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Plato's the Laws

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Gwen Parker
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« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2007, 11:39:15 pm »

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, 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, that is so. But it is difficult for the
legislator to begin with these studies; at a more convenient 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 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 an 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 the
alphabet. In that country arithmetical games have been invented for
the use of mere 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 how their turns come in
natural order. Another mode of amusing them is to distribute
vessels, sometimes of gold, brass, silver, and the like, intermixed
with one another, sometimes of one metal only; as I was saying they
adapt to their amusement the numbers in common use, and in this way
make more intelligible to their pupils the arrangements and
movements of armies and expeditions, 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 ignorance of all
these things which is so ludicrous and disgraceful.
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?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And what breadth is?
Cle. To be 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
themselves?
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 commensurable, what
is your position in regard to them?
Cle. Clearly, far from good.
Ath. Concerning length and breadth when compared with depth, or
breadth when and length when compared with one another, are not all
the Hellenes agreed that these are commensurable with one in some way?
Cle. Quite true.
Ath. But if they are absolutely incommensurable, and yet 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 have a bare knowledge
only 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 a thing
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 fair, 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 anyone is of another mind, let him say what he has to say.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. Then if these studies are such as we maintain 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 hereafter
redeemed and removed from our state, if they do not please either us
who give them, or you who accept them.
Cle. A fair condition.
Ath. Next let us see whether we are or are not willing that the
study of astronomy shall be proposed for our youth.
Cle. Proceed.
Ath. Here occurs a strange phenomenon, which certainly cannot in any
point of view be tolerated.
Cle. To what are you referring?
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 hour all of us Hellenes tell lies,
if I may use such an expression, about those great Gods, the Sun and
the Moon.
Cle. Lies of what nature?
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 moving in their accustomed course, 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 attainable; 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 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 I am myself a proof; for I did not know 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. I will. 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 discussion; 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 higher form of
praise is that which describes him as the good citizen who passes
through life undefiled and is obedient to the words of the legislator,
both when he is giving laws and when he assigns praise and blame. This
is the truest word that 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, and will be a sort of witness to my words. 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 kinds, 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 exercise
and pursuits 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 premised, there will follow next in order moderate praise
and censure of hunting; the praise being assigned to that kind 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 men in the form of a prayer for their
welfare: O 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 waters, 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 will 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 these who verily are sacred
hunters from following the chase wherever and whither soever they
will; but the hunter by night, who trusts to his nets and gins,
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 pollute the water with poisonous juices. And now
we may say that all our enactments about education are complete.
Cle. Very good.
BOOK VIIII

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.
Cleinias. 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 magistrate 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,
assigning them so as to suit the Gods and seasons of the year. And
they shall have festivals for 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 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 I am ready to
maintain quite seriously. Moreover, those who would regulate these
matters rightly should consider, that our city among existing cities
has fellow, either in respect of leisure or comin and of the
necessaries of life, and that like an individual she ought to live
happily. And those who would live happily should in the first place do
no wrong to one another, and ought not themselves to be wronged by
others; to attain the first is not difficult, 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 individuals 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 take the
field at least for one day in every month; and for more if the
magistrates think fit, having no regard to winter cold or summer heat;
and they should go out en masse, including their wives and their
children, when the magistrates determine to lead forth the whole
people, or in separate portions when 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 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 themselves good and
also honourable in the state, creators 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 shall be free to sing; but the rest of the world shall not
have 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 Thamyras and Orpheus; but
only 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, which
praise of blame has been awarded and which have been deemed to
fulfil their design fairly.
The regulations about and about liberty of speech in poitry, ought
to apply equally to men and women. The legislator 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,
will be 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
ourselves previously by daily practice? 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 use 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 ridicule of fools would ryot 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 calli 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
to some ridiculous, abstain from commanding them to go out and
fight; will he not ordain that soldiers shall 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, considering 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
natures, 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 supposed
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 knowledge, 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 such contests or any
other good and honourable pursuit. But from an insatiable love of gold
and silver, every man will stoop to 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 kinds of things, and procuring for himself in every sort of way
the gratification of his lusts.
Cle. True.
Ath. Let this, then, be deemed one of the causes which prevent
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 life long love of wealth, as you were saying
is one clause 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 perplexity?
