physician’s name,
Crat. 394 .C.

Achaeans,;“Rep.3.°3891, « 300. Ik,
2030A, Dj 7294 A. Baws.3..682- D,
Ho OB Sia) 3 U OOKdDes Ba tet ALC:
Li:2

Achaemenes, 1 Alcib, 120 E.

Acharnian, Callicles the, Gorg. 495 D.

Achelous, Phaedr. 230 B, 263 D.

Acheron, Phaedo 112 E, «13 D.

Acherusian lake, Phaedo 113 A, B,
OnE S27 .e

Achilles, the son of Thetis, Apol. 28
is. Tipp. ming 3714-190 attacks
Scamander, Protag. 340 A; better
than Odysseus, Hipp. min. 363 B,
FE, 364 B, C, D, 365 B, 369 B,
C371 .D= attacks, Hector, ton
Bre. 42 Mis w Oriel, .~Kep;, 3.5350
A; his avarice, 7b. 390 E; son of
Peleus, 2d..391 C; sent to the
Islands of the Blest, Symp. 179 E,
180 A, B; dies for Patroclus, 7d.
208 D; Brasidas compared to, 74.
221 C3; taught by Cheiron, Hipp.
min. 371 D; his master Phoenix,
Rep. 3. 390 E; his speech to Ajax
(Tl.9s,6.14),, Crat..428.C.

Acquaintance, importance of friend-
ship and, Laws 6. 771.

Acropolis, the, in ancient Athens,
Crit. tia Pcs in Atlantis. 7h) bi5a0
foll.

Actions, kinds of, Laws 9. 864; vo-
luntary and involuntary, Hipp. min.
373, 374

Active life, age for, Rep. 7. 539, 540.

Acumenus, a physician, Phaedr. 269
A; father of Eryximachus, 74. 268
A; Symp. 176 B; a companion of
Socrates, Phaedr. 227 A.

Acusilaus, Symp. 178 C.

Adamant, Tim. 59.

Adeimantus, son of Ariston, a person
in the dialogue Parmenides, Parm.
126 Aj; a person in the dialogue
Republic, JNGps %, 327 Ga 2.5 364
D, 376 D; brother of Plato, Apol.
$4: Ac* DiS Sens, Rep. 2, 368 4.
takes up the discourse, ib. 368 E,
376 E, 4. 419 A, 6. 487 E, 548 E.

Adeimantus, son of Cepis, present at
the Protagoras, Protag. 315 E.

Adeimantus, son of Leucolophides,
present at the Protagoras, Protag.
Cae

Admetus, Symp. 179 B, 208 D.

Admonition, Soph. 230.

Adonis, the gardens of, Phaedr. 276 B.

Adoption, Laws 9. 877, 878.

Adrasteia, her ordinance, Phaedr.
248 C3 prayed to, Rep. 5. 451 A.

Adrastus, the ‘mellifluous,’ Phaedr.
269 A. i

Adulteration, Laws 11. 916; punish-
ment of, 7b. 917.

Advocates, Laws 11. 938.

Aeacus, a judge in Hades, Apol. 41 A;
Gores 622 4524.4, 526 CLP;
son of Aegina, 2b. 526 E; grand-
father of Achilles, Hipp. min. 363
Bed AlCib.. 1.2 bbs

Aeantodorus, brother of Apollodorus,
Apol. 34 A.

Aegina, Crat. 433 A; Phaedo 59 D;
Laws: 4-707 -40 1eAlciba grat. Bs
two obols required for the passage
from Aegina to Athens, Gorg. 511

NN 2

548

D; the nymph, mother of Acacus,
{2-520 1,

Aeginetans, in Crete, Laws 4. 707 E.

Aeneas, his horses (Il. 5. 223, 8. 108),
Laches 191 B.

Aeschines, son of Lysanias, Apol. 33
E; was present at the death of
Socrates, Phaedo 59 B.

Aeschines, an orator, Menex 234 B.

Aeschylus, his false statement con-
cerning Achilles; Symp. 180 A.
Quoted :—S.c. T. 1, Euthyd. 291
Dy Sc. by 451, Rep, 8.550: Gs
Sec. lo hoo Rep. a. S6r 1D. -S. Cilla
593, io. 2. 362 A; Niobe fr. 146, Rep.
3. 394 E+ Niobe, tr. 151, “Rep. 3.
380 A; Xanthians, fr. 159, Rep. 2.
381 D; Telephus fr. 222, Phaedo
1077, -Biab. IncCert; 260, NEP, 3.
383 B; Fab. incert. 326, 25. 8. 563 C.

Aesculapius (Asclepius), not ignorant
of the lingering treatment, Rep. 3.
406 D; bribed to restore a rich
man to life, 74. 408 B; descendants
of, 7b. 406A; hissonsat Troy, sid.
(cf. Asclepiadae) ; left disciples, 74.
10. 599 C3; father of physicians,
Symp. 186 E.; ‘we owe a cock to,’
Phaedo 118 A; festival in honour of,
at Epidaurus(Asclepiaea), lon 530A.

Aesop, his fables, Phaedo 60 C, D,
61 B, C; his fable of the fox and
lion (fab. 137), 1 Alcib, 123 A.

Aexone, the deme of, Democrates of,
Lysis 204 E; Laches of, Laches
197;

Affinity, degrees of, Rep. 5. 461.

Agamemnon, and Achilles, Hipp. min.
370 C; meaning of the name, Crat.
395 A, B; his excellence, Symp.
174 C; reproved in the tragedies by
Palamedes, Rep. 7. 522 D; abused
by Odysseus, Laws 4. 706 D; his
soul became an eagle, Rep. 10, 620
3 hissdreanhy 123 30 3385 Aly nis
gifts to Achilles, 7. 390 E; his
anger against Chryses, zd. 392 E. foll.

Agathocles, a great Sophist, Protag.
316 E; a teacher of Damon, Lach.
180 D.

Agathon, and Pausanias, Protag. 315
E; absent from Athens, Symp.
$7 2-C is: first. ViClory, 22,173. A *
his wisdom, ib. 175 E; his speech,
ib. 194 E foll.; Agathon and Alci-
biades, 7+. 212 D foll.

Age, for philosophy, Rep. 7. 539; for
active life, 26. 540; authority of,
Laws 3. 690, 9. 879; for service,

LAVOE

ib. 6.785; of the guardians 75. 755;
for marriage, 1b. 774 (cp. Rep. 5.
460).

Agent and patient have the same
qualities, Gorg. 476; Rep. 4. 437.
Agis, a general’s name, Crat. 394 C;

theson of Archidamus, 1 Alcib.124 A.

Aglaophon, a painter, father of Aris-
tophon, Gorg. 448 B; of Polygnotus,
Ion 532.

Agora, Laws 8. 849.

Agra (Artemis), Phaedr. 229 C.

Agreement, breach of, Laws 11. 920.

Agriculture, tools required for, Rep.
2. 370; wild trees, etc., older than
domesticated, Tim. 77; irrigation,
ibid.: laws concerning (cp. Model
City), about boundaries, Laws 8.
842; about neighbours, 7b. 843;
about trespass of cattle, sbid.; about
swarms of bees, zbid.; about damage
by fire, zjid.; about distances in
planting, 4id.; about watering, 7d.
8443; about rain-water, 7b.; about
tasting fruits, 7b. foll.; about pol-
lution of water, 7b. 845; about
harvesting, 7b. 846: agriculture
allowed in the model state, 7b. 5.7433
among the nobler arts, 7b. 10. 889.

Aim of life, Laws 6. 770.

Air, Eims 493. form: of, 70.56% air-
passages, 7b. 78.

Ajax the son of Telamon, Apol. 41 A;
Ajax and Odysseus, Hipp. min.
271 bE Ajax and. Achilles
(Il. 9. 644), Crat. 428 C; the re-
ward of his bravery, Rep. 5. 468 D;
his soul turns into a lion, 74. 10.
620 B; not to be wounded by steel,
Symp. 219 E.

Alcestis, her love for Admetus, Symp.
179 By 10,180 5B 208-),

Alcetas, brother of Perdiccas, Gorg.
471 A.

Alcibiades, father of Axiochus, Euthyd,
275 b.

Alcibiades (a person in the dialogues,
1 Alcibiades, Protagoras, and Sym-
posium), Euthyd. 275 A; Alcibiades
and Socrates, Protag. 309 A; Gorg.
400; 1); Sylipee 213. by, son Ob
Cleinias, i4id.; son of Dinomache,
1 Alcib. 105 D3; a descendant of
Eurysaces, z+, 121 A; his attendant
ZOpyrus; 72, w22-8b- Pericles” his
Guardian, go. “row tA; 7i1s8-G: his
property, 26. 123 C; his beauty,
Protag. 309 A; would not learn
the flute, 1 Alcib. 106 E; his praise

Wea Ge ODE DG

of Socrates, Symp. 215 A foll; his
drunken entry into Agathon’s house,
ib, 212 C3 with Socrates at Delium,
ib. 220 E foll.; at Potidaea, 2d.
220 A, 221 A.

-Alcinous, ‘ tales of,’ Rep. ro. 614 B.

Aleuadae, Meno 79 B.

Alexander, son of Alcetas, Gorg.

at Be

Alexidemus, father of Meno, Meno
76 E.

Aliens, chosen to be generals at
Athens, Ion 541.

‘All’ or ‘one,’ Soph. 244, 245.

Allotments in the model city, Laws 5.

745.

Alopecée (‘Foxmoor’), the deme of
Socrates, Gorg. 495 D.

Alphabet, Phil. 17,183; of things, Pol.
278.. Cp. Letters.

Alternation, a condition of existence,
Phaedo 72.

Amazons, their invasion of Attica,
Menex. 239 B; famous as archers,
Laws 7. 806 A.

Ambassadors, laws concerning, Laws
12.941.

Amasis of Sais, Tim. 21 E.

Amber, attraction of, Tim. 80.

Ambition is of immortality, Symp. 208.

Ameles, the river ( = Lethe), Rep. 10.
621 A, .C.

Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, 1 Alcib.
£22 C.

Amusement defined, Laws 2. 667;
comparative value of, 7b. 658.

Ammon, a god in Egypt, Phaedr.
274 D; the oracle of, ib. 275 G;
Laws 5. 738 C; ‘by Ammon,’ the
oath of Theodorus, Pol. 257 B.

Ampheres, a son. of Poseidon, Crit.
E14 Bs

Amphion in the play of Euripides,
Gorg. 485 E, 506 B.

Amphipolis, Socrates at, Apol. 28 E.

Amphitryon, Theaet. 175 A.

Amycus, a boxer, Laws 7. 796.

Amynander, a tribesman of Critias,
paimieo GG.

Amyntor, father of Phoenix, Laws
Pi 02 tb.

Anacharsis the Scythian, his inven-
tions, Rep. 10. 600 A.

Anacreon, ‘the wise,’ Phaedr. 235
C; his verses in honour of the
house of Critias, Charm. 157 E.

_ Analogy of the arts and justice, Rep.

1. 349; of the arts applied to rulers,

ib. 3413; Of men and animals, 2d. 2.

549

o05 Ge At *) Ol. Memiciies ant
friendship, Lysis 2173 of medicine
and education, Laches 1853 of
sense and mental qualities, 7b. 1903
of death and sleep, Phaedo 713 of
thought and sense, Theact. 1883
use of in arguments, Pol. 285, 286,
2973; of arts and politics, 1 Alcib.
1073; argument from, Hipp. min.
373; of arts and moral qualities,
ibid.

Analysis of language, Crat. 421, 4223
of primary names, 2b. 424.

Analytic and Synthetic methods, Pol.
285 foll. Cp. Dialectic.

Anarchy to be expelled, Laws 12. 942.

Anatomy discussed at length, Tim.
68 foll.

Anaxagoras, a friend of Pericles,
Phaedr. 270 A; 1 Alcib. 118 GC;
a Clazomenian, his books and opi-
nions, Apolk 26 D; ‘Chaos’ of,
Phaedo 72C; Gorg. 465 D; Socrates
heard some one reading out of his
book, Phaedo 97 B, D, 98 B;
the. ‘mind’ of, 2. 97 €; Crat.
400 A; his discovery that the moon
draws her light from the sun, 24.
409 B; his definition of justice, 24.
413 B; disciples of, i. 409 B.

Anaximenes, his principle of growth,
Phaedo 96 C.

‘Ancient story,’ the, Pol. 269 foll.

Ancients, the, nearer the gods, Phil.
16. ‘

Andromache, her sorrows told by
rhapsodes, Ion 535 B.

Andron, with Hippias, Protag. 315 C;
studied with Callicles, Gorg. 487 C.

Androtion, father of Andron, Protag.
315 C3; Gorg. 487 C.

Angler and Sophist, Soph. 219 foll.

Angling, an acquisitive art, Soph. 219;
defined, 75. 221.

Animals, division of, Pol. 262; great
destruction of, id. 2733 animals
as property, Laws. rr. 915; ideal
animal, Tim. 39; four kinds of, id.
40 foll.

Antaeus, a wrestler, Theaet. 169 Bs
Laws 7. 796 A.

Anteaor, may have been like Pericles,
Symp. 221 C

Anthemion, father of Anytus, ac-
quired wealth, Meno 90 ‘6

Antilochus, lon 537 A.

Antimoerus of Mende, most famous
of the disciples of Protagoras,
Protag. 315 A.

oo

Antiochis, Socrates of the Antiochid
tribe, Apol. 32 B.

Antiphon, Parm. 126 B foll.

Antiphon of Cephisus, present at the
trial of Socrates, Apol. 33 E.

Antiphon of Rhamnus, a teacher of
rhetoric, Menex. 236 A.

Antiquarianism, Crit. 110.

Antisthenes, present at the death of
Socrates, Phaedo 59 B.

Anytus, representative of the crafts-
men against Socrates, Apol. 23 E, 25
B; not the destruction of Socrates,
ib. 28 A; wishes for Socrates to be
put to- death, -72.<05, BB, 31 Ad
bad man, 2b. 30 D (cp. 34 B), 36
A; a friend of Meno, Meno go A;
takes part in the dialogue Meno,
ib. 90 B-95 A; his advice to Socrates,
ib. 94 E; ina rage, ib. 95 A.

Apaturia, Tim. 21 A.

Apemantus, father of Eudicus, Hipp.
Min, 2037, 373 Ae

Aphrodite, meaning of the name,
Crat. 406 B, C; mother of Eros,
Phaedr. 242 E; her inspiration, id.
265 B; Aristophanes always in her
company, Symp. 177 E; two god-
desses of this name, 7. 180 D, C;
goddess of peace and friendship,
Soph. 243 A; bound by Hephaestus,
Rep. 3. 390°C.

Apollo, meaning of the word, Crat.
404 B, C, D, 405 D; his followers,
Phaedr. 253 B; his inspiration, 2d.
265 B; his declaration with regard
to Socrates, Apol. 21 B; discovered
the arts of medicine, archery, and
divination, Symp. 197 A; Theseus’
vow to, Phaedo 58 B; swans sacred
to, 2b. 85 A; ancestral Apollo among
the Ionians, Euthyd. 302 D; law-
giver of Lacedaemon, Laws 1.
624 A; his presence at festivals,
Wee O50) ad, OGs AL yy) 70
E; education first given through
Apollo and the Muses, 2d. 2. 654
Gee is’ Olacle, (45 O80, Ae hs
temple, 74. 8. 833 B; oath by, 2d.
11. 936 E; the citizens to meet in
his precincts, 26. 12. 945 D; the

_ three best men of the state dedi-
eated to him; 76,°946 C,>D': “his
priests, 24. 947 A; sacrifice to at
Delphi, 75. 950 E; his song at the
nuptials of Thetis, Rep. 2. 383 A;
Apolo and’ Achilles” 3. 301. A 5
Chryses’ prayer to, 4. 394 A; lord
of the lyre, 74. 399 E.

LIND. Te

Apollodorus, brother of Aeantodorus,
present at the trial of Socrates,
Apol. 34 A, 38 B.

Apollodorus of Cyzicus, general of the
Athenians, Ion 541 C.

Apollodorus, father of Hippocrates,
Protag. 310 A, 316 B.

Apollodorus of Phalerum, narrates the
Symposium, Symp. 172 Aj; his ac-
quaintance with Socrates, is. E;
the “madman,4 2b; 173 4), 1s pire
sent at the death of Socrates,
Phaedo 59 A, B; his passionate
PIE 7, 147 2).

Appetites, Rep. 9. 572 (cp. 2b. 4. 439).

Appetitive elements of the soul,
ICD. 42430.

Arbiters, Laws 12. 956.

Arcadian temple of Lycaean Zeus,
Rep. 8. 565 D.

Arcadians dispersed into villages by
the Lacedaemonians, Symp. 193 A.

Archelaus, son of Perdiccas, ruler of
Macedonia, Gorg. 470 D;_ his
crimes, 7+. 471 A; thought happy by
the sophist Polus, 74.470 D, 472 D;
will be found punished in the next
world, 2d. 525 D.

Archepolis, meaning of the name,
Crat. 394 C.

Archidamus, King of Sparta, 1 Alcib.
124 A,

Archilochus, quoted, Rep. 2. 365 C;
not included in the rhapsode’s art,
Ion 531 A; inferior to Homer, 7.
Bae hk.

Architecture, Pol. 280: Rep. 4. 438;
instruments required in, Phil. 56;
Crit. 116,

Archon, King Archon a priest, Pol.
290; lists of archons, Laws 6. 785;
images set up by the archons at
Delphi, Phaedr. 235.

Arcturus brings the vintage, Laws 8.
844 E.

Ardiaeus, tyrant of Pamphylia, his eter-
nal punishment, Rep. ro. 615 C, E.
Areopagus, scene of the rape of

Orithyia, Phaedr. 229 D.

Ares, meaning of the name, Crat. 407
C, D; effect of love on his com-
panions, Phaedr. 252 C; conquered
by love, Symp. 196 D; Ares and
Aphrodite, Rep. 3. 390 C3; temple
of, Laws 8. 833 B; his votaries a
class of craftsmen, 75. 11. 920 D.

Arginusae, condemnation of the gene-
rals after, Apol. 32 B.

Argives defended by Athenians, Me-

bet es OB Der, @

nex. 239 B; assisted by Athenians,
ib. 244 D3; willing to give up the
Asiatié allies, ib. 245 C3; the Argive
oath, Phaedo 89 C.

Argos, kings of, 1 Alcib. 121 A; sub-
ject to Dorians, Laws 3. 683 D;
ruin of the kings of, i+. 690 D;
Cretans from, id. 4. 708 A; Aga-
memnon, king of, Rep. 3. 393 E.

Ariphron, teacher of Alcibiades, Pro-
tag. 320 A.

Aristides, son of Lysimachus, famous
for his virtue, Gorg. 526 B; failed
in training his son Lysimachus,
Meno 94 A.

Aristides the younger, Laches 179 A;
attended by Socrates, Theaet. 150 E.

Aristippus of Cyrene, not present at
the death of Socrates, Phaedo 59 C.

Aristippus, of Larisa, lover of Meno,
Meno 7o B.

Aristocracy, Pol. 301, 3023 origin of,
Laws 3. 681. Cp. Constitution.
Aristocrates, son of Scellius, his
offering at Delphi, Gorg. 472 B.
Aristocratic State, the decline of,

Rep. 8. 546.

Aristodemus, his portion in Pelopon-
nesus, Laws 3. 692 B.

Aristodemus, of the deme of Cyda-
thenaeum, an admirer of Socrates,
Symp. 173 B; narrates the dia-
logue Symposium, ib. 174 Aj; a
‘weak head,’ 26. 176 C (cp. 7b. 223
C,. etc.)}:

Aristogeiton overthrew the tyrants,
Symp. 182 C.

Ariston, father of Adeimantus (and
Plato), Apol. 34 A; father of
Glaucon, Rep. 1. 327 A (cp. 2d. 2.
368 A).

Aristonymus, father of Cleitophon,
Rep. 1. 328 B.

Aristophanes, the comedian, satirized
Socratés, Apol. 19 C3; unwilling to
drink, Symp. 176 A; in the com-
pany of Dionysus and Aphrodite,
ib. 177 E; has a hiccough, 7d. 185
C, E; his speech in honour of love,
ib. 189 B foll.; a professor of jokes,
ib. 213 C3 his description of So-
crates, ib. 221 B; converses with
Socrates, 70. 223 C..

Aristophon, son of Aglaophon, a
painter, Gorg. 448 B.

Aristoteles, one of the Thirty, Parm.
127 D; a friend of Socrates, 2.
135 D; respondent in the dialogue
Parmenides, ib. 136 E.

jo!

Arithmetic, Rep. 7. 5223 use of in
forming ideas, 76. 5253; Greek ideas
of, ibid. foll.; defined, Gorg. 4513
study and influence of, Laws 5.
vA7 5; Diazies Ih, F naedo; O72 TOFS
Laws 7. 819. Cp. Mathematics.

Arms, manufacture of, Laws 8. 847;
throwing away of, id. 12. 944, 945.

Army needed in a state, Rep. 2. 374.

Art, influence of, on character, Rep.
3. 400 foll; art-criticism, Ion 532
foll; Laws 2. 667-669; requires
knowledge, lon 532, 540; exer-
cised for the good of the subject,
Bilttiypnc a s+. Reps i 342, 340273
correlative to the subject matter,
Ion 5373; differ according to their
functions, Rep. 1. 346; interested in
their own perfection, 7. 342;
causes of the deterioration of, ib.
4. 4213 three arts concerned with
all things, 7. 10. 601; art of fence,
aches 178;.-183¢ . Buthyd:272,
Sophist’s art, Euthyd. 274; Gorg.
4493 art of speech-making, 7.
290 (cp. Speech-making); of the
general, iid. ; the kingly art, 24. 291;
classification of, zbid.; Gorg. 4505
art of rhapsody, Ion 533, 541; of
horsemanship, etc., Euthyph. 13; is

- piety an art? idid.; art and the pre-
liminary conditions of art, Phaedr.
268, 269; art and _ experience,
Gorg. 448, 5013 art of calculation,
ib. 4513 art of pleasure, 2b. 501;
training required in, 7. 513; of
the pilot, i. 512; of command
divided, Pol. 260; art and lan-
guage, ib. 277; art of measure-
ment divided, id. 284; rejects bad
material, id. 308; arts differ in
exactness, Phil. 56; productive,
Soph. 2193 acquisitive, idid.; sub-
divided, i. 219 foll.; of exchange,
ib. 2233 cooperative and causal,
Pol. 281, 282; of composition and
division, id. 283; depend on a
mean, id. 284; unknown for many
centuries, Laws 3. 677; art and
‘chance, ib. 4. 709, 10. 889; art
and nature, 7d. 10. 889, 890; in
politics, 7. 8893; arts and moral
qualities, Hipp. min. 373; 1 Alcib.
125; arts and politics, analogy
of, 1 Alcib. 107 foll. For the
analogy of the arts and virtues, cp.
Analogy.

Artemis, goddess of childbirth,
Theaet. 149 B; meaning of the

557

name, Crat. 406 B;
Agra, Phaedr. 229 B.
Artemisium, battle of, Menex. 241

AS Laws 4. 707°C.

Artist, the Great, Rep. ro. 596; artists
dispose things in order, Gorg. 503,
504;artistsand dialecticians, Phil.59.

Artisans, not wise, Apol. 22; no
citizen to be an artisan, Laws 8.
846; rules concerning, 25. 846, 847.

Asclepiadae, Rep. 4. 405 D (cp.
Aesculapius) ; Hippocrates the
Coan, an Asclepiad, Protag. 311 B
(cp. Phaedr. 270 C).

Asclepiaea at Epidaurus, Ion 530 A.

Asia, Dim, 24-2; Es; Grit. 108, 112 E.

Asopus, the ancient boundary of
Attica, Crit. 110 E.

Aspasia, her speech, Menex. 236 A
foll. (cp. 249 D); her eloquence, 2d.
ao5° KE,

Assaults, Rep. 5. 464; Laws 9. 879-
882; on strangers, 7b. 8793 on
elders, 7b. 880; in self-defence, ibid. ;
on parents, zbid.; by slaves, 2b. 882.

Assembly, attendance at, in the model
city, Laws 6. 764.

Association of ideas, Phaedo 73. .

Assyrians, Laws 3. 685 C.

Astronomy, wep. 7. 627: 7. 520
foll.; defined, Gorg. 4513; a dis-
covery of Theuth, Phaedr. 274; is
it impious? Laws 7. 821.

Astyanax, meaning of the name, Crat.
aq2 1);

Astylus, his continence, Laws 8.840A.

Atalanta, chose the life of an athlete,
Ivep: 10. 620: B,

Atheism charged against Socrates,
Apol. 26.

Atheists, Laws 10. 885, 887 foll.;
advice to, 75. 888.

Athena, Goddess of Attica, Crit. 109
C; why armed, zd. 110 A (cp. Tim.
24 B); =Neith, Tim. ar E; her
temple on the Acropolis, Crit. 112 B;
goddess of arts, Pol.274 C; Athena
gdparpia, Euthyd. 302 D; Prome-
theus’ theft upon, Protag. 321 D,
E; her weaving due to love, Symp.
197 B; her name Pallas Athena,
Crat. 407 A foll.; not to be con-
sidered author of the strife be-
tween Trojans and Achaeans, Rep.
2. 379 E; in the model state, Laws
5. 745 B (cp. 8. 848 D); goddess
of the craftsmen, 25. 11. g20 E

foll.; dances in honour of, 7. 7.
7960); 1D;

temple of

INDEX.

Athenian confectionery, Rep. 3.404 D.
Athenians at Naxos, Euthyph. 4 C;
exile of, Apol. 21 A; at Potidaea,
Delium, and Amphipolis, 75. 28 E;
under the thirty tyrants, 7b. 32 C; at
Corinth, Theaet. 142 A; at Tan-
agra and Coronea, Alcib. 1. 112 C
foll.; at war with Sparta and the
great king, 1 Alcib. 120 A; slain
at Potidaea, Charm. 153 B, C;
early wars of, Menex. 239 B foll.;
pure blood of, i+. 245 D; history
of, from the Persian war, id. 231
foll.; compelled to pay tribute to
Minos, Laws 4. 706 A; subjugate
the Ceans, 25. 1. 638.B; Megillus
their mpd&evos, ib. 642 B; friend-
ship of Athenians and Cretans, 7d.
642 D; Athenians and Lacedae-
monians saviours of Greece, 7d. 3.
692 E; laws of (have no law about
the time of deciding causes), Apol.
37 B; the law compels the plain-
tiff to answer questions, 74. 25
D; laws for the sake of punish-
ment, not of teaching, 7b. 26 A;
prisoners not put to death till the
return of the mission-ship from —
Delphi, Crito 43 D (cp. Phaedo 58A
foll.); laws on education, marriage,
Clc., 22.50 Jolla; “the Micven,
Phaedo 59 E; laws about love-
Pedlldits; OyMp, 152 A, Cte, 16s
archons set up a golden image at
Delphi, Phaedr. 235 D; early re-
public, Laws 3. 698 B foll.; nature
of the republic, Wenex. ,238- Cs
have no Zevds martp@os, Euthyd.
302 D; intoxication at the Diony-
sia, Laws 1. 637 C; their dances
in honour of Athena, i. 7. 796
C, Ds; early history*ot, Fim, 21
foll.; Crit. 110 A foll.; wisdom of,
Protag. 337 D; free speech allowed
among, Gorg. 461 E3; tragic poets
among, Laches 183 B; named from
the goddess, Laws 1. 626 D; re-
puted fond of conversation, i. 641
E; if good, very good, ib. 642 C;
breeding of birds among, 7b. 7. 789
B; Athenian speakers dragged from
the bema by force, Protag. 320 C.
Athens, the King’s Porch at, Euthyph.
2 A (cp. Cheset, oro. 1). the
Tholus, Apol. 32 C, D; judgment-
hall and prison of Socrates, Phaedo
59 D; the walls and harbours due
to Themistocles and Pericles, Gorg.
455 E; the palaestra of Taureas,

LIN AD TeX

Charm. 153 A; the fountain of
Panops, Lysis 203 A; Melité,
Parm. 127 A; Ceramicus, outside
the wall, 74.C; house of Morychus,
Phaedr. 227 B3; corpses exposed
outside the northern wall, Rep. 4.
439 E (cp. Leontius); early topo-
graphy of, Crit. 109 B-112 E;
temple of Athena and Hephaestus,
ib. 112 B; Athens and Atlantis, 2d.
108 E; ancient Athens, Tim. 21 A,
Dy

Athletes, Rep. 3. 404 Aj; victorious
athletes maintained in the Pry-
taneium, Apol. 36 D; held in hon-
our, so that Atalanta chooses the
soul of an athlete, Rep. 10. 620 B.

Athos, cut through by Xerxes, Laws
3. 699 A.

Atlantic Ocean, navigable in early
times, Tim. 24 E; origin of the
name, Crit. 114 A.

Atlantis, Tim. 25 A; Crit. 113 C foll.;
productions of, 7. 115 A, B; ar-
rangement of the country, 7. 115
C; temples, ib. 116 C, D, E; baths,
ib. 117 A; the plain in, 2. 118 C;
population, 7+. 119 A; army of, id.
A, B; government of, 74. C3; sacri-
fice of a bull in, 24. D, E.

Atlas, Crit. 114 A; his family, 2b. 114
C (cp. 120 D; Phaedo 99 C).

Atonement for crimes, Laws. ro. 885.

Atreus, his name, Crat. 395 B; quar-
rel of Atreus and Thyestes, Pol.
268 -E.

PNUCIGAGs TROD? 2.393 As

Atropos (one of the Fates), her song,
Rep. 10. 617 C3 spins the threads
of destiny and makes them irre-
versible, 2. 620 EF (cp. Laws 12.
g60 C).

Attention, various meanings of the
word, Euthyph. 13.

Attic heroes, Crit. 110 A; confec-
tions, Rep. 3. 404 E.

Attica, old language of, Crat. 398 B,
Ch. 40m. 0 a10: Gy ais).
old Attics. used o for w, ib. 420
Bee. for ne 7. 426, Cre cancient
population of, Crit. 110 C; fertility
of, ib. 111 C; government of, re-
viewed, Laws 3. 698 A; tribute
paid to Minos, ib. 4. 706 A; little
wood in, 7d. 4. 706 B.

Audience at theatres includes women,
children, and slaves, Gorg. 502;
Laws 2. 658, 7. 8173; as judges, id.
2. 659.

553

Authorship honourable, Phaedr. 258.

Autochthon, Crit. 114 B.

Autolycus, Rep. 1. 334 A.

Avarice a cause of murder, Laws g.
870.

Aviary in the mind, Theaet. 198.

Axiochus, father of Cleinias, Euthyd.
a74 BS 275 IN,

Azaes, Crit. 114 C.,

B.

Bacchic dances, Laws 7. 815 A;
women, Ion 534 D, E; Laws 7.
790 D, E.

Balance of power required, Laws 3.
691.

Balls, the earth compared to leathern,
Phaedo 110. Cp. Games.

Barbarians older than Greeks, Crat.
425 E.

Baths, Symp. 223; Crit. 117; Laws
De FONs

Batiea, name of a hill near Troy
(Hom. Il. 2. 813 foll.), Crat. 392 A.

Beast, the many-headed, Rep. 9. 588,
589; beasts which have killed a
man, Laws 9. 873.

Beautiful, the, and the good, are one,
Rep. 5. 4523; Symp. 201; Lysis 216.

Beauty as a means of education, Rep.
3. 401; absolute, 2b. 5. 476; Symp.
211; beauty and goodness, Symp.
201; gradations of, 7b. 210; uni-
versal science of, idid.; nature
of, Phaedr. 250 foll.; Lysis 216;
standard of, Gorg. 474; pleasure
of, Phil. 51; in the scale of goods,
ib. 65, 66.

Beds, the figure of the three beds,
Rep. 10. 597.

Bees, laws concerning, Laws 8. 843.

Beggars, Laws 11. 930.

Being and not-being, Rep. 5. 477;
being and becoming, Theaet. 157
(cp. Protag. 340); being in early
Greek philosophy, Soph. 243, 2443
being and unity, 5. 245; being
(existence) defined as power, 7d.
247, 248; being and motion, 7.
249; movable and immovable in,
ibid.; neither in motion nor rest, id.
250; being and the philosopher, 2d.
254; as a genus, ib. foll.; being
and not-being, ib. 257; being and
other, 7. 259.

Belief in Gods, not universal, Laws
12.948; whence arising, zdid. Cp.
Atheism, Atheists.

Belly, the, Tim. 73.

554

Bendidea, a feast of Artemis, Rep. 1.
354 A (cp. 327 A, B).

Bendis, a title of Artemis, Rep. 1. 327A.

Betrothal, Laws 6. 774. |

‘Better’ and ‘wiser,’ Gorg. 489;
meaning of ‘better’ in going to
war, 1 Alcib. rog.

Bias of Priene, one of the Seven Wise
Men, Protag. 343 A; not the author
of the principle attributed to him
(justice = doing harm to our ene-
mies), Rep. 1. 335 E.

Bile, Tim. 83.

Birds, Tim. 91; breeding of, at Athens,
Laws 7. 789; habits of, 2b. 8. 840;
as offerings, 75. 12. 956.

Birth, authority of, Laws 3. 690.

Blood, Tim. 80,

Bodies, nature of, Tim. 54; forms of,
ibid.; change of, ib. 56; bodies and
shades, Laws 12. 959.

Body, human, Tim. 44; channels in
the, 2b. 77; youthful, 2+. 81; sym-
metry of soul and body, 7. 88;
motions of, 7b. 89; a source of evil,
Phaedo 66; soul and body, 74. 79;
a prison, 2b, 80, 82, 83; honour due
to the, Laws 5. 728, 729; opera-
tions dealing with the, Gorg. 517.

Boeotians, Socrates’ bones, if free,
would go to the, Phaedo 99 A;
who fell at Tanagra, 1 Alcib. 112
C (cp. Menex. 242 A, B); ask aid
of Athens, Menex. 244 D3; willing
to betray Asiatic Greece, 2b. 245
C; common meals among, Laws 1.
636 B; honourable to gratify lovers
among, Symp. 182 B.

Bones, Tim. 73.

Books, Protag. 329. Cp. Anaxagoras,
Writing.

Boreas carried off Orithyia, Phaedr.
229 B, C; Thracian Boreas, Laws
2. 660 E.

Boundaries, laws concerning, Laws
8. 842, 843.

Bowels, Tim. 73.

Bowmen, mounted, Laws 8. 834.

Boxing, Rep. 4. 422.

Boys, boy-life at Athens, Charm. 154 ;
Lysis 206-208; 7b. 211, 223; un-
manageable, Laws 7. 808 (cp. Alci-
biades, Charmides, Lysis, Theae-
tetus).

Brain, [im:.73.

Brasidas compared to Achilles, Symp.
77 te OF

Brass, Tim. 59.

Briareus, how armed, Euthyd. 299 C;

Ae se 3 By He.

with a hundred hands, Laws 7.
795 CG.
Bulls sacrificed in Atlantis, Crit. 119.
Buying and selling, regulations con-
cerning, Laws 8. 849, II. 915.

C.

Cadmeans at war with Argives, Me-
nex. 239 B; ‘Cadmean Victory,’
Laws 1,.641-G.

Cadmus of Thebes, Phaedo 95 A; —
the story of, Laws 2. 663 E; a bar-
barian, Menex. 245 C.

Caeneus the Thessalian, changed from
woman to man, Laws 12. 944 D.
Calculation, art of, Rep. to. 602; de-

fined, Gorg. 451.

Callaeschrus, father of Critias, Pro-
tag 376-A.; Charm, 153 C;.

Calliades, 1 Alcib. 119 A.

Callias, son of Calliades, 1 Alcib. 119 A.

Callias, son of Hipponicus, Protag.
git digeees bce “the movie, tyr
362 As paid large sums to the
Sophists, Apol. 20 A; Crat. 391 C;
Protagoras at his house, Protag.
311 A; guardian of Protagoras’
interests at Athens, Theaet. 165 A;
his house the wealthiest in the
city, Protag. 337 D; half-brother
by the same mother to Paralus,
son of Pericles, 75. 314 E.

Callicles, a person in the dialogue
Gorgias, Gorg. 481 B, 505 E; So-
crates’ account of him, id. 487 A
foll.; a public man, 75. 515 A; his
view of temperance, 7. 491 E foll. ;
unfair in argument, 7. 499 C foll.;
will not continue the argument, 7d.
506 C; an Acharnian, 2b. 495 D;
loves the son of Pyrilampes, 7d.
481 D.

Calliope, eldest of the Muses, Phaedr.
259; 1.

Cambyses, the son of .Cyrus, his con-
euects.- “Wenex. 239.14. ficarly
ruined the Persian empire, Laws,
3. 694 CG: his folly, 25. 695 B, C.

Capital punishment, Pol. 297, Laws
9. 862, 863, 869, 871-874; for
thete,:75..12. 944. (Gp. Death:

Captain, parable of the deaf, Rep. 6.
488,

Carelessness, not to be ascribed to
the gods, Laws 10. goo foll.

Carian (proverbial), Euthyd. 285 C;
Laches 187 B; Carian wailers, Laws
8. 800 E.

Carthaginians given to intoxication,

LEE 2 ALS

Laws 14.637 1); restrictions: on
drinking among, id. 2. 674 B.

Caste, in Egypt, Tim. 24; in ancient
Athens, zbid.

Causal arts, Pol. 282.

Causes, second, Tim. 46; two kinds
of, 2b. 68, 69; final, Phaedo 97, 98;
cause and condition distinguished,
ib. 99; the good denied by some to
be a cause, ibid.; the idea of the
cause, cause and effect, Euthyph. 10;
Phil. 26, 273; creative causes, Phil.
273 causes of crimes, Laws g. 863.