Cle. No; but we think that you are too severe upon the
money-loving temper, of which you seem in the present discussion to
have a peculiar dislike.
Ath. That is a very fair rebuke, Cleinias; and I will now proceed
to the second cause.
Cle. Proceed.
Ath. I say that governments are a cause-democracy, oligarchy,
tyranny, concerning which I have often spoken in the previous
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 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 chief causes of almost
all evils, and of the evils of which I have been speaking they are
notably the 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
described, and the martial pastimes which have been perfected
according to our idea.
Cle. True.
Ath. Then next we must remember, about all gymnastic contests,
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 for
capturing an enemy, quickness of foot is required; but hand-to-hand
conflict and combat need vigour and strength.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. Neither of them can attain their greatest efficiency without
arms.
Cle. How can they?
Ath. Then our herald, in accordance with the prevailing practice,
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 whom we start,
shall be the first sent forth in heavy armour, and shall run a
course of sixty stadia to some temple of Ares-and we will send forth
another, whom we will style the more heavily armed, to run over
smoother ground. There remains the archer; and he shall run in the
full equipments of an archer a distance of 100 stadia over
mountains, and across every sort of country, to a 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 kinds 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 have done to him, and in like manner what rule determines who is
defeated; and let these ordinances apply to women until they 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 in the throwing of stones by slings
and 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 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 great 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-for
colts who have not yet cast their teeth, and for those who are
intermediate, and for 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 amusements. Women are
not to be forced to compete by laws and ordinances; but if from
previous training they have acquired the habit and are strong enough
and like to take part, let them do so, girls as well as boys, and no
blame to them.
Thus the competition in gymnastic and the mode of learning it have
been described; and we have spoken also of the toils of the contest,
and of daily exercises under the superintendence of masters. Likewise,
what relates to music has been, for the most part, completed. But as
to rhapsodes and the like, and the contests of choruses which are to
perform at feasts, all this 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 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 their turn by the command of the judges and the
director of education 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 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, will the alteration of them do any great good or harm 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 he thinks best for the city and citizens-ordaining
what is good and convenient 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 we do not as
yet 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 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 moderation 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 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
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 enactments 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, in what degree will they contribute to 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, 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 unlike, 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, 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 in determining what he who is possessed by this
third love desires; moreover, 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 fain 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 and with his soul
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 magnanimity 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?
Megillus. I think, Stranger, that you are perfectly right in what
you have been now saying.
Ath. I 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.
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 is not at all against their will, but entirely
with their will.
Meg. When 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. The declaration that they are unholy, 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 childhood has heard
men speaking in the same manner about them always and everywhere,
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 represents 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 unnatural, not
intentionally destroying the seeds of human increase, 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 intercourse of parents and children-such a law,
extending to other sensual desires, and conquering them, would be
the source of 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 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 consecrated would master the soul of, every man, and
terrify him into obedience. But matters have now come to such a pass
that even then the desired result seems as if it could not be
attained, 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, ind also
because he was of a manly and temperate disposition, 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 Astylus and Diopompus and
many others; and yet, Cleinias, they were far worse educated in
their minds than your and my 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 had they; courage to abstain from what is ordinarilly
deemed a pleasure for the sake of a victory in wrestling, running, and
the like; and shall 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 and
sayings and songs?
Cle. Of what victory are you speaking?
Ath. Of the victory over pleasure, which if they win, they will live
happily; or if they are conquered, the reverse of happily. And,
further, may we not suppose that the fear of impiety will 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 mankind, 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 unmarried, but 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
free 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.
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« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2007, 11:41:09 pm »

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?
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 by custom and made law by unwritten prescription; 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, involving a second notion of
right. Three principles will comprehend all those corrupt natures whom
we call inferior to themselves, and who form but one dass, 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 all states, 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 unconsecrated and bastard
seed among harlots, or in barren and unnatural lusts; or at least we
may abolish altogether the connection 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 law.
Cleinias shall speak for himself, and tell you what is his opinion.
Cle. I will, Megillus, when an opportunity offers; at present, 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
great good, for at present they are very well ordered.
Leaving the common tables, we may therefore proceed to the means
of providing food. 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 innumerable other
things-bidding good-bye to these, he gives laws to husbandmen and
shepherds and bee-keepers, and to the guardians and superintendents of
their implements; and he has already legislated for greater matters,
as for example, respecting marriage and the procreation and nurture of
children, and for education, and the establishment of offices-and
now he must direct his laws to those who provide food and labour in
preparing it.
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 conterminous with 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 is the sworn mark of friendship
and hatred between neighbours; 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 are the wars which they stir
up. 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 wilfully remove the boundaries of his
neighbour's land, and if any one does, let him who will inform the
landowners, 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
number of them belonging to any one of the twelve divisions shall
decide, and in the lesser cases the commanders: 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 anyone 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 law givers, which we may use, not deeming it necessary that the
great legislator of our state should determine all the trifles which
might be decided by any body; for example, husbandmen have had of
old excellent laws about waters, and there is no reason why we
should propose to divert their course: 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 keeps in the rain from heaven, and
causes a deficiency in the supply of water, let him dig down on his
own land as far as the clay, and if at this depth he finds no water,
let him obtain 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 neighbours' 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, by
refusing to give the man 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 who
will call in a warden of the city, if he be in the city, or if he be
in the country, 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 to the injured party, 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 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 "choice"
grapes or the "choice" 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 take 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 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. Let a metic purchase the
"choice" 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 "choice" grapes for himself and a single follower
without payment, 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 freeman 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 caught, 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 risk of failing in the competition of
virtue, in case any one takes notice of his actions before the
judges at the time.
Water is the greatest element of nutrition in gardens, but is easily
polluted. You cannot poison the soil, or the soil, or the sun, or
the air, which are 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. 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; if the accused be found guilty
of injuring the water by deleterious substances, let him not only
pay damages, but purify the stream or the cistern which contains the
water, in such manner as the laws of the interpreters order the
purification to be made by the offender 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 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 magistrates should
be 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 not more than three minae; or if he have a charge
against another which involves a larger amount, let him bring his suit
into the public courts and have the evil-doer punished. But if any
of the magistrates appear to adjudge the penalties which he imposes in
an unjust spirit, let him be liable 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 summonses and the witnesses to summonses-for example,
whether two witnesses should be required for a summons, or how
many-and all such details, which cannot be omitted in legislation, but
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 preceded,
and according to their own experience of the usefulness and
necessity of such laws; and when they are duly regulated let there
be no alteration, but let the citizens live in the observance of them.
Now of artisans, let the regulations be as follows:-In the first
place, let no citizen or servant of a citizen be occupied in
handicraft arts; for he who is to secure and preserve the public order
of the state, has an art which requires much study and many kinds of
knowledge, and 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 superintend 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 of the city
labour to maintain this law, and if any citizen incline to any other
art 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 expulsion 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 greater amount be 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
abroad, 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 implements which are for
military purposes, if there be need of introducing any art, or
plant, or metal, or chains of any kind, or animals for use in war, let
the commanders of the horse and the generals have authority over their
importation and exportation; the city shall send them out and also
receive them, 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
money-making, either in these or any other articles, 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 is the
custom of Crete; for all should be required to distribute the fruits
of the soil into twelve parts, and in this way consume them. Let the
twelfth portion of each (as for instance of wheat and barley, to which
the rest of the fruits of the earth shall be added, as well as the
animals which are for sale in each of the twelve divisions) be divided
in due proportion into three parts; one part for freemen, another
for their servants, and a third for craftsmen and in general for
strangers, whether sojourners who may be dwelling in the city, and
like other men must live, or those who come on some business which
they have with the state, or with some individual. Let only this 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 or to slaves, nor again that of the stranger; but let the
distribution to all be equal and alike, and let every citizen take his
two portions and distribute them among slaves and freemen, he having
power to determine the quantity and quality. And what remains he shall
distribute by measure and numb among the animals who have to be
sustained from the earth, taking the whole number of them.