Cave, the image of the, Rep.7.514, 515.

Cebes, willing to provide money for
Socrates’ escape, Crito 45 B; a
Theban, present at the death of
Socrates, and taking part in the
dialogue Phaedo, Phaedo 59 B; his
native speech, ib. 62 A; his earnest-
ness, 2b. 63 A; his incredulity, 2d. 70
A foll.,77 B; hecompares the soul
to a weaver’s coat, 7b. 87 B foll.;
a friend of Philolaus, 75. 61 D.

Cecrops, Crit. 110 A.

Ceans, subject to Athenians, Laws 1.
638 B; their use of the word xa-
Aerov, Protag. 341 B.

Celibacy, fines on, Laws 6, 774.

Celts given to intoxication, Laws 1.
637 D.

Censorship of fiction, Rep. 2..377, 3.
386 foll.; censors of magistrates,
Laws 12, 945-9473; creation of
censors, ib. 9463 burial of, 7. 9473
trial of, 26. 947, 948.

Centaurs, Phaedr. 229 D; chorus of,
Pol. 205 -D:

Cephalus, father of Polemarchus, Rep.
1. 327 B; offers: sacrifice, id. 328
B, 331 D; his views on old age, 2d.
328 E; his views on wealth, 2. 330
A foll.; father of Lysias, Phaedr.
a7 A. 2634).

Cephalus of Clazomenae, Rep. 1. 330
B; Parm. 126 A foll.

Cepis, father of Adeimantus, Protag.
C1 Gl OF

Ceramicus, outside the wall of Athens,
barn. 52720,

Cerberus, two natures in one, Rep. 9.
588 C.

Cercyon, a wrestler, Laws 7. 796 A.

Chaeredemus, father of Patrocles,
half-brother to Socrates, Euthyd.
207-1, SOS Ayaise

Chaerephon, his impetuosity, Apol. 21
A; goes with Socrates to Gorgias,
Gorg. 447 A, etc.; a kind of mad-

555

man, Charm. 153 B (cp. Apol. 21
A); consulted the oracle at Delphi
concerning Socrates, Apol. 20 E;
dead at the time of the Apology, id.
21 A; a person in the dialogue
Charmides, Charm. 153 A foll,

Xaderéy, use of the word, Protag. 341.

Chance, the great legislator, Laws 4.
709; together with God, idid.; and
art, 2b. 10, 8893 and nature, zbid.

Change, evil of, Laws 7. 797, 798; in
music, 2b. 800.

Chaos, Tim. 53 A, 69 B.

Character, difference of, in women,
Rep. 5. 456; formed in infancy,
Laws 7. 791, 792, national cha-
Tacter, REpr 4..435-

Charioteer of the soul, Phaedr, 246.

Charmantides, a Paeanian, present at
the Republic, Rep. 1; 328 B.

Charmers, punishment of, Laws 10,
909.

Charmides, a person in the dialogue
Charmides (see Temperance) ; son
of GJaucon, Protag. 315 A; Socrates’
influence on him, Symp. 222 B;
most beautiful youth of his time,
Charm. 154 A, C; his disposition, 7).
154 E,157D; Critias his guardian,
ib. 155 A; 176 C; his family, 157 E.

Charondas, lawgiver of Italy and
Sicily, Rep. ro. 599 E.

Chastisement, Gorg. 505.

Cheese, Rep. 2. 372, 3+ 405-

Cheiron, teacher of Achilles, Hipp.
Teh tei ty ae OSM SA -) OMe OR a Or

Children, in the state, Rep. 5. 460;
exposure of, ib. 461; to ride, id.
467; instincts of, Laws 2. 653;
education of, ib. 664; procreation
of, ib. 6. 784, 7853 registration
of, ib. 785; fear and courage in, 7d.
7. 791; care in the education of,
ib. 808, 809; sports of, i. 7933
to meet at temples, ib. 794; In-
novation in the games of, 7d. 7975
a means of Ne ib. 4. be
cp. Symp. 207); and parents, 20.
ne fol: Pra ie Of, “70:
930; of slaves, ibid.; loss of, con-
soled, Menex. 247, 248; ‘children
of the mind,’ Symp. 209.

Chilo, the Lacedaemonian, one of the
Seven Wise Men, Protag. 343 A.
Chimaera, two natures in one, Rep.

9. 588 C; Phaedr. 229 D.

Chios, home of Euthydemus and
Dionysodorus, Euthyd. 271 on
288 B.

550

Choral art, Gorg. 501; 1 Alcib. 125
(cp. Laws 2. 672).

Chorus, parts of the, Laws 2. 654; of
Apollo and the Muses, 7b. 664,
665; of Dionysus, 7b. 665; the
three, #. 664; the aged, 25.

670, 6713 ‘chorus’ from yapa, id.
654; choric song, ib. 665; at
Crete and Lacedaemon, 7b. 666;
choral art = education, i. 672;
choruses, 75. 6. 764, 765; of boys
and girls, 75. 772% imitative, 7, 7.
7095. in Beypt, 1. 799 «(cp. 6.
764); judges of, 7b. 12. 949.

Chryses, the priest of Apollo (Il. 1.11
fous), Rep. 4. 393 4 foll,

Chrysippus murdered by Atreus,
Crat. 395 B.

Chryson, his abstinence in training,
Laws 8. 840 A.

Cimon, a good man, Gorg. 503 C,
515 D; ostracised, 7b. 516 D; real
author of the Athenian calamities,
1.510 A.

Cinesias, a dithyrambic poet, Gorg.
sor E.

Cinyras, his wealth, Laws 2. 660 E.

Cithaeron, Crit. r10 D.

Cithara (harp) used in contests, Gorg.
Sor (cp, Rep. 2.209 1).

Citizens, assortment of, Pol. 308, 309;
number of, Laws 5. 737, 738, ib. 6.
7713 to be happy rather than rich,
ib. 5. 7433; Classes of, in the model
state, 2b. 744, 6. 754; true praise
Of 7s 7. 822 not to be: retail
traders, ib. 11. 919.

City, situation of the, Rep. 3. 415;
early cities, Laws 3. 680, 681;
name of, 2b. 4. 704; situation of,
ib. 5. 745 3 divisions of, zbid.; puri-
fication of, ib. 735, 736; com-
pared to a ship, 2. 6. 758; com-
pared to a man, ib. 12. 964, 9653
the heavenly, Rep. 9. 5923; the
‘city of pigs,’ 2b. 2. 372. Cp. Con-
stitution, State.

Clans, Laws 3. 68.

Classes, division into, Pol. 285.

Clazomenae, Parm. 126 A, B.

Cleinias, father of Alcibiades, Protag.
4090-2 <1 ~ Alcib. -£o3° A, ros ,
Iai. Oe Gore, 44rd). tel at
Coronea, 1 Alcib. 112 C,

Cleinias, younger brother of Alcibi-
ades, Protag. 320 A; 1 Alcib. 104
Bape Lisa,

Cleinias, son of Axiochus, Euthyd.
271 A, 273 A; his education, 2d. 275

iN DEX:

A foll.; joins in the conversation
in the dialogue Euthydemus, ib. 275
I)-282 D, 288 D-290 E.

Cleinias, the Cretan of Cnosus, a
person in the Laws, Laws 1. 624
foll. (cp. 22, 3. 702 'C, 6,752 A),

Cleito Critw 123 1, 126:

Cleitophon, the son of Aristonymus,
Rep. 1. 328 B; interposes on behalf
of Thrasymachus, 7d. 340 A.

Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven
Wise Men, Protag. 343 A.

Cleombrotus, absent at the time of
Socrates’ death, Phaedo 59 C.

Cleopatra, mother of Perdiccas, Gorg.
471-G,

Cleophantus, son of Themistocles, a
famous horseman, Meno 93 D, E.
Cleverness, Rep. 7. 519; in excess,

Laws 7. 819.
Climate, influence of, on men,.Laws

Rav Aue

Clotho, second of the fates, Rep. 10.
617°C,, 620 Ey “Laws i2.-960..Gr
sings of the present, Rep. 10. 617 C;
the souls brought to her, 74. 620 E.

Cnosians, Cleinias a Cnosian, Laws
fc 6260." COIONY Oly 1s: 3.. yor
C, 752 D, E, 754 B, C, D.

Cnosus, a city in Crete, Laws 1. 625
AG 610754, Bin 764 Ob). eo fOr. Or
government in, 7b. 4. 712 E.

Cocks, training of, Laws 7. 789.

Cocytus, Rep. 3. 387 B; described,
Phaedo 113 €; homicides cast
forth by, 2b. 114 A.

Codrus died to preserve the kingdom
for his sons, Symp. 208 D.

Colonization, Laws 4. 708, 7b. 5.736.

Colony, Cretan or Cnosian, Laws 3.
702; and metropolis, 72. 6.752 and
passim (cp. Model State); younger
sons sent into, 2d. 11. 923, 925,929.

Colour, i Gy., 68 +> 4 Common
notion, Meno 74; defined, 2d. 76;
origin of, Theaet. 153; meta-
phorical use of the word, Laws 2.
654; difficulty in distinguishing,
Rep..9. 585; indelible, 7b. 4. 429.

Columns, with figures on them, Symp.
193; with laws written on them,
Chi, sebOec.

Comedy, effect of, Rep. 10. 606;
Phil. 48 (cp. Laws 2.658); amuse-
ment of slaves, Laws 7. 816 foll.;
same poet can write comedy and
tragedy, Symp. 2233; same actors
cannot act both, Rep. 3. 3953 imi-
tative, 7b. 394.

ay DE Ne

Comic poets, Laws 11.935; the enemies
of Socrates, Apol. 18,19; Phaedo7o.

Command and obedience, Laws 6.762.

Commensurable things, Laws 7. 819,
820.

Common life in the state, Rep. 5.
458; common meals of the guard-
dians and property, i. 3. 416;
common meals (ovociria), Laws
1. 625, 633; evil of, 2b. 636, 8. 842;
common meals of warders, 7d. 6.
7623; common notions, Meno 74.

Communism, highest form of, Laws

5. 739-

Community, of women, Rep. 5. 4573
of women, useful, 7+. 462; of pro-
perty, 2b. 464.

Compassionateness of Athens to the
weak, Menex. 244, 245.

Competitors obstructed, Laws 12.
955. See Contests.

Condemnation of Socrates, Apol. 38,39.

Confidence and courage, Protag. 351,
359 foll.

Conflagration, a great, Tim. 22.

Conflict, the immortal, Laws ro. 906.

Connus, son of Metrobius, music-
master of Socrates, a harp-player,
Euthyd. 272 C (cp. Menex. 235 E);
disliked opposition, 75. 295 D.

Constitution, the aristocratic, is the
ideal state sketched in Rep. bk. 4;
defective forms of constitution,
Rep. 8. 544 foll; ‘timocracy,’ 7.
545 foll; oligarchy, 7b. 550 foll.;
democracy, ib. 555 foll.; tyranny,
ib, 562 foll.; Lacedaemonian, 7d.
544; Laws 3. 692; of Athens in
early times, Laws 3.700; Athenian,
Menex. 238. Cp. Crete, Govern-
ment, Lacedaemon, State.

Contests, no abuse allowed at, Laws
10. 935 (cp. 2. 936); umpires of
ibid.; musical, 7b. 2. 657; various
kinds of, 76. 658 ; musical and gym-
nastic, 2b. 6. 764 foll., 8. 828, 12.
947; contests of horses, 7b. 764;
preparation for, id. 7. 7313 judges
at, 2b. 12. 949; Theaet. 173; law
against the obstruction of competi-
tors, ib. 12. 955; contests of
rhapsodes, Ion 530; the cithara in,
Gorg. 501 E,

Contracts, laws concerning, Laws 8.
847; are holy, zd. 5. 729.

Contradiction, nature of, Rep. 4. 4363
proved impossible, Euthyd. 285.

Contributions, Laws 11. 915; com-
pulsory, 75. 12. 949.

sod

Convention, and nature, Laws 1o. |
889, 890; in morals, Gorg. 483.
Cp. Names.

Convivial meetings, Laws 1. 639 foll.;
a kind of education, 2d. 641; bring
out character, 7b. 650. Fora de-
scription of a Greek banquet, cp.
the Symposium, and references under
“Greek Life.’

Cook and physician, Gorg. 521, 522.

Cookery, how far an art, Gorg. 462,
463; art of, 2. 465, 518; and
medicine, 2b. 501.

Co-operative arts, Pol. 281, 287.

Corinth, battle of, Theaet. 142 A.

Corinthian courtezans, Rep, 3. 404 D.

Corinthians, the, feel a need of Athens,
Menex. 244 D3; willing to betray
the Asiatic Greeks, ib. 245 C3; 6
Awos KépivO0s, Euthyd. 292 E.

Coronea, battle of, 1 Alcib. 112 C.

Corpses, not to be spoiled, Rep. 5. 469.

Correction, art of, Soph. 229.

Corruptio optimi pessima, Rep. 6. 491.

Corybantes, at the mysteries, Euthyd.
277 D3; not in their right mind,
Ion. 534 A; medical effects of
their dances, Laws 7. 790 D.

Cosmos, Gorg. 508; Phil. 29.

Council in the model city, Laws 6.
756; division of, ib. 758; duties of,
ibid. nocturnal, 7b. 12. 951, 961, 968.

Country, best defence of the, Laws
6. 760; country to be served with-
out pay, 7b. 12. 955.

Courage in the state, Rep. 4. 4293
defined, ibid.; = staying at the
post, Laches 190; = endurance of
the soul, ib. 192; = knowledge of
that which inspires fear or con-
fidence, 7b. 1953 in animals, 7d. 196 ;
distinguished from fearlessness, 7b.
197; concerned with the good and
evil of all time, 22. 199; a part of
virtue, 72. 190, 199; Protag. 349,
350, 3593 courage and wisdom,
Protag. 350, 360 (cp. Gorg. 495;
Laws 12. 263); = knowledge of
that which is not dangerous, 7.
360; contradiction in ordinary
courage, Phaedo 68; courage and
temperance opposed, Pol. 3073; in
excess, ib. 308, 309; to be blended
with temperance, 7b. 310; which
resists pleasure, Laws 1. 633; a
good, 1 Alcib. 115.

Courts of Law, at Athens, Apol. 34;
Laws 5. 766, 9. 876.

Cowardice, Protag. 359 foll.

558

Cranes, nurseries of, Pol. 263, 264.

Cratylus, his name, Crat. 383 B; on
names, 7b. 383 A, 428 B foll.; Craty-
lus and the image of Cratylus, 72d.
43215.

Creation, reason of, Tim. 29; species
of, <b. 39, 40; myth of, Protag. 320
foll; Greek view of, Soph. 265;
physical theories of, Laws 10. 889.

Creator of the world, Tim. 28.

Creon, a Thessalian, father of Scopas,
Protag. 339 A.

Creophylus, ‘the child of flesh,’ com-
panion of Homer, Rep. 10. 600 B.
Cresphontes, King of Messene, Laws
3. 683 D; an early legislator, id.

692 B.

Cretan young men not allowed to go
into other cities, Protag. 342 D;
naked exercises among, Rep. 5.
452 C3; Cretan government gene-
rally applauded, 7. 8. 544 C; a
timocracy, zbzd.; Cretan opinion of
Rhadamanthus, Laws 1. 625 A;
legislator, 7. 626 A, B; institu-
tions, 2b. 631 B; evil effect of
gymnasia in Crete, 25. 636 B;
COlOnYy, 20:°.2:, 7O2* sstate: hasca
certain moderation, 7b. 3. 693 E;
opinion of the battle of Salamis, 2d.
4.707 B; Cretans in part of Argive
descent, 74.708 A; mounted bow-
Me€ny. 3528-834 1);

Crete, good government of, Crito 53
A; laws of, derived from Zeus,
Laws 1. 624 Aj; scenery of, id.
625 B; institutions of, ibid. ; laws of,
give no experience in pleasure, 7d.
635 B foll.; imperfect, id. 2. 662
C; look to warlike virtues, 75. 4.
703 E; treatment of love at, 7d.
8. 836 B; distribution of fruits in,
ib. 847 E; gymnastic and music
itis 70.2073 08 Tolle Crete: and
Lacedaemon, id. 3. 683 A, 693 E;
Theseus’ voyage to, Phaedo 58 A;
Crete sends out a colony, Laws
os 702 .-4. 707 Lo rocky; nature
ol, 1: Fou Gr natures of the
country not suitable for horses, 2d.
8. 834 B; furnishes help to law-
givers, 2b. 8. 836 B; common tables
in, 2b, 8. 842 B; ancient philosophy
of, Protag. 342 A.

Crimes, causes of, Laws 9. 863.

Criminals, Laws 9. 853; the children
of, 7b. 855, 856; criminal Jaw, 7.
853 foll.

Crison of Himera, a runner, Protag.

LN DEX.

336 A; his abstinence during train-
ing, Laws 8. 840 A.

Critias the elder, Tim. 20 E, 21 A;
Gharin ‘p57. 15° Crit rs 1s.

Critias the younger, son of Callaes-
chrus, present at the Protagoras,
Protag. 316 A foll.; a descendant
of Solon, Charm. 153 C, 155 A;
guardian and cousin of Charmides,
Charm. 155 A, 156 A, 476 C (cp.
Tim. 19 C); well acquainted with
politics, Tim. 20 A; tells the
Vancientt. tales <9. i Ae a Ci.
Crit. 106 B); a friend of Socrates,
Charm. 156 A; a wise man, 2d. 161
B. Critias takes part in the dia-
logues Charmides, Critias, and Ti-
Mmaeus.

Criticism of speeches, Phaedr. 262 foll.;
verbal criticism, Protag. 342 foll.;
applies to good and bad equally,
108.5345 Of. DOetry,. 32. §32.<' Ok
painting, sculpture, and music, 7d.
533000. sophistry..authyd.=.203.
3043; implies knowledge of the
whole, Ion 532; value of, in science,
Pol. 298; qualities necessary for
criticism of the soul, Gorg. 487.

Crito comes to Socrates in prison,
Crto.43 A, etc... urges. Socrates
to escape, ib. 45 A foll.; will go to
Euthydemus with Socrates, Euthyd.
o72 (1s joins, in. the cdiglozue
Euthydemus, ib. 290 E-292 FE; 304
C-307 B; doubts the value of phi-
losophy, 7. 305 B; anxious about
the education of his son, id. 306 D;
his means, Crito 45 A; his friends
in Thessaly, 2. 45 B, 53 D; with
Socrates at the last, Phaedo 60 A,
63 D; receives the last commands,
ib. 115 A, 118 D; of the same age
and deme as Socrates, Apol. 33 D;
offers to be one of the sureties,
ib. 38 Bs; Socrates entrusts Xan-
thippe to his care, Phaedo 60 A.

Critobulus, son of Crito, Apol. 33 E;
offers to be one of the sureties, 7d.
38 B; his appearance as a boy,
Euthyd. 271 B; needs a teacher,
ib. 306 D; present at the death of
Socrates, Phaedo 59 B.

Croesus, ‘as the oracle said to Croe-
sus,’ Rep. 8. 566 C.

Crommyonian sow, not to be called
courageous, Laches 196 E.

Cronos, age of, Pol. 269 A foll.; Laws
Ac PIG Atoll, ;

Cronos, ill treated by Zeus, Euthyph.

INDEX.

6 A, 8 B; Rep. 2. 377 E; judgment

of men under, Gorg. 523 A, B;
etymolozy of, Crat. 396 B; old-
fashioned days of, 7+. 402 A; king-
dom of, Pol. 269 A (cp. i. 271 C);
life in the days of, 4. 272, A, B(cp.
276 A); his treatment of Uranus,
Rep. 2. 377 E; love not older than,
Symp. 195 D; his stupidity, Crat.
396 B.

Crypteia, Laws 1. 633 C.

Ctesippus,the Paeanian, well-bred, but
wild, Euthyd. 273 A; friend of
Cleinias, 25..274 B; GC, 283 E, etc.;
eager for virtue, 2b. 285 C3; his
passionate character, 7b. 283 E, 288
A; 294 G, 300 E; present at the
death of Socrates, Phaedo 59 B.

Cupping-glasses, Tim. 80.

Curetes, Laws 7. 796 B.

Currency in the model city, Laws 5.
742.

Curse arising from crime, Laws 9. 854.

Custom, varieties of, Laws 6. 782.

Cyclopes, Homer’s picture of the (Od.
g. 112-115), Laws 3. 680 B (cp.
ib. 682 A).

Cydathenaeum, the deme of, Symp.
jt ae ba

Cydias quoted on love, Charm. 155 D.

Cypress-wood, Laws 4. 705 C3 groves
of, ib. 1. 624 B; used for writ-
ing, 2b. 5. 741 C.

Cyprus, the expedition to, Menex.
241 E; Cyprian rites, Laws 5. 738 C.

Cypselids, their offering at Olympia,
Phaedr. 236 B.

Cyrene, Theodorus of, Theaet. 143 C.

Cyrnus, Laws 1. 630 A.

Cyrus, an object of ambition to Alci-
biades, 1 Alcib. 105 C, D; freed
the Persians, Menex. 239 D3; never
had any real education, Laws 3.
694 A foll.; his sons, etc. 24. 695 B
foll.

Cyzicus, Apollodorus of, Ion 541 C.

1.

Dactylic metre, warlike nature of,
Rep. 3. 400 foll.

Daedalus, moving figures of, Meno
97 D foll.; arguments compared to
them, Euthyph. 11 B foll.,15 B; son
of Metion, a sculptor, lon 533 A}
ancestor of Socrates, 1 Alcib. 121
As his ‘dates’ Laws 3077 °-D:;
beauty of his works, Rep. 7. 529
D; forefather of the Athenians,
Euthyph. 11 A.

559

Damon, tutor of Pericles, 1° Alcib.
118 C; of the sons of Nicias,
recommended by Socrates, and
accomplished, Laches 180 C; a
friend of Socrates, always with
Prodicus, 7+. 197 D; his wisdom,
ib, 200 A; an authority on rhythm,
Rep. 3. 400 B (cp. ib. 4. 424 C).

Danaus, descendants of, Menex. 245 D.

Dancing in education, Rep. 3. 412;
Laws 2. 655; at Crete and Lace-
daemon, Laws 2. 660; dancing and
gymnastic, 2b. 673 ; origin of dancing
due to a sense of rhythm, idid.;
dances of youths and maidens, id.
erg is two: kinds “Ol,°40., 75° 795.5
imitative nature of, ib. 796, 798,
814; military dances, 2b. 796, 12.
9423 Pyrrhic, 2b. 815, 816; dance
of peace, ibid.

Dardania, founding of, Laws 3. 681
BetCpc 1b, Foe he

Darius, his conquests, Menex 239 E;
his parentage and laws, Laws 3.
695 C, D; his invasion of Greece,
ib. 698 C, D, E; an author, Phaedr.
258 B; his wealth, Lysis 211 E;
his expedition against the Scyth-
ians, Gorg. 483 E.

Datis, commander of the Persian army,
Menex. 240 A; Laws 3. 698 C.
Day and night, Tim. 39; dies fasti
and nefasti, Laws 7. 800 E; of
festival, id. 8. 828, 834; days for

selling and buying, 7b. 8. 849.

Daydreams, Rep. 5. 458.

Dead, judgment of the, Gorg. 523;
condition of, i+. 524; eulogies over,
Laws 7. 801; souls of, take an
interest in human affairs, 2. II.
g27; sepulchres of, 2b. 12. 958;
laying out of, id. 959; honour paid
to, at Athens, Menex. 249.

Death, Tim. 81; Apol. 37; no one
knows what it is, 7. 29; either a
sleep or a migration, i. 40; phi-
losophic desire of, Phaedo 64, 67,
80; nature of, 7b. 64; necessary to
pure knowledge, 25. 66; fears of,
ib. 77; such fears natural, 7b. 95;
Gorg. 524; death and life, which
is better? Laws 8. 828; death the
punishment of parricide, 7b. 9. 869,
873; of murder, id. 871; of slaves,
ib. 8723 of the unknown murderer,
ib. 8743 punishment by death, 7d.
9. 880, 881 (cp. ib. 854).

Decemvirs for founding a Cretan
colony, Laws 3. 702, 6. 751.

560

Definition, difficulty of obtaining
definitions, Euthyph. 10; by enu-
meration, Meno 71, 72; Euthyph.
6; definition and common notions,
Meno 74 foll.; not to be given in
terms unexplained, 74. 79 ; necessary
in speech-writing, Phaedr. 263;
definition or explanation, Theaet.
206; definition and names, Soph.
218.

Deformity and vice, Soph. 228, 229.

Aewds, use of the word, Protag. 341.

Delium, Socrates at, Laches 181 B;
Apol. 28 E; Symp. 221 A.

Delos, the mission-ship to, Crito 43
is Pnacd® 50:An003.c60.00,

Delphi, the god at, awitness to the wis-
dom of Socrates, Apol. 20 E, 21 A;
religion left to the god at, Laws 5.
738 B, 6.759 C,D; Rep. 4. 427 B;
Delphian god consulted, Laws 9.
856 E; Delphian priestess mad,
Phaedr. 244 A; golden images at,
ib. 235 D (cp. Euthyd. 299 B);
Delphian god an authority in re-
moving deposits, Laws 11. 914 A;
inscriptions in the temple at,
Charm. 164 D foll.; Protag. 343 B;
Phaedr, 229.1° 5 Alciboa. 124) b:
129 A, 132 C3; Phil. 48 C; Laws
4-020...

Delta, the Egyptian, Tim. 21 E.

Deluge, Tim. 22; of Deucalion,
Crit. 112; tradition of, Laws 3.
677, 678.

Demeter, etymology of the name,
Crat. 404 B; her gifts to men,
Laws 6. 782 B.

Demigods, Apol. 27. Cp. Demons.

Democracy, spoken of under the
parable of the ship, Rep. 6. 488 ;
philosophy and democracy, ib. 494,
500; the third form of imperfect
state, 2b. 8. 544; detailed account
of, ib. 555 foll.; elements com-
bined in, 2. 5643 democracy in
animals, 75. 5633; evil of, Pol. 293,
302, 303; Laws 3.705; to be com-
bined with monarchy, Laws 2. 693,
698; the democratical man, Rep.
8. 558, 559 foll., 562.

Democrates, father of Lysis, Lysis
204 E; his wealth, 7b. 205 C.

Demodocus, father of Paralus, Apol.
33 E.

Demons (spirit, genius, daipor),
Laws 4.7173 prayers to, zd. 7. 801 ;
have separated men into classes,
Pol. 2713; Socrates’ denial of the

END EX:

existence of, Apol. 27 foll.; every
man has a demon (genius), Phaedo
108; nature and name of, Crat.
397; midway between men and
gods, Symp. 202; Love a great
demon (spirit), zbid.; worship of,
Rep. 4. 427 Bs; intermediate be-
tween God and man, Symp. 202 E.

Demophon, father of Menexenus,
Lysis 207 B.

Demus, Athenian, Gorg. 481 D, E
(cp. 1 Alcib. 132 A).

Demus, son of Pyrilampes, Gorg.
481 E.

Dependents as day-labourers, Eu-
thyph. 4.

Depletion, Tim. 81.

Deposits, Laws 11. 913.

Desertion, indictment for, Laws 12.
943.

Desires, simple and qualified, Rep. 4.
437 foll.; nature of, Symp. 192,
200; 201° (ep. “Phaedri.2397, 257)
desire is of the soul only, Phil. 34;
desires of men, Laws 6. 782, 783;
control of, id. 8. 835, 836. Cp.
Love.

Despots (masters), Rep. 5. 463. See
Tyrants.

Despotism, Laws 3. 697, 701.

Deucalion, Tim. 22 A; flood in the
time of, Crit. 112 A.

Diagnosis, Greek method of, Protag.

352.

Dialect, Old Attic, Crat. 398, 418;
@. =O; 410, AIO +. 6 =" 4, 1h.) A265
Thessalian, 2b. 405; Doric, 2b. 409;
Fretrian, 7b. 434.

Dialectic, division of, Soph. 253;
distinguished from eristic, Phil. 17;
Rep. 7. 5393 a gift of the gods,
ibid.; first among all learning, 24. 57
(cp. Rep. 7. 534)3 (division), Pol.
258, 262, 265 (cp. 261-268);
(dichotomy), 24. 262; where dia-
lectic fails, 2+. 285 ; the best method
of, 2b. 286; dialectical method of
argument, Parm. 135; synthetic
and analytic method, Phaedr. 265;

‘dialectic and rhetoric, 7b. 266, 270;
and writing, 2. 277; effect of, ib.
277; double method of, Rep. 7.
511; capable of attaining to the
idea of good, 7b. 5323 gives firm-
ness to hypotheses, 7+. 533; time
for, ib. 537; effect of the study of,
ibid.; years to be spent in, 7b. 539;
Athenian skill in, Laws 10. 892;
the ‘ dialectical net,’ Soph. 235; the

Ziv DEX,

dialectical method ‘ no respecter of
persons,’ Pol. 266; regardless of
fine names, Soph. 227; the young
dialectician, Phil. 15, 16; has a
conception of essence, Rep. 7. 5343
dialectic and artists, Phil. 59.

Diaprepes, son of Poseidon, Crit.
114 CG.

Diet, Rep. 3. 404.

Differences, accidental and essential,
Rep. 5. 4543 in natural inclination
explained, Phaedr. 252.

Dinomaché, mother of Alcibiades,
1 Alcib. 105 D; her wardrobe not
worth fifty minae, 75. 123 D.

Diocles, father of Euthydemus, Symp.
222 B.

Diomede, his command to the Greeks,
(14. 472) 3,Rep.. 3. 389 2.

Dion, an orator, Menex. 234 B.

Dioné, mother of Aphrodité Pande-
mus, Symp. 180 E.

Dionysiac festivals, Laws 1. 637 B;
Rep. 5.475 E.

Dionysodorus comes to Athens,
Euthyd. 271 B; in a large way of
wisdom, #5. 273 C; his disciples, 25.
274 B;- elder of the ‘Thurian
brothers,’ 7b. 283 A3 converses
with Ctesippus, id. 283 E, 285 D
foll., 298 D3; converses with So-
crates, id. 293 E foll., 297 A foll.

Dionysus, his influence on Bacchic
maidens, Ion 534 A; Aristophanes
always in his company, Symp. 177
E; his festivals, Laws 1. 653
1)y..665A,7672 Be Rep. 5.. 475.2);
may be invited by men over forty
years of age, Laws 1. 666 B; his
gifts not to be censured, 7b. 672 A;
choristers of, 7b. 7. 812 B; the joy of,
ib. 8.844 E; temple of, Gorg. 472 A.

Diopompus, his abstinence, Laws 8.
840 A.

Dioscuri, Euthyd. 293 A}; games in
honour of, Laws, 7. 796 B.

Diotima, the wise woman of Man-
tineia, Symp. 201 D-212 A.

Discerning, art of (dcaxpitixy), sub-
divided, Soph. 226.

Discord, causes of, Rep. 5. 462; the
ruin of states, zbid.; in Greek cities,
ib. 470; discord and disease, Soph.
228; discord and vice, ibid.

Discourse, Greek love of, Apol. 23,
33; Rep. 5. 450; exemplified in
Phaedrus, Phaedr. 228, 258; in
Socrates, 75. 230, 236; nature of,
Soph. 260 foll.; = connection of

VOL. V.

561

verbs and nouns, ib. 262; false,
ib. 263; length of, Pol. 286, 287;
to be learnt, Laws 7. 811.

Disease, Rep. 3.405, 408 foll.; inherent
in everything, 24. 10. 609; origin of,
Tim. 81, 82 foll.; Symp. 188; dis-
eases of the soul, Tim. 86 ; of body
and soul compared, Crito 48; dis-
ease and discord, Soph. 228; dis-
ease and vice, 75.; in life, Laws
5. 7343 injustice compared to, id.
10, 906,

Dishonour and justice inconsistent,
Laws 9g. 859, 860.

Display, art of, Soph. 224.

Dispositions, difference of, Theaet.

144.

Disputation, Greek love of, Gorg. 458.
Cp. Discourse.

Dithyrambic poetry, seeks pleasure
only, Gorg. 501; sacred to Bacchus,
Laws 3.7003 nature of, Rep. 3. 394.

Diversities of natural gifts, Rep. 2. 370.

Divine beauty, wisdom, goodness,
etc., Phaedr. 247.

Divination,Symp.1 88; pavtexyn,Phaedr.
2443 olwvotexn, ibid.; of the dying,
Apol. 39; by the liver, fim. 71.

Diviners, Tim. 72; Ion 534; Euthyph.
4%. POL, 2905 Jaws 21. 913,933:

Division and generalization in dis-
putation, Phaedr. 265; logical me-
thod:: Obi Phil 16.5% soph. 2104
division and predication, Soph. 253
(cp. Dialectic) ; of sciences, Pol.
258; of knowledge, 2b. 259, 260;
of objects of production, 74. 261;
of the art of command, #id.; of
the breeding of living creatures,
ibid. ; process of, ib. 262; of animals,
éb. 262, 2633 of herds, 2b. 264, 265;
process of, illustrated by weaving,
ib. 2793 into classes, 26. 285; into
members, 75. 287.

Division of labour, Rep. 2. 370, 4. 443;
Laws 8. 846, 847.

Division of land, Laws 5. 736; in the
model state, 7b. 737.

Divorce, Laws 11. 930.

Doctors, two kinds of, Laws 4. 720;
doctors’ assistants, ibid. Cp. Acusi-
laus, Eryximachus, Herodicus, Diag-
nosis, Physician.

Dodona, the oaks of, Phaedr. 275 B;
the priestesses of, mad, id. 244 B;
oracle of, Laws 5. 738 C.

Dog, Socrates’ oath by the, Charm.
172; Lysis 211, 212; Apol. 21;
Phaedo 99; Gorg. 461, 482; Rep.

00

562

3. 399, 9. 5923 dogs are philoso-
phers, Rep. 2. 376.

Dolphin, Arion’s, Rep. 5. 4533 as or-
naments, Crit. 116.

Dorian harmony, Rep. 3. 399 A;
Laws, 2: 670+ o= the ..true
Hellenic mode, Laches 188 D; a
harmony of words and deeds, 7d.
193 D; dialect, Crat. 409 A.

Dorians, origin of, Laws 3. 682 E;
= Heracleidae, id. 685 E; settle-
ment of Dorian army, id. 702 A.

Draughts, Laws 7. 820; Rep. 6. 487.
Cp. Games.

Dreams, Crito 44; Phaedo 60; dream
of the reign of knowledge, Lysis
173; dream of Socrates, Theaet.
S01,-.202% Ampure, Rep. .9. 592 >
cause of, Tim. 46.

Drinking and music, Laws 1. 642;
regulations on, 7b. 2. 671-674.

Drones, the, Rep. 8. 552.

Dropidas, great grandfather of Crit-
ias, Charm. 157 E; Tim. 20 E.

Drunkenness at marriages unlawful,
Laws 6. 775.

Duty not to be paid, Laws 8. 847.

Dyeing, Rep. 4. 429.

E.
Early society, Rep. 2. 3593 early
Man, Laws. .3.) 678, 679". Gary,

rising, 2b. 7. 808.

Earth, eldest of the gods, Tim. 40;
position in the universe, 75. 49;
form of the, 2. 55; earth and
water, compounds of, i. 60, 61;
description of, Phaedo 109-114 ;
sacredness of, Laws 5. 740, I2.
955; a goddess, z+. 10. 8863 origin
of, ib. 889; the mother of Athens,
Tim. 23; mother of Oceanus, 7d.
40; mother of the female sex,
Symp. 190; earth and fire source
of the universe, Tim. 313; men
sprung from, Pol. 2713; an element
in animals, Phil. 29.

Eating, pleasure accompanying, Laws
2667.

Echecrates of Phlius, Phaedo 57 A,
88 C, 102 A.

Education (see Gymnastic and Music),
of guardians, Rep. 2. 376 foll., i.
752% + seo fiction. in, 20. 2. 37-7
foll., 392; music and gymnastic
both for the soul, 24. 3. 410 (but
cp. Laws 7. 795); melody in, 7d.
3. 398 foll.; mimetic art in, 25. 399;
influence of, on manners, id. 4. 424,

INDEX. .

4253 innovation in, dangerous, zdid. ;
philosophic, 74. 6. 498; the longer
way in, 2b. 504; the higher, 7d.
7. 514-5373 professors of, 7b. 518;
real nature of, ibid.; not compul-
sory, 2. 536; age for the higher,
ih. 5373 the prelude, 7b. 532; in-
fluence of, Tim. 87; Laws 7. 788+
division of, Soph. 229; good of,
Laws 1. 6413 by convivial meet-
ings, 2b. 2. 653, 657; nature and
power of, 2b. 1. 643 foll.; must
begin early, zjid.; aims at ideals, 2d.
643, 644; is the first and fairest
thing, 75. 644; in temperance, zd.
647; =training of instincts in chil-
dren, 7b. 2. 6533; music in, 2b. 654;
given through Apollo and the Muses,
ibid. ; in Egypt, ib. 656, 7.819; edu-
cation and legislation, 2. 659; at
Crete and Lacedaemon, i). 666,
667; parts of, 7.672, 673; minister
of, ib. 6. 765; importance of, zd.
766; of young children, 7. 788
foll., 791 foll.; compulsory, 74. 7.
804; guardians of, 74. 809; Athen-
ians careless of, 1 Alcib. 122; some-
times neglected, Laches 179; care
due to, z+. 185, 1863; what advice
to be taken about, 7+. 186; serious-
ness of, Protag. 313; of sons of
BOOd" (Men. 236 320,624, 225.
popular, 2b. 325, 326; a life-long
process, 7b. 325; Greek not taught
in, ib. 328; a Sophist’s view of,
ib. 3393; subjects of, with boys,
Euthyd. 276; value of, id. 306,
3073 difficulty of finding a teacher,
Apol. 20.

Effluences of existence, Meno 76.

Egypt, education in, Laws 2. 656 D,
7. 819 Aj painting in, 2b. 657 A;
tale brought by Solon from, Tim.
21C; embalmment in, Phaedo 80 C;
passage-money from, to Athens=
two drachmae, Gorg. 511 D; kings
are priests, Pol. 290 E; Athenian
expedition to, Menex. 241 E.

Egyptian Delta, Tim. 21 E; deity
Neith, z4id.; deity Theuth, Phaedr.
274 C, D; Egyptians characterized
by love of money, Rep. 4. 436 A;
habit of craft in the, Laws 5.747 C;
consecrate every sort of dance, 2b.
7.799 A; ‘ Egyptian tales,’ Phaedr.
275 B; Proteus the wizard, Eu-
thyd. 288 Bj; names translated,
Crt. 113 Ax

Ejileithyia, women to assemble in the

siete

INDEX.

temple of, Laws 6. 784 A; (god-
dess of parturition) = beauty,
Symp. 206 C. Cp. Lucina.

Elasippus, son of Poseidon, Crit.114C.

Elea, Soph. 216 A.

Eleatic philosophy criticized, Soph.
241 E foll.; Eleatic stranger, 7b.
216 A; Zeno (Palamedes), an Ele-
atic, Phaedr. 261 D.

Election of magistrates in the model
city, Laws 6. 753 foll.; of council,
ib. 756; of officers, 2b. 7593 of
the wardens of the country, 7d.
760; of judges, 2+. 767; mixed
mode of election, 7b. 759, 763, 767;
best mode of, 75. 756, 757.

Elements, the four in creation, Tim.
ea ° Nature wOt,.77.040.$ Origin. of;
th. &2,, 533 the primal, 7b, 51.3, the
four, various kinds of, ib. 583 as
letters, Theaet. 202; four elements,
Phil. 27, 29; Laws 1o. 891.

Elephants in Atlantis, Crit. 115.

Eleusis, war against the tyrants in,
Menex. 243 E.

Elis, house of Hippias at, Hipp. min.
363 Cs; treatment of love at, Symp.
182 B.

Emigration, rules concerning, Laws
12. 949 foll.

Emmeleiai, Laws 7. 816 B.

Empedocles, Meno 76 C; Theaet.
P5onk.

End, the, and use of the soul, Rep.
I. 3533 distinguished from the
means, Laches 185; of life, Laws
7. BOv,

Ends and excellences (dperai) of
things, Rep. 1. 353; ends as final
causes, Lysis 219, 2203; as causes,
Gorg. 467.

Endymion, Phaedo 72 C.

Engine-makers, Gorg. 512.

Enquiry, sophistical limitation of,
Meno 80; into things unknown is
possible, 7. 81 foll.; “duty of, id.
86; Phaedo 85.

Envy, Phil. 49; evil of, Laws 5. 731.

Epeius, invented tricks of boxing,
Laws 7. 796 A; his soul, Rep. 10.
620 C; asculptor, Ion 533 A.

Ephesians, mad about Heracleitus,
Theaet. 179 E; originally Athen-
ians, Ion 541 D.

Ephesus, the native city of Ion, Ion
560,.Ay 53311G. “nosdnean city,
1D. SALAD.

Ephialtes, Symp. 190 B.

Ephors, watch over the queen of

563

Lacedaemon, 1 Alcib. 121 B; their
power, Laws 3. 692 A; 4. 712 D.
Epicharmus, quoted, Gorg. 505 D;
the ‘prince of comedy,’ Theaet.

152 E.

Epicrates, Lysias with, Phaedr. 227 B.

Epidaurians have contests of rhap-
sodes, Ion 530 A.

Epidaurus, Festival of Asclepius
(Aesculapius) at, Ion 530 A.

Epigenes, a pupil of Socrates, Apol. |
33 a present in the prison, Phaedo
59 B.

Epimenides at Athens, Laws 1. 642
D; his ingenuity, 75. 3. 677 D.

Epimetheus, Protag, 320 1): 231: B:
foll.

Epitaph on the tomb of Midas,
Phaedr. 264 D.

Er, myth of, Rep. 10. 614 B foll.

Erato, muse of lovers, Phaedr. 259 D.

Erchiae, Alcibiades owned 300 acres
there, 1 Alcib. 123 C.

Erectheus, demus of, 1 Alcib. 132 A;
prior to Theseus, Crit. r10 A.

Eretria invaded by Persians, Menex.
240 B, C; Laws 3. 699 A.

Eretrians and Darius, Menex. 240 A,
Ge Laws 2; 608 ©, 15 “Brctnan
dialect, Crat. 434 C.

Erichthonius, prior to Theseus, Crit.
Fro.A.

Eridanus, hill of the Acropolis once
extended to, Crit. 112 A.

Erineus, in Attica, Theaet. 143 B.

Eriphyle, Rep. 9. 590 A.

Eristic, distinguished from dialectic,
Rep. 7.539; Meno 75; Euthyd. 275
foll.; ib. 293 foll.; Phaedo tor;
Eristic arguments, Theaet. 165;
subdivisions of, Soph. 225; nature
of, ib. 259.

Eros, a ‘mighty God,’ Phaedr. 242 EF;
Socrates prays to, 75. 257 A; lord of
Phaedrus and Socrates, id. 265 C;
Eros and Pteros, 7b. 252 B. Cp.
Tsoyc;

Error, kinds of, Laws 9. 364.

Erysichthon, Crit. 110 A.

Eryximachus, a physician, Phaedr. 268
A; objects to drinking, Symp. 176
A; cures Aristophanes of the hic-
cough, id. 185 D; his speech in
praise of love, 7. 186 foll.; with
Hippias, Protag. 315 C.

Essence (ovcia) and attribute to be
distinguished, Euthyph. Ir; nature
of, Phaedo 78; perceived by the
mind, ib. 79; Phaedr. 247; essence

002

504

INDEX.

and generation, Phil. 54; Soph.
248; in early philosophy, Soph.
246; of the soul, Tim. 35; sepa-
rated essence, 74. 36; eternal es-
sence, #b. 37; essence and the soul,
Laws 10. 896 (cp. Phaedo 78;
Phaedr. 245); of things and names,

Crat. 423.

Ethonoe (=Athene), Crat. 407 B.
Etymology, argument from (savia
Havtixn, etc.), Phaedr. 2443 (voids

vdpos), Laws 4.7143 12.9573 use of

letters in, Crat. 414, 426, 427; in-

sertion of «x, 75. 412; change of

letters, 75. 418; Phaedr. 244; addi-
tion of letters, Crat. 414; Phaedr.

244.
Etymology of—

dBovria, Crat. 420.

dya0ds, ib. 412,
AO:

"Ayapépvov,ib.395.

"Axis, 1b. 394.
“Adns, ib. 404.
anp, ib. 410.
anrns, ib. 410.
"AOnva, ib. 407.
*AOnvaios, Laws, i.
626.
aidnp, Crat. 410.
aitédos, ib. 408.
aic@noes, Tim. 43.
aicxpoy, Crat. 416.
’AxeaipBpotos, ib.
394-
dxodacia, ib. 437.
adyndwv, ib. 419.
aAndeia, ib. 421.
GAxos, ib. 409. .
dpabia, ib. 437.
dpapria, ib. 43.7.
dvaykaiov, ib. 420,
dv5peia, ib. 413.
dynp, ib. 413.
avOpwros, ib. 399.
avia, ib. 419.
"ATrOAAwY, ib. 404.
dropia, ib, 415.
dpetn, 1b. 415.
“Apns, ib. 407.
“ApTepus, ib. 406,

"Apxérronus, ib. 394.

appev, ib. 414.
aoTpa, ib. 409.
*AoTtuavag, ib. 392.
*Atpevs, ib. 395.
*"Appodirn, ib. 406.
axOndwy, ib. 419.
BéBaioy, ib. 437.
BrAaBepdy, ib. 417.
BdamToy, ib. 417.
BovA€ecOar, ib, 420.

BovAn, Crat. 420.
“yaia, ib. 410.

yj, ib. 410.

yAtox poy, ib. 427.
yAowwdes, 2b. 427.
yAvkd, ib. 427.
yvopn, ib, 412.
yoyyvaAos, ib. 427.
yun, ib. 414.
daipoves, ib. 398.
devAla, ib, 415.
déov, 1b. 418.
deopds, ib, 427.
Anynrnp, ib. 404.
diaidv, ib. 412.
dixaos, ib. 412,413.
dexaroovvn, ib. 412.
Avdvvaos, ib. 406.
Aigidos, ib. 399.
dda, ib. 420.
eipe, ib. 398, 408.
"Extop, ib. 393.
éxovatoy, ib. 420.
éAmis, ib. 427.
eévdov, 2b. 427.
évauTés, ib. 410.
évros, ib, 427.
émOvpia, ib. 419.
émorTnpun, ib. 412,

437:
épeixev, Crat. 426.
‘Epis, ib. 407.
“Eppoyérns, ib. 384,
429.
épws, ib, 420.
‘Eoria, ib. 401.
€av0n, ib. 412.
Eros, ib. 410.
evdvvat (aecount),
Protag. 326.
EvméAepos, Crat.
394-
evppootrn, ib. 419.
Céov, ib. 427.

Zevs, ib. 396.
(npumdes, ib. 448.
(uyéy, ib. 418.
75o0vn, ib. 419.
jaAcos, ib. 408.
Hyuépa,ib. 448; Tim,
45.
“Hpa, Crat. 404.
hpws, 1b. 398.
“Hoaoros, ib. 407.

OadrAEW, ib. 414.

Geol, ib. 397.
OedHrdros, ib. 394.
Gepuds, Tim. 62.
OnAh, Crat. 414.
Onrv, ib. 414.
Opavery, ib. 426.
Opumrety, ib, 426.
Oupds, ib. 419.
‘latpoxdijs, ib. 394.
iévat, ib, 427.
ieoOat, ib. 427.
inepos, tb. 419, 420;
Phaedr. 251, 255.
idv, Crat. 421.
Tpis, 2b, 408.
ioropia, ib. 437.
kakia, ib, 415.
rakov, tb. 416.
Kandy, ib. 416.
watvos, ib. 417.
KaTONT pov, ib. 414.
xepdadéov, ib. 417.
kepdos, tb. 447.
Kepparicey, ib. 426.
Kiev, ib, 426.
kivnots, ib. 426.
KodA@bes, ib. 427.
Képos, tb. 396.
Kpovos, ib. 396.
Kpovey, ib, 420.
KUwY, tb, 410.
Aapnpoy, ib.
Aelos, ib. 427.
Anta, ib. 406.
Avyetat, Phaedr.237.
Autapév, Crat. 427.

AvatreXouy, ib. 417.

patesOat, ib. 421.
pavrinn, Phaedr.
244.
péyas, Crat. 427.
pels, ib. 409.
pijKos, ib. 427.
BnxXavn, ib. 415.
penn, ib. 437.
Mvnaideos, tb. 394.
Movoan, ib. 406.
vonots, ib. 411.
vopos, Laws, 4.714,
12. 957.
vwpav, Crat. 411.

Evupopd, th. 437:
ddvv7, ib. 419.
oinos, ib. 420.
oivos, ib. 406.
oiwviaTiKh, Phaedr.
244.
éAtoOavery, Crat.
427.
ov, ib. 421.
dvopa, ib. 421.
*Opéarns, ib. 394-
ovpavds, ib. 396.
ovata, ib. 421.
opéedrrev, ib, 417.
IidAAas, ib. 406,
ie) ee
madAetv, 2b. 407.
Tay, 2b, 408.
TléAoy, ib. 395-
mioTOV, ib, 437.
TiAovtwy, ib. 403.
m0Gos, ib. 420.
movetv, Charm. 163.
TloAépapxos, Crat.
394-
Tlocedav, ib. 402.
mparrev, Charm.
163.
mvp, Crat. 410.
‘Péa, ib. 402.
pet, ib. 426.
péov, ib, 421, 424,
420.
pon, ib. 426.
pupBetv, ib. 426.
oeiecOat, ib. 427-
6éXas, ib. 409.
cednvn, ib. 409.
Sous, 2b. 412.
copia, ib. 412.
oraats, ib. 426.
ouppepor, ib. 417-
ovveats, ib. 412.
opiyé, ib. 414.
oxéats, ib, 424.
o@pa, ib, 409.
owppoavyn, ib, 41.
Tavtados, ib. 395.
Tepmvov, ib. 419.
Téexvn, ib, 414.
TnOvs, ib. 402.
Tpaxus, ib. 426.
Tpopos, ib, 426.
bdwp, ib. 410.
Peppéparta, ib. 404.
ppovnats, ib. All.
xapa, ib, 419.
xopoés, Laws 2,654.
evdos, Crat. 421.
yuxn, tb. 399.
“Opa, ib. 410.
wpéeAtpov, ib. 417.

app aed 565

Euclid, Theaet. 142 A foll; with
Socrates at the last, Phaedo 59 C.,
Eudicus, son of Apemantus, Hipp.

min. 363 B foll.

Eumelus, son of Poseidon, = Gadeirus,
Criteri 4 b.

Eumolpus, invades Attica with Ama-
zons, Menex. 239 B.

Eunuch, the riddle of the, Rep. 5. 479;
eunuchs as doorkeepers, Protag. 314.

Euphemism in names, Crat. 405.

Euphemus, Phaedr. 244 A.

Euphony, in etymology, Crat. 412,414.

Euphronius, the Sunian, father of
Theaetetus, Theaet. 144 C.

Eupolemus, name of a general, Crat.
394 C.

Euripides, a distinguished tragedian,
Rep. 8. 568 A; his maxims about
tyrants, zbid.; inventor of the name
magnet, Ion. 533 D. Quoted :—

Antiope, fr. xx. Gorg. 484 E.

Xto5. 1,

ert xxv. 486 B.
Hippolytus, ]. 352, 1 Alcib. 113 C.

res ]. 612, Theaet.154 D.
Melanippe, fr. vi. Symp. 177 A.
Polyeidus, fr. vii. Gorg. 492.
Troades, |. 1169, Rep. 8. 568.

Euripus, currents in the, Phaedo go C.

Europe, the dead from, judged by
Aeacus, Gorg. 524 A; Alcibiades
not content with, 1 Alcib. 105 B;
Persians attempt to enslave, Menex.
239 D; Laws 3. 698 B; empire of
Atlantis extended to Tyrrhenia in,
Tim. 25 B; ancient Athenians re-
nowned over, Crit. 112 E.

Eurybatus, a notorious villain, Protag.
Bae lo.

Eurycles, a wonderful ventriloquist,
Soph. 252 C.

Eurymedon, battle of, Menex. 241 E.

Eurypylus, treatment of the wounded,
Rep. 3. 405 E, 408 A.

Eurysaces, ancestor of Alcibiades, 1
Alcib. 121 A, B.

Eurysthenes, king of Lacedaemon,
Laws 3. 683 D.

Euthydemus the Chian, younger of
the ‘Thurian brothers,’ comes to
Athens from Thurii, Euthyd. 271 B;
his disciples, 74. 273 A; a sophist in-
stead of a pancratiast, id. 273 D; his
method of questioning, 7d. 275 D;
discourses, ib. 275 foll., 284 foll.,
293 foll.; his thesis, Crat. 386 D.

Euthydemus, son of Diocles, Symp.
232-3

” 9)

J

Euthydemus, brother of Polemarchus,
Rept. 326: 3

Euthyphro of the Prospaltian deme,
a soothsayer, Euthyph. 3 B ; prose-
cutes his father, 2. 4 A. foll.; has a
knowledge of piety, 2b. 5 A; his
knowledge of religion, 74.13 EF; on
names, Crat. 396 D, 400 A, 407 E,
rey OF

Eutychides, meaning of the name,
Crat. 397 B.

Evenor of Atlantis, Crito 113 C.

Evenus, the poet, Socrates’ message to,
Phaedo 60 D; of Paros, his inven-
tions, Phaedr. 267 A.

Evidence, law of, Laws 11. 937.

Evil, involuntary, Protag. 345 foll.;
Tim. 86; Laws 9. 860; Hipp. min.
3723 evil and ignorance connected,
Meno 77; Protag. 353 foll.; no-
body desires, Meno 783 evil men
incapable of friendship, Lysis 214;
has no love for wisdom, 74. 218;
removed by wisdom only, Phaedo
1073 evils, Gorg. 467 ; worse to do
than to suffer, i. 4753 origin of,
Pol. 273; prosperity of evil men,
Laws 10. 899, 900,905; evil speak-
ing, 1b. 11. 934, 935+

Evil eye, Phaedo 95.

Examiners; see Censors of magis-
trates.

Examples, use of, illustrated, Pol. 279
foll.

Excellences and ends of things, Rep.
L358.

Excess in argument, Pol. 283, 286, 287.

Exchange, forcible, Soph. 219; art of,
ib, 223.

Exercise, bodily, needed, Tim. 88.

Exercises, naked, in Greece, Rep. 5.
452; Laws 6. 771, 8. 833. Cp.
Dances.

Exile, punishment of involuntary homi-
cide, Laws 9. 865, 867, 868.

Existence a participation in essence,
Phaedo 1o1 (cp. Rep. 9. 585); revo-
lutions of, Pol. 270, 271, 272; abso-
lute and individual, 1 Alcib. 130; of
the gods proved, Laws ro. 886.

Expedient and good, Protag. 333.

Expediency, the aim of the legislator,
Theaet. 177; expediency and jus-
tice, 1 Alcib. 113, 116.

Experience and the arts, Gorg. 501.

Explanation or definition, meanings
of, Theaet. 206.

Expiation of guilt, Rep. 2. 364; Laws
8, 831, 9- 854, 865, 868, 869, 881;

506
of a state, 74. 872; of a house, 7.
877.

Expiration, Tim. 78, 79.

Exports and imports, Laws 8. 847.

Exposure of children, Rep. 5. 460, 461.

Extremes in men uncommon, Phaedo
go.

Eyes, Tim. 45; medicine for, Lysis
210.

Hs

Faction, prevention of, Rep. 7. 5213
causes of, Laws 5. 744.

Faculties, how different, Rep. 5. 477.

Failure of military service, Laws 12.

943.

Fallacies, sophistical, Euthyd. 275 foll.,
284 foll., 293 foll., 298 foll.

False, discussion of the word, Hipp.
min. 365; false and good, id. 367;
false opinion, Euthyd. 286; Soph.
240; false witness, Laws 12. 943.

Falsehood, impossible, Euthyd. 284,
286; Crat. 429; a medicine, Rep.
5. 459; falsehood and the assertion
of not-being, Soph. 240, 241; in
language, ib. 2633; in opinion, 2.
264; sophist’s denial of, id. 260,
261; in the lawgiver, Laws 2. 663;
intentional, Hipp. min. 371.

Family life in the state, Rep. 5. 449;
families in the State, 7b. 461;
family and state, 7d. 463; manners
of family life, 74. 465.

Fate, Pol. 272 E; Fates, Laws 12. 960
B. See Atropos, Clotho, Lachesis.
Fear, Protag, 358 ; fear and reverence,
Euthyph. 12; of eviland of disgrace,
Laws 1. 646, 647; fear-potion, 7.

648; =wine, id. 649.

Feeling, and the memory of feeling,
Theaet. 166.

PCnCe, art 201, ULnya..- 27 2. >. Cips
Fighting.

Festivals (Hermaea), Lysis 206 D; of
Asclepius at Epidaurus, Ion 530 A;
Panathenaea, i+. 530 B; Euthyph.
6 C; festivals for rest, Laws 2. 653;
to encourage friendship, 75. 5. 738;
at marriage, 2b. 6. 775; of the
Egyptians, 7b. 7. 799; of women, 7d.
8.8283 number of, zdid.

Festivities, true use of, Laws 2. 657;
mixed amusements at, id. 2. 658.

Fevers, Tim. 86.

Fiction in education, Rep. 2.
censorship of, 74. 3. 386; stories
of the world below, 7d. foll.; not to
represent sorrow, ib. 387 foll.; re-

S745

INDEX.

presenting intemperance to be dis-
carded, ib. 390. Cp. Allegory.

Figs, fresh and for storing, Laws 8.
844, 845.

Fighting, an art, Soph. 219; subdivi-
sions of, 2b. 2253 fighting in armour,
Laches 182; Euthyd. 273; Gorg.
4565 Laws 8.83%, 834.

Figure, a common notion, Meno 74 ;
= that which follows colour, ib. 75 ;
=the limit of solid, 7. 76.

Final causes, argument from, applied
to justice, Rep. 7. 352.

Fines, Laws 9. 855.

Finite, Phil. 25.

Fire, Tim. 49; form of, ib. 56; fire
an element, Phil. 29; obtained by
friction, Rep. 4. 435.

First principles, importance of, Crat.
436.

Fish, Tim. 92; fish preserves in the
Nile, Pol. 264; fishing, Soph. 220.
See Angling.

Flatterers, Soph. 222, 223; and rhe-
toricians, Gorg. 403.

Flesh, Tim. 73.

Flutes, Rep. 3. 399; flute-girls, Protag.
347, Symp. 176; flute-playing, an
art which seeks pleasure only, Gorg.
5013; flute-makers, Rep. 10, 601;
flute-playing, Laws 3. 700; flute
music, Phil. 56.

Flux, of being, Symp. 207.

Foreign origin of words, Crat. 410,
416, 421; foreigners, Laws 12.950.

Form and matter, Crat. 389, 390.

Fountains, to be ornamented, Laws 6.
7OY. ancient, im Attica, Crit; 111%
in Atlantis, 25. 113, 117.

Freedmen, Laws 11. 915.

Freedom, depends on_ knowledge,
Lysis 209; of speech in Greece,
Gorg. 461, 462.

Friendship, Phaedr. 255, 256; Lysis
212 foll. (see Love) ; friendship and
love, Laws 8. 837; like and un-
like in, ziid.; friendship and agree-
ment, 1 Alcib. 127.

PEOSl, tiny 60;

Fruits, laws concerning, Laws 8.
844, 845.

Funerals, Laws 4. 719; expenditure
on, i. 12. 9593 funeral orations,
Menex. 2353 washing of the corpse,
Phaedo 115; corpses placed on
the pyre on the twelfth day, Rep.
10. 614; lamentations, Laws 7.
800, 12. 960 (cp. Menex. 248);
funeral of a magistrate, 7b. 947.

INDEX.

Future life, Crat. 398, 403; Rep. 3.
387, to. 614 foll.; Phaedo 63,
67; union of friends in, id. 68;
mystic view of, id. 69; the good
happy in, 24.107; Apol. 41; Phaedo
1143 Gorg. 527; punishment in,
Rep. 2. 363, to. 615; Gorg. 525;
Laws 9g. 870; Greek views of,
Menex. 248.

G.

Gadeirus = Eumelus, Crit. 114 B.

Gades, country of, Crit. 114 B.

Games, odd and even (dorpdyador),
i Alcib. 110 B; Lysis 206 E3 ser-
reia, Laws 7. 820 C, D, 5. 739A;
Rep, 02487 Ge 1 Ale: 180: Ts
metrevtikn, Gorg. 456 D; prisoner’s
base (?) (Ova ypapprs maigey),
Theaet. 181 Aj; xuBot, Rep. to.
604 Cs; draughts and dice in-
vented by Theuth, Phaedr. 274
D; ball (cdaipa), Euthyd. 277 B;
Theaet. 146 A; city (wéXs), Rep.
4. 422 E; puppets, Laws 1. 644 E;
wooden horses, Theaet. 184 D;
dancing on a leathern bottle (do-
Kodud¢ev), Symp. 190 D; games asa
means of training, Laws 1. 643 B;
influences of games, ib. 7. 797 (cp.
Gymnastic); games common to both
sexes, 7b. 771 E; teachers of games,
1 Alcib. 110 B3; madorpiBns, Rep.
Be 359) as

Ganymede, Phaedr. 255 C3 story of
Ganymede invented by the Cretans,
Laws 1. 636 C,

Geese, nurseries of, Pol. 264.

Genealogies, Tim. 23.

Genera and species distinguished,
Euthyph. 12; difficulty in fixing,
Soph. 267.

General idezs, unity and existence of,
Phil. 15; division of, 24. 16; general
ideas, Soph. 254.

Generalization in speeches, Phaedr.
265.

Generals, election of, Laws 6. 7555
generals and tacticians, 7d. I1. 921.

Generation (yéveois), Phaedo 71;
cause of, 75. 96 (cp. rox, Phil.
27) > of animals, “Cim,--90;...983
generation and essence, Phil. 54;
Soph. 248, 249; and pleasure, Phil.
55 foll.

Genesis, of animals, Protag. 321; of
man, Symp. 190.

Geography, value of, Laws 6. 763.

Geometry, Rep. 7. 526, foll.; Greek

567

study of, 25. 527 foll.; of solids, id.
528; Theaet. 147 foll.; Meno 82.
Geryon, Euthyd. 299 C; Laws 7.
795 C3; Heracles and Geryon,

Gorg. 484 B.

Gestation and nursing, Laws 7. 789.

Ghosts, Phaedo 81.

Gifts given to victors, Rep. 3. 414;
5. 460, 468.

Givers of names, Crat. 436, 437.

Glaucon, son of Ariston, Rep. 1. 327
A; takes up the discourse, 7+. 347
Aa. 2: 3740, 22-305 b,4, ARO Oe
506 D, 9.576 B; anxious to con-
tribute money for Socrates, 15. 337
Ps-the poldest of men, 2. 357-0°
Glaucon’s genius, 7+. 368 A; a mu-
sician, 2b. 3. 398 D3; a lover, id. 5.
474 D; breeds dogs and birds, i.
5.459 A3 character of, 25.7. 548 E;
mentioned, Parm. 126 A.

Glaucon, father of Charmides, Protag.
315 A; Charm. 154 B, 158 B.

Glaucus, the sea-god, Rep. ro. 611 C;
Phaedo 108 D.

God, not the cause of evil, Rep. 2.
379; never changes, 25. 380; will
not lie, 25. 382; quarrels of the
gods, Euthyph. 7; the givers of
good, ib. 14, 15; only is wise,
Apol. 23; sun and moon are gods,
ib. 26; Laws 7. 821 ; Socrates’ belief
in, Apol. 26; masters of men,
Phaedo 62; in a future world, 7d.
63; in Hades, ib. 80; procession of,
Phaedr. 247; influence of, on love,
ib. 252, 253; names of, Crat. 397-
400; nothing known of, ib. 400;
they love a joke, ib. 406; of the
natural world, id. 408; are there
any? Rep. 2. 365; stories of, 2b. 378
foll.; not to lament, 7. 3. 388;
laughter in, 24. 389; intemperance
of, a fiction, 2d. 390; avarice of,
ib. 390; children of, Tim. 40; Im-
mortality of, i. 415 ignorance of,
Crit. 107; have neither joy nor
sorrow, Phil. 33; God the creator,
Soph. 265; Tim. 30 foll.; the shep-
herd, Pol. 2713 Crit. 1095 God’s
gifts to men, 7. 274; God and
chance, Laws 4. 709; laws about,
ib. 716 foll.; sacrifice to, ib. 716;
gods below, i+. 717; nature of, ib.
716 (Cp. 10. 905, 906); a man’s
most precious possession, ib. 5. 726,
727; of generation, 7. 729; of
strangers, ib.; Oppose men, 1D. 7323
in a new state, 2b. 738; local, 7.5

568

the twelve, in the model state, 7d.
7453; in model state, 2b. 6. 771,
772; heavenly and infernal, 2. 8.
828; disbelief in, 7d. 10. 885 foll.
887; punished, 74. 909; existence
of, ib. 886-go0; 12. 966; said to
exist by convention 74. 889, 8903
in all things, 7+. 899; take no heed
of human affairs, 74. 899 foll.; not
careless. 4.900; of popular opinion,
ib. 9043 not to be appeased by
riches, 25. 905; invocation of, at
sales, 75. 11. 916, 917; have care
of orphans, 75. 927; the aged bear
their likeness, id. 930, 9313 belief
in, not universal, 25. 12. 948;
offerings to, id. 955, 956; know-
ledge of, 24. 9663 belief in, whence
arising, 74.3 the guardians of So-
crates, 1 Alcib. 124.

Goddess of ways, Laws 11. 914.

Gold (and silver) not allowed to the
guardians, Rep. 3. 417; not to be
possessed in the model city, Laws
5. 7423 nature of, Tim. 59. -

Golden age, Pol. 271, 272; Laws 4.
713. Cp. Cronos.

Good, the, hard to know, Crat. 384;
the idea of, Rep. 6. 505, 508, 5173
is pleasure in wisdom, id. 6. 505;
nature of, 2+. 506; not a pleasure,
ib. 509; self-sufficient, Lysis 215;
sufficient, Phil. 60; = the beautiful,
Lysis 216; universally desired, Eu-
thyd. 279; good fortune = wisdom,
ib. 2793 use of, depends on know-
ledge, ib. 2813 corruptio optimi pes-
sima, ib, 2813 good things made
hurtful or profitable by wisdom or
folly, Meno 88; the good is the
beautiful, Symp. 201; the good and
the expedient, Protag. 333; good in
relation to pleasure, 7. 356; Phil.
55, 00> ‘the chief; 15. 20: méeds
no addition, 74. 21; the cause of,
ib. 23; Gorg. 497 ; mixture of, Phil.
62; measure the source of, 2b. 64;
cause of good is in the mind only,
ib. 653; in the mixed life, 2. 61, 65;
good and wisdom, 7+. 60; author-
ship of good and evil divided, Laws
10. 896, 897; good and false, Hipp.
min. 367; good and honourable,
1 Alcib. 116; good and order, Gorg.
504; good the end of action, id.
499; goods classified, Rep. 2. 357;
Protag. 334; Phil. 66; Laws 1.631,
3. 697; enumerated, Euthyd. 279;
Meno 78; good how far painful,

INDEX.

Protag. 334; goods of the soul,
Meno 88. :

Good men unfortunate, Rep. 2. 364;
good men self-sufficient. 74. 3. 387;
good men not good by nature,
Meno 89; no evil can happen to a
good man, Apol. 413; sons of good
men, Laches 179; Protag. 324, 3255
Meno 93.

Gorgias, his influence at Larisa,
Meno 70 A; his style of answer, zd.
(cp. 76 C); his influence on Meno,
ib. 71 Es does not teach virtue, 2d.
95 C; defines virtue, 25.73 D; fails
to educate Meno, ib. 96 E; goes
the round of the cities, Apol. 19
E; a great master of rhetoric,
Symp. 198 C; Phaedr. 261 C;
knows that probability is superior
to truth, id. 267 A; converses with
Socrates, Gorg. 449 A—461 A; his de-
ference to opinion, 4. 482 D, 487
A, 494 D; on persuasion, Phil. 58
B foll.; goes with his brother
Herodicus to persuade patients to
take medicine, Gorg. 456 B. Cp.
Rhetoric.

Gorgons, Phaedr. 229 E.

Gortys, Gortynians came from Gortys
in Peloponnesus, Laws 4. 708 A.
Government, forms of, Pol. 291 foll.,
JOT 1Ol- sa SCICNCE, 20.292 -. Ince
be scientific, 2+. 293; government
and laws, ib. 294; science of, at-
tained by few, 74. 292, 300; without
knowledge, a source of misery, 2.
20T + Origin Ol; “baws 3. 670 tolies
change of, zjid.; primitive form of,
ib. 6803 progress of, ib. 680, 6813
mother forms of, 7. 693; Persian,
ib. 694; of Attica reviewed, 75.
698 foll.; development of, id. 4.
710; of Lacedaemon, ). 712; prin-
ciple of, 24.7143; highest form of,
ib. 5. 7313 prevent the practice of
war, ib. 8. 839. Cp. Constitution,

Model city, State.

Grammar, and music in education,
Euthyd. 276; and _ predication,
Soph, 253; the invention of Theuth,
Phil. 18; combination of letters,
Soph. 253; ‘a copulativus,’ Crat.
405; change of letters in Greek,
ib. 418, 420, 426; Eretrian dialect,
ib. 434. Cp. Dialects, Etymology.

Grasshoppers, Phaedr. 259.

Great men, sons of, Laws 3.696. Cp.
Good men.

Greek life, procession in honour of

INDEX.

Artemis, Rep. 1. 327 A; sacrifices in
houses, 7. 3. 328 C; athletes, id.
404 A; dinners, zbid.; naked exer-
cises, ib. 5.452 A, B (cp. Exercises);
female occupations, 7b. 455 C3; love
of disputation, Gorg. 458 C; Greeks
and barbarians, Pol. 262 C foll.;
Greek games, Theaet. 146 A (see
Games) ; the holy season at Athens,
Phaedo 58 B, C; incidents of a
dinner, Symp. 174, 175, 176, 212
foll., 223; drinking, 2d. 176 E; flute
girls, zbid. (see Flute-girls); con-
versation, 2.177 A; hours of rising,
Protag. 310 A, 311 A; door-keepers,
ib. 314 D; house of Callias, 24. 315 D,
335 C, 337 E; after-dinner amuse-
ments, id. 347 C3; lovers, Lysis 204
B; Euthyd. 273 A; delight in in-
tellectual exhibitions, Protag. 335
D; Euthyd. 274 D, E, 303 B; Apol.
33 B; practical joking, Euthyd. 278
C; wit, Meno 77 A; young men at
Athens, Apol. 23 C; courts of jus-
tice, ib. 34 C; amusements of boys,
Lysis 206 C. For the characters
of Greek youth, see Alcibiades,
Charmides, Cleinias, Ctesippus,
Lysis; and cp. Phaedr. 239 A.

Greek states, causes of the ruin of,
Rep. 8. 564; Laws 8. 839.

Guardians of the state, Rep. 2. 3755
good guardians are philosophers, 7b.
376; their education, 2b. 376 foll.;
laughter among the, 24. 388; trial
of the, id. 3. 4133 distinguished
from auxiliaries, 75. 4145 common
meals of, 2b. 4163; happiness of the,
ib. 5. 466; knowledge of the good
necessary to the, id. 6. 506; edu-
cation of the i. 7. 521; of laws,
Laws 6. 755 (cp. Magistrates) ;
teachers of virtue, 2b. 12. 964; to
practise induction, 75. 965; to know
the gods, ib. 966.

Gyges, Rep. 2. 359 C, ro. 612 B.

Gymnasia, Pol. 2943 dmodurjptov, Eu-

- thyd. 2723 kardoreyos Spdpos, id.
2733 masters of, Protag. 326; gym-
nasia at Crete, Laws 1.625 (cp. 633,
636); effect of, 74.; where to be
built, 2. 6, 761s. 7. 804.

Gymnastic in education, Rep. 3. 403
foll.; Protag. 326; Gorg. 518; Soph.
228; Laws 7. 813, 814; effect of
excessive, Rep. 3. 411, 7- 521, 5225
Tim. 88; fighting in armour, how
far advantageous, Laches 1825; not
practised by the Lacedaemonians

569

and useless, 24. 183 foll.; gymnastic
and medicine, Gorg. 464; Soph.
2283; gymnastic exercises, Laws 1.
625, 633; evil of, 2b. 1. 636; origin
of, 2b. 2. 653, 654, 672: includes
both dancing and wrestling, is. 7.
795; suitable to women, 7b. 804, 833
(cp. Rep. 5. 452); ministers of, id.
6.764; to be military, 2b. 8. 832;
running, 2b. 833; conflicts in armour,
ibid.; horse contests, ib. 8343 = care
of the body, 1 Alcib, 128.

H.

Hades (dees) the invisible world,
Gorg. 493 B; tales about the ter-
Pots Ol,.nen: tesco. cab 0d de:
Musaeus’ account of the good and
the bad in, zd. 2. 363 C; treatment
of the tales of, 75. 3. 386 B; the place
of punishment, Laws ro. 904 C;
(Pluto) helmet of, Rep. 10. 612 B.

Hail, Tim. 59.

Hair, Tim. 76; cut in mourning,
Phaedo 89.

Hamlets, Laws 8. 848.

Hands, both to be trained equally,
Laws 7. 794.

Handicraft arts,areproach, Rep.9.590.

Happiness, of citizens, Rep. 4. 420
foll.; connected with knowledge,
Charm. 1733 universally desired,
Euthyd. 279; = use of good things,
ib. 280; knowledge necessary to,
ib. 2813; art of, ib. 290; the kingly
art inadequate, 7b. 290; depends on
justice, Gorg. 470; the object of
laws, Laws 1. 631; happiness and
wealth, 25. 5. 743.

Hardness, Tim. 62.

Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Symp.
F523. C.

Harmonia of Thebes, Phaedo 95 A.

Harmonies, the various kinds, Rep.
3+ 398, 399.

Harmony, the soul compared to a,
Phaedo 86 (cp. 91 foll.) ; nature of,
ib. 92, 93; Symp. 187; Phil. 17;
Laws 2. 665; harmony and rhythm,
Laws 3. 689; pleasure and har-
mony, Phil. 31; science of, Rep.
BRT st dil. 45%

‘Having’ and ‘possessing,’ Theact.
107.

Head, Tim. 75, 76.

Headache, charms for, Charm. 155.

Health and justice compared, Rep.
4. 4443 health in life, Laws 5. 734.

Hearing, Tim. 47, 67.

Yb

Heart, Tim. 70.

Heat, Tim. 62.

Heavenabove the heavens, Phaedr. 2476

Heaviness, Tim. 63.

Hecamedé, the concubine of Nestor,
Fon 538 C.

Hector, meaning of the name, Crat.
393. A, 394 B; attacked by Achilles,
Ton. 535 B; Apol. 28 C; Symp. 180
A; slew Patroclus, Laws 12. 944A3
dragged by Achilles round the tomb
of Patroclus, Rep. 3. 391 B.

Hecuba, her sorrows, Ion 535 B.

Helen reviled by Stesichorus, Phaedr.
243 A; never went to Troy, Rep. 9.
586 C.

Helios, meeting in the precincts of,
Laws 12. 945 E; priests of, 25.947 A.

Hellas, youth of, Tim. 23 B; invasion
of, by Atlantis, 2. 24 E foll.; conduct
of, in the Persian war, Laws 692
C, D, E; administered by ancient
Athenians, Crit. 112; not to be
devastated in civil war, Rep.. 5.
470 D foll., 471 A.

Hellenes in the Persian invasion,
Menex. 240 B foll., 241 A foll.,
subsequent wars among the, 7..242
A Soll, 243° 8B foll.,. 344 B-foll.,
245 A foll.; protected against the
barbarian, Laws 3. 685 C; not to
be enslaved by Hellenes, Rep. 5. 469
B, C; united by ties of blood, 2.
470 C3; not to devastate Hellas, id.
471 A foll.; Hellenes and barbarians
are strangers, ib. 5. 469 B, 6. 494
C; Laws 1.635 B; prevented from
mingling by the Persian war, Laws
3. 693 A; admire wealth, id. 9.
870; worship sun and moon, zd. 10.
887 E. Cp. Lysis 210 B; 1 Alcib.
TOs D124. Be Vneact..175 A.

Hellenic and barbarian names, Crat.
383 A, 385 E, 390 C, 409 E.

Hellespont, Rep. 3. 404 C3; naval en-
gagements at, Menex. 243 A; bridge
over, Laws 3. 699 A.

Helots, Laws 6. 766; 1 Alcib. 122 D.

Hephaestus, etymology of the name,
Crat. 404 B, 407 C; his arts stolen
by Prometheus, Protag. 321 D, E;
supposed to weld a pair of lovers
together, Symp. 192 C; his metal-
lurgy due to love, 2. 197 B; his
combat with Xanthus, Crat. 391 E;
arts given to men by, Pol. 274 C;
fellow-worker with Athena, zd. (cp.
Protag. 321 D); god of mixing, Phil.
61 B; craftsmen dedicated to, Laws

INDE X.

11.920 E; binds Heré, Rep. 2. 378
D (cp. Euthyph. 8 B); bound Ares
and Aphrodité, 74. 3. 390 C3; the
god of Attica, Crit. 109 C; Socrates’
descent from, 1 Alcib. 121 A.

Heraclea, inhabitants of, have en-
slaved the Mariandynians, Laws 6.
776 D3; Zeuxippus of, Protag. 318 B.

Heraclea, stone of = magnet, Ion
5330) Lim: 60. C,;

Heracleidae, their expedition against
the Argives, Menex. 239 B; con-
stitution of, Laws 3. 685 D; the
Heraclid colony, i. 5. 736 C;
ruling at Argos and Lacedaemon,
b Alciby £27. 2.

Heracleides of Clazomenae chosen
general by the Athenians, Ion 54: D.

Heracleitean philosophy, in regard to
names, Crat. 411 B foll., 416 B,
437 A, B,. 440 A foll.; applied to
sensation and perception, Theaet.
181 D foll. Cp. Heracleitus.

Heracleitus, Crat. 440 C3; his thesis,
ib. 401 D, 402 A, B; the ‘sun of
Heracleitus,’ Rep. 6. 498 A; _ his
philosophy in regard to perception,
Theaet. 152 E, 156 A foll., 160 D;
his sect, 2. 179 D foll.; his theory
discussed, i+.; his reconciliation of
opposites, Symp. 187 A.

Heracles (Hercules), ‘not a match
for two,’ Phaedo 89 C; could not
fight against the Hydra, Euthyd.
297 C; brother and nephew of
Heracles, id. D, E; ‘Bravo! Hera-
cles,’ 2b. 303 "A; ’ connected with
the family of Lysis, Lysis 205 C;
Prodicus on the virtues of, Symp.
177 B; Heracles and Geryon, Gorg.
484 B; a Heracles of argument,
Theaet. 169 B; genealogies traced
to; 7. t75 2s. sons or, Laws, ce
685 D.

Heracles, columns of, Phaedo 1og B;
Pimwaa i, 25 BepCnt. tq.

Heralds, laws concerning,Laws 12.941.

Herds divided, Pol. 264, 265; art of
managing herds, ib. 275, 276.

Heré, meaning of the name (é¢pary
ms), Crat. 404 B, C; her followers
seek a royal love, Phaedo 253 B;
bound by Hephaestus, Rep. 2. 378
D «cp. Euthyph..8. B)s, Here and
Zeus, ib. 390 B; daughter of
Cronos and Rhea, Tim. 41 A; fines
on celibacy, etc., to be paid to,
Laws 6. 774 A foll. Cp. Rep. 2.
387 fs Laws 2.672 B.

SN OM OE:

Hereditary tendencies, sons of good
men not good, Protag. 320, 324, 3253
reason of this, 24. 327; hereditary
tendency to crime, Laws 9. 856. Cp.
Good men, Great men.

Hermaea, Lysis 206, 223.

Hermes, meaning of the name, Crat.
408 A, 429 C3 messenger of Zeus,
Protag. 322 C; the star sacred to
(Mercury), Tim. 38 D; Rep. ro.
607 A; the god of heralds, Laws
12.0414.

Hermocrates, Tim. 20 B; his promised
speech, Crit. 108 A.

Hermogenes, his name, Crat. 383 B,
384 C, 408 B, 429 C; with Socrates

at the last, Phaedo 59 B.

Hermus, Rep. 8. 566 C.

Herodicus of Selymbria, a valetudi-
narian, Rep. 3. 406 A foll.; recom-
mends the walk to Megara and back,
Phaedr. 227 C; a first-rate sophist,
Protag. 316 E.

Herodicus, brother of Gorgias, a
physician, Gorg. 448 B, 456 A.

Heroes, origin of, Crat. 398; not to
lament, Rep. 3. 387, 388; to be
rewarded, Rep. 5. 468; after death,
ib., Laws 4. 7173 prayers to, Laws
7. 801 (cp. 5. 738).

Hesiod, quoted :—

Theogony,
lp rr6s folk, oymp, 179.3:
1. 154, 459, Rep. 2. 377 E.
l, 195, Crat. 406 C.
1 20%, Crat..298 A;
l. 780, Theaet. 155 D.
Works and Days,
25, Lysis 215 C. :
. 40, Rep.5. 466 B; Laws 3. 6g0E.
oui, Laws 3. 677° E.
109, Rep. 8. 546 E.
. 720, Crat. 398 A.
122, Rep. 5. 468 E.
a27, Rep, 2.363. B.
256 foll., Laws 12. 943 E.
287, Protag. 340 Cy Rep. 2.
364 D; Laws 4. 718 E.
1: 30> foll,, Laws 10. 901 A.
1. 200, Charm. 103 B.
359, rat. 428 A
l. 454, Lheaet. 207 A.

Frag. 117, Rep. 3, 390 E3 zacert.
Crat. 402 B

Genealogies of Hesiod, Crat. 396 C;

his children (poems) Symp. 209 C;
his fame, Tim. 21 C; his works

recited by rhapsodes, Laws 2. 658

D; Hesiod and Epimenides, ‘4. 3.677

a ee ee
e e e e . e

571

E; as astory-teller, Rep. 2. 377 D,
E (cp. Symp. 195 C); his story of
Uranos and Cronos, Rep. 2. 378 A;
his classification of the races, Rep.
8.547 A; not studied by rhapsodes,
Ion 531 A, B; a sophist, Protag.
316 D; pleasure of conversing with
him, Apol. 41 A; a wandering rhap-
sode, Rep. 10, 600 D; his rewards
of justice, 7d. 612 B.

Hestia, meaning of the name, Crat.
401 D; a temple founded to her,
Laws 5. 745 B; to have temples
everywhere, 7b. 8.848 D3; seals and
signatures of the judges to be placed
on her altar, 2d. 9. 856 A; remains
at home while the other gods go
in procession, Phaedr. 247 A.

Hiccough, Symp. 185, 189.

Hieronymus, father of Hippothales,
Lysis 203 A.

Himera, Crison of, Protag. 335 E;
Stesichorus of, Phaedr. 244 A.

Hippias of Elis, Phaedr. 267 B; goes
the round of the cities, Apol. 19 E
(ep. FP rotag, sra7. 3i5 e372)
foll.); offers an interpretation of
Simonides, 74. 347 A; at Olympia,
willing to answer all, Hipp. min.
363 E foll.; his view of the Trojan
heroes, id. 364 C foll.; a skilful
calculator. 40. -366G™ toll. > Bis
beasting, zd. 368 B foll.; his art
of memory, 25. 368 E. A person
in the dialogues Protagoras and
Hippias Minor.

Hippocentaurs, Phaedr. 229 D.

Hippocrates the Physician, contends
that the knowledge of a part re-
quires knowledge of the whole,
Phaedr. 270 C (cp. Charm. 156 E).
See Aesculapius.

Hippocrates, son of Apollodorus, his
visit to Socrates, Protag. 310 A;
carries Socrates to Protagoras, id.
pay oe ON

Hippodamia, Crat. 395 D.

Hippolytus, cursed by his father
Theseus, Laws 3. 687 E, 11. 931 B.

Hipponicus, father of Callias, Protag.
Shen aVpOh 20 x;

Hippothales, lover of Lysis, Lysis 203 A,
207 B; is ‘stark-mad,’ id. 205 A foll.

Hire, laws concerning, Laws 8. 847.

History, early Greek, Laws 3. 682,
683; of Athens sketched, Menex.
239 foll.

Holiness of marriage, Rep. 5. 458, 459;
Laws 6.776. Cp. Marriage.

572

Homer, and tragic poetry, Rep. ro.
595 B, 598 D, E; not a legislator, id.
599 E; or a general, 74. 600 A; or
inventor, zbid.; or teacher, zbid.; no
educator, i+. 606 E, 607 B; his
knowledge of the arts, Ion 537 A
foll.; sole study of the rhapsodes,
tb. 531 A3 subjects of his poetry,
th. C3 like a magnetic ring, 7d.
536 A, B; some striking passages
quoted, 7. 538 C foll.; his golden
chain, Theaet. 153 C; not read by
the Cretans, Laws 3. 680 B; an
Ionian, 24. C ; a witness to early life,
ib. D; not much esteemed in his
lifetime, Rep. 10. 600 B foll.; went
about as a rhapsode, ibid. ; quoted on
names, Crat. 391 D foll.; in support
of the theory that justice is a thief,
Rep. 1. 334.B; his stories not ap-
proved for youth, 2d. 2. 377 D foll.;
Homeric apocrypha quoted, Phaedr.
252 B; his mode of narration, Rep.
3. 393A foll.; his heroes, 2b. 404 C;
Socrates’ feeling of reverence tor
him, 7b. 10. 595 C; his poems pleasing
to age, Laws 2.658 E; had not the
wit to.discover why he was blind,
Phaedr. 243 A. Passages quoted or
referred to :—
Iliad i.

iar folly, Rep: 3.392 1: foll,
pEat 1h: Gy 501 Db:
. 169 foll., Hipp. min. 370 D.
$225, WED, 3. 309. Le
343, C rat. 425...
7590 Jol, Rep, 2.378.
- 599 foll., 2b. 3. 389.
Iliad ii.

]. 365, Phaedr. 260 A.

]. 408, Symp. 174 C.

Paty er AtciDat 72° A.

]

]

ted pd ee et be

O23, CD, 6. SOL G..

sor 3, (ldt, 392 A.

1. 851, Theaet. 194 D.
Iliad iii.

ES yhepwg. 309 2.

i; reg, Crat.i428 D,

i172, sl heacte183 F.
Iliad iv.

NS ortoll:; Rep.i2.°379 42,

L210, 07 36 4OG nt

Laid, to 3300 1,

Te ag sera:

hase. Phil62 D;
Iliad v.

i eon, Crati407. D:

I]. 223 Laches rgr A.

1. 845, Rep. 10. 612 B.

INDEX.

Iliad vi.
]. 211, Soph. 268 D.
lL. 265, Crat, 415A.
I. 402, 26. 202 3;
1°4035, 90. 392 44.
Iliad vii.
]. 321, Rep. 5. 468 D.
Iliad viii.
1, 43, bnacdo .te.n.
lL ¥9,-t heaet. 153: 1.
], 108, Laches ror A.
1, 262, REp. 5. 408-2.
Iliad ix.
‘Prayers, Hipp. min. 364 E;
Crat. 428 B.
. 308 foll., Hipp. min. 370 A.
21s 10, 396370. De
PAS7 Cl ao, 470.D:
. 363, Crito 44 B.
. 441, Gorg. 485 D.
i447, Laws Li, 931.D.
. 497 foll., Rep. 2. 364 D.
. 500, Laws to. 906 D,
5-513 10s, Rep, 3-300, ls
. 644 foll., Crat. 428 B.
i 650 folly, Eipp. mine 377 0.
Iliad x.
]. 244, Protag. 348 C.
]. 482, Symp. 179 A.
Iliad xi.
]. 514, Symp. 214 B.
}576, Kep,-3. 405 ie.
1. 624, ibid.
1. 638, 630, Ion 538 C.
1. 844, Rep. 3. 406 A.
Iliad xii.
‘Battle at the Wall,’ [on 539 A.
l. 200 foll. zid.
131i; aNeps 5.468 1.
Iliad xiv.
1. 96, Laws 4. 706 E.
1; ore! feact, 152 (cp-crat,
402
F201, rac. 202 1,
I 2040. Rep? 3, 300-G.
1302, Theaet..152 1. (cp,.Crats
402 B).

Iliad xv.
l. 187 foll., Gorg. 523 A.
E262, SyMp. 170: A.
Iliad xvi.
ieee RED. 3. 358 Us
l. 554, Theaet. 194 D.
be7 70. eD. 6.) 500").
1, 865 foll., Rep. 3. 386 E.
Iliad xviii.
fae Otc a. tao,
Pig4.15, 388 Bb.
1. 84 foll., Laws 12. 944 A.

INDEX. 573

1. 96 foll., Apol. 28 C.

1. 108 foll., Phil. 47 E.
liad xix.

1. 92 foll., Symp. 195 D.

1. 278 foll., Rep. 3. 390 D.
Iliad xx.

hi Artoll, Rep. 26.370 Es

1 Geto, cs 30 Ose.

1. 74 foll., Crat. 391 E.

1. 216 foll., Laws 3. 681 E.
Iliad xxi.

], 222 foll., Rep. 3. 391 B.

1. 308, Protag. 340 A.
Iliad xxii.

lil. 15, 20, Rep. 3. 391 A.

1, 168 foll., 2b. 388 C.

1. 362 foll., 2b. 386 E.
el ATs 10.305.

1, 407, Gtaks 302 40
Iliad xxiii.

]. 100 foll., Rep. 3. 387 A.

1. 103 foll., 2b. 386 D.

Lces7crpeoi bs

Wat. 40 70.

1. 335, on 537 A.
Iliad xxiv.

1. 10 foll., Rep. 3. 388 A.

L860. toll lon, 5 35s

1. 348, Protag. 309 A.

Sag kcp.a2ae 7000:
Odyssey i.

1. 351 foll., Rep. 4. 424 B.
Odyssey ili.

l. 26 foll., Laws 7, 803 E.
Odyssey iv.

1. 252, Symp. 220 CG.
Odyssey v.

1. 193, Phaedr. 266 B.
Odyssey. viii.

]. 22, Theaet. 183 E.

1, 266 foll., Rep. 3. 390 D.
Odyssey ix.

Lo fol, Rep. 3. 390 B-

1. ot foll., Rep. 8. 560 C.

1. 112 foll., Laws 3. 680 B.
Odyssey x.

1. 279, Protag. 309 A.

I, 405; REP 3.0380",
Odyssey xi.

1; 489 foll., Rep. 3.386 C,7. 516 D.

1. 569, Gorg. 526 D.

1. 576 foll., Gorg. 525 E.

1. 582, Protag. 315 D.

LeGOLe 1b. Ds

1. 633 foll., Symp. 198 C.
Odyssey Xil.

1. 342, Rep. 3. 390 B.
Odyssey xiv.

1. 234, Theaet. 183 E.

Odyssey xvii.
leony Selaysis 204 A.
lL. 392, Laws 6.777 4.
le Sars. Chammy 16% Ay aches
201 B.
. 383 foll., Rep. 3. 389 D.
lie Seto, 2h..203 810.
Odyssey xix.
1. 43, Laws 10, 904 E.
Luteo toll, Khepy 2.363083
163, Apol. 34 D.
i

—

174 foll. Laws 1. 624 B.
906, Rep.crs3 340.
bess Charing 173.05.
Odyssey xx.
1.17, Rep. 3. 390 D, 4. 441 B;
Phaedo 94 E.
i ae. foll.. Lon seouAe
Odyssey xxiv.
1. 6, Rep. 3. 387 A.
1 40;:76158..566 Di:

Homer quoted, Euthyd. 288 B; for
535 B; Phaedo 95 B; Symp. 179 E;
ib. 180 A; ib. 216 A; Phaedr. 275 C;
Rep. 1. 328 E, 2. 381 D, 3. 390 E,
8. 544 D; Theaet. 194 C; Soph.
216 B.

Homeric Apocrypha quoted, Phaedr.
252 B.

Homeridae, Rep. 10.599 E; Ion 530E.

Homicide, the, exiled, Laws 9.864; in-
voluntary homicide, ib. 865-869; at
games, ib. 865; of a slave, 7d. ; of a
freeman, é.; of a stranger, 75. 866;
of a metic, i+.; by a stranger, 7.5
manslaughter, ib. 866, 867; with
premeditation, 7. 867; return of
the homicide, iJ. 867, 868; the dis-
obedient, ib. 868 : by aslave, 7d. ; by
4 father or mother, id; by a husband
or wife, ib.; by a brother or sister,
ib.; by a child, 7d. 869 5 by brothers,
citizens, strangers, slaves, 74.; yolun-
tary, 7. 870-874; causes of, ib. 8703
homicide of a kinsman, 7. 871;
punishment of, #b.; indirect, WSies
by slaves, 70.5 of father, mother,
elts zon S74. DY beasts, 7b.; by in-
animate objects, 2b. 873,874 5 by per-
sonsunknown, ib. 874; justifiable, 2d. ;
sale of when discovered, 7d. 11. 916.

Honey, Tim. 60.

Honour, where to be given, Laws 3.
697; due to the soul, ib. 727,
728; due to the body, Tha 5g oy 2015
honourable and good, 1 Alcib. 116.

Hope, the comfort of the righteous in
old age, Rep. 3. 3313 pleasures of,
belevl Peerael

574

Horse contests, Laws 8. 834; horse
of the soul, Phaedr. 253.

Horsemanship, suitable to women,
Laws 7. 804.

Hospices, Laws 11. 919 A. Cp. Inns.

Hospitals, Laws 6. 761.

Hours (pac) derivation of the name,
Crat. 410.

‘House of reformation,’ Laws ro. 908.

Houses, Tim. 70; of the citizens,
Laws 8. 848.

Household and state compared, Pol.
259; the childless household, Laws
1131925.

Human sacrifices, Laws 6. 782.

Hunting, Laws 1. 633; an art, Soph.
2193 divisions of, 7b. 220 foll.; valu-
able to the young, Laws 6. 763;
honourable and dishonourable, id.
7 DME 57

Hurts, voluntary and _ involuntary,
Laws g. 862; hurts and injustice, 7.

Husbandmen, laws concerning, Laws
8. 842, 843 foll.

Hydra, Heracles and the, Euthyd.
297 C.

Hyperborean, Abaris the, Charm.
158 B.

Hypothesis, use of in mathematics,
Rep. 6. 5103; in sciences, 2b. 7. 533;
use of, Meno 86, 87; Phaedo 100;
hypothetical case at law, Phaedr.
2733 use of hypotheses in method,
Parm. 136; of the one, 24.137 foll.
Cp. One.

Hymns, Laws 7. 799, 8013 12. 947;
marriage-hymns, Rep. 5. 4593 in
the state, Rep. 10. 607.

ni

Iambic Poets, Laws 11. 935; Iambic
measure, Rep. 3. 400.

Tapetus, love is older than, Symp. 195 B.

Iatrocles, name of a physician, Crat.
394 C,

Iberians, given to intoxication, Laws
£. O37):

Ibis, the bird sacred to Theuth,
Phaedr. 274 C.

Ibycus, ‘like Ibycus I was troubled,’
Phaedr. 242 C; fell in love in his
old age, Parm. 136 E.

Iccus of Tarentum, a gymnastic mas-
ter and sophist, Protag. 316 D;
his self-restraint, Laws 8. 839 E.

hoe. Tin. 59.

Ida, altar of the gods on, Rep. 3. 391
| Die oe at the foot of, Laws 3.
681 E.

INDEX.

Idea, ideas, innate ideas, Euthyd. 296;
Meno 81, 86; of beauty, 2. 301;
difficulties in the. way of, Phil. 15
foll.; in individuals, 74. 16; know-
ledge and ideas, Laws 12. 965;
doctrine of, Lysis 217 foll.; re-
collection of, Phaedr. 249 (cp. Myth
of the Soul); ideas and pheno-
mena, Rep. 6.’507 ; idea of good the
source of truth, 25. 508 (cp. 505);
a cause like the sun, 7d. 6. 508, 7.
516, 5173 ideas in the creation of
the world, Tim. 30 foll. (cp. 37);
ideas and names, Crat. 389; exist-
ence of, 7+. 439; knowledge con-
nected with, 74. 440; absolute, Rep.
5. 476. origin of abstract, 74. 7.
523; nature of, 7b. 10. 5963 single,
106597 CCD., Lim. 28. 51) 3 cexist-
ence of abstract, Phaedo 65, 74;
knowledge of, must precede par-
ticular knowledge, 75. 75; the idea
prior to the reality, zdid.; ideas and
recollection, 2+. 75 foll.; ideas
and immortality, 4. 76; a kind of
stepping-stones, 7b. 1003 are causes,
ibid.; names of, 75. 1033; loveliness
of, Phaedr. 250; the cause of love,
ib. 2513; Of likeness and unlikeness,
Parm. 129; distinguished from
things, zbid.; ideas and moral quali-
ties, 7. 130; one and many in, 2d.
1313 participation of things in, zid. ;
infinite, 2. 132; exist in the mind,
ibid.; are patterns, zdid.; necessary
to philosophy, 7+. 135; =common
notions, Soph. 240; general ideas, 2.
2543 require examples, Pol. 277.

Ideal, ideals, ideal state is possible,
Rep. 5..473; idealists, Soph. 246,248;
ideals, Rep. 5. 472; use of in legisla-
tion, Laws5.746. For the ideal state
of the Republic, see City, Constitu-
tion, Education, Guardians, etc.

Ignorance, nature of, Rep. 5. 477, 478;
the source of evil, Protag. 355 foll.;
ignorance and pleasure, 7b. 357;
impossible, Euthyd. 286; of self,
Phil. 48; involuntary, Soph. 228;
an evil of the soul, 24.; divisions of,
ib. 2293 is ruin, Laws 3.68385 the
greatest, 7+. 689; in kings, zd. 691;
a cause of crime, 7d. 9. 863; having
the conceit of knowledge, 1 Alcib.
117 foll.; mischief of, 2. 118; of
statesmen, 75. 118, 119; excludes
knowledge, Meno 80; an inanition
(kévwots) of the soul, Rep. 9. 585.

Iliad, the style of the Iliad illustrated,

LN DEX,

Rep. 3. 392 E foll.; the Iliad and
Odyssey mentioned, Rep. 3. 393 A;
Hipp: ii. 303 -b 5 2 eb: 12 Bs

Ilion, foundation of, Laws 3. 681 E,
foll.; [lion (Troy.), Rep. 3. 393 B.

Ilissus, hill of the Acropolis once ex-
tended to, Crit. 112 A; Socrates and
Phaedrus sit beside the, Phaedr.
229 A, B.

Ill-health destroys the profit of life,
Gorg. 505. See Invalids.

Images, Rep. 7. 510 (cp. 10. 596);
Tim. 52; golden, at Delphi, Phaedr.
235; at Olympia, 2. 236; images
and not-being, Soph. 240; waxen,
at doors, Laws ro. 933 B.

"Ipepos, Phaedr. 251.

Imitation, Crat. 423; in style, Rep.
3. 202, 294, 10. 5900 ‘Toll, Goo
foll.; concerned with the weaker
part of the soul, 7. ro. 604; Tim.
19; Soph. 234, 235; a kind of pro-
duction, id. 265; kinds of, ib. 266
(pe 225); science, aoe 2675 of
appearances, ibid.; in music, Laws
2. 6553 pleasure accompanying, 2d.
667; criteria of, 75. 667, 668; in
dancing, 7. 7. 814.

Imitative gestures, Crat. 423; poetry,
Rep. 10. 5953 arts inferior, 7d.
605; divisions of them, Soph. 235.

Imitators ignorant, Rep. 10. 602.

Immortality and love, Symp. 206-209;
of the soul, Meno 813 after death,
Apol. 41; arguments in favour of,
Phaedo 70; immortality and the
theory of recollection, 7b. 725 argu-
ments against this (Simmias), 7d.
86; (Cebes), 87; answer to these
arguments, zd. g1 foll.; final proof of,
7b. 105 foll.; immortality of the
soul, and motion, Phaedr. 245 foll.;
Laws 12. 959; proot of, Rep. 1o.
608 foll. (cp. 6. 498); immortality
by children, Symp. 208; Laws 4.
721. Cp. Psychology.

Impiety towards the gods, Laws to.
885, 907; ‘causes of, 25. 900;
punishment of, 7+. 906. Cp. Atheism.

Imports and exports, Laws 8. 847.

Inanimate objects guilty, Laws 9. 873,
874.

Inachus, Heré asks alms for the
daughters of, Rep. 2. 381 D.

Incantations, Laws 11. 932-933; in
medicine, Rep. 4. 426; Theaet. 149;

" Charm. 155. Cp. Euthyd. 290.

Incurable criminals, Gorg. 525.
Invalids.

Cp.

ay Bs

‘Indifferent’ things, Gorg. 468.

Individual, inferior types of the, Rep.
8. 545; individual and state, Laws
3. 630. "Cp. Rep, 2.36857 4aer,

Induction, the source of knowledge,
Laws 12. 965.

Infants, to be exercised, Laws 7. 789,
7903; nature of, Rep. 4. 441.

Infidels, advice to, Laws 10. 888;
are in ignorance of the nature of
the soul, 75. 892. Cp. Atheists.

Infinite, nature of, Phil. 24; com-
prises what admits of degrees, i. 25.

Inflammations, Tim. 85.

Inheritance in the model city, Laws
5+ 740.

‘Injuries’ and ‘hurts,’ Laws 9. 862.

Injustice, in perfection, Rep. 2. 360;
eulogists of, 24. 361; in the state,
ib, 4. 4343 In the individual, 2d.
4443 brings no profit, 2b. 9. 589,
590; an evil to the unjust, Crito
49; doing is worse than suffering,
Gorg. 469, 508; injustice and jus-
tice, Laws 2. 663; ib. 5. 7303 cur-
able and incurable, 74. 731; involun-
tary, ibid.; to be pitied, zdid.; the
destruction of men, 74. 10. 9063; in-
justice and disease, zdid.; injustice
and hurt, 7d. 9. 862.

Innovation in education dangerous,
Rep. 4. 424; Laws2.656. Cp. Music.

Inspiration of poets, Ion 534; of
rhapsodes, ib. 536, 5413; of states-
men, Meno 99.

Instrument and user distinguished, 1
MIGID: 126;

Intellect, objects of opinion and in-
tellect classified, Rep. 7. 5343 rela-
tion of the intellect and the good,
ib. 6. 508; intellect and true opinion,
Tims 5a.

Intellectual world, divisions of, Rep.
6. 510 foll.

Intemperance of love, Tim. 86.

Interest forbidden, Laws 5. 742.

Intermediates, Euthyd. 306.

Interpreters, election of, Laws 6. 759.

Intestate, children of the, Laws 11.924.

Intoxication, not allowed in the state,
Rep. 3. 403; forbidden at Lace-_
daemon, Laws 1. 6373 allowed
among the Scythians, etc., sbid.;
nature of, discussed, idid., and foll. ;
use of, id. 645, 646. See Drinking,
Festivities.

Intuition, Phaedo 66.

Invalids, Rep. 3. 406, 407, 4. 425, 4265
Gorg. 505.

576

Involuntary and voluntary actions,
Laws 9. 861.

folaus and Heracles, Phaedo 89 C;
Euthyd. 297 D. 3

Ton (of Ephesus), knows Homer better
than any one, Ion 530D; a rhapsode,
knows Homer only, 7d. 533 D foll.;
inspired, 2b. 533 D foll.; not chosen
general, id. 541 B; inspired rather
than dishonest, 2d. 541 E; professes
to speak well on all Homer, 2d.
536 E; quotes Homer, 2. 537 A
foll.; a Proteus, 74. 541 D.

Yon (of mythology), Euthyd. 302 D.

Lonia, progress of doctrine of Prota-
goras in, Theaet. 179 D.

Jonian harmony, Laches 188 D;
Rep. 3. 399 A; philosophy, Soph.
2423; philosophers, Theaet. 179;
life described by Homer, Laws 3.
680; lonians have no ancestral
Zeus, Euthyd. 302 C3; averse to the
love of boys, Symp. 182 B

Iphicles, brother of Heracles, Euthyd.
297 1.

Iris, daughter of Thaumas, Theaet.
155 D3 ao rov elpe, Crat. 408 B.

isis, Egyptian chants are the compo-
sition of, Laws 2. 657 B.

Ismenias, the Theban, his wealth,
Meno go A; a ‘rich and mighty
man,’ Rep, 1.336 A.

Isocrates, Socrates prophesies of him,
Phaedr. 279 A B.

Isolochus, father of Pythodorus, 1
Alcib. 119 A.

Isthmus, Socrates once went to the
games there, Crito 52 B; ancient
boundary of Attica fixed at, Crit.
110 D; citizens to be sent to the
games, Laws 12. 950 E.

Italy can tell of Charondas as a law-
giver, Rep. 10. 599 E; in Italy the
spectators are judges of theatrical
performances, Laws 2. 659 B; Ita-
lian banditti, 2d. 6. 777 C.

Ithaca, Ion 535 C.

J.

Jasper, Phaedo r1o.

Judgment, final, Gorg. 523; Rep. to.
614 foll.; Laws 12. 959.

Judge, the good, Rep. 3. 409; judge
of amusements, Laws 2. 659; judge
of art, 2b. 669; laws concerning
wudgeS, 7h, Oe 76730. 850.0 857s
judges of music, i. 7. 802; election
of judges, ib. 12. 9563; select judges,
1D. AT O205 192559365 t2s-040,.047.

INDEX.

Juices, Tim. 60.

Just man, the, is happy, Rep. 3. 354;
just and unjust are at heart the
same, 7b. 360; the just the happiest,
ib. 9. 5803 ‘just’ defined, Laws 9.
863, 864; just and unjust, 1 Alcib.
109; the just learn from the many,
ib. 110.

Justice, among goods, Euthyd. 279;
love the cause of, Symp. 196;
popular definitions of, Crat. 413;
= to speak the truth and pay debts,
Rep. 1. 331 foll.; the art which gives
good and evil to friends and ene-
mies, 7b. 332 foll., 336; in time of
Peace..1).. 39s" 1s: ay thiet, 7h. s34°
is human virtue, 7b. 335; can do
no harm, ibid.; = the interest of
the stronger, id. 338; is ‘sublime
simplicity,’ 2. 348; does not aim
at excess, ib. 3493 identified with
wisdom and virtue, 7b. 3513 a prin-
ciple of harmony, idid.; =‘ honour
among thieves,’ 7b. 352; =the ex-
cellence of the soul, 2d. 353; in the
highest class of goods, id. 3573 na-
ture and origin of (Glaucon), 24. 358,
359; the result of a compromise,
ib. 3593 in perfection, id. 361; praised
for its consequences only (Adci-
mantus), 2b. 362; poets on, zd. 363;
is toilsome, 74. 3643 a matter of ap-
pearance only, zd. 365; not praised
for its own sake, 25. 366; in the
state, ib. 369, 4.433; intheindividual,
ib. 4. 435, 4413 a division of labour,
ib. 4433 Compared to health, 7d.
4443 more profitable than injustice,
ib. 4453 Superior to injustice, 7d. 9.
589; just men friends of the gods,
2b. 10. 6133 final triumph of, zd. 612,
613; justice and holiness, Protag.
330, 331; a part of virtue, Meno 73,
79; Justice and the art of politics,
Gorg. 464; happiness depends no,
2b. 470; natural, 2b. 483, 484, 488;
the life of, pleasant, Laws 2. 662;
justice and injustice, i+. 663; said
to be the interest of the stronger,
ib. 4. 714 (cp. Rep. 1. 338); justice
and retribution, 2d. 5. 728; worthy
of honour, 2b. 7303; justice and
equity, #4. 7573 all citizens to par-
take in, 7d. 6. 768; justice and dis-
honour inconsistent, 7d. 9.859; con-
ventional, 75. 10. 889, 890; divine,
ib. 904; the salvation of men, 2d.
906 ; courts of, 76. 12. 9563 = power
ot knowledge, Hipp. min. 375;

INDEX, bay

justice and expediency, 1 Alcib.
113, 116; =doing one’s own work,
1 Alcib. 127 (cp. Rep. 4. 443).

K.

Kindred, honour of, Laws 5. 729.

King and statesmen, Pol. 259; king’s
art, 2b. 260; king and shepherd, 7d.
276; king and tyrant, id. 301, 302;
ignorance in, Laws 3.691; of Sparta,
ibid.

Kinsmen to prosecute for murder,
Laws 9. 866.

Knowledge (émiornpn, yeyvooxetv) not
given by names, Crat. 436; know-
ledge and opinion, Rep. 5. 476, 7.

sists in reasoning about sensations,
th. 186; is true opinion, is. 187
foll.; knowing and not knowing, id.
197; knowing and possessing know-
ledge, ibid.; =true opinion with a
reason, 75. 201 foll.; knowledge and
definition, i5. 202, 208; universal,
impossible, Soph. 233; knowledge
one, i. 257; divisions of, Pol. 260;
the supreme law, Laws 9.875; three-
fold, ib. 10. 895; knowledge of the
Gods noble, 4. 12. 966 ; makes free,
t Alcib. 136; knowledge is virtue,
Meno 87, 88.

L.

534; nature of, ib. 5. 477,478; unity Labour, division of, Rep. 2. 370, 4.

of, 2. 479; Phaedo 101; =know-

4433 Laws 8. 846, 847.

ledge of ideas, Rep. 6. 484; the Labourers, free, Euthyph. 4.
highest, 24. 504; given by sense, 24. Lacedaemonians, bid the spectators

7. 529; Phaedo 75; the best, 24. 10.
618; origin of, Tim. 37; desire of,
in the soul, 2. 90; hindered by the
body, Phaedo 66; to be obtained at
death, 7.67; of absolute ideas, 7d.
753 previous to birth, :id.; =recol-
lection, id. 75, 92 (cp. Meno 81);
‘know thyself’ at Delphi, Charm.
164; Phaedr. 229, 2303; of self not =
knowing what you know and what
you do not know, Charm. 169 fin.;
abstract and relative, 7b. 170; how
far connected with happiness,
zh. 173; must decide a question,
Laches 184; knowledge and cour-
ave, 10.. 103,197 +.) rotae. «200%
source of true, Phaedr. 247; know-
ledge and success, Euthyd. 281;
knowledge and goods, ibid.; must
use as well as make, ib. 289; the
food of the soul, Protag. 313;
more valuable than food, 74. 314;
peril of buying, zbzd.; highest of hu-
man things, 2d. 352; source of true
pleasure and good, ib. 356 foll.; of
the good implies knowledge of the
Bad, lon S21, 53a. (ep. ep. iis
334); of recollection, Meno 81;
necessary to right actions, 2. 97;
knowledge and true opinion, 7.
96-98; true knowledge, Apol. 29
(cp. Wisdom) ; knowledge and rhe-
toric, Phaedr. 262; = power of
division and composition, Phil. 17;
pleasures of, 2b. 52; parts of, 2b. 555
absolute, Parm. 134; of ideas, 7d.
136 foll.; = the sciences, Theaet.
146; =perception, id. 151; know-
ledge and perception, 75. 184 ; con-
VOL. V. PP

at games to take part in them or
go, Theaet. 162 B; Lacedaemonian
and Cretan philosophy, Protag. 342
A foll.; brevity, iid.; Laws 1. 642
A, 4. 721 Es; at Tanagra, Menex.
242 A; at Coronea, 1 Alcib. 112
C; kings, 2. 120 E foll.; their
wives, ib. 121 B3; compared with
the Persian kings, zd:d.; their wealth,
ib. 122 D foll.; state arranged
with a view to superiority in war,
Laws I. .626 C€, 628 5,630 D-
Laches 182 EF}; fencing masters do
not visit Lacedaemon, Laches 182
E; Lacedaemonians at Plataea, 2d.
191 C; came to Marathon a day too
late, Menex. 240 C (cp. Laws 3.
698 E); captured at Sphagia, 7.
242 C; driven by the Athenians
from the sea, ib. 246 A; Lacedae-
monians first after the Cretans to
strip in gymnasia, Rep. 5. 452 D;
Lacedaemonian use of 6etos avnp,
Meno 99 D; laws concerning paede-
rastia, Symp. 182 A; Laws 8. 836 B;
treatment of the Arcadians, Symp.
193 A; state commonly extolled,
Rep. 8. 544 D; Lacedaemonians
and Tyrtaeus, Laws 1. 629 B;
consider Apollo the author of their
laws, ib. 624 A (cp. i. 632 D,
633 E); consider hunting a train-
ing for war, 2. 633 B; Crypteia,
ibid; training, 2b. 633 B foll.; young
men not allowed to criticise laws,
ib. 634 D; restraint laid upon, 7.
635 B (cp. 636 E); moral effect
of the gymnasia, 74. 636 B foll.;
absence of intoxication among, 7d.

578

637 A foll.; condition of women
among, ib. 637 B, 6. 781 B foll.;
their superiority in war, 2b. 1. 638
A; conservative in music, i. 2.
660 B; better at gymnastic than
at music, ib. 673 C3; account of
the early troubles of Greece,
ib. 3. 682 E; early history of
the, 75. 683 D foll.; have pre-
served the ancient laws, 7b. 685
A; constantly at war with the
sister states, 2b. 686 Bs; con-
stitution, 74. 691 FE; defenders
of Greece, 4. 692 D; Lacedaemo-
nians and Cretans preserve the mean
between democracy and monarchy,
ib. 693 E; Lacedaemonian and
Cretan constitutions akin, 24. 683
A; equality of society among, 2d.
696 A; constitution in some re-
spects like a despotism, 7. 4. 712
D; Helots among, ib. 6. 776 C;
syssitia among, 2b. 780 C foll., 8.
842 B; virgins take part in gym-
nastic exercises, i+. 7. 806 A;
games in honour of the Dioscori
at Lacedaemon, i+. 796 B; ideas
about walls to cities, 74. 6. 778 D;
gymnasts naked among the, Theaet.
162 B.

Laches, a person in the dialogue
Laches, Laches 180 A foll.; a public
man, 74. 180 B; was with Socrates
at Delium, 25. 181 B (cp. 188 E;
Symp. 221 A); his view of fighting
in armour, 22. 182 D foll.; not
given to speaking, 7. 188 C foll.;
his wealth, 2b. 186 Cj; discusses
courage with Socrates, 74. 190 B
foll.

Lachesis, eldest of the fates, Laws 12.
g60 C; turns the spindle of Neces-
sity together with Clotho and
Atropos, Rep. 10. 617 CQ; daughter
of Necessity, her speech, 2. D;
apportions a genius to each soul, zd.
620) 13,"

Laconizers, ‘ who bruise each others’
ears, Gorg. 515 E (cp. Protag.
342 B).

Lamachus, his bravery, Laches 197 C.

Lamentation at sacrifices, Laws 7.
800; over the dead, 2b. 12.959, 960;
to be checked, Rep. 3. 387.

Lampido, mother, daughter, and wife
of a king, 1 Alcib. 124 A.

Lamprus, a musician, Menex. 236 A.

Land, legislation respecting, Laws 3.
684; distribution of in the model

INDEX.

city, 74. 5. 739, 7403 not to be sold
or bought, 24. 741.

Language, analysis of, Crat. 421, 4225
of the deaf and dumb, 74. 422, 423;
origin of, 2b. 425, 4263 scientific
construction of, id. 425; ancient
framers of, ibid.; complete analysis
of, impossible, zbid.; greatness of, zd.
4273 proper use of, Theaet. 184;
analysis of, Soph. 261 foll.; lan-
guage and art, Pol. 277; languages
altered by time Crat. 418, 421.

Larisaeans given to philosophy, Meno
70. 13,

Latona, whence her name Leto, or
Letho, Crat. 406 A.

Laughter not to be allowed in guar-
dians, Rep. 3. 388 ; not to be repre-
sented in Gods, 24. 389.

Law (Laws), on what principle made,
Rep. 1. 329, 2. 359; are teachers
of youth, Apol. 24; plead their
cause against Socrates, Crit. 50
foll.; are powerful in the next
world, 7. 54; cause of, Rep. 3.
4053 on special subjects of little
use, 7b. 4. 425, 426; bring help to
all in the state, 7b. 9. 590; of the
Egyptians, Tim. 24; with regard
to oracles, 7+. 72; of Atlantis, Crit.
119, 120; laws and government,
Pol. 294; criticism of, id. 294, 295,
299; how far to be changed, 2d.
295, 296; authority of, i. 297;
compulsory observance of, ib. 300;
laws of Crete, Laws 1. 625, 626,
631, 633 foll.; of Lacedaemon, 7d.
626; young men are not to
criticise, 2. 634; criterion of, id.
635:; of the: banquet, 24. -2, 671
(cp. Ruler of the Feast); in-
fluence of, on states, ib. 4. 7113
etymology of the word (vdpos = vod
diavoun), 26. 4.7143 forms of, zbid. ;
supremacy of is the salvation of a
state, 25.715 ; divine, zd. 716; shorter
and longer, 2b. 720; law and the
prelude, 74. 722; obedience to, 7d.
5.729; unwritten, 7. 7. 793; laws
and music, 74. 800; necessity of,
ib. 9. 8753 value of written, 7.
10. 890, 8913; reviewers of, id.
12. 951; knowledge of most valu-
able, 7, 12. 0375. (ne Lads oa
romance, 7d. 6. 752. Cp. Agricul-
ture, Athenians, Model State.

Law-courts in the porch of the king
archon, Euthyph. 2; attempts to in-
fluence the dicasts in Athenian law-

LIV DEX.

courts, Apol. 34, 35; fixing of the
penalty by the accused, ib. 37, 38;
position of, Laws 6. 778.

Law-giver, Gorg. 483; his falsehood,
Laws 2. 663; object of the, id. 3.
701; aims at virtue, 25. 4.705, 706;
assembly of law-givers, Laws 12.
951. Cp. Legislator.

Lawyer, the, Theaet. 173, 174.

Learning, pleasure accompanying,
Laws, 2.. 667; 1s recollecting,
Meno 81. Cp. Knowledge.

Lechaeum, Athenians defeated at,
Menex. 246 A.

Legislation, a subdivision of the art of
politics, Gorg. 4643 principle of,
Pol. 297; and education, Laws 2.
659, 660; conditions of, ib. 4. 709;
order of, ib. 7213; imperfection of,
tb. 6.769. 7722 aim. Of, 7b,.770* Of
minute details, 2b. 7. 8085 origin
of, ib. 3. 6813 early legislation, 2.
684; at Sparta, id. 692. Cp. Laws.

Legislator, aims at expediency, Theaet.
178; legislator and physician com-
pared, Pol. 295, 298; Laws 4.
420; compared to the pilot, 72-
298; object of, Laws 1. 627, 628,
630-632; aim of the, id. 3. 693;
and shepherd compared, id. 5. 7353
cannot reach the minutiae of life,
ib. 7. 788; to have a care of wo-
men. ib. 806; the ancient, 2d. 9.
853; legislator and the poets, 7.
858; to teach the truth about re-
ligion, 74. 10. 888-890; writings of,
ib. 12.957. Cp. Model State.

Leisure and philosophy, Theaet. 172.

Leon of Salamis, Apol. 32 D, E.

Leontines assisted by Athenians,
Menex. 243A.

Leontius, story of, Rep. 4. 439 E.

Leotychides, king of the Lacedae-
monians, 1 Alcib. 123 E.

Leprosies, Tim. 85.

Lesbian language, Protag. 341 C, 346E.

Lethe, Rep. ro. 621 C

Leto or Letho, Crat. 406 A.

Letters, insertion of, Phaedr. 2443
Crat. 414, 4173; Greek, Crat. 393,
394°. Changes. -Of,710.. 1390, 4005
classification of, 76. 424; Phil. 18;
meaning of, illustrated, 74. 427;
image of the large and small, Rep.
2. 368; invention of, Phaedr. 274 ;
make men forgetful, 7. 275 ; prim-
aeval, Theaet. 201, 202; letters
and syllables, 7. 202; combination
of analogous to predication, Soph.

of 9

2535 how learnt, Pol. 277, 278;
Laws 7. 810; names of, different
from the figures with four excep-
tions, «i, 3, od, &, Crat. 393; letter
ts 1b. 4275 fy Wy a, 6, ib.; 8, 7, id;
Ay ib. (CD..434) 5/34 10.5 °0,4).% 1, thee
0, 2b.; oO, p, ib. 428, 4343 ib. 434.

Leucippe and Evenor, Crit. 113 D.

Leucolophides, father of Adeimantus,
Protag. 315 E.

Libations, Laws 7. 807.

Libya, Tim. 24 E, 25 B; Crit. 108 E.

Licentiousness forbidden, Rep. 5. 458.

‘Licymnaean names,’ Phaedr. 267 C.

Lie, the ‘true lie,’ Rep. 2. 382; the
lie in words, zdid.; rulers of the state
may lie, 2+. 389; lies of poets, id.
3773; ‘honest lie,’ Laws 2. 663.

Lightness, Tim. 63.

Lite in the early state, Rep. 2. 372;
value of, Apol. 28, 38; Gorg. 512;
Laws 8. 831; only valuable when
good, Crit. 48; a guardianship of
the gods, Phaedo 62; a future, 7d.
63 (cp. ‘ Future life’); a true way
of, Gorg. 527; Laws 7. 803; life of
pleasure, Phil. 21; of wisdom, zdid. ;
mixed life, 75. 21, 22; the just is
pleasant, Laws 2. 662; the pleasant
life, 2. 5. 733 foll.; four kinds of,
ibid.; health and disease in, 2b. 7343
according to nature, 7d. 10. 890.

Ligures, a musical race, Phaedr. 237

Like and unlike, Protag. 331; like,
friend or enemy of the like, Lysis,
215; like and congenial, 7b. 222.

Likeness, a slippery thing, Soph. 231;
likeness-making, zd. 235. Cp. Imi-
tation.

Limit, the (76 wépas), Phil. 26.

Limitations in dispute, Laws 12. 954.

Lion and ape, Rep. 9. 590.

Liturgies (Ae:rovpyiat), Laws 12. 949.

Liver, the, Tim. 71.

Living men not to be praised, Laws
74002

Locrians conquered by the Syra-
cusans, Laws 1. 638 B.

Locris celebrated for her laws, Tim.
2007.

Logic, method of residues, Rep. 4.
428; accidents and essence distin-
guished, id. 5. 4543 essence and
attribute distinguished, Euthyph.
11; (definitions), difficulty of ob-
taining definitions, Euthyph. 11;
Meno 71, 75; definitions must con-
tain no unexplained term, Meno

Pp2

580 INDEX.

79; (opposition), nature of oppo-
sition, Protag. 331, 3323; Rep. 4.
436; essential opposites, Phaedo
1023 opposites exclude each other,
ib. 1043 Opposition and negation,
Soph. 257; predication, 7b. 2513;
division of noun and verb, 4. 262;
categories, Parm. 135; Laws 1o.
8953 mourns, Theaet. 182; mdcoyr,
Soph. 245; mpds rt, Rep. 4. 4373
quality and relation, zbid.; yéveors
dvvapis, ordows, Kivnows, Soph. 2543
classification, Pol. 262; division
and generalization, Phaedr. 265
foll.; distinction of species and
individual, 76. 277; of species,
Pol. 285; of accident, Soph. 247;
fallacies, Rep. 6. 487. For Plato’s
method of definitions, see Know-
ledge, Temperance ; and the open-
ing of the Sophist, and Politicus.
Cp. Dialectic, Metaphysics.

Loquacity, Soph. 225.

Lotophagi, Rep. 8. 560 C.

Lots, use of, Laws 3. 690; 9. 856;
election by, #4. 6.759. Cp. Elections.

Love, (€pas), lovers.

Symposium.—Love neglected by
the poets, 177; Phaedrus’ speech
in praise of love, 178-180; eldest of
the gods, etc. 178; stronger than
death in Alcestis and Achilles, 179.

Pausanias in praise of love, 180-
185.— Two loves, heavenly and
common, 180; common love of
male and female parents; heavenly
love of male only, 181; love of
boys forbidden, 182; feeling on
this subject in various parts of
Greece, 18a. (cp.. Laws~ 1. 636);
Athenian views of, 182-184; vir-
tuous service in love honourable,
184; heavenly love, 185.

. Eryximachus in praise of love,
| 186-188.—Desire of the healthy and
_ diseased distinguished, 186; recon-

ciliation of these loves in medicine,
186; in music also, 1873; love in
the seasons, 188 ; in divination, 188.

Aristophanes in praise of love,
189-193.—Love neglected, 189;
origin of love, 191-192; love the
lord of good, 193.

Agathon in praise of love, 195-
198.—Love the youngest and fairest
of the gods, 195; histenderness, 195;
his virtue, 196; love a poet, 196;
master of all arts and source of
Peace, -CltC.,- 107.

Socrates in praise of love, zo1—
212.— Love a desire of what it
needs, 200, 201; love neither fair
nor foul, 202: nota god, 202; a great
spirit, 202; the birth of love, 203;
qualities of love, 203; love not to
be confused with the beloved, 204 ;
love only a part of love, 205; = the
desire of good, 205, 206; is birth in
beauty, 206; love and immortality,
207, 208; love in creative minds,
209; love andthe science of beauty,
210; leads up to absolute beauty,
Zit.

Phaedrus.—Advantages of un-
impassioned love, 231-234, and 237-
2423 of passionate love, 244-2573
love a madness, 231; excites jea-
lousies, 233; is fickle, 234; nature of
love defined, 237; passionate love
leads ‘to loss of character, 239; of
health and possessions, 240; an old
love intolerable, 240; a passionate
lover changeable, 241; love-mad-
ness a blessing, 245 ; the true nature
of love-madness, 251-256; love a
mighty god, 242.

Lysis.—The ridiculous lover, 204
foll.; the lover not to write poetry,
205; love of father and mother, 207
foll. Love and friendship (didia).
Friends must be useful, 210, 215;
better than the gold of Darius,
211; the nature of friendship, 212
foll; the poets on friendship, 214;
friendship between likes, zdid.; be-
tween unlikes, 215 foll.; between
the indifferent and the good, 216 ;
defined, 218; has an alternate
end, 219; is of the natural or con-
genial, 221.

Love of the beautiful, Rep. 3. 403;

and the love of knowledge, 7. 5.
474 toll a tyrant, 70.-9;.57% (ep:
20. 0..329), sexualslove,. bimn,o1 5
mingled of pain and pleasure, 7d.
42; three kinds of love, Laws 8.
837 foll., 11. 9293; is of the whole,
not of the part, Rep. 5. 4753
unlawful love condemned, Laws, 1.
636, 8. 836; and friendship, 2d. 8.
837; lovers’ names, Rep. 5. 4743
ways of lovers, Lysis, 204 foll.;
praises of lovers, 7b. 205 ; Alcibiades,
love of Socrates, Symp. 215 foll.

Lucifer and Mercury (the stars),

din 38D;

Lucina (Eileithyia), her temple, Laws,

6. 784 A; see Eileithyia.

INDEX.

Lunatics, Laws 11.
parents, 11. 929.

Lungs, Tim. 70.

Lustrations, Laws 9. 871.

Lycabettus, formerly adjacent to the

- Acropolis, Crit. 112 A.

Lycean Zeus, temple of, Rep. 8.565 D,

Lyceum, a resort of talkers, Euthyd.
271 A, 273 A; scene of the Euthy-
demus, ib. 272 E (cp. ib. 303 B);
Lysis 203 A; Euthyph. 2 A; Symp.
5b)

Lycon, a prosecutor of Socrates, Apol.
24 A; 20.36 B,

Lycurgus, an immortal Aoyoypados,
Phaedr. 258 B ; a law-giver who left
writings, Laws 9. 858 E; his ‘child-
ren,’ Symp. 209 D (cp. Children of
the Soul); the author of the great-
ness of Lacedaemon, Rep. tro.
599 E; his laws of a warlike ten-
dency, Laws 1. 630 D; his laws
derived from Apollo, i. 632 D.

Lydian harmonies, Rep. 3. 398 E foll.

Lydians, Pol. 262 E; Lydian throne
obtained by Gyges, Rep. 2.359 D foll.

Lying proved impossible, Euthyd, 284-
286.

Lymph, Tim. 83.

Lyre, Laws 7. 810-812; lyre-playing
seeks pleasure only, Gorg. 501 :
mode of playing, Laws 7. 7943
the instrument of Apollo, and
allowed in the best state, Pele.
399. Cp. Lysis 209.

Lyric poets compared to Bacchantes,
Ion 534; contests of, Laws 2. 658;
lyric poetry in education, i. 7. 812 ;
restrictions on, 7b. 11. 935.

Lysanias, father of Cephalus, Rept,
330 B.

Lysias, the brother of Polemarchus,
Rep. 1. 328 B; the son of Cephalus,
a writer of speeches, who lodges with
Epicrates, at the house of Mory-
chus, Phaedr. 227 B foll.; his
speech, 7b. 231 A foll.; his speech
criticized, 76. 235 A, 263 A foll. (cp.
257 B, 259 B, 272 C, 277 B, 278 C);
inferior to Isocrates, id. 270 A5 his
skill in writing, i. 228 A.

Lysimachus, father of Aristides the
Just, Gorg. 526 B; Meno 94 A.

Lysimachus, son of Aristides, takes
part in the dialogue Laches, Laches
178 A foll.; not equal to his father,
ib.179 C3; Meno 94 A; a fellow-
tribesman of Socrates, Laches 180
C; a friend of Sophroniscus, 7d.

934; lunatic

581

D; father of Aristides the younger,
Theaet. 151 A.

Lysis, grandfather of the following,
Lysis 205 C.

Lysis, son of Democrates, a person in
the dialogue Lysis, Lysis 204 C foll.;
beloved of Hippothales, id. 204 C;
‘like a fair vision,’ ib. 207 A; his
friendship with M enexenus, 75. 206
D-207 C, etc.; his life as a boy, id.
207 A, 211 A, 212 A foll.: con-
verses with Socrates, is. 207 D foll.,
214 A; his eagerness, id. 213 D.

M.

Macareus, his incest, Laws 8. tie Oe

Macedonia, Gorg. 470 D, 471 C: see
Archelaus.

Machaon, wounded and attended by
Hecamedé, Ion 538 B.

Madness, Tim. 86; a blessing, Phaedr.
244; madness and prophecy, poetry,
etc., 2. 245; philosophic madness,
ib. 249; the inspiration of the Gods,
7h. 265; four kinds of divine mad-
ness, zbid.

Magistrates, selection of, Laws 6. 7 515
election, 2b. 7533 duties of, id. 7543
unjust, 7b. 8. 8463; censors of laws,
tb. 12. 945-947.

Magnets, Tim. 80; (stone of Hera-
clea), Ion 533.

Magnetes, tribal deities of, Laws 8. 848
D; landowners not to be retail
traders, 2: 11. 019. = Acity of, 7.
9. 860. FE): 7h. 12. 946 B, 969 A,
Cp. Cretan colony, Model city.

Making, distinguished from doing,
Charm. 163.

Man, a possession of the gods, Phaedo
62; Laws 10. 902, 906; primaeval
described, Symp. 190; divided, did. ;
creation of, in a myth, Protag. 320;
not provided for like other animals,
ib, 321; without political wisdom, 74.
322; reverence and justice given
to, zbid. ; must be honest, 2d. 323; his
soul has seen true being, Phaedr.
249, 250; man-hunting, Soph. 2225
great destruction of men, Polit.
270; earth-born men, 74. 269-271;
man after the deluge, Laws 3. 677,
678; the plaything of the gods, 7.
7. 803; mode of life among, 7.
806 foll.; the most religious of
animals, ib. 10. 902; for the world,
ib. 903; man and wife of incom-
patible temper, 74. IT. 929, 930;
man’s soul, Phaedr. 248; men wiser

582

than women, Crat. 392; the nature
of men and women, Rep. 5. 453-
4553 analogy of men and animals,
ib. 459; three classes of, ib. 9. 581;
creation of, Tim. 42, 43, 69 foll.

Management, voluntary and compul-
sory, Polit. 276.

Man-slaughter, Laws 9.
punishment of, 876-878.

Mavrikn (wavixy), Phaedr. 244.

Many, the, their opinion not to be
regarded, Crito 44, 48; their
power, 74. 443 opinion of = opinion
of the stronger, Gorg. 488; Zeno’s
argument concerning, Parm. 127;
as teachers, Alcib. 110, 111.

Marathon, Miltiades the hero of,
Gorg. 516 D3; battle of, Menex.
240 C-—241 B; trophies of, ib. 245
A; ‘a day too late for,’ Laws 3. 698
E; battle of, 24. 699 A, ib. 4..707 C.

Mariandynians, Laws 6. 776 D.

Maritime towns, Laws 4. 705.

Marriage, age for, Rep. 5. 460; Laws
4. 721, 6. 772, 775; prayers and
sacrifices at, Rep. 5. 460; regulated
by law, Polit. 310; rules concern-
We, aws: 4.) 72ty 0.777%" 1Olle
marriage festivals, i+. 775; Rep. 5.
459, 460; early married life, Laws
6. 780; if barren, 74. 784; second,
10. 1 Fy. 930.

Marrow, Tim. 73. |

Marsyas, Socrates like, Symp. 215
B foll.; invented music, Laws 3.
677. Ds; his skin made into a
leathern bottle, Euthyd. 285 D;
Apollo preferred to, Rep. 3. 399 E.

Materialism, Soph. 247; materialists,
ib. 246, 2473 Laws to. 889 foll.

Mathematics, Rep. 6. 510, 522; the
square, Meno 82; use of hypo-
thesis in, 2. 87; arithmetic, com-
putation, mensuration, Phil. 56, 57;
Greek, Theaet. 147; the diameter
as a measure of difference, Polit.
266; value of, in education, Laws
7. 818; mathematical education in
Egypt, ii. 819; commensurable
and incommensurable in, 7. 819,
820; Greek ignorance of, zd. 820.

Matter and form, Crat. 389, 390.

Mean, the, required as a standard of
relation, Polit. 284; arts depend on
the existence of, ibid.

Measure, the source of good, Phil. 64.

Measurement, art of, Polit. 284.

Meats and drinks, custom in, Laws
GO, 735,

866-868 ;

TN IEA,

Medea, the Colchian, Euthyd. 285 C.

Medes, subjected by Cyrus, Menex.
239 E; ‘corrupt Median fashions,’
Laws 3. 695 B.

Medicine, cause of, Rep. 3. 4053 true
use of, 2b. 406; Greek use of, id.
459; Lim. 893 Polit. 293; medicine
and love, Symp. 186; compared to
friendship, Lysis 217; to rhetoric,
Phaedr. 270; medicine and gym-
nastic, Gorg. 464, 518; compared
to punishment, i+. 4793 must con-
sider the whole, Charm. 156;
dear for the sake of health, Lysis
219; Greek method of diagnosis,
Protag. 352; cure for the headache,
Charm. ’156; Soph. 228; Greek
practice of, Laws 4. 720; ashes for
sore eyes, Lysis 210.

Megara, Crito 53 B; walk to and
back, recommended by Herodicus,
Phaedr. 227 D; Euclid and Terp-
sion of, Phaedo 59 C; id. 99 A.
Cp. Theaet. 142 D.

Megarian, Herodicus, by origin a,
Protag. 316 E.

Megillus, a person in the Laws, Laws
16225, ctc.

Melampodidae, Theoclymenus, pro-
phet of the, Ion 538 E.

Melanippe in Euripides, Symp. 177
A: see Euripides.

Meles, a bad harp-player, Gorg. 502 A.

Melesias, son of Thucydides, a person
in the Laches, Laches 178 A foll. 5
lives with Lysimachus, 74. 179 B;
joins in the conversation, i. 184
E; one of the best wrestlers in
Athens, Meno 94 C.

Meletus, of the deme of Pitthis,
Euthyph. 2 B; his appearance, zdid. ;
his impeachment, 7b. 2 A, 3 B (cp.
Apol. 19 B); defender of the poets,
Apol. 23 E; conversation with So-
crates, 76. 24 C foll.; fails in his con-
viction, 24. 36 A.

Melody in education, Rep. 3. 398
foll.; Laws 6. 670.

Memoria technica, of Evenus, Phaedr.
267.

Memory, Phil. 34; art of, Hipp. min.
368.

Mende, Antimoerus of, Protag. 315 A.

Menelaus and Proteus, Euthyd. 288
C; a ‘soft-hearted warrior,’ Symp.
174(C; his treatment when wounded,
Rep. 3. 408 A.

Menexenus, pugnacious, Lysis 211 B;
converses with Socrates, Lysis 212

INDEX,

A foll., 216 A foll.; present at the
death of Socrates, Phaedo 59 B;
a person in the dialogue Menexenus,
Menex. 234 A.

Meno, Meno j7o A, etc.; ‘a fair
creature,’ ib. 76 B, 80 C; son of
Alexidemus, zsid.; torpified by So-
crates, i+. 80 Aj; examination of
his slave by Socrates, 7b. 82 A foll.;
beloved by Aristippus, 2b. 70 A.

Menoetius, father of Patroclus, Rep.
3. 388 C; Laws 12. 944 A.

Mental blindness, causes of, Rep. 7.
518. ‘

Mercenary soldiers, Laws 1. 630.

Merchandise of the soul, Soph. 224.

Merchants, Soph. 223, 224.

Messene, richness of, 1 Alcib. 122 D,
E; early history of, Laws 3. 683
D; Messenians, Laws 6. 777 C.

Mestor, Crit. 114 C.

Metaphysics, absolute ideas, Rep. 5.
476; analysis of knowledge, iJ. 6.
510; abstract and relative ideas, 2b. 7.
5243 being and becoming, Tim. 27,
28; cause and effect distinguished,
Euthyph. 10; essence and attribute
distinguished, 75. 113; genera and
species distinguished, 74. 123 exis-
tence revealed by thought, Phaedo
65; thought at its best, 74. 65;
thought gains the idea of the abso-
lute, 25. 65, 66; abstract essence,
absolute ideas, existence of, i4. 74;
knowledge of, z+. 75 ; unchangeable,
ib. 78; progress toward, Symp. 211 ;
intuition, Phaedo 79; difficulty of
relation, 75. 96, 97, 1013; Charm.
168; recollection and generaliza-
tion, Phaedr. 249; qualification of
correlatives, Gorg. 476; Rep. 4. 437
foll.; Eleatic metaphysics, Parm.
437 Toll.z, Cp. Logic, One.

Metempsychosis, Rep. 10. 617; Tim.
42. Cp. Psychology, Soul.

Metics, rules concerning, Laws 8.
850; duration of their stay in a
city, zbid.; murders of, id. 9. 866;
who are murderers, ibid.; to be
retail traders, 7b. 11. 920.

Metion, father of Daedalus, Ion 533 A.

Metis (Discretion), father of Poros
(Plenty), Symp. 203 B.

Metrobius, father of Connus, Euthyd.
272 C.

Metrodorus, of Lampsacus, a famous
rhapsode, Ion 530 C.

Miccus, palaestra of, Lysis 204 A.

Midas, his wealth, Rep. 3. 408 B;

583

Laws 2. 660 E; the Phrygian, his
tomb, Phaedr. 264 D.
Midias, a quail breeder, 1 Alcib. 120 A.
Midriff, Tim. 70.
Midwives, Theaet. 149 foll.

Might and right, Gorg. 489; Laws 1.
627, 3.690. Cp. Rep. 1. 338 foll.
Milesian youths degrade love, Laws 1.
636 B; Aspasia the Milesian, Menex.
249 D; Thales the Milesian, Protag.

343 A; Rep. 10. 600 A.

Military profession, the, Rep. 2. 374;

science, Polit. 304, 305; age for
service, Laws 6. 785; rules for, zd.
12. 942; military exercises, zbid.

Miltiades, a good man, Gorg. 503 C
(cp. 72. 515 D); condemned, id.
Sb. 1),

Mimetic art, in education, Rep. 3.
394 foll.; the same person cannot
succeed in tragedy and comedy,
ib, 3953 actors in tragedy and
comedy not the same, ibid. ; imita-
tions lead to habit, zdzd.; men acting
women’s parts, zbid.; influence on
character, zd. 395 foll. Cp. Imitation.

Mimicry, Soph. 267.

Mind, the cause of names, Crat. 416;
=beauty, ibid.; orders all things,
Phil. 28; belongs to the cause, 7.
313 asa good, ib. 663 of men differ,
Theaet. 1713; mind and motion,
Soph. 249; nature of, Laws ro. 897.

Ministers of the state must be edu-
Cated, RED. 75519.

Minos ‘ went every ninth year to con-
verse with his Olympian sire,’ Laws
1. 624 A; a Cretan lawgiver, 7.
630 D; his laws derived from
Pythian Apollo, ib. 632 D; harassed
the Athenians, ib. 4.706 B; a judge
among the dead, Gorg. 523 E;
Apol. 41 A.

Mirrors, images in, Tim. 46.

Misanthropists, Phaedo 89.

Misologists, Phaedo 89, 90.

Mission ship, Crito 44; Phaedo 58.

Mithoecus, wrote the Sicilian cookery-
book, Gorg. 518 B.

Mitylene, Athenian ships blockaded
at, Menex. 243 C; Pittacus of,
Protag. 339 C foll.

Mixed principles, Phil. 25, 26.

Mnemosyne(Memory), mother of the
Muses, Theaet. 191 D; invocation
of, Euthyd. 275 D; Crit. 108 D.

Mneseus, Crit. 114 D.

Mnesitheus (Mindful of God), Crat.

394 E.

a

584

Model city, Laws 5. 735 foll.; num-
ber of citizens, 75. 737; festivals,
ib. 7383 distribution of lands, 7d.
740; population, z.; land not to
be sold, 74. 7413; no gold or silver,
ib. 7423 Currency, 2b.; dowry not
allowed, i+.; interest forbidden,
76,5 Wealth in, 3. 742,742; TO
ignoble occupations allowed, 7d.
7433 agriculture allowed in, id.
7433 Classes of citizens, 2b. 744;
poverty in, 2).; situation of the
Cily, 70. yas. thibes. ine 3. 7455
divisions of allotments, 74.3; every
man to have two habitations, 7d.;
numerical system to be commen-
surate, 25. 746; magistrates in, zd. 6.
752, 753 foll.; register of property
in, 2b. 7543 classes of citizens, 2d.;
age of the guardians, 7b. 755; gene-
Tals etc. 10.955, 7563 council, 2:
756; public affairs, #2. 758, 7593
religious rules to be obtained from
Delphi, 7. 759; priesthood, 75.3
interpreters, i+.; care of temples,
ib. 759, 7603 defence of the coun-
try, i4.; wardens of the country,
ib anid 76a roads, 4b. 761:
fountains, i4.; irrigation, 75.; hos-
pitals, 74.; decision of suits, 74.;
common meals of wardens, 75. 762;
wardens to have no servants, 7d.
763; to know geography, 7.;
wardens of the city, 7d. 763; elec-
tion of wardens, 2b.; attendance at
the assembly, 2. 764; wardens of
the agora, 75.; ministers of music
and gymnastic, 7+. 764; ministers
of education, 7. 765; decease of
officers, z+. 766; judges, 2b. 767;
courts of law, 7d. 766, 768; number
of citizens, 7. 771; sacrifices, 2.5
Gods, i4.; both sexes to join in
games, 74.; rules about marriage,
ib. 772 foll.; property, 2b. 776 foll.;
slave, 24.777, 778; buildings of the,
ib. 778; walls not required, id. 778,
7793 private life to be controlled,
ib. 780; early married life in, 2.;
common tables, 7. 7833; rules
about children, 74. 783 foll.; age
for marriage, 74. 785; age for mili-
tary service, zb.; for office, 7b; edu-
cation up to three years old, 7d. 7.
788, 794; subsequent education,
7b. 794 foll.; nursing of infants,
7b. 789 foll.; separation of the sexes,
th. 794% use of arms, 25.: both
hands to be trained, 14. 794, 795;

INDEX.

gymnastic, 2b. 795; dancing, 2.
795, 796; wrestling, 2b. 796; music,
ib. 800 foll.; sacrifices, 24. 800;
prayers, 74. 800, 801; worship of
gods, demons, horses, 7b. 8013
praise of the dead, 2b. 802; judges
of music, 2.3; gymmnasia and
schools, zh. 804 ; teachers, 74.; com-
pulsory. education, 2b.; life of the
women, ib. 805, 806; life of the
men, 7b. 807 foll.; boys, 25. 808;
tutors, 7+.; education of children,
ib. 808, 809; learning of letters, id.
809, 810; of the lyre, 2+. 810-812;
of prose compositions, 75. 810; of
poetry, 74. 811; of gymnastic, 7d.
813 foll.s; dancing, 2. 815, 816;
comedy, id. 816; poets, 2b. 817;
mathematics, id. 818 foll.; astro-
nomy, 7b. 821, 8223; the praise-
worthy citizen, i4. 823; festivals,
ib. 8. 828; practice of war and
tournaments, 2. 829, 830; martial
poets, 24.; military gymnastic, 2d.
832 foll.; running, 75. 833; women
in gymnastic contests, zb.; fighting
in armour, 7+.; horse contests, 2d.
834; mounted bowmen, 24.3 rhap-
sodes, z+.; musical contests, 75.
835; laws concerning love, 7.
840, 841; common tables, 75. 842;
laws of husbandmen, boundaries,
neighbours, water, ib. 842-844}
fruits, 74. 844, 845; pollution of
water, ib. 845; right of way, 7.
846; judges of these laws, 72.;
rules concerning artisans, ib. 846,
847; laws concerning hire, 24. 847 ;
import and export, 25.3; arms, 75.3
retail trade, ib.; distribution of
produce, id. 848; houses of the
citizens, 74.; craftsmen and their
dwellings, 24.; agora, ib. 849 foll.;
buying and selling, z+. 849; metics,
10,850. Suits at lawy 27, 0. 553.
robbing temples, 74. 854; penalties,
ib. 854, 855; trial, 2b. 855; crimes
against the state, zb. 856; theft, 2.
857; quacks, zb.; homicide, 74. 865,
874; involuntary homicide at games,
ib. 8653 death of patients, 74.; kill-
ing of slaves, i.; unintentional
killing of freemen, 74.; killing of
strangers, ib. 866; manslaughter,
ib. 866, 867; premeditated murder,
ib. 867; return of the exiled homi-
cide, 7+.; disobedient homicide, 7b.
868; slave who kills his master, 24.5 .
parricide, 74., and 872, 873; murder,

INDEX,

ib. 8713 indirect homicide, 7b. 872;
murder by a slave, id.3 suicide,
ib. 873; beasts which ‘kill a man,’
ib.; inanimate objects which cause
death, 75. 873, 874; murder by
persons unknown, 7d. 8743; justifi-
able homicide, 74.3; assault and
wounding, 7d. 874-882; wounding
with intent, 7b. 876, 8773; childless
houses, i+. 8773; adoption, 7. 877,
878; wounding in a passion, 7d.
878; wounding by slaves, 2b. 879;
assaults upon strangers, 75.; upon
elders, 24. 880; upon parents, 7d.
881; by slaves, ib. 882; law of
violence, id. 10. 884, 885; laws
about impiety, 74. 907-909 ; prisons,
ib. 908; kinds of impiety, 7b.; pun-
ishment of, 25. 908, 909; charmers
and wizards, zd. 909 ; rites in private
houses, i2.; laws about rites and
shrines, 25.; property, 2b. 11.913-917}3
treasure-trove, 2b. 9133; deposits,
ib.; property left behind or in dis-
pute, 7b. 914; slaves, 2b.; animals,
ib. 9153 exchange, 2b. 915, 916;
sale of diseased slaves or homicides,
ib. 916; adulteration, 2b. 916, 9173
prices, 75. 917 ; retail-trade, 2d. 918-
9213; taverns, 75.919; no citizen to
trade, 7b.; metics, 2b. 920; contract,
breach of, 76. 921; laws concerning
payment, 7b.; generals and tacti-
cians, 7b. 921, 922; wills and testa-
mentary disposition, 24. 922-9243
orphans, id. 924-928; guardians
of orphans, 7b. 9283; marriage
of, ib. 924-926; family disagree-
ments, ib. 928-9303; second marri-
ages, ib. 930; children of slaves, 2d. ;
honour due to parents, 7b. 931,
932; witch-craft, and poison, 7d.
933; theft, 25.; lunatics, 2d. 934;
evil-speaking, ib. 934, 9353 satiric
poets, 2b. 935, 936; beggars, id.
936; injury done by slaves, 74.5
witnesses and evidence, 7b. 936, 937;
advocates, ib. 937, 938; Laws con-
cerning ambassadors, ib. 12. 9415
theft, 2b.; military life, 75. 942, 943 ;
failure of service, id. 943; throw-
ing away armour, 7b. 943-9453
censors or examiners, 7. 945, 9463
burial of, 75. 9473 trial of, 2b. 948;
oaths, ib. 948, 9493; contributions,
attendance at choruses, etc., 7d.
949; emigration and foreigners, 7).
950 foll.; travelling spectators, 7b.
951, 952; nocturnal council, 7.

585

951, 961, 968; strangers, id. 952,
9533; surety, 2b. 953; unlawful sale,
ib. 953, 9543 search, 7d. 9543 limi-
tations of disputes, i4.; obstruc-
tion of witnesses and competi-
tors, <b. 954, 9553 receiving stolen
goods, 7b. 955; private enmities, ib. ;
service not paid, 7b. 955; valuation
of property, 7b. 955; offering to
gods, 7b. 955, 956; courts of jus-
tice, 7b. 956 foll.; select judges, id.
956; execution of suits, 2b. 958;
rules about the dead, 74. 958 foll.;
sepulchres, id. 958; laying out, id.
958, 959; funerals, 74.959; lament-
ations, 75. 959, 960; burial when
refused, 7b. 960.

Moderation, Laws 5. 732.

Momus (god of jealousy), Rep. 6.
487 A.

Monarchy, divisions of, Pol. 302;
origin of, Laws 3. 681; to be com-
bined with democracy, 7b. 693.

Money, a medium, Laws 11. 918.

Money-making, evil of, Rep. 8. 556.

Moon, created, Tim. 38 D; reputed
mother of Orpheus, Rep. 2. 364 E;
Anaxagoras on the nature of, Apol.
26 D; a goddess, Laws 7. 821 B;
orbit of, 2b. 822 A; Tim. 38 C; has
a soul, Laws 10. 828 D, 899 B.

Moral qualities and arts, Hipp. min.
373; moral differences the cause of
war, 1 Alcib. 112,1133 Huthyph; 7,

Morychus, house of, Phaedr. 227 B.
See Epicrates.

Mothers in the state, Rep. 5. 460;
mother country, Menex. 237, 238.
Motion and rest, Tim. 57 foll.; The-
aet. 153, Soph. 250; Laws Io. 893;
motion and the senses, Theaet. 156;
philosophy of, 74. 181; motion and
mind, Soph. 249, Laws 10. 897, 898;
motion and generation, Laws to.
893, 894; motion of the stars, 7d. 7.

821, 822.

Mourners, Laws 7. 800; hair cut in
mourning, Phaedo 89.

Mouth, Tim. 75.

‘Move not the immovable,’ Laws 11.
913.

Murder, Laws 9, 865-874. (See Homi-
cide, Model city.)

Murderers, Euthyph. 4. Cp. Homicide.

Musaeus, his pictures of a future life,
Rep. 2. 363 D, E, 364 E; a sophist,
Protag. 316 D; in the other world,
Apol. 41 A; asource of inspiration,
Ion 536 B.

586

Muse, Muses, compared to a magnet,
Ion 533 E, 536 A; Muses inspire
madness, Phaedr. 245 A (cp. 265
A); the Muses and the grasshoppers,
ib. 259 A foll.; Terpsichore, Erato,
Calliope, zjid.; invocation to the,
Euthyd. 275 D3; the name (a7mé
Tov poaoba), Crat. 406 A; the
melody of, due to love, Symp. 197
B; the Muses, 1 Alcib. 108 C;
partners in the revels of men, Laws
2. 653 D; 665 A; give education,
ib. 654 A; use of, ib. 670 A; source
of the sense of harmony, 74. 672
D; help poets to truth, 7. 682 A;
aid against passion, 7b. 6. 783 A;
their gifts, 7b. 7.796 E.

Music, an art of imitation, Crat. 423;
music and education, Rep. 2. 377,
403; Laws 2. 654, 660; effect of
excessive, Rep. 3. 4113 influence of,
ib. 4. 424 (cp. ib. 7. 522); Phaedo
60, 61; music and love, Symp. 187,
Phil. 17; flute, 2. 56; music and
predication, Soph. 253; origin of,
Laws 2. 653, 654, 672; figures in,
ib. 655; not to give pleasure, zbid. ;
wrong use of, 7. 655, 656; in
Egypt, 25. 6573 the fairest, 2b. 6595
music and virtue, zdid.; in Crete and
Lacedaemon, i+. 660; imitative,
ib. 668, 7. 7983 importance of,
ib. 6693 poets’ corruption of, zbid. ;
music and metre separated, zbid.; in
ancient Athens, 2b. 3. 7003 effect of,
ib. 700, 701; Solo singing, 2b. 6. 764 ;
imitation, zbid.; choruses, zdid. ;
ministers of, 74. 6. 7643; innovations
in, 24. 7. 800; music and morals, 74.
798; music and laws, 24. 800; songs,
ib. 802.

Musical education, effect of, Rep. 3.
401, 402; amateurs, Rep. 5. 475;
modes, Laches 188; contests, Laws
8. 830.

Myrrhina, tomb of (Batiaea), Crat.
392 A.

Myrrhinusian, Phaedrus the, Symp.
176 D; Phaedr. 244 A.

Myrtilus, the murder of, Crat. 395 C.

Mysian, a term of reproach, Gorg.
Sok a.

Myson the Chenian, one of the Seven
Wise Men, Protag. 343 A.

Mysteries, Rep. 2. 365; Gorg. 497,
Laws 9. 8703; accompanied by
sport, Euthyd. 277.

Myth of Er, the, Rep. 10. 614 foll.;
of the origin of love, Symp. 191, 192;

INDEX.

of the soul, Phaedr. 245-257; of
the grasshoppers, 74. 259; of Theuth,
ib. 2743 More interesting than argu-
ments, Protag. 320; of the crea-
tion of man, zdid. foll.; of Zamolxis,
Charm. 156; the ‘Sicilian’ tale,
Gorg. 493; parable of the Casks,
ibid.; Socrates’ tale, id. 523 foll; the
‘ancient story,’ Polit. 269 foll.

Mythology, appealed to, Euthyph. 6;
Socrates disbelieves in, zbid.; at-
tempts to rationalize, Phaedr, 229;
Socrates’ use of, 7b. 265, 2753 theft
of Prometheus explained, Protag.
321; in families, Lysis 205; mytho-
logy a sort of ignorance, Laws 10.
886; represents the gods as thieves,
ib. 12. 941.

N.

Nails, Tim. 76.

Names, natural truth of, Crat. 383;
conventional theory of, 75. 384, 385
foll.; are parts of propositions, 2d.
385; things have an essence, 2b. 386;
actions have an essence, 7d. 386, 387;
naming a kind of action, 7. 387;
names the instruments of naming,
ib. 3883; defined, idid.; the work of
a legislator, 2. 389 (cp. 429);
formed on an ideal, iid.; speech
must be natural, zdid.; differ in sylla-
bles, 2b. 390; the true judge of, zdid.;
barbarian and Hellenic, 74. 386,
390; syllables of, 74. 393; of Greek
letters, zbid.; meaning and form of,
ib. 3945 reason in, 2d. 393, 3943 of
men and heroes, 7d. 394 foll.; of
Gods, ib. 400 foll.; the imposers
of, 15. 401, 4113 foreign, zbid. (cp.
416); foreign origin of, 7b. 4093
the cause of, ib. 4163; primary
and secondary, 7b. 422; names in-
indicate nature of things, zid.;
names are vocal imitations, 74. 423;
sophistical view of, 7. 428 foll.;
names and pictures compared, 7}.
430; how true, 2d. 431; how related
to things, 7+. 432; when good, 7d.
433; theories of names, 2d. 433, 4343
convention in, 7. 435; knowledge
given by, 75. 4363 first givers of,
ibid.; rest rather than motion signi-
fied by, 7+. 437; more than human,
ib. 4383 in education, ib. 4403 dis-
tinction of ascribed to Prodicus,
Charm. 163; Protag. 337, 358; ge-
neric, Phaedo 104; names of ideas,
ibid.; Greek habit of giving family

ND EA

names, Lysis 204; names and de-
finitions, Soph. 218; have no real
existence, 7b. 244; connection of, zd.
2613; not to be pressed, Pol. 261.

Narration, styles of, Rep. 3. 392, 393.

National qualities, Rep. 4. 435; na-
tional characteristics, Laws 1. 641,
642, 5. 747-

Natural, justice, Gorg. 483-485; Cal-
licles’ view of, id. 492; right, Laws
10. 890; philosophy and pleasure,
Phil. 443 scenery, Greek feeling for,
Phaedr. 230; science, Phaedo 96.

Nature in names, Crat. 387, 390, 393,
394, 422, 423; nature and con-
vention in morals, Gorg. 483; Laws
10. 889, 890; nature and habit,
Laws 2. 655; nature, art and chance,
ib. 10. 8893 in politics, zbid.; life ac-
cording to, ib. 890; meaning of the
word, ib. 10. 892.

Nature, divisions of, Rep. 9. 585;
upper and lower, Tim. 62 foll.

Naucratis, the home of Theuth, in
Egypt, Phaedr. 274 C.

Nausicydes, of the deme of Cholarges,
a student of philosophy, Gorg. 487 C.

Nautical population, evil of, Laws 4.

706.
Naxos, the field-labourer at, Euthyph.

4 C.
Negation and opposition, Soph. 257.
Neighbours not to be injured, Laws 8.

843.

Neith = Athena, Tim. 21 E. ;

Nemea, Lysis, 205 C3; citizens to be
sent to, Laws 12. 950 E.

Nemesis, the messenger of justice,
Laws 4.777..)-

Nereids, Crit. 116 E.

Nestor, excelled men in speech and
temperance, Laws 4. 711 E; wisest
of the Greeks, Hipp. min. 364 C;
like Pericles, Symp. 221 C3; his
rhetoric, Phaedr. 261 C; his coun-
sel to Antilochus, Ion 537 A; his
concubine, 7b. 558 C.

Neutral state, Phil. 33.

Niceratus, father of Nicias, Gorg. 472A.

Niceratus, son of Nicias, Rep. 1. 327
C; Nicias wishes Socrates to be
his tutor, Laches 200 D.

Nicias, Gorg. 472 A; Rep. 1. 327 CG;
a person in the dialogue Laches,
Laches 178 A, etc.; his opinion
on the art of fighting in armour,
ib. 182 A foll.; used to cross-ex-
amination by Socrates, 188 A, B; his
opinion on courage, 2. 195 A foll.

587
Nicostratus, pupil of Socrates, Apol.

33%.

Night and day, Tim. 39.

Nightingale, Thamyras changed into
a, Rep. 10. 620.

Nile, children of the, savage, Laws 12.
953 E; ‘the long and difficult arm’
of the, Phaedr. 257 E; divided by
the Delta, Tim. 21 E; saviour of
Egypt, 7d. 22 D3; preserves of fishes
in the, Pol. 264 C.

Ninus, empire of, Laws 3. 685 C.

Niobe, Tim. 22 A; sufferings of in
tragic poetry, Rep. 2. 380 A.

Nocturnal council, Laws 12. 951, ¢61,
968.

No6po, ‘strains’ and ‘laws,’ Laws 7.
800.

‘Not-beautiful,’ the, Soph. 257.

‘Not-being,’ Soph. 237 (cp. id. 257);
cannot be predicated of being, ibid. ;
‘not-being,’ ‘nothing,’ zbid.; not-
being and number, 7. 238; in
the abstract, zbid.; not-being and
images, Soph. 240; not-being and
falsehood, ibid.; not-being and
being, 7b. 257; exists, 2b. 258; not-
being and language, id. 260.

Not-great, the, Soph. 257.

Nouns, Soph. 261, 262.

Number of the State, the, Rep. 8. 5465
of citizens, Laws 5.737; of families
not to change, 7d. 5. 740.

Numerical systems to be commensu-
rate, Laws 5. 746.

Nursing and gestation, Laws 7. 789.

Nymphs overtake Socrates, Phaedr.
241 E; Bacchic inspired by Zeus,
ib. 253 A; of Achelous and Pan
better rhetoricians than Lysias, 7d.
263; their message to Lysias, 7d.
278 B.

O.

Oaths in suits, Laws 12. 948; how far
to be taken, 74. 948, 949-

Obedience, principle of, Laws 3. 690.

Occupations, ignoble, not permitted
in the model state, Laws 5. 741.

Oceanus, Phaedo 112 E.

Oceanus and Tethys, parent of all,
Crat. 402 B; Tim. 40 E; Theaet.
152 E, 180 D.

Odyssey, Hipp. min. 363 B; 1 Alcib.
112 A; Rep. 3. 393 A; lon. 539 DD:
see Homer.

Oeagrus, father of Orpheus, Symp.
570. :

Oedipus, on the stage, Laws 8. 838 C;

538

his curse upon his sons, i. 11.
O22 i.

Oenoe, Protag. 310 C.

Oenophyta, battle of, Menex. 242 B.

Offerings to the Gods, Laws 12. 955,
956.

Office, political, Rep. 7. 520; age for
office, Laws 6. 785.

Officers, decease of, Laws 6. 766.

Oil, Tim. 60; properties of, Protag. 334.

Oiwmorixn, Phaedr. 244.

Old age, complaints against, Rep. 1.
328, 329; Sophocles quoted in re-
gard to, ib. 329; wealth, a com-
forter of age, 7.; old men think
more of the future life, 2b. 330;
old men not students, 74. 7. 536;
(Lysimachus), Laches 181 foll., 189;
may go to school, 76. 201; old men
as singers, Laws 2. 665, 666.

Oligarchical man, the, Rep. 8. 553;
a miser, 7b. 555.

Oligarchy, Rep. 8. 544; origin of, 2d.
550; natureof, 7b. 551; Pol. 301, 302.

Olympic games, victors in, maintained
in the Prytaneum, Apol. 36 A.

Olympia, Olympic victory, Laws 5,
729 D, ib. 7. 807 C; the heavenly
victories of, Phaedr. 256 B: horses
and men who ran at, Laws 7. 822
B; training for, 2b. 8. 840 A; citi-
7ens.:10;, Devsent; £0, 7b. 12. 950: 1:
Hippias at, Hipp. min. 363 C-
364 A; offering of the Cypselids at,
Phaedr. 236 B.

Olympian Zeus, his temple, Phaedr.
227 B; the Saviour, Rep. 9. 583 B.

Olympus, melodies of, Ion 533 B;
Symp. 215 C; inventor of music,
Laws 3.077 1),

One, one and many, Phil. 14; hy-
potheses of the one, Parm. 137
foll.; J. a. that the one is, 22. 137;
I. 4. that the one has being, zd. 142
tolls A. 2.72. tone 1S one and
many, 2b. 155; I. aa. if one exists,
ib. 157; I. bd. if one is, 2b. 159; II.
a. if one does not exist, 2d. 160;
II. J. if one is not, 25. 163; II. aa.
if one has no existence, 25.164; II.
bb. if the others exist, 75. 165; one
cannot have parts, 7+. 1373 is un-
limited, 2d.; is formless, z+. 138; can-
not be anywhere, 74.; incapable of
motion, 25. 139; is never the same,
ib.; never in rest, 26.3; not the same
with other, or other of itself, 2d.;
one and the same, zJ.; one not like
or unlike itself or other, 7b. 140;

INDEX.

neither equal nor unequal to itself or
other, 74.; not older or younger, zd.
141; does not partake of time, zd.; is
not one, 7+. 142; is infinite, 75. 143;
has infinite parts, 7b. 1443 is limited,
ib. 1453 has form, 2d.; isin itself and
other, 24.; is in rest and motion, 24.
146; is the same and other with
itself, 2b. 1463; is like and unlike
itself and others, i+. 147; touches
and does not touch itself and others,
ib. 1483 is equal and unequal to it-
self and others, 25.149; partakes of
time, 7. 151, 152; becomes older
and younger than itself, 2.155; has
nameand definition, 74.; is generated
and destroyed, 7+. 156; is exposed to
many affections, 7b.; others of the
one are infinite, z+. 1583 are like and
unlike, 24.3; non-existent one may
participate in many, 75.161; is unlike
others and like itself, 24.; partakes
of inequality, 7.; partakes of ex-
istence and non-existence, 24.; has
motion, z+. 162; and stands, 74. 163;
is changed and not changed, 7d.;
philosophy of the one, Soph. 244.

Opinion and. knowledge, Rep. 5.
476-478, 534; the lovers of, 7.
479, 4803 a blind guide, 75. 6. 506;
objects of opinion and _ intellect
classified, 24. 7. 5343 origin of, Tim.
37,513 true, Meno 97, 98; a guide
in action, zbid.; like the images
of Daedalus, 74. 973; source of,
Phaedr. 248; right opinion, Symp.
202; of the many, its value, Protag.
353; Crito 47; Laches 184; true
and false, Phil. 38 foll.; false,
Theaet. 187 foll.; Soph. 264; not
heterodoxy, 2b. 191; how far possi-
ble, 74. 192; false opinion in re-
gard to numbers, id. 196; false,
not = exchange of knowledge, 7d,
199; opinion and wisdom, Pol. 278;
opinion and knowledge, Phaedr.
247, 248.

Opium, Tim. 60.

Opposites generated out of opposites,
Phaedo 103; exclusion of, 2b. 102;
everything has one opposite, Protag.
3323 opposites desire each other,
Lysis 2153; qualification of, Rep. 4.
436. Cp. Contradiction.

Opposition, nature of, Phaedo 104,
105, 495 foll.; of ideas and things,
Parm. 129; of ‘like’ and ‘unlike,’
‘many’ and ‘one,’ 24.; opposition
and negation, Soph. 2573; opposition

CD Dix,

and essence, 2b. 258; in virtues, Pol.
307, 308.

Oratory, the true principles of,
Phaegrct7 1, 277.

Orestes, etymology of the name, Crat.
394 E.

Organs of sense, Theaet. 184.

Orithyia, carried off by
Phaedr. 229 B.

Oropia, ancient boundary of Attica,
Crit. rro E.

Orphans, Laws 11. 922 foll.; guar-
dians of, id. 924, 9253; marriage of,
ib. 924, 925; impediments to, 74.926;
especial care due to, id. 926, 927;
care of, at Athens, Menex. 249.

Orpheus quoted, Crat. 402 B; Rep.
a, 2404 42 Phil. GorGs Laws” 2.
669 D; Protagoras like Orpheus,
Protag. 315 A; a sophist, 2b. 316
D; theme of rhapsodes, Ion 533
C; a source of inspiration, 74. 536
D; a ‘cowardly harper,’ Symp. 179
D; antiquity of Ifis discoveries,
Laws 3. 677 D; songs of, i. 8. 829
E; child of the Moon and the
Muses, quoted on ritual, Rep. 2.
364 E; soul of, chooses a swan’s
life, 26. 10. 620 A.

Orphic poems, Crat. 400 C; life,
Laws 6. 782 C, D.

Orthagoras, the Theban, a famous
flute player, Protag. 318 C.

Other, the meaning of, Soph. 254,
255; nature of, 7b. 257.

Otus, tale of, Symp. 190 B.

Outlaw, Laws 9. 855.

a

Paeanian, Ctesippus the, Euthyd. 273
A; Phaedo 59 B; Charmantides
the, Rep... 320 5.

Pain, Tim. 64; Phaedo 833 pain and
pleasure simultaneous, Gorg. 496;
not=evil, 26. 497; pain and plea-
sure in different goods, Phil. 32;
of the soul, 2b. 47; pain and plea-
sure, Laws 1. 633-635.

Painters, Rep. 10. 596, 597; are imi-
tators, 75. 597; painters and poets,
ib. 6053 of landscape, Crit. 107; of
figure, ibid. .

Painting, an art of imitation, Crat.
423; in Egypt, Laws 2. 657; end-
less labour of, 4. 6. 769; compared
to legislation, did.

Palaestra of Miccus, Lysis 204 A,
206 E; of Taureas, Charm. 153 A.

Palamedes, interest of conversing

Boreas,

589

with, Apol. 41 B; the Eleatic
Palamedes (Zeus), Phaedr. 261 C,
D; Palamedes and Agamemnon in
the play, Rep. 7. 522 D; antiquity
of his discoveries, Laws 3. 677 D.

Pamphylia, Ardiaeus, a tyrant of some
city in, Rep. ro. 615 C.

Pan, etymology of the name (6 rav
Bnviwv kat del mov), Crat. 408
B, C, D; prayer to, Phaedr. 279 B;
imitated in Bacchic dances, Laws
Wo Ourg Gan

Panathenaea, Ion 530 B; Parm, 127 A,

Pancratium, Laws 7. 798.

Pandarus, author of the violation of
the oaths, Rep. 2. 379 E; wounded
Menelaus, 7d. 3. 408 A.

Panharmonic scale, the, Rep. 3. 399.

Panopeus, father of Epeius, Ion 533
nS Wep. 10. 020-5.

Panops, the fountain of, Lysis 203 A.

Pantomime, Rep. 3. 397.

Paradox about justice and injustice,
the, Rep. “1. 3.48 5: sophistical;
Euthyd. 275 foll., 293 foll.; Meno
80

Paralus, son of Pericles, Protag. 314
E.; very inferior to his father, Meno
94 B (cp. Protag. 328 D).

Paralus, son of Demodocus, Apol. 34 A.

Parental love, Lysis 207 foll.

Parents and children in the state,
Rep. 5. 461; to rule over children,
Laws 3. 690; honour due to, id.
40719, TT. 930, O31 rememorance
of dead, 25.718; difference between
parents and children, 74. 11. 928
foll.; lunatic, 74. 9293; curse of, id.
931; laws concerning, 2d. 932.

Parian, Evenus the, Apol. 20 A;
Phaedr. 267 A. See Evenus.

Parians, Athens fought in behalf of,
Menex 245 B.

Parmenides, his method, Parm 136 A;
his theory of rest, Theaet. 180 E,
183 E; Parm. 152 E; description
of, Parm. 127 B; Parmenides and
Zeno, id. 128 A; his ‘process,’ 2d.
137 A foll.; Parmenides, Soph. 216
A, 217 C3; quoted, 2d. 237 A, 244 E,
258 C; talked in rather a light and
easy strain, 2. 242 C.

Parnes, ancient boundary of Attica,
Grit. 116.0.

Parricide, Laws 9. 868, 872, 873.

‘Part’ and ‘class,’ Pol. 262, 263;
parts and whole, Theaet. 204.

Participation and predication, Soph.
352.

59°

Passage money, rates of, in Greece,
Gorg. 511.

Passionate element of the soul, Rep.
4. 440. ; 7

Patient and agent equally qualified,
Gorg. 476 (cp. Rep. 4. 436); patient
and physicians, Laws 9. 865.

Patriarchal government, Laws 3. 680,
681.

Patriotism, Crito 51.

Patrocles ‘the statuary,’ Euthyd. 297
D, E:

Patroclus, Apol. 28 C; horse race in
honour of, Ion 537 A (cp. Rep. 3.
388 C); tomb of, Rep. 3. 391 B
(cp. Laws 12. 944 A); Patroclus
and Achilles, Symp. 179 E, 208 A.

Patrol of the country, Laws 6.760.

Patronymics used of young children,
Lysis 204.

Patterns, the two, Theaet. 177.

Pausanias, of the deme of Cerameis,
with Prodicus, Protag. 315 D;
wishes to have the drinking easier,
Symp. 176 A; his speech in honour
of Love, 2b. 180 C foll.

Payment for teaching, Apol. 20;
Gorg. 520; laws concerning pay-

e aent, Laws 15.92%.

Peace and war, Laws 1. 628, 629;
life of peace, 7b. 7. 804; dances of
Peace, 205.915, 8.1 0;

Pegasi (winged steeds), Phaedr. 229 D.

Peleus, nuptial gift of arms to, Laws
12. 944 A; the gentlest of men,
Rep. 372391 C,

Pelias, father of Alcestis, Symp. 179 B.
Pelopidae, Rep. 2. 380 A; Pelopidae
and Heraclidae, Laws 3. 685 D.
Peloponnesians, their jealousy of

Athenians, Menex. 235 D.

Peloponnesus, Laws 3. 685 B.

Pelops, his name, Crat. 395 C; de-
scendants of, see Pelopidae.

Penelope’s web, Phaedo 84 A.

Penestae, Laws 6. 776 D.

Peparethians, the ‘ignoble,’ 1 Alcib.
116 D.

Perception (aic@no1s), Phaedo 65,

bau, 90. 1 nodete 260

foll.; contradictions of, Theaet.

1543 theory of motion in relation

to, ib. 156; misuse of, 2b. 159;

relativity of, i. 160; perception

and understanding, 2+. 160; per-
ception and the memory of per-
ception, 25. 163; MHeracleitean,
theory of, 25. 182 (cp. 160); per-
ception and knowledge, 2d. 184, 192 5

INDEX.

organs of, 2b. 184, 185; of univer-
sals, 2. 185; medium of, zhid. Cp.
Rep. 6. 508 foll., Pleasure, Sensa-
tion.

Perdiccas, father of Archelaus, Gorg.
470 D (cp. 471A, B); Rep. 1.336 A.

Perfect state, difficulty of, Laws 4.711.

Pergama, the citadel of Troy, Phaedr.
243 B.

Periander, a tyrant, Rep. 1. 336 A.

Pericles, Meno 94 A; effect of his
administration, Gorg. 515 D, E;
guardian of Alcibiades, 1 Alcib. 104
B; Protag. 320 A; is said to have
associated with the philosophers, 1
Alcib. 118 C, D; Pericles and As-
pasia, Menex. 235 E; his funeral
oration, zb. 236 B; long walls partly
built by his counsel, Gorg. 455 E;
his family, 22. 472 B; his recent
death, id. 503 C; first to give the
people pay, 24. 515 D, E; his badness,
ib. 516 A; one of the real authors of
the calamities of Athens, 2b. 519 A;
sons of, Meno 94 A; Protag. 319
E; not = Socrates as an orator,
Symp. 215 E; Nestor and Pericles,
ib. 221 G3; what he would have
said about rhetoric, Phaedr. 269 A;
Pericles and Anaxagoras, 75. 270
A; like a book, Protag. 329 A.

Persephone, sends souls back to the
light in the ninth year, Meno 81
C; meaning of the name, Crat.
404 C,

Perseus, ancestor of the Achaemenids,
t Alei be 1-20 1 .

Persia, kings of, 1 Alcib. 121 A.

Persian government, Laws 3. 694 A
foll., 697 C; Persian invasion, 7b. 692
C. toll, 698. B dolk, 4.707 B, tr
Persians at the battle of Plataea,
Laches 191 C3; Persian kings, 1
Alcib. 121 Aj; wealth and luxury of,
122 C; history of the Persians,
Menex. 239 D foll. (cp. Laws 3.
694 A foll.); as sailors, 2d. 241 B;
as drinkers of wine, Laws 1. 637 D,
E; invasion, prophecies concerning,
ib.642 D, E; have the highest form
of monarchy, id. 3. 693 D; are
shepherds, 7b. 695 A.

Personal identity, Symp. 207; Theaet.
154.

Personifieation, the argument like a
lark, Euthyd. 291; like a whirl-
pool, 2b. 293; hides her face, Rep.
6.605. Cp. Protag. 338.

Persuasion, two kinds of, Gorg. 454;

INDEX.

art of, Phil. 58; persuasion and
force, Laws 4.7223 persuasion and
truth, Phaedr. 260

Phaedo, present at Socrates’ death,
Phaedo 57 A foll.; Socrates plays
with his hair, 7.89 B; Phaedo and
Simmias, 7+. 102 B; narrates the
Phaedo to Echecrates of Phlius, id.
57 A foll.

Phaedondes, present at the death of
Socrates, Phaedo 59 C.

Phaedrus, eagerness of, Phaedr. 228,
A, B, 236 D, E; a lover of dis-
course, 74.242 A; son of Vain man,
ib. 244 A3 with Hippias, Protag.
315 Cs; a ‘weak head,’ Symp. 176
D; complains that love has no
encomiast, 74. 177 Aj; his speech
in honour of love, 7d. 178 A foll.

Phaenareté, mother of Socrates, 1
Alcib. 131 E; a midwife, Theaet.
149 A.

Phaethon, story of, Tim. 22 C.

Phalerum, Apollodorusof,Symp.172A.

Phanosthenes of Andros, a foreigner,
chosen general by the Athenians,
Ton 541 C.

Phantastic art, Soph. 236; divisions
of, ib. 266, 267.

Pharmaciaand Orithyia, Phaedr. 299 C.

Phasis, eastern extremity of the
Grecian world, Phaedo tog B.

Phason, brother of Hippocrates, Pro-
tap 2tO sn:

Pheidias, an Athenian, the statuary,
Protag. 311 GC; not so wealthy as
Protagoras, Meno gi D.

Phelleus, Plains of, Crit. 111 C.

Phemius, the rhapsode of Ithaca, Ion

533 C.

Pherecrates, exhibited savages at the
Lenaean festival, Protag. 327 D.
Philebus, a person in the dialogue
Philebus, Phil. 11 A, etc.; main-
tains that enjoyments, etc., are a
good to every living being, zid. (cp.
12 A); joins in the conversation,

Foleo Ay 20 A. 28 ke

Philippides, son of Philomelus, with
Protagoras, Protag. 315 A.

Philippus, (Philip), father of Phoenix,
Symp. 172 B

Philolaus, Phaedo 61 D.

Philomelus, father of Philippides,
Protag. 315 A.

Philosophers, of the Heracleitean
school, Crat. 411; are to be kings,
Rep. 5. 473 (cp. 6. 498 foll., 502) ;
lovers of all knowledge, 7b. 475;

591
true and false, b. 475, 6. 500; to be
guardians, 74. 6. 484; qualifications
of, 25.485 foll. ; why philosophers are
useless, 2. 487 foll.; their love of
knowledge, 7. 4903 corruption of
the, 2b. 494; sham _ philosophers,
ib. 494; few in number, id. 496;
sketch the state. 7b. 501 3 education
of, 7b. 5033; desire death, Phaedo
61, 64; will not commit suicide,
ib. 61; averse to pleasure, 7d. 64, 82;
virtues of the, 7b. 68; the natural
philosophers, Lysis 214 ; politicians,
Euthyd. 306; popular view of,
Phaedo 64; Euthyd. 304; philo-
sophers and lovers, Phaedr. 248;
in the train of Zeus, 74. 250; not
defenceless, Gorg. 508, 509; their
view of life, 2. 5123; training re-
quired for, Parm. 1353 picture of,
Theaet. 174 foll.; divine, Soph.
216; philosophers and the multi-
tude, id. 254; philosophers and
poets, Laws 12. 967; physical not
godless, 2b. 966, 967.

Philosophic nature, the, rarity of,

Rep. 6. 491; causes of the ruin of, id.

Philosophy, love of real knowledge,

Rep. 6. 485; the corruption of, ib.
491; the desolation of, id. 495;
philosophy and governments, 7d.
4973 prejudice against, 2b. 500, 501;
why it is useless, 74. 7. 517; time set
apart for, 2b. 5393; philosophy and
poetry, 2b. 10. 607; the practice of
death, Phaedo 80; a purification,
ib. 82; effect of on the soul, 2d. 83 ;
censured, Euthyd. 304; confused
with sophistry at Athens, 74. 305 ;
Socrates defends, 7b. 307; the love
of Socrates, Gorg. 481; moderate
study of recommended, zd. 484, 487 ;
impossible without ideas, Parm.
135; philosophy of _ relativity,
Theaet. 155; the uninitiated in, 7d.
155; philosophy and leisure, 7b. 172.

Phlegm, Tim. 83, 84.
Phlius, Phaedo 57 A.
Phocylides, his saying, ‘that as soon

as a man has a livelihood he should
practice virtue,’ Rep. 3. 407 B.

Phoenician tale, Rep. 3. 414 C foll.
Phoenicians, their love of money,

Rep. 4.436 A; (cp. Laws 5. 747 C).

Phoenix, tutor of Achilles, Rep. 3.

390 E; cursed by Amyntor, his
father, Laws 11. 931 B.

Phoenix, son of Philip, Symp. 172 B,

173 B.

592 INDEX.

Phorcys, son of Oceanus and Tethys,
Tim. 4o F.

Phoroneus, called ‘the first,’ Tim. 22 A.

Phrygian harmony, Rep. 3. 3993 (cp.
‘Laches 188); Phrygian words, See
KU@v, TUp, Voep, under Etymology.

Phrygians, Pol. 262 E; Midas the
Phrygian, Phaedr. 264 D.

Phrynondas, a notorious villain, Pro-
tag. 327 D. Cp. Eurybatus.

Phthia, ‘The third day hence to
Phthia shalt thou go’ (II. ix. 363),
Crito 44 B (cp. Hipp. min. 370 C).

Phylarch, Laws 6. 756.

Physical philosophy, Laws 10. 889.
Cp. Phaedo, 97.

Physicians in the state, Rep. 3. 408;
the good, zdid. ; physician and cook,
Gorg. 521, 5223; compared to the
legislator, Pol. 2953; physician and
patients, Laws 9. 865. Cp.
Medicine. :

Piety defined = prosecuting the guilty,
Euthyph. 5; = that which is dear
to the gods, 7. 6; further defined,
tb. 9; a part of justice, 7. 12; a
ministration, 2b. 13; an art, ibid.; a
science of praying, 75. 14.

Pig, the sacrifice of a, common, Rep.
2. 378.

Pilot and legislator compared, Pol.
298; pilot’s art, Gorg. 511; the
philosophic pilot, zdid. Cp. Captain.

Pindar, on the hope of the righteous,
NCD, J.) 357 20 OU A SClODIUS, 70, 30
408 B; his natural justice, Gorg.
484 B, 488 B; Laws 4. 714 E;
believed the soul immortal, Meno
81 A; quoted, Rep. 2. 365 B; Meno
76 D; Phaedr. 227 B; Theaet. 173
© (Ol, 1.4) uthyd, 304-8.

PitAeCuS,: IweD: 14 327 Avid, 490. ie
Gorg. 511 E; Socrates seldom goes
there, Ken. 1.5328-C > ‘citizens. in;
Menex,. 243 E.

Pirithous, his ‘horrid rape,’ Rep. 3.
391,.C.

Pittacus of Mitylene, one of the Seven
Wise Men, Protag. 343 A; his
saying ee” ib. 339 G3 a sage,
KE. 1.

Pitthis, Re of, “Euthyph. ae i

Plataea, Lacedaemonians at, Laches
191 C; battle of, Menex. gat C.
246 As Laws 4. 7o7 GC.

Plato, present at the trial of Socrates,
Apol. 34 A; was ill at the time of
Socrates’ death, Phaedo 59 B.

Pleasure, excess of, Rep. 3. 403;

pleasure and love, zdid.; sensual, 7d.
7. 519, 9. 586; division of into
nécessary and unnecessary, i. 8.
558, 559; three classes of, 7. 9.
581; criterion of, 75. 582; the
highest, 25. 583; classification of,
ibid.; a motive, idid.; without pain, 75.
584; of the passionate, zid.; of the
plilosopher, 7b. 586, 587; real un-
known to the tyrant, z+. 587; nature
of, Tim. 64; of replenishment, 7d.
65; connect soul and body, Phaedo
83; their connection with good and
evil, Protag. 352-354 foll.; ‘over-
come’ by, 2. 353, 357; (cp. Laws
1. 633); degrees of, ib. 356; plea-
sure and the philosopher, Gorg.
495 foll.; Phaedo 64; the pleasant
not=the good, 7b. 497; pleasure
and good, 2b. 498 foll.; arts of, 7.
501; =the good, Phil. 11; varieties
of, ib. 12; how far one, zbid.; needs
addition, 2b. 21; belongs to the in-
finite, 7b. 27, 28; to the mixed, 7d.
313; a replenishment, z4id.; pleasure
of memory, 74. 353 are pleasures
false? ib. 36; pleasure and opinion,
zh. 373 pleasure qualified, zbid. ; false,
ib. 40, 413; pleasure and the theory
of flux, 2. 43; denied by natural
philosophers, i+. 44; of the body,
ib. 453 arising from diseased state,
ib. 46 (cp. Tim. 86); mixed, zdid.;
unmixed, 25. 51; true, ibid.; of
sight, smell, beauty, zbid.; of know-
ledge, ib. 523 true belong to the
idea of measure, ibid. ; without pain,
ib. 533 a generaticn, zbid.; not the
good, 7b. 55; Socrates’ view of, zd.
60; insufficient, zdzd.; in relation to
good, 7b. 66; Cretan laws against,
Laws 1. 634, 635; the just life the
pleasantest, 2b. 2. 662; in eating, 2.
667; in learning, zbid.; in imitative
arts, zbid.; no criterion of rightness,
ibid.; pleasure and reason, 2d. 3. 689;
pleasure and the soul, 2b. 5. 727;
desired, 75. 733; true pleasure in
life, 2. 734; not allowed to young
children, 2. 7. 7923; pleasure and
passion, id. 9. 863; pleasure and
pain, Phaedo 60; simultaneous,
Gore, 4006 bhi 3. (Cp. so. u42:))
in alternation, Phil. 46; coalescing,
ib. 473 in the mind, 7. 50 (cp.
Laws 1. 633); two counsellors,
Laws 1. 6443; in children, 75. 2.
653; natural 7b. 5. 732; in life, id.
75a

NT DP Tee

Pluto, his complaint to Zeus, Gorg.
523 A, B; meaning of the name,
(mAodros), Crat. 402 D foll.; not the
blind God, Laws 1. 631 C3; the
twelfth month to be sacred to, zd. 8.
828 C; a great Sophist, Crat. 403 E.

Pnyx, included in the Acropolis in
early times, Crit. 112 A.

Poetry, styles of, Rep. 3. 392, 394;
in the state, id. 10. 595 foll., 607;
effect of, 7b. 605; feeds the passions,
ib. 606; poetry and philosophy, zd.
607 (cp. Laws 12.967); its placein
Greek education, Protag. 325, 326,
339; Laws 2. 659 foll.; is a whole,
Yon 5323 poetry and inspiration, zd.
533; Lragic poetry native to Athens,
Laches 183; a sort of rhetoric,
Gorg. 502; poetry and prose, Laws
7. 811; learnt by heart, 24. 810,
8113 elements which make up poe-
try, song, rhythm, metre, speech,
Gorg. 502.

Poets, the, on justice, Rep. 2. 363;
as educators, ib. 377, Laws 7. 811;
their teaching censured, 7b. 3. 391,
392; banished from the state, 74. 398
(cp..4 im, 10, Laws:7. 817.) 7apoets
and tyrants, zd. 8. 568; imitators, 2d.
10, 601; poets and painters, 7b. 605 ;
not wise, Apol. 22; tragic at Athens,
Laches 183; criticism on the name,
Symp. 205; fathers of wisdom,
Lysis 214; talk about them com-
monplace, Protag. 347; inspired,
Ion 534; winged and holy, zbid.; sing
by inspiration, idid.; Apol. 22; various
kinds of, Ion 534; each poet good
in his own kind only, zbid.; quoted
on friendship, Lysis 212; to be
under supervision, Laws 2. 656, 4.
719; controlled by law, id. 2. 660,
8. 801; their corrupt use of music,
ib. 669; often attain truth, 3. 682;
authors of misrule, 3. 700; makers
of prayers, 7. 801; martial, 7d. 8.
829; poets and legislators, 7d. 9.
858; comic and iambic, 7d. II.
9353 poets and philosophers, 7d.
122-967;

Poison, its action hindered by exercise,
Phaedo 63; operation of, id. 1173
poisoning, Laws 11. 932, 933-

Polemarchus, brother of Lysias, a
student of philosophy, Phaedr. 257
B; the son of Cephalus, Rep. 1.
327 B; argues concerning justice,
ib. 331 Cfoll.; meaning of the name,
Crat. 394 C.

VOL:

Qq

She

Politicians, not wise, Apol. 21, Meno
99; politicians and sophists, Pol.
291, 303.

Politics, taught by Protagoras, Protag.
319; not to be taught, zdid.; do not
require special knowledge, id. 322,
323; political virtue may be taught,
ib. 3243 art of, Gorg. 464; its sub-
divisions, i5id.; want of science in,
Pol. 298 (cp. 292); = management
of the voluntary, Pol. 276; science
of, Pol. 304, 3053; 1 Alcib. 107 foll.,
1243 politics and states, Laws 4.
7153; nature and art in, 2b. 10. 889;
politics and arts, 1 Alcib. 107 foll.;
of Athens, 7b, 120.

Pollution of families, Laws 9. 872,
873.

Polus, takes up the discussion, Gorg.
461 D, 481 A; his rudeness, 74. 448
A; a rhetorician, 2. E; like a
young colt apt to run away, 7d.
463 E; Callicles and Polus, 7d. 482
C; too modest, ib. 482 E, 487 A
(cp. ib. 494 D); his schools, Phaedr.
267 B.

Polycleitus of Argos, the statuary,
Protac. 317 C,228.G,

Polycrates, his wealth, Meno go A.

Polydamas, the pancratiast, Rep. 1.
a205U,

Polygnotus, son of Aglaophon the
painter, Ion 532 E.

Pontus (Black Sea), voyage from
to Athens for two drachms, Gorg.
ern De dhaws:7.:8040E,

Population of the state, Rep. 5. 460;
in the model city, Laws 5. 740.

Porch of the King Archon, Euthyph.
aa

Poros (plenty), Symp. 203 B, C.

Poseidon, meaning of the name, Crat.
402 D, E; sons of Poseidon and
Clyto, Crit. 113 C foll.; their temple,
ib. 116 C; grove of, id. 117 B; the
laws of, ib. 119 C, D; divided the
empire with Zeus and Pluto, Gorg.
523 A; ‘earth-shaker,’ Hipp. min.

1@) .

Bonides battle at, Charm. 153 B;
Socrates at, i. A; Apol. 28 E;
Symp. 219 E, 221 A.

Pottery, Tim. 60.

Poverty, and riches in the state, Laws
3. 679; =increase of desires, Epa
736; limits of in the state, ib. 7445
poverty and wealth. 10; P19.

Power useless without knowledge,
Gorg. 468; arbitrary, a temptation,

594

Laws 3. 691; meaning of the word,
Hipp. min. 366.

Practice for war necessary, Laws 8.
830; homicide in the practice for
war, 7b, 831.

Praise, Protag. 337; Symp. 198, 199.

Pramnian wine, Ion 538 C3; Rep. 3.
405 E.

Prayers, phraseology of, Crat. 400,
40a; to tie” pods lim, 927, (483
of Timaeus, Crit. 106; of the fool
dangerous, Laws 3. 688; at sacri-
fice, 2b. 7. 801; made by poets, zdid. ;
prayer, ib. 3. 687.

Preambles to law, Laws 4. 722, 723.

Predication, Soph. 251; denial of, 7d.
251, 2523; universal, zbid.; partial,
ibid.; compared to the combination
of letters, 74. 253; to music, zbid.

Preludes to law, Laws 4. 722,723.

Pre-Socratic philosophy, Soph. 242 foll.

Priam, Homer’s delineation con-
demned, Rep. 3. 388 B; his sor-
rows, Ion 535 B.

Priests, Pol. 290; Laws 6. 759.

Primary names, analysis of, Crat. 424.

Primitive man, Laws 3. 679, 680 foll.;
form of government, 2). 3. 680.

Prince of Asia, Lysis 209 D.

Principles of existence, Phil. 23.

Prison-attendant of Socrates, Phaedo
O2e 116.

Prisoners in war, Rep. 5. 468.

Prisons, Laws to. 908.

Private property not allowed to the
guardians, Rep. 3. 416.

Private life to be controlled, Laws 6.
780 foll., 7. 788 foll.

Probability, Tisias’ definition of,
Phaedr. 2733; arguments from,
Phaedo 92.

Probation, states of, Phaedr. 248.

Prodicus of Ceos, Protag. 314 C; cost
of his teaching, Crat. 384 B; his
distinctions of words, Charm. 163
ie Meno. 7 572i “Protag. “240° A,
358 A; corrects Socrates, Protag.
a4n Xs on the Cean dialect, 7,
B; on the Sophistic ritual, Euthyd.
277 E; a tutor of Socrates, Meno
96 D; his discourse on Heracles,
Symp. 177 B; description of, Pro-
tag. 315 C; Socrates’ opinion of,
ib. EF; goes the round of the cities,
Apol. 19 (cp. Rep: re. 600 C);
divides philosophers and statesmen,
Euthyd. 305 C; his rule of art,
Phaedr. 267 B; best at taking words
to pieces, Laches 197 D.

INDEX.

Produce, division of, in Crete, Laws
8. 847.

Productions, division of, Soph. 265,
266; Pol. 261. .

Prometheus, myth of, Protag. 320 D-
ear; hre given by, Pol. 274 CG;
Phil. 24. 16 C; deprives men of the
foreknowledge of death, Gorg.523 D.

Proper names, etymology of, Crat. 392.

Property, classes of, Pol. 287-289;
registered in the model city, Laws
6. 7543 principle of, 25. 11. 9133
left behind or in dispute, 7. 914;
valuation of, 7b. 12. 955.

Prophets, Rep. 2. 364; Socrates’ pro-
phecies, Apol. 39; prophetic art in
Homer, Ion 538, 539. Cp. Diviners.

Prose writers on justice, Rep. 2. 364 ;
compositions, Laws 7. 810.

Prosecution for murder, Euthyph. 4.

Prospaltian deme, Crat. 396 D.

Protagoras, his success in teaching,

Meno 91 D, E; excitement on his
arrival at Athens, Protag. 310 B, C,
D; will teach for money, id. 310 E;
a sophist, 7b. 311 E; like Orpheus,
ib. 315 B; desires a display, 2b. 317
C; differs from other sophists—
teaches politics, etc., 2. 318 D, E;
his myth, 2. 320 D foll.; his views
of punishment, 7d. 324 A foll.; his
scale of payment, 2d. 328 B; he
objects to Socrates’ method, 7b. 338
A, 348 A; his thesis, Crat. 386 A
foll.; his theories in regard to
perception, Theaet. E foll. 152 foll.;
his ~work ‘on’ Fruth,” Crat. 391 G5
heaet. 10. 3, Gao), 300.4, 100
C; his measure applies to gods
as well as men, 2. 162 C; Prota-
gorean fable, 2b. 164 D; his axiom
discussed, zb. 170 A foll.; at variance
with opinion, 74. 171 A; his conven-
tional theory of justice, 2.172 A;
his axiom not applicable to the
future, 7b. 178 B, E; his precepts
about wrestling, Soph. 232 D;
disciples of, on contradiction, Eu-
thyd. 286 C; his rules of correct-
ness, Phaedr. 267 D; Protagoras as
a teacher, Rep. ro. 600 C.

Protarchus, a person in the dialogue
Philebus, Phil. 11 A—18 B; son of
Callias, 74, 19 Bj; continues the
conversation, 7b. 21 A.

Proteus, Euthyph. 15 D; Ion has as
many forms as, Ion 541 E; the
Egyptian wizard, Euthyd. 288 B;
not to be slandered, Rep. 2. 381 D.

Proverbs.

£NoD EX.

‘Give a pledge and evil
is nigh at hand,’ Charm. 165;
‘know thyself,’ did. (cp. Delphi);
“never too much,’ zbid.; Protag. 343,
etc.; ‘the beautiful is the friend,’
Lysis 216; Carian (proverbial),
Laches 187, Euthyd. 285; ‘break
the large vessel in learning to make
pots,’ ztid.; which every pig would
know,’ 7. 196; Atos KépuvOos (‘ why
here is iteration’), Euthyd. 292;
‘ready to start at a_ shadow,’
Phaedo tor; ‘many are the thyrsus-
bearers,’ id. 69; ‘to the feasts of
lesser men,’ etc., Symp. 174; ‘birds
of a feather,’ 2d. 195, Phaedr. 240,
Rep... 329, Gorg. 5103 ‘in vino
veritas, ib, 2173; ‘invulnerable as
Ajax,’ ib. 219; ‘fools learn by ex-
perience,’ ib, 222; ‘sweet elbow,’
Phaedr. 257; ‘wolf may claim a
hearing,’ 7b. 272; ‘ over the barriers,’
Crat. 413, Gorg. 494; ‘shave a
lion,’ Rep. 1. 3413 ‘let brother help
brother,’ sor 2: 1302s one. great
thing,’ 2b. 4. 423; ‘what is mofe
than human,’ etc., 7. 6. 4925; ‘out
of the smoke into the fire,’ 2. 8.
569; the wise man is late for a
feast, Gorg. 4473; ‘make the best of
a bad business,’ 7d. 499; ‘to fight
against two is hard,’ 74. 505, Laws
Lie glow line LO lke, go. BIOS ot
begin with a wine jar,’ 7. 5143
‘land ahead,’ Phil. 29; ‘the good
to be repeated twice or thrice,’ 7d.
60, Gorg. 498; ‘your will is my
will,’ Theaet. 162; ‘caught in a
well,’ ib. 1653 ydes Oadacons (a
trifle), 1.174; Mysian (proverbial),
ib. 209; ‘when every way is
blocked,’ Soph. 231; ‘faint heart
never took a city,’ 2d. 261; Crit.
108; ‘too much haste too little
speed,’ Pol. 264; ‘suicidal victory’
(Kadpela vixn), Laws 1.6413; ‘second
childhood,’ id. 646; ‘they know
neither how to read nor swim,’ 7d.
3. 689; ‘fall off an ass,’ 2d. 701;
make a second beginning, 7). 4.
723; ‘property of friends is com-
mon,’ id. 5. 7393 ‘equality makes
friendship,’ 72. 757 (cp. ‘birds of
a feather’); ‘setting the river on
fire,’ ib. 6. 780; ‘not even a god can
fight against necessity,’ 2d. 7. 8183
“move the immovable,’ 7d. 8. 843,
$2. O13.

Proxeni, Laws 1. 642.

595

Prytaneum, maintenance in, Apol. 37.

Psychology, the soul—better and
worse principles in, Rep. 4. 4313
principles of the, 2b. 439 foll., 6. 504 ;
tour faculties of the, 2b. 511; triple
division of the, 7b. 9. 580, 581 ; souls
do not increase, 7d. 10. 6113 trans-
migration of souls, 2b. 617; higher
and lower parts of the, Tim. 90;
prior to the body, Laws 10. 893,
8963; =life,7b.895; self-moved, id.
896; immortality of the, Rep.
10. 608; doubted, Phaedo 70;
argument of transmigration, idid.;
proved from the nature of oppo-
sites, 2b. 71; revival, i. 72; argu-
ment of recollection, 25. 73-76;
immortality dependent on éxistence
of general ideas, 7b. 76 ; immortality
ex parte post, ib. 77 foll.; the soul
unchangeable, 7. 79; relation of
soul and body, 2b. 80, 94; and God,
ib, 81, 823; a harmony, and so
perishable, 2d, 86; figure of the
weaver’s coat, 2b. 87; the soul not
a harmony, 7b. 93; admits of no
degrees, ibid.; argument of oppo-
sition, 2b. 103 foll.; the soul the
opposite of death, 74. 105; condition
of the, after death, 2d. 107, 108,
113, I14 (cp. Gorg. 523, 524)3
nature of the soul, Phaedr. 245
foll., Phaedo 78; triple division of,
Phaedr. 246; conflict ofthe soul, 248;
transmigration, id. 248, 249; recol-
lection, ib. 249, 250; the soul’s wings,
ib. 251; horses, ib. 254; the basis of
rhetoric, id. 271, 273. Cp. Soul.

Public, the, compared to a beast,
Rep. 6. 494; cannot be philosophic,
ibid. (cp. Pol. 292); public men
should improve citizens, Gorg. 515 5
public games, Laws 12. 950.

Punishment, preventive, Protag. 323,
3243 Gorg. 525; paradox concern-
ing, Gorg. 472, 4735 nature of,
ib. 477 foll.; punishment compared
to medicine, 7. 479; wholesome,
ib. 508; twofold office of, 2. 52553
of the wicked, 2b. 523 ; Theaet. 176;
Rep. 2. 363, 10. 614; Phaedo 1143
Laws 10. 905 ; the true = likeness to
evil, ib. 5.7283; of the temple robber,
ib. 9. 8543 Of women, rises oe 9325
object of, id. 11. 9343 use of, 7b.
Ts. 1044- (Cpa S72). 0 veGD- Death,
Retribution.

Puppets, the moral tale of the, Laws

1, 644; puppet shows, 7d. 2. 658.

od

596

Purgation, Tim. 89.

Purgatory, Phaedo 108, 113.

Purification, Soph. 226; divisions of,
ib, 226, 227; of a city, Laws 5. 735,
736.

Puzzles, in disputation, Soph. 259.

Pyrilampes, maternal uncle of Char-
mides, Charm. 158 A.

Pyrilampes, father of Antiphon, Parm.
126 B.

Pyrilampes, father of Demus, Gorg.
481.1), 653°.

Pyriphlegethon, Phaedo 113 B, GC,
PIAA.

Pyrrha, Tim. 22 A.

Pyrrhic dance, Laws 7. 815 A foll.

Pythagoreans, Rep. 7. 530 D; id. 10.
600 A, B.

Pythian oracle, Apol. 21 A; Rep. 5.
Or Bee v640vG. 2 oee Delpnr

Pythian games, Laws 7. 807 C, 12.
950° E+ Lysis 205: C,

Pythocleides, the Cean, an eminent
sophist, Protag. 316 E: a friend of
Pericles, 1 Alcib. 118 C.

Pythocles, Phaedr. 244 A.

Pythodorus, son of Isolochus, has
grown wiser in the society of Zeno,
1 Alcib. r19 A; a friend of Zeno,
Parm. 126 B; described the ap-
pearance of Zeno and Parmenides,
10, 127 A.

Q.

Quacks, Laws 9. 857.

Quails, training of, Laws 7. 789.

Questioning, sophistic method of,
Euthyd. 275 foll. Cp. Sophists.

R.

Rational element of the soul, Rep. 4.
439; superior to irrational, Tim, 30.

Rationalism at Athens, Laws 10. 886 ;
in myths, Phaedr. 229; among
youth, Rep. 7. 538.

Realities of virtues, Phaedr. 250.

Reason and appetite, Rep. 9. 571
(cp. 4.439); Reason’s ‘golden cord,’
Laws 1. 644, 6453; reason and plea-
sure, 7b. 3. 689.

Receiving stolen goods, Laws 12. 955.

Recollection (dvapynois), a proof of
immortality, Phaedo 73; connected
with association, idid.; explained,
ib. 73-76; Phaedr. 250; knowledge
and recollection, Phaedo 75, 92;
implies the departure of knowledge,
Symp. 2083; recollection =recovery
of knowledge, Phil. 34; Laws 5.
732; Meno 81, Cp. Reminiscence.

INDEX.

Reflection and sensation, Theaet. 186.

Refutation, Soph. 230.

Registration of property, Laws 6.
7543 of children, id. 785.

Relation, to self, contradictory in
magnitudes, Charm. 168 ; difficulty
of understanding, Phaedo 96, 101;
relation and the object of relation,
Charm. 168; axiom of, Theaet.
155; ‘greater and less,’ Pol. 283-285.

Relationship, degrees of, Laws 11.
924, 925. |

Relative and correlative, qualifications
ot, “Rep. 4c437 folliz’ Gore. 476
relative notions, Parm. 141, 1553
how corrected, Rep. 7. 524.

Relativity of things and individuals,
Crat. 168; Rep. 5. 479; fallacies
caused by, id. 9. 584, 5853 relativity
in philosophy, Theaet. 152 foll.

Religion, Greek, Apol. 26 foll.; Eu-
thyph. 7 foll.; Phaedo 58; Laws 4.
716,758); early (areek, Crat, 397 >
left to the god at Delphi, Rep. 4.
4273 Sacrifices, etc., Laws 7. 800
foll.; sacrifices at the three ways,
Phaedo 108; worship of Aescula-
pius, 22. 118; prayers to gods,
demons, heroes, Laws 7. 801;
praises of the dead, zdid.; religion in
Greek life, 26. 10. 887; convention
in, 2. 889; of sick people, 74. 909.
Cp. Gods.

Reminiscence (dvapynors), a source of
knowledge, Meno 81 foll.; illustrated
by questions to the slave-boy, 7.
82 foll. Cp. Recollection.

Replenishment (wAnpwors), Phil. 31.

Repletion (7Anpwats), Tim. 81.

Republic, narration of the dialogue of

(aX ey ps Bah 6 en Cy Po

Reputation, value of, Laws 12. 950.

Rescue, duty of, Laws 9. 881.

Respiration, Tim. 78, 79.

Rest, and motion, Tim. 57 foll.; Soph.
250; Laws 10. “80355 nest and
motion source of life and death,
Theaet. 153; as a genus, Soph.
254 foll.

Retaliation not to be practised, Crito

49.

Retail traders, Greek feeling about,
Rep, 2.5971. retail thade, ioaws 33.
847, 849; laws concerning, 74. 11.
918 foll.; its dishonourable nature,
ib. 918; not allowed to citizens, 7d.
919 (cp. 8. 847).

Retribution (tipwpia), Laws 5. 728;
cannot be escaped, 7. 10. 904, 905;

LIV 1D FX

in a future life, Apol. 41; Phaedo
63, 108, 114, 1153 Gorg. 523; law
of, Phaedr. 248. Cp. Punishment.

Revellers, Ion 536.

Reverence, Laws 1.
young, 7b. 5. 729.

Reviewers of laws, Laws 12. 951.

Revival, Phaedo 72.

Revolution of the heavens, Pol. 269
foll.

Rhadamanthus, a judge in the other
world, Apol. 41 A; judges those
who come from Asia, Gorg. 524 A,
E (cp. 526 B); reputed the justest
of men, Laws 1. 624 B; the deci-
sion of, 7b. 12. 948 B, C.

Rhamnusian, Antiphon the, Menex.
236A.

Rhapsodes, Laws 2. 6583 id. 8. 834;
contests of, Ion 5303; inspired, 7d.
533 foll.; moved at their own stories,
ib. 5353 are paid, iid.; their know-
ledge of arts, 2. 537 foll.; art of, in
Homer, id. 541; have golden
crowns, ib. 535, 5413 rhapsodes
and generals, 7b. 541.

Rhea, Crat. 401 E, 402 A, B; Tim.
ys le a

Rhetoric, the art of persuasion,
Phaedr. 260; knowledge of the
truth required, ib. 262 (cp. 273);
division of subject matter necessary,
ib. 263; definition, division, and
generalization required, ib. 264-
266; distinguished from dialectic,
ib. 266; art of, according to books,
ibid.; professors of, ibid. foll.; not
true knowledge, 7b. 268; and psycho-
logy, ib. 2713 concerned with pro-
babilities, 74. 272; Socrates’ view of,
ib. 273, 2773 of Nestor and Odysseus
and Palamedes, ib. 261; rhetoric
and dialectic, Gorg. 448; the busi-
ness of, ib. 449; the artificer of
persuasion about the just and un-
just, ib. 453, 455; power of, 7d.
456, 466; defended, 7b. 4573 ig-
norance of, ib. 459; rhetoric and
justice, id. 460; Socrates’ defini-
tion of, id. 462; rhetoric and flat-
tery, ibid. foll.; useless, 7b. 480;
rhetoric and poetry, ib. 502; at
Athens, ib. 502, 5033 of two sorts,
1b. 5033 rhetoric and sophistry, 7).
520; rhetoric and politics, Pol.
304; Rhetoricians, Menex. 235;
the true rhetorician, Gorg. 504.

Rhythm, Symp. 187; Crat. 424; Rep.
3.400; Phil. 17; Laws 2. 665.

647; in the

597

Right and might, Gorg. 489; Laws 1.
627; natural principle of right, ibid.

Rites forbidden in_ private houses,
Laws 10. 909.

Rivers (underground), Phaedo 113.

Roads to be made, Laws 6. 761;
right of road, 7b. 8. 845, 846.

Rock, Tim. 60.

Rocking of infants, Laws 7. 790.

Rulers of States are not infallible,
Rep. 1. 339; how rulers are paid,
ib. 3473 why good men become
rulers, ibid.; qualities of rulers, 7.
47. 535; ruler of the feast, Laws 1.
640.

Running, Laws 8. 833.

Ss

Sacrifice, to the gods, Laws 4. 716,
7173; to promote friendship, 74. 6.
7713; human, 7d. 782; outrages at,
ib.7.800; mourning at, ibid.; number
of, in the model city, 2b. 8. 828;
offered by boys, Lysis 207; private,
Rep. tr. 328; in atonement, id. 2. 364.

Sailors, Phaedr. 243.

Salsa oe te.

Salaminian, Leo the, Apol. 32 C, D, E.

Salamis, the island of Eurysaces, 1
Alcib. 121 B; the sailors of, the
schoolmasters of Hellas, Menex.
241 A, B; trophies of, 2b. 245 A;
battle of, Laws 3. 698 C, 4. 707 B, C.

Sales, limit in, Laws 8. 849; of dis-
eased slaves, ib. 11. 916; of homi-
cides, ibid. ; invocation of gods at, 7d.
916, 9173 prices not be altered, id.
9173; unlawful sales, 14. 12. 954-

Salt, Tim. 60; utility of, Symp. 177;
in cooking, Lysis 209.

Same, meaning of the word, Soph.
254, 255.

Samian, Theodorus the, Ion 533 B.

Sappho, the fair, Phaedr. 235 C.

Sarambus, the vintner, Gorg. 518 B.

Sardis, Athenian conspiracy against,
Menex. 240 A.

Sarpedon, Rep. 3. 388 C.

Satire, personal not allowed, Laws It.

935+

Satyr, Socrates compared to a, Symp.
216 C, 221 D, E, 222 D; satyrs
imitated in dances, Laws 7. 815 i.

Satyrus, a runaway slave of Hippo-
crates’, Protag. 310 C.

Sauromatides, the women ride on
horseback, Laws 7. 804 E; like men,
ib. 806 B.

Scamander, Crat. 391 E; beleaguered

598

by Achilles, Protag.
Rep, 3s°391 5):

Scamandrius, = Astyanax, Crat. 392
B foll.

Scellius, father of Aristocrates, Gorg.
472 3B;

Schools, situation of, Laws 7. 804.

Scirrhon, threw travellers from the
rocks, Theaet. 169 A.

Science (émortnpn), distinguished by
the object, Rep. 4. 438; ,Charm.
wis their unity, Keps 7.4323 Use
hypotheses, 24. 5333 correlation of,
ib. 5373 in relation to good, Phil.
66; pure and impure, 7. 56; di-
vided, Pol. 258; of statesman, 7d.
259; of government found in a
few only, ib. 292, 293, 2973 sub-
ordination of, 2d. 304; the royal,
ib. 309, 3103 distinguished from
the object of science, Charm. 166;
a science of science, 75. 167; com-
pared with the senses, ibid; re-
quires a subject matter, 7. 168;
teaches that we know, not what
we know, 7b. 170; of good and
evil, 2b. 1745 universal, Laches 198.

Scopas, son of Creon, Protag. 339 A.

Sculpture, proportion in, Soph. 235,
236; Rep. 4. 420.

Scylla, Rep. 9. 588 C.

Scythia, invaded by Darius, Gorg. 483
1) NVenex. 346 Es

Scythians, use both hands alike, Laws
7.795 A; characterized by spirit or
passion, Rep. 4. 435 E; Anacharsis
the Scythian, 7b. 10. 600 A; Scythian
cavalry, Laches 191 A, B; count
those the bravest of men who have
gold in their own skulls, Euthyd.
299 E; drink unmixed wine, Laws
£:,097 15.

Search, right of, Laws 12. 954.

Seasons, Symp. 188.

Security, difficulty of obtaining, Laws
8. 829.

Sedition, Laws 9. 856.

Self-contradiction, evil of, Gorg. 482;
self-defence, Laws 9. 880; self-
deception, Crat. 428 ; self-existent,
1 Alcib. 1293; self-government,
Gorg. 491; self-knowledge = know-
ledge of the soul, 1 Alcib. 130, 131,
1333; self-moved = first principle,
Laws 10. 8953 self-moving=life,
ibid. (cp. Phaedr. 245); self-motion
the essence of the soul, Phaedr. 245.

Selfishness the greatest evil, Laws 5.
731, 732.

340 A (cp.

1 NDE X.,

Selymbria, Herodicusof, Protag. 316 E.

Sensation (aic@nors), origin of, Tim.
43; Heracleitean theory of, Theaet.
182; sensation and reflection, 7d.
186.

Sense, objects of, Rep. 7. 523; know-
ledge given by, zbid.; Phaedo 75;
sense and intellect, 25. 524; percep-
tions of, Tim. 66; senses inaccurate
witnesses, Phaedo 65; cannot give
abstractions, 75. 65, 66, 793; senses
and objects of, Charm. 167; sense
and thought compared, Theaet. 188.

Sentence, the, Soph. 262; false and
LUG} 7022 03,

Separation universal, irrational, Soph.
259, 260.

Seriphian, story of Themistocles and
the, Rep. a. 329 1:

service, kinds. “of “Pols 2380,
without gifts, Laws 12. 955.

Sexes, equality of, advantageous, Rep.
5. 456, 457; to follow the same
training, Laws -7. 8055: Rep. “5.
451; separation of, Laws 7. 7943
relation between the, 24. 839, 841.
Cp. Women.

Shades and bodies, Laws 12. 959.

Shepherds, Pol. 267, 268; shepherd
and king, 2b. 275; Laws 5. 735; the
Divine Shepherd, Pol. 275, 276.

ee woods used in, oe

290;

05.

sity), the, Phaedr. 244 B.

Sicilian philosophy, Soph. 242 E;
cookery, Rep. 3. 404 D; the ‘Sici-
lian tale,’ Gorg. 493 A.

Sicily, rivers of mud in, Phaedo 111
D; can tell of Charondas, Rep. ro.
599 E; Athenians killed in, Menex.
242 E; spectators are judges in
Sicilian theatres, Laws 2. 659 B.

Sictit, Rep. 6: 508, 75175 fim 47.
compared to mind, Rep. 6. 508;
illusions of, id. 10. 6023; pleasure of,
Phibesr,

Sign, the, of Socrates, Apol. 31, 40;
Euthyd. 273 ; Euthyph. 3; Phaedr.
242, etc., Rep. 6. 496 (cp. Theages
128).

Silenus, imitated in dances, Laws 7.815
C; Socrates compared to a figure of,
Symp. 215 A, 216 D, 221 E.

Simile in multis, or ‘common notion,’
Meno 74.

Simmias, the Theban, has brought
money for Socrates’ escape, Crito
45. Bsa. interlocutor sm. the
Phaedo, Phaedo passim ; believes in

Ba

PV Ee FOR

ideas, 76. 74 B, 76 E; his earnest-
ness in enquiry, 7d. 85 C3; believes
the soul a harmony, 74. 85 E foll.;
cause of more speeches than any
one living, Phaedr. 242 B.

Simois, summoned to aid Scamander,
Protag. 340 A.

Simonides, his definition of justice
discussed, Rep. 1. 331 D-335 E;
a poem of, criticised, Protag. 339
A-347 A; a sophist in disguise, 2.
376 LD,

Simplicity in education, Rep. 3. 397,
405.

Sin, punishment of, Rep. ro. 614 foll.
Cp. Punishment, Retribution.

Sinews, Tim. 74.

Siphons of wool, Symp. 175.

Sirens, have been laid under the spells
Ot Phito,-Crat: 403 Ds “Socrates a
Siren, Symp. 216 A; harmony of
the, Rep. 10. 617 B.

Sisyphus, Apol. 41 B; suffers punish-
ment in the world below, Gorg.

525 E.

Skin of the head, Tim. 76.

Slavery of Hellenes, Rep. 5. 469;
Laws 6. 776-778.

Slaves, Gorg. 483; proper treatment
of, Laws 6. 777; killing of, 7. 9.
865, 872; slave who kills his master,
ib. 868 (cp. 872); runaway, 7d. II.
9143; diseased, ib. 9163; children of,
ib. 930; injury done by, 7. 936;
slaves and masters, Rep. 9. 578;
Meno’s slave speaks Greek, Meno
82; a slave killed, Euthyph. 4;
employment of, Lysis 208; the
‘Carian Slave,’ Laches187. Euthyd.
285.

Sleep, Tim. 46; much, not required,
Laws 7. 808.

Sleeping and waking, Theaet. 158.

Smell, Tim. 66; pleasure of, Phil. 51.

Smicrion, (imaginary) father of Her-
mogenes, Crat. 429 E.

Society, origin of, Protag. 320, 322.
Cp; * state,’

Socrates.

Charmides, returns from Potidaea,
153 A; his interest in philosophy
and youth, ibid.; his charm for the
headache, 156 B foll.; his dream
of the reign of knowledge, 175 ay
his self-depreciation, 175 C.

Lysis, understands love, 204 B;
his passion for friends, 211 D foll.

Laches, his reputation, 180 C;
his father, 181 A; at Delium, 7.

599
B; has had no teachers, 186 C;
his poverty, 26.3; his method of
examination, 187 E, 188 A; _ his
humour, 196 D, E; will go to
school, 200 E, 201 A.

Protagoras, as a lover, 309 A; his
memory, 334 D3; cannot make long
speeches, 335 C3 power of criti-
cism, 343 D foll.

Euthydemus, talking at the Ly-
ceum, 271 A; intends going to
school to Euthydemus 272 B; his
sign, 273 E; his care for youth, 275
A, 306 C3 his view of verbal dis-
cussions, 278 A; offers himself to
the Sophists, 285 C3; not wise, 295
B; quotes mythology, 297 C; his
religion, 302 C; his irony, 303 C;
praises the Sophists, 303 C; his
view of philosophy, 307 A.

Meno, does not know what virtue
is, 71 B; hasaweakness for the fair,
76 C3; a torpedo-fish, 80 A.

Euthyphro, accused by Meletus as
a maker of gods, 3 A; his sign, 3 B;
a neologian, idid.; will be a disciple
of Euthyphro, 5 A; averse to my-
thology, 6 D; a relation of Dae-
dalus, 11 B.

Apology, has only the eloquence
of truth, 17 B; has never appeared
in a court of law, 17 D; his worst
slanderers, 18 B; the accusation
against him, 19 B; his views on
natural philosophy, 19 E; takes no
money, 19 D, 31 C; is no teacher,
20 C; declared by the oracle to
be wise, 21 A; examines the poli-
ticians, 21 C; the poets and arti-
sans, 22 A, D; his obedience to
the god, 22 A; his enemies and
poverty, 23 B, 31 C; his connection
with Athenian youth, 23 C; the
charge of Meletus, 24 B, 28 A; his
view of the value of life, 28 B; at
Potidaea, Amphipolis, and Delium,
ib. E; will continue to teach, 29 D;
has a divine mission,30 A; a gad-fly,
30 E; his sign, 31 C, 40 As; asa
politician (Arginusae, Leon), 32 B,
C; his pupils, 33 E, 34 A; will not
bring his children into court, 34 C;
his conviction, 36 A; proposes his
penalty, 36 E, 38 B; his view of
death, 37 B, 39 A, 40 G3 his ac-
cusers will be punished, 39 Ce nis
death a gain to him, 40 B; sons of
Socrates, 34 D, 41 E.

Crito, his cheerfulness at the pros-

600

pect of death, 43 B; his dream, 44
A; his view of the world and the
good man, 44 C; devotion of his
friends, 45 B; will obey reason
only, 46 B; regards the opinions of
the good, 47 A; values only the
good life, 48 A; will not return
evil for evil, 49 C3; his regard for
the laws, 50 B; his patriotism, 51
A; never left Athens, 52 B; his
view of a future life, 54 B.

Phaedo, his death delayed, 58 A,
B; his calmness, 58 E; friends
present at his death, 59 B; last
morning of his life, 59 D foll.; his
wife and children, 60 A, 116 B;
makes poetry, 60 D; his dream, 60
E; view of suicide, 61 D; pleased
with the earnestness of Cebes, 63
A; ready to die, 63 B; belief in a
future state, 63 C, 69 C, 73 D, 80
C; has sought to find a place
among philosophers, 69 D;_ his
humour, 77 B, 95 A; compares
himself to a swan, 85 A; com-
pared to a general, 89 A; plays
with the hair of Phaedo, 89 B; a
partisan, 91 B; his study of natural
science, 96 A foll.; his death, 115
B foll.

Symposium, his use of sandals, 174
A; goes to Agathon’s supper, 174
B; his fits of abstraction, 174 D,
175 A; has a knowledge of love,
177, 1b: his Jove: of. talk, 194: 1D
cannot praise love, but will speak
the truth, 199 A, B; his capacities
for drinking, 214 A; like the masks
of Silenus, 215 A; a great flute
player, 215 C3; power of his con-
versation, 215 E, 216 A; his tem-
perance with Alcibiades, 217 A foll.;
his conduct at Potidaea, 219 E, 220
A; his powers of thought, 220 C;
his conduct at Delium, 221 A; talks
only of packasses, etc., 221 E.

Phaedrus, never wears sandals,
229 A; astranger in Attica, 230 D;
knows nothing, 235 C; his sign,
242 C; has enough religion for his
needs, 7+.; his humour in parodying
names, 261 B; inspired, 238 D, 263
D; has no skill in rhetoric, 262
D; his power of invention, 275 B;
his religious feeling, 273 E, 279 B;
a great lover of generalization and
division, 266 B.

Cratylus, a prophet, 396 D; hu-
mour of, 407 D, 411 A; is afraid

TN DEX.

%

of the gods, Crat. 407 D, 408 D;
enquiry of concerning justice, 7.
413 A.

Gorgias, heard a speech of Peri-
cles, 455 E; his love of discussion,
458 A; alone in his view of tyranny,
472 B; not a public man, 473 E;
as a senator, ibid.; a lover, 481 D;
description of by Callicles, 485 E,
486 A; his conversation, 490 E,
491 A; Socrates of Foxmoor,
495 D; his humour, 505 D; the
only politician, 521 D; his position
at Athens, 522 D; anticipates death,
ibid.; his defence, ibid.

Republic and Timaeus, irony of, 1.
337 A; asharper in argument, 340
D; ignorant of what justice is, 354
C; must praise justice per se, 2. 367
iss the oathvol, 3.499. .10. 82509 76
(cp. Dog); his love of truth, 5. 451
A; power of in argument, 6. 487 B;
earnestness of in behalf of philo-
sophy, 7. 536 B; his feeling about
the state, Tim. 19 A.

Philebus, etc., considers wisdom
the good, 11 B; his religious feel-
inp,13,.@; 25-h, 61 Gs his method,
16 A; inspired, 20 B; his con-
versation with Parmenides, Parm.
127 C3; a Spartan hound, 128 C;
his youth, 130 E, 135 D; his pre-
diction about Theaetetus, Theaet.
142 C; his interest in Athenian
youth, 7+. 143 D3; his appearance,
thet? Fad, 206 1G. (Cha Ole
257 E); aman mid-wife, ib. 149 A
foll.; his love of argument, 7b. 169
B; Socrates and Parmenides, 76.
183 E; his dream about letters, 2d.
201 E foll.; goes to meet Meletus,
1h. 210 1); bis sion, 1 Alcib.:1ro3 A;
tos D....Cps Siegen;

Socrates, young, Pol. 257 C; a person
in the Politicus, ib. passim.

Softness, Tim. 62.

Soldiers, life of, Laws 12. 942.

Solo-singing, Laws 6. 764, 765.

Solon, quoted, Rep. 7. 536 D, Laches
188 B; the tale of, Tim. 20 E foll.;
Crit. 108 D foll. (cp. 110 B); trans-
lated the Egyptian names, 2b. 113 A;
in Egypt, Tim. 22 A; apoet, Charm.
155 A, 157 E; one of the Seven
Wise Men, Protag. 343 A; revered
father of Athenian laws, Symp. 209
D; had the power of gaining an
immortality of authorship, Phaedr.
258 B; writer of laws, id. 278 C;

‘i

Rep. 1. 338 foll. ;

iN DEX. 601

a legislator, Rep. 10. 599 E; Laws
g. 858 E.

Song, parts of, Rep. 3, 398; for the

old men, Laws 2. 665; for men
and women, ib. 7. 802.

Sons of great men, Laches 179, 180,

Protag. 325, Meno 93 foll.; the ex-
pelled son, Laws Ir. 929.

Sophists, hold enquiry impossible,

Meno 80; Anytus’ view of, 7d.
gi; as teachers of virtue, 25.92, 953
their teaching, Euthyd, 272, 273,
2743 exhibition of sophistical dia-
lectics, ib. 276 foll., 284 foll., 296
foll.; hold lying impossible, 2b. 284
(cp. Soph. 260) ; contradiction im-
possible, 2b. 2853 like Proteus, 7.
288; on knowing and not know-
ing, 7d. 2933 omniscient, 7b. 294 5
deny relativity, 22. 297; sophists of

_ mythology, ib. 275, 2975 Socrates’

advice to, id. 393, 3°43 the cha-
racter a reproach, Protag. 312,
316; what do they teach? ib. 312,
318; retailers of knowledge, 7.
313; their art ancient, id. 316; but
concealed, id. 3173 payment of,
ib. 328, Meno 913 Crat. 39! (cp.
Gorg. 5319); soul of the sophist,
Phaedr. 248; their view of justice,
verbal quibbles
of, ib. 340 (cp. Verbal); the public
the great sophist, 7. 6, 492; the
sophists compared to feeders of
a beast, ib. 4933 incompetent as
managers, Tim. 19; not easily de-
fined, Soph. 218; sophist and angler,
ib. 218, 2193 a hunter, ib. 221, 2225
4 trader in virtue, 7d. 224; a money
making Eristic, 2d. 225, 226; de-
scription of the, 2b. 231; 4 disputer,
ib. 2323; has only apparent know-
ledge, ib. 2335 an imitator of
true being, 7b. 2353 concerned with
ideas, ib. 2403 final description of
the, ib. 265 foll., 268; sophist,
statesman, and philosopher, Pol.
2573; sophist and politician, 10. 2043
303. Cp. Gorgias, Hippias, Pro-
dicus, Protagoras, Thrasymachus.

Sophistry, Gorg. 4495 463, 465; SO-

phistry and rhetoric, id. 520; de-
fined, Soph. 223; =art which retails
knowledge, id. 22435 = refutation
of vain conceit, 7d. 231.

Sophocles, a remark of, quoted, Rep. I.

329 B; supposed to discourse on
the art of tragedy, Phaedr. 268 C.

Sophroniscus, father of Socrates,

Laches 181 A; Euthyd. 297 E, 298
B; 1 Alcib13f ya triend of
Lysimachus, Laches 180 D.

Sorrow, in a good man, Rep. 3. 387,
10, 603; indulgence of, 7b. 606.

Sosias, the name an expression of a
wish, Crat. 397 B.

Soul, immortality of, Phaedo 70, 77,
86, 87, 92 foll., 105 foll., Phaedr.
245 (see Psychology); pure and im-
pure, Phaedo 81 foll. (see Trans-
migration) civil and social, 7). 82;
opposition of soul and body, 24. 94 ;
the soul’s eye, ib. 99; form of,
Phaedr. 247; procession of the
souls, ibid.; order of, ib. 248; five
forms of the state and soul, Rep. 5.
449; image of, ib. 9. 588 (cp. Io.
611); the uncorrupt souls, 7. Io.
6113; transmigration of, 2b. 617; souls
and stars, Tim. 41; soul of man, the,
ib. 44; higher and lower, 7d. 70;
appetitive souls, the, ibid.; diseases
of, ib. 86; symmetry of sou and
body, ib. 88; ambition in, 7b. 90;
desire of knowledge in, ibid.; soul
and universe, ibid. (cp. Phil. 30) ;
nakedness of, Gorg. 523; judgment
of, ibid.; origin of, Phil. 30; memory
in the, ib. 34; compared to a book,
ib. 38, 39; the soul’s painter, ibid. 5
merchandise of the, Soph. 224;
food of the, ibid.; evil in, 1d. 227,
228; forming notions, Polk. 270%
a precious possession, Laws 5. 726,
727+ honours of, ibid. ; pleasure and
the soul, idid.; passion in, 10s. 9.
863; prior to the body, id. 10. 893,
896; nature of, 2b. 8925 = life, id..
895; =self-moved, 7d. 896; =the
cause of moral qualities, zbzd.; orders
the heavens, idid.; two souls, a good
and evil, 2b. 896, 8975 in the uni-
verse, ib. 898 5 of the sun, 75. 899;
in all things, idid.; influence of on
character, 7b. 9°43 = principle of
change, id.; soul and body, id. 12.
959; soul and mind, id. 961; in
man, 1 Alcib. 130.

Sounds, Tim. 80.

Sous (Rush), Crat. 412 oe

Space, Tim. 52.

Sparta, proud, Laws 6.753 A; walls
not approved of there, ib. 778 D5
licence of women at, 7d. 7. 806 C.
Cp. Lacedaemonians.

Spartans call men ‘divine,’ Meno 99
D; Spartan rhetoric, Phaedr. 260
E; drunkenness not allowed among

602

the Spartans, Laws 1.637 A. Cp.
Lacedaemonians.

Speaking, first rule of, Phaedr. 260.

Spercheius, hair of Achilles dedicated
to, Rep. 3. 391 B.

Species, Phil. 17 > Pol, 262,

Spectators, silence of in ancient
Athens, Laws 3. 700; travelling
spectators, 7b. 12. 951, 952.

Speech, Tim. 47; speech and thought,
Soph. 263.

Speech, speech-making, (of Lysias),
Phaedr. 231-2343 criticized, 7d.
235 foll., 263, 2643; (of Socrates), #.
237-241; (of Socrates again), 2d.
244-2573 speech-writing of politi-
cians, 7b. 258; speeches of Socrates
and Lysias compared, 2d. 262 foll.;
to be duly arranged, 7b. 264; mo-
tive of the good in, 2d. 273; true
art of writing, #5. 276; written
speeches condemned, 74. 275; the
place of writing in, 7. 277; com-
pared to conversation, like brazen
pans, Protag. 329; art of speech-
making a kind of enchantment,
Euthyd. 290. Cf. Rhetoric and
Writing.

Spendthrifts, in Greek states, Rep.
8. 564.

Sphagia, Spartans at, Menex. 242 C.

Sphettus, Lysanias of, Apol. 33 E.

Spleen, the, Tim. 72.

Stars, seven created, Tim. 38; motions
of the stars, 7+. 39, 40; fixed stars,
ib. 403 Stars and souls, 7b. 413
orbits of, Laws 7. 822; have souls,
1D. .¥2.°007.

Stasinus quoted, Euthyph. 12 B.

State, the, origin of, Rep. 2. 369 foll.;
Laws 3. 680 foll.; the luxurious,
REDi2.372 1011-5 At Wal, 20. 4: 4225
unity Of, 24.422, 423% size of, 70.
423; relation of state and individual,
ib. 435, 8. 5449-5773 Laws 3.689,
9. 875, 877; virtue of state and in-
dividual, Rep. 4. 441; five forms
of, 2b. 4453 family life in, i. 5.
449; a large family, 2d. 463 (cp.
Pol. 259); the philosophic state,
Rep. 6. 497 foll., 501 foll. ; happiness
of the, 74. 7. 5193; claims of, on the
individual, 74. 520; rulers of the, zd.
520; possibility of the, 7. 540 ; brief
description of, Tim. 17, 18; exist-
ence of, depends on virtue, Protag.
922, 225)..2290..6307 5 “States and
politics, Laws 4.715 ; state-offences,
ib, 6. 768; how preserved, id. 12.

LUND) A:

961; why states go wrong 7d. 962;
order in, how preserved, 1 Alcib.
1263; agreement in, 7b. 126; indivi-
duals to do their own work, zd. 127.

Statesmen at Athens, Gorg. 515, 519;
1 Alcib. 119, 1223 vocation of,
Gorg. 515; Laws 12. 963; science
of, Pol. 258, 2593; statesmen and
king, 2d. 2593 art of, in division, 2.
267; statesman and herdsman, 74.
2753 statesmen and laws, 7d. 300;
are not teachers of virtue, Meno
93; have right opinion, not know-
ledge, 7b. 99.

Statuaries, Pol. 277.

Statues of Daedalus, Euthyph. 11 C.
See Daedalus.
Stephanus, son of Thucydides, a

famous wrestler, Meno 94 C.

Stesichorus, his Recantation, Phaedr.
243 A (cp. Rep. 9. 586 C); Socrates
compares himself to, 74. 244 A.

Stesilaus, his invention of the scythe-
spear, Laches 183 C.

Stesimbrotus, of Thasos, a rhapsode,
Ion 530 D.

Strangers under the protection of
God, Laws 5. 729, 730; may par-
take of fruits, 25. 8. 845; murder
of, 2b. 9. 866 ; reverence for, 7b. 879 ;
strangers on travel, 2b. 12.952, 953.

Strength, rule of, Laws 3. 690. Cp.
Might.

Style of poetry, Rep. 3. 392; styles,
various, 7b. 397.

Styx, Phaedo 113 C3; Rep. 3. 387 B.

Subject of the sentence, Soph. 262.

Substances, assimilation of, Lysis 217.

Suicide, Phaedo 61 foll.; philosophic dis-
regard of life, 25.62 (cp. Lawsg. 873).

Suits, decision of, in the model city,
Laws 6. 761; at law, id. 766, 9.
8533 execution of, 7), 12. 958.

Sumptuary laws, Rep. 4. 423, 425. Cp.
Laws.

Sun, the, compared with the idea of
good, Rep. 6. 508 ; creation of, Tim.
38; orbit of, Laws 7.822; suna god,
ib. 821, 10. 886, 887 (cp. Apol. 26);
has a soul, 2b, 12. 967; contempla-
tion of, bid.

Sunian, Euphronius the, Theact. 144
C

Sunium, Crito 43 D.

Suppliants, Laws 5. 730.

Supposititious son, parable of the,
EDT. 535.

Surety, rules about, Laws 12. 953.

Swallowing, Tim. 80.

EP Gy OF Dip

Swans, Phaedo 85.

Syllables and letters, Theaet. 202,
Dim, 43.

Symmetry is a good, Phil. 65, 66.

Synonyms, Prodicus’ ‘ charming philo-
sophy’ of, Protag. 340.

Synthesis, Pol. 285. Cp. Dialectic.

Syracusan dinners, Rep. 3. 404 D.

Syracusans have conquered Locrians,
Laws 1. 638 A.

:
Tacticians and generals, Laws 11.

g2t.

Tanagra, battle of, 1 Alcib. 112 B.

Tantalus (‘ my eyes beheld Tantalus’
=Prodicus), Protag. 315 C; his
wealth, Euthyph. 11 D; his name,
Crat. 395 D, E; suffers in the
world below, Gorg. 525 E.

Tarentine intoxication, Laws 1. 637
B, Gi.

Tarentum, Iccus of, Protag. 316 D.

Tartarus, a chasm piercing through
the whole world, Phaedo 112 A, D
(cp.113 B, E, 114A); (=hell), Rep.
10. 616 A; Gorg. 523 A.

fleastes. 11m1..05.

Taureas, the palaestra of, Charm.
153.

Taverns, Laws 11. 918, 919.

‘Taxiarchs, Laws 6. 755.

Teachers, foreign, Laws 7. 804; of
virtue, 2b. 12. 964.

Teiresias, alone has understanding
among the dead (Od. x. 495), Meno
100 A; Rep. 3. 386 E.

Telamon, Apol. 41 B; Rep. 10. 620
B; Crat 428 C. See Ajax.

Telemachus, Laws 7. 804 A.

Telephus of Aeschylus, Phaedo 108
A;

Temenus, king of Argos, Laws 3.
683 D, 692 B.

Temperance (cwppocvwn), defined
as quietness, Charm. 159; as mo-
desty, ib. 160; as doing one’s own
business, 72. 161; as doing good
actions, 7b. 163 fin.; as self-know-
ledge, ib. 1653 as knowing what we
know and do not know, id. 167;
the science of itself and of other
sciences, is wisdom, 7b. 170; how
far possible or advantageous, 74.
167, 170; is a good, ib. 159, 160,
169; a part of virtue, Meno 73;
contradiction in the ordinary view
of, Phaedo 68, 69; to be taught in
the state, Rep. 3. 389, 4. 430 foll.;

603

a sort of harmony, 74. 430; the
order of the soul, Gorg. 507, 508;
Callicles’ view of, ib. 492, 4943
=health of the soul, ib. 504, 507;
temperance and courage opposed,
Pol. 3063; to be blended with
courage, 2b. 309, 3103 requires ex- -
perience of pleasure, Laws 1. 649;
temperance and virtue, 24. 3. 696;
in the tyrant, 2b. 4. 710; in the
state, ib. 712; worthy of praise,
$0. 5. 730 5) IOV, 10.100 305 O40"
principles to support, zd. 841.

Temperate life, Laws 5. 734.

Temples in a new state, Laws 5. 738;
of Hestia, Zeus, and Athena, 2d.
745, 8. 848; officers of, ib. 6. 759;
temples, temple robbing, 74. 9. 854.

Terpsichore, Phaedr. 259 C.

Terpsion, present at the death of
Socrates, Phaedo 59 C (cp. Theaet.
142 A-143 C).

Territory, devastation of, Rep. 5.
470; size of, Laws 5. 737.

Testamentary disposition, Laws rr.
923, 924.

Tetanus, Tim. 84.

Tethys and Oceanus, parents of all,
Crate4o2. BC) 13. ims 4o.4.k5,
Theaet. 152 E, 180 D.

Thales and the Thracian maid,
Theaet. 174 A; one of the Seven
Wise Men, Protag. 343 A; his in-
ventions, Rep. 10. 600 A.

Thamus, Phaedr. 274 D-275 B.

Thamyras, a singer, Laws 8. 829 E;
Ion 533 B; his soul chooses the
life of a nightingale, Rep. 10.620 A.

Thasos, Stesimbrotus of, Ion 530 D.

Thaumas, Iris is the child of Thaumas
(wonder), Theaet. 155 D.

Theaetetus, a person in the dialogue
Theaetetus, Theaet. 144 E foll.;
wounded at Corinth, 75.142 A; his
appearance and mental powers, ib.
143 E; his studies in mathematics,
ib. 147 E (cp. Knowledge); a
person in the dialogue Sophist, Soph.
218 A foll. (cp. Pol. 257 A).

Theaetetus, time of the dialogue,
Theaet. 142 E; the dialogue written
down by Euclid, 74. 143 A.

Theages, the bridle of, Rep. 6.496 B;
the brother of Paralus, Apol. 33 E.

Theatre, decline of, Laws 2. 6595
audience at, Gorg. 502; Laws 2.
658, 7. 817; price of admission,
Apol. 26.

Theban, Orthagoras the, Protag. 318

604

C; Simmias the Theban, Phaedo
59 C,92 A; Harmonia the Theban
goddess, ib. 95 A.

Thebes, a well-governed city, Crito
53 B; home of Philolaus, Phaedo
61 E; (Egyptian) Phaedr. 274 D.

A hett, Laws 9.857, 22. 933,034, 12.
941; punished with death, 7d. 12.
941; receiving stolen goods, 7d.
955; of Prometheus explained,
Protag 321.

Themis, did not instigate the strife
of the gods, Rep. 2. 380 A; the
oath by Zeus, Apollo and Themis,
Laws 11. 936 E.

Themistocles, answer of, to the Seri-
phian, Rep. 1. 330 A; a good man
in common opinion, Gorg. 503 C,
515 D (cp. Meno 93 B); real
author of Athenian calamities,
Gorg. 519 A (cp. Meno 99 B);
originator in part of the docks and
walls, 2b. 455 E; exiled, 25. 516 D.

Theoclymenus (the seer in Homer),
Ton 538 E.

Theodorus, of Cyrene, a geometrician,
Theaet. 143 B foll.; joins in the
conversation, 7b. 168 C foll. (cp.
DOH 206) Ager Oly a5 7771),

Theodorus, of Samos, a_ sculptor,
Ion 533 A.

Theodorus, of Byzantium, compared
to Odysseus, Phaedr, 261 C, 266 E.

Theodotus, dead at the time of Socra-
fes trial, Apol. 33°.

Theognis, quoted, Meno 95 D, E; his
definition of virtue, Laws 1. 630 A,
C,

Theology of Plato, Rep. 2. 379. Cp.
God.

Theonoe, meaning of the name, Crat.
407 B.

Theophilus, meaning of the name,
Crat. 394 E, 397 B.

Theosdotides, father of Nicostratus,
Apo. 33-b.

Thersites, puts on the form of a
monkey, Rep. 10. 620 C.

Theseus, his expedition to Crete,
Phaedo 58 A; names recorded prior
to the time of, Crat. 110 A; cursed
his son, Laws 3. 687 E, 11. 931 B;
the tale of Theseus and Peirithous
not permitted, Rep. 3. 391 C; a The-
seus of argument, Theaet. 169 B.

Thessalians, their wisdom, Meno 70 A;
willing to receive Socrates, Crito 45
C; Thessalian enchantresses, Gorg.
513 A; Penestae, Laws 6. 766 D;

TIN TX

Caeneus the Thessalian, id. 12.
944 D, E; Creon the Thessalian,
Protag. 339 A.

Thessaly, Crito has friends in, Crito
45 C; disordered state of, 75. 53 D;
nurseries of geese in, Pol. 264 C;
a large plain, Laws 1. 625 D.

Thetis, mother of Achilles, Apol.
28 C; Symp. 179 E; Hipp. min.
371 Cs; marriage of Peleus and
Thetis, Laws 12. 944 A; not to be
slandered, Rep. 2. 381 D; her ac-
cusation of Apollo, 2b. 383 A.

Theuth, Phil. 18 B; Phaedr. 274 C.

Thinking = the soul’s conversation
with herself, Theaet. 1go.

Thorax, Tim. 69.

Thought, when best, Phaedo 65;
thought and speech, Soph. 263.

Thracians, their procession in honour
of Bendis, Rep. 1. 327 Aj; charac-
terized by spirit or passion, 7b. 4.
435 E; drink unmixed wine, Laws
1. 637 D, E; use their women to till
the ground, etc., 75. 7. 805 D; the
Thracian Zamolxis, Charm. 156
D, E (cp. 175 E)# the Thracian
handmaid and Thales, Theaet. 174
A, C, 175 D; Zopyrus the Thracian,
tutor of Alcibiades, 1 Alcib. 122 B.

Thrasymachus, the Chalcedonian,
Rep. &. 32°. B(Cp., 0. 40550.) 0a
description of, 7. 336 B; will be
paid, 2+. 337 D; defines justice, 2.
338 C foll.; his rudeness, 25. 343
A; his views of government, 74d. ;
his encomium on injustice, zdid.; his
manner of speech, 7d. 345 B; his
paradox about justice and injustice,
ib. 348 B foll.; he blushes, 7d. 350 D ;
would have Socrates discuss women
and children, 25. 5. 4503. never
Socrates’ enemy, 7b. 6. 4983 his
rhetoric, Phaedr. 261 C, 269 E,
271 A; the ‘Chalcedonian giant,’
ib. 267 D.

Thucydides, father of Melesias, Meno
94 C; the younger, Laches 179 A.
Thur, Euthyd, 271 C, 283 E, 288 A;

Thurian youth, Laws 1. 636 B.

Thyestes, cruelty of Atreus to, Crat.
395 B; and the golden lamb, Pol.
268 E; on the stage, Laws 8. 838 C.

Timaeus, the principal speaker in the
dialogue Timaeus, 17 A foll.; begins
his discourse, 27 C; prayer of, Crit.
106 A, B.

Time, created, Tim. 37, 38.

Timocracy, Rep. 8. 545 foll.

LON dT) Teh

Timocratic man, described, Rep. 8.
549; his origin, zdid.
Timocratic state, the, origin of, Rep.

8. 547+

Tinker, the prosperous, Rep. 6. 495,
496.

Tiring, art of, Gorg. 463.

Tisander, of Aphidnae, a student of
philosophy, Gorg. 487 C.

Tisias, aware that probability is su-
perior to truth, Phaedr. 267 A; his
definition of probability, 7+. 273 A
foll.

Tityus, suffers punishment in Tar-
tarus, Gorg. 525 E.

Topography of Athens, Charm. 153;
Lysis 203; Phaedr. 227, 229. (Cp.
Athens.

Tops, Rep. 4. 436.

Torch race, an equestrian, Rep. 1. 328.

Torpedo, Meno 80.

Tournaments, Laws 8. 829.

Trades, no one to profess two, Laws
8. 846, 847.

Tradition of deluges, Laws 3. 677.

Tragedy, Laws 2. 658; =the goat
song, Crat. 408; tragedy and
comedy in the state, Rep. 3. 394;
tragedy and comedy the same as to
genius, Symp. 223 (but cp. Ion
534); Gorg. 502; effect of, Phil. 48.

Tragic poets, the, imitators, Rep.
10. 597, 598.

Transmigration of souls, Meno 81
foll.; Phaedo 70, 81; Phaedr. 248 ;
@ 114 2,°02.

Travel, value of, Laws 12. 950, 951.

Treasure-trove, Laws II. 913.

areesy Tim.77:

Trial, conduct of, Laws 9. 855.

Triangles in bodies, Tim. 54 foll.;
perfect forms of, id. 54.

Tribes, twelve in the model city,
Laws 5.7451 Cp: 70, 6. 771)

Tribunals, Laws 6. 767.

Triptolemus, one of the judges in
Hades, Apol. 41 A; minister of
Demeter, Laws 6. 782 B.

Trojan horse, Theaet. 184 Dj; war,
Apol. 41 C; Laws 2. 682 C, 3. 685 C.

Trojans, press hard on the Achaeans
(Il. xiv. 96), Laws 4. 706 D, E.

Troy, Rep. 3. 393 E; Helen at, 7.
9. 586 C (cp. Phaedr. 243 B);
heroes at, Ion 535 C; Apol. 28 C;
overthrown after ten years, Laws
3. 682 D; a part of the Assyrian
empire, 7d. 685 C, D.

Truth, = the right assignment of

605

names, Crat. 431; how obtained,
Phaedo 65; the vision of truth,
Phaedr. 248; the basis of good
speaking, 7b. 260; truth and per-
suasion, zbid.; the beginning of goods,
Laws 5. 730; Protagoras on, Crat.
391, 20C,

Tunnels, Crit. 116 A.

Tutelary deities of craftsmen, Laws
II. 920, 921.

Tutors, Lysis 208, 223; Symp. 183;
Laws 7. 808.

Tynnichus of Chalcis, author of one
famous poem, Ion 534 D.

Typho the serpent, Phaedr. 230 A.

Tyrannical man, the, Rep. 9. 571
foll.; life of, 2. 573; his treatment
of his parents, 7b. 574 foll.; most
miserable, 7b. 578.

Tyranny, Rep. 1. 344, 8. 544; Gorg.
469; origin of, Rep. 8. 562; the
wretchedest form of government,
ib. 9. 5763 = management of the
violent, Pol. 276.

Tyrant, the, origin of, Rep. 8. 565;
happiness of, ib. 566 ; oppression of,
ib.; his army, ib. 567 foll.; has no
real pleasures, 7b. 9. 5873; how far
distant from pleasure, zdid.; tyrants
have no friends, ib. 576; slaves,
ib. 5773; misery of, id. 579; Laws
2. 661, 662; tyrants and poets,
Rep. 8. 568; have no power,
Gorg. 461; Laws 4. 718; paradox
concerning, Gorg. 468 ; punishment
of, ib. 525; described, Pol. 301,
302; the young, Laws 4. 709;
friend of the tyrants, Gorg. 510.

Tyrrhenia, Tim. 25 B(cp. Crit. 114 C).

Tyrrhenic rites, Laws 5. io OF

Tyrtaeus, ‘of all men most eager
about war,’ Laws 1. 629 A_foll.
(cp. ib. 2. 667 A); not to lay down
evil precepts, id. 9. 858 E.

U;
Unity of the state, Rep. 5. 462, 463;
unity and being, Soph. 245.
Universe, body of, Tim. 31, 3235
motion of, is. 34; pattern of, 7d.
48; guided by mind, Phil, »23%
nature of, Pol. 269; soul in, Laws
10. 898; whole and parts of, 74. 903.
Union impossible among the bad,
Lysis 214 (cp. Rep. 1. 357) 3-01
friends after death, Phaedo 68.
Unjust man, the, happy, Rep. 1. 343;
344; injustice = private profit, 7.
344; ‘unjust’ defined, Laws 9, 863.

606

. Unwritten laws, Laws 7. 822, 823.

Urania, Phaedr. 259 D.

Uranus (dd rod épav ta dvw) Crat.
396 B; father of the heavenly
Aphrodite, Symp. 180 D, E; son
of Oceanus, Tim. 40 E; immoral
stories about, Rep. 2. 377 E (cp.
Euthyph. 6 A, 8 B).

User and instrument distinguished,
1 Alcib. 129.

Usury on overdue accounts, Laws 11.
921.

As

Valetudinarianism, Rep. 3. 406.
Invalids.

Vegetarians, Laws 6. 782.

Ventriloquism, Soph. 252.

Verbal quibbles of sophists, Rep. 1.
3403; distinctions, ‘having’ and
possessing, Theaet. 1973; ‘making’
distinguished from ‘ doing,’ Charm.
1633 ‘being’ and ‘ becoming’ dis-
tinguished, Protag. 340, 344; fallacy,
‘justice dishonourable,’ Laws 9.
860; discussions, Euthyd. 276 foll.
ib. 284 foll., 293 foll.; Socrates’
use of the word Seuds, Protag. 3413
learning and knowing, Euthyd. 278.

Verbs, Soph. 261, 262.

Vested interests, Laws 3. 684.

Vice, in the soul, Soph. 228; = virtue
out of place, Pol. 307; the de-
struction of men, Laws Io. 906;
slavish, 1 Alcib. 135. Cp. Injustice.

Victories, Olympian, Phaedr. 256 (cp.
Laws 7. 807).

Violence, Jaws concerning, Laws to.

e884, 885;

Virtue, contrasted with the arts, Pro-
tag. 323; how far hereditary, 7d.
3243 not a private possession, 2d.
325; whether one or many, 25. 329
(cp. Pol. 306); nature of virtues,
ib, 3303 justice and holiness, 7d.
331 (cp. Laches 199); wisdom
and temperance, ib. 3333; virtue
according to Simonides, 74. 339
(cp. Justice); courage, 2b. 349, 350,
359; unity of virtue re-stated, 7d.
349; virtue and knowledge, id.
356 foll.; how does it come, Meno
713 virtues numberless, 25. 72;
always the same, id. 73; defined
as the power of governing man-
kind, z:d.; more than one virtue,
hunt ton othe love. ands attain-
ment of the honourable, 72d. 77;

= the power of attaining good, 7d.
78; can it be taught? 75. 86 (cp.

Cp.

TN DEX.

Protag. 324, 361, Euthyd. 274); is
virtue knowledge? 2d. 87; a sort of
wisdom, 7b. 88; (good men not good
by nature, 74. 89); no teachers of,
ib. 89 foll., 96; great men are great
by inspiration, 7+. 99; the ordinary
views of, paradoxical, Phaedo 68,
69; true virtue and wisdom, 7d. 69;
true motives of, 7b. 83, 84; Socrates’
great desire for, Euthyd. 285 ; abso-
lute seen by the soul, Phaedr. 247 ;
in the individual and state, Rep. 4.
441 (cp. Justice) ; virtue, Gorg. 506;
invisible, Phaedr. 250; misplaced =

vice, Pol. 307; in war, Laws 1.
630; according to Theognis, zdid. ;
four virtues, 25. 1. 6313 is greatest
of goods, id. 2. 661; honoured of
the temperate, 75. 3. 696; virtue
and temperance, zbid.; object of the
legislator, i+. 4. 706; to be im-
parted, 75. 5. 730, 731; the chief
business of life, 76. 7. 807; the
salvation of men, 7. 10. 906; kinds
of, 7b. 12. 9633 one or many, id.
teachers of, 7b. 964; the prize of
life, Menex. 246, 247.

Visible and intellectual world com-
pared, Rep. 6. 508; divisions of
the visible world, 24. 509 foll.

Vision, Theaet. 156.

Voluntary and involuntary, Hipp. min.
373, 3743 In actions, Laws 9. 861.

W.

Walls injurious, Laws 6. 778, 779.

War, causes, of, Rep..2: 373, 4.°422
foll. ; 1 Alcib. 113 ; men, women, and
children to go to, 2b. 5. 467; ex-
perience in, zbid.; regulations con-
cerning, ib. 467-471; the object
of, Laws 1. 626-628; the natural
state, 2b. 626; civil war, 2b. 1. 628,
629; war inferior to peace, zd. 803;
GANGES Old. 57.85, 60.005. war
most serious, zbid.; practice of war
in peace, 2b. 8. 829; necessity of
practising, 74. 830; why not prac-
tised, 2b. 831, 832.

Warden of the city, Laws 6. 759,
763; of the agora, 2.. 559, 764 *
election of wardens of the country,
10.960; IE Unjust, 10,700. 7024" OF
the city to have common meals,
ib. 762; to have no servants, ib.
763; to know geography, id.

Warp, the, Pol. 282.

Water, laws concerning, Laws 8. 844;
pollution of, 7b. 845.

Pav Dy EY Xe 607

Water, nature of, Tim. 49; form of,
ib. 56; compounds of water and
earth, 2b. 60, 61.

Wax, block of, in the mind, Theaet.

IgI.

Wealth, the advantage of in old age,
Rep. 1. 329, 330; the greatest
blessing of, 74. 330, 3313 destruc-
tion of the arts, ib. 4. 421; in-
fluence of on state, Laws 4. 705;
of little use, 2d. 5. 7293 evil of, zd.
742, 7433; wealth and happiness, 7d.
7433 limit of in the state, 745 (cp.
Community of Property); prevents
the practice of war, 8. 831; a
cause of murder, 7d. 9. 870; wealth
and poverty, 7b. 11. 919; of the
Persians, 1 Alcib. 121 foll.; of the
Lacedaemonian kings, 74. 1223 of

cerned with states, Symp. 209;
a good, Phil. 11; needs additions,
ib, 21; insufficient, 7d. 60; the true,
Theaet. 176; wisdom and opinion,
Pol. 278; to be prayed for, Laws
3. 688; wisdom and harmony, 7d.
689; wisdom and courage, 7b. 12.
963; the source of happiness, 1
Alcib. 134.

Wise man, life of the, Rep. 9. 5913
the seven wise men, Protag. 343.

Witchcraft, Laws 11. 933.

Witnesses in actions at law, Laws 8.
846, 11. 936, 937; obstruction of
witnesses, 7b. 12. 954, 955-

Wives to be common in the state,
ReDs 5. 457.

Wizards, punishment of, Laws 10. 909.

Wolves and tyrants akin, Phaedo 82 ;

Alcibiades, ibid.

Weaver’s coat, the, Phaedo 87.
Weaving, divisions of, Pol. 279-283;
defined, 7b. 283, Laws 5. 734, 735-

Web, the political, Pol. 309, 310.

White lead, Lysis 217.

Whiteness in hair, Lysis 217.

Whole and parts, Theaet. 204.

Whorl, the great, Rep. 10. 616.

Wicked, punishment of the, Theaet.
176. Cp. Punishment.

Wild animals, ‘Tim. 91.

Wills, freedom in making, restricted,
Laws 11.9223; regulations concern-
ing, 2b. 923.

Wine, Tim. 60; =fear potion, Laws 1.
647 foll.; in education, zbid.; use of,
ib, 2.646; why given to men, 7d. 672 ;
not to be drunk on a campaign, 7d.
674; or by slaves, zbid.; or by rulers
or officers, zbid.; nor in the daytime,
ibid.; cure for drinking hemlock,
Lysis 219.

Wings of the soul, Phaedr. 246, 251.

Wisdom (cogia, dpdynois) in the

men changed into wolves, Rep. 8.
565; wolf and flock (proverb), id.

Says
Women, to be trained like men, Rep.

5. 451; in the gymmasia, 7d. 4525
nature of women and men, 78. 453;
difference of women and men, 7.
455; inferior to men, édid., Tim. 42 5
difference of tastes in, Rep. 5. 456;
employment of, Lysis 208, Rep.
5. 455; Lacedaemonian, Laws 1.
637, ib. 6. 780, 7. 806; given to
concealment, id. 6. 7813; inferior
in capacity for virtue, 7. 781; to
have meals in public, zdid.; con-
trollers of marriage, 7b. 784, 7-
794; at war, id. 785; to learn
martial exercises, id. 7. 7943 to
share with men, 24. 805; in Thrace,
ibid.; of the Sauromatides, id. 806 ;
to fight if necessary, 7b. 806; to
be trained in gymnastic exercises,
ib. 813, 814, 8.833; women soldiers,
ib. 7. 8143 women’s festivals, 7.
8. 828.

State, Rep. 4. 428; the power of,
ib. 7. 518, 519; wisdom and tem-
perance, Charm. 170, Protag. 332;
cannot distinguish good and bad
physicians, 7. 171; wisdom and
friendship, Lysis 210; =good for-
tune, the only good, Euthyd. 282;
most valuable of treasures, idid.;
can it be taught, iid.; wisdom and
virtue, Meno 88; of Socrates,
Apol. 20; nature of, Phaedo, 69,
79; the only release from evil,
ib. 107; loveliness of, Phaedr. 2505
unseen, idid.; to be ascribed to God
only, 74. 278; fairest wisdom con-

Woof, Pol. 282, 283.

Wool-making, Pol. 282.

Words without music, Laws 2. 669
(cp. Gorg. 502).

Work honourable, Charm. 163.

World below, the, Rep. 2. 366; not
to be reviled, id. 3. 386 foll.

World, the, creation of, Tim. 28 foll.;
pattern of, 7b. 293 an animal, 2d. 30 ;
only one, 7d. 313 figure of the, 7.
33; world-soul, 74. 34, Phil 30%
motion of, Tim. 36.

Worlds not infinite, Tim. 55.

Wounds, a question of fact, Laws 9.
845, 876.

608

Wounding, voluntary and involuntary,
Laws 9. 874, 875; enactments con-
cerning, ib. 876-879.

Wrestling, Laws 7. 795 796, 8. 830,

8, 834, Meno 94, Euthyd. 277. Cp.
Gymnastic.

Writing, invention of, Phaedr. 274;
apt to be unintelligible, 75. 275;
compared with dialectic, id. 276;
an amusement, 7b. 2773; value of
written compositions, 75. 278.

D>. ©

Xanthias, a famous wrestler, Meno 94
Cr.

Xanthippe, wife of Socrates, Phaedo
60 A.

Xanthippus, father of Pericles, 1

_ Alcib. 104 B, Menex. 235 E.

Xanthippus, son of Pericles, Protag.
315 A, 328 C, Meno 94 B.

Xanthus, a river of Troy (=Sca-
mander), Crat. 391 E.

Xenelasia, Protag. 342; Laws 12. 950
(cp. 7b. 953).

Xenophanes of Elea, Soph. 242 D.

Xerxes, invaded Hellas, Gorg. 483 D;
author of the maxim that justice =
paying one’s debts, Rep. 1. 236 A;
Xerxes and Alcibiades, 1 Alcib. 105
C;. father of Artaxerxes, 25. 121 B,
123 C; brought up in the royal and
luxurious fashion, Laws 3. 695 E.

i.

Year, the perfect, Tim. 39.

Young, easily influenced, Laws 2. 664;
restlessness of young creatures, id.
653, 664, 665.

Youthful body, the, Tim, 81.

Z.

Zamolxis, the Thracian physician,
Charm. 156 D, 158 B (cp. 175 E).
Zeno, Soph. 216 A; the Eleatic Pala-
medes, Phaedr. 261 D; the friend
of Pythodorus, Parm. 126 B; de-

PIV a

scription of, 7b. 126 B, C; a person
in the dialogue Parmenides, 128 A-
130 A, 136 D, E 5 well paid: for
teaching, 1 Alcib. 119 A.

Zethus, in the play of Euripides,
Gorg. 485 E, 489 E, 506 B. ©

Zeus, author of the laws of Crete,
Laws 1. 624 A; judgment of Zeus
=equality, 24. 6. 757; keeper of
political wisdom, Protag. 321 D
(cp. 329 C); processions of in
heaven, Phaedr. 246 E foll.; at-
tendants of, 2b. 252 C foll.; the
saviour, Charm. 167 B; the god of
boundaries, of kindred, of strangers,
Laws 8. 842 E, 843 A; Poliuchus,
ib, 11. 921 C3 the god of hospi-
tality, 24.12. 953 E; ancestral Zeus
unknown among lonians, Euthyd.
302 C, D, E; his treatment of man-
kind, Symp. 190 C foll.; his empire
due to love, 2b. 197 B; in love with
Ganymede, Phaedr. 255 C (cp. Laws
1. 636 C); son of Cronos, Tim. 41
A; treatment of his father, Eu-
thyph. 6A,.8 Be Rep, 3. 377 in
mythology, Rep. 2. 379 D, 383 A,
S290! toe tie SONS -Ol,, laws eli:
941 B; Achilles descended from,
Rep. 3. 391 C; ancestor of the Lace-
daemonian and Persian kings, 1
Alcib. 120 E; of Alcibiades, 2b. 121
A; of Lysis, Lysis 205 D; makes
his sons judges in the world below,
Gorg. 523 A foll.; temple of, Laws
5.745 B, 8. 848 D; fines sacred
to; 72. 6. 774 WD: oath job. the
witness by, 2+. 11. 936 E; office
of ambassadors and heralds sacred
to, 26. 12. 941 A; at Olympia, 2d.
950 E.

Zeuxippus of Heraclea, a famous
painter, Protag. 318 B, C.

Zeuxis, the painter, Gorg. 453 C, D.

Zopyrus, the Thracian, tutor of
Alcibiades, 1 Alcib. 122 B.

Zoroaster, son of Oromasus, his ma-
gianism, 1 Alcib. 122 A.

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