In the second place, our citizens should have separate houses duly
ordered, and this will be the order proper for men like them. There
shall be twelve hamlets, one in the middle of each twelfth portion,
and in each hamlet they shall first set apart a market-place, and
the temples of the Gods, and of their attendant demigods; 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 will have
temples everywhere together with the God who presides in each of the
twelve districts. And the first **** 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 they shall
establish in the city, and this, again, they shall subdivide into
twelve lesser divisions, among the twelve districts of the city, and
the remainder shall be distributed in the country round about; 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 wardens of the country shall superintend 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 be least troublesome, and most
useful to the husbandman. And 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 which are in the agora have
been seen to, should be to prevent any one from doing any 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 gale, 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 on behalf of the citizens, 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 for the whole month, and
other cereals, 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 by those who are willing to sell to
the people who want to buy, and of implements and other things which
husbandmen sell (such as skins and all kinds of clothing, either woven
or made of felt and other goods of the same sort), and which strangers
are compelled to buy and purchase of others. As to the retail trade in
these things, whether of barley or wheat set apart for meal and flour,
or any other kind of food, no one shall sell them to citizens or their
slaves, nor shall any one buy of a citizen; but let the stranger
sell them in the market of strangers, to artisans and their slaves,
making an exchange of wine and food, which is commonly called retail
trade. And butchers shall offer for sale parts of 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 he pleases and when he pleases. As to other goods
and implements which are likely to be wanted, they shall sell them
in common market, at any place which the guardians of the law and
the wardens of the market and city, choosing according to their
judgment, 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 must be satisfied, whether he obtain
his money not, 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 limited a man may increase and diminish his possessions,
let the excess be registered in the books of the guardians of the law;
in case of diminution, 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
conditions; 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. 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 do so, if he can persuade the
council and assembly. And if he depart, let him erase all the
entries which have been made by him in the register kept by the
magistrates.
BOOK IX

Next to all 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 mentioned 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.
Cleinias. Very good.
Athenian Stranger. 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 one who will be guilty of crimes as heinous 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. Yet seeing that we are not like the ancient
legislators, who gave laws to heroes and sons of gods, being,
according to the popular belief, themselves the offspring of the gods,
and legislating for others, who were also the children of divine
parents, but that 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,
having a heart so hard that it 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 the robbing of temples, in case any one should dare to commit
such a crime. 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 impieties.
And with a view to them especially, and yet not 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,
the fewest possible 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, an ever-recurring curse;-against this you must
guard with all your might, and how you are to guard we 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 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 hands, 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 return to his right mind and be improved; for no penalty
which the law inflicts is designed for evil, but always makes him
who suffers either better or not so much worse as he would have
been. But if any citizen be found guilty of any great or unmentionable
wrong, either in relation to the gods, or his parents, or the state,
let the judge deem him to be incurable, remembering that after
receiving such an excellent education and training from youth
upward, he has not abstained from the greatest of crimes. His
punishment shall be death, which to him will be the least of evils;
and his example will benefit others, if he perish ingloriously, and be
cast beyond the borders of the land. 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 undergo a long and public imprisonment and be
dishonoured, unless some of his friends are willing to be surety for
him, and liberate him by assisting him to pay the fine. No criminal
shall go unpunished, not even for a single offence, nor if he have
fled the country; but let the penalty be according to his
deserts-death, or bonds, or blows, or degrading places of sitting or
standing, or removal to some temple on the borders of the land; or let
him pay fines, as we said before. In cases of death, let the judges be
the guardians of the law, and a court selected by merit from the
last year's magistrates. But how the causes are to be brought into
to court, how the summonses are to be served, the like, these things
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 eldest judge
shall begin to examine the parties, and proceed to make an adequate
enquiry into what has been said; and after the oldest has spoken,
the rest shall proceed in order to examine either party as to what
he finds defective in the evidence, whether of statement or
omission; and he who has nothing to ask shall hand over the
examination to another. And on so much of what has been said as is
to the purpose all the judges shall set their seals, and place the
writings on the altar of Hestia. On the next day they shall 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 witnesses 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, being one of the chief magistrates of the state, has
no knowledge of the treason, or, having knowledge of it, 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 such cases 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 to the city and country of their ancestors,
retaining only and wholly their appointed lot. And out of the citizens
who have more than one son of not less than ten years of age, they
shall select ten whom 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 chooses 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 conducting suits
against those who are tried on an accusation of 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 allotment;-if he have not, he shall be bound
until he pay the penalty, or persuade him has obtained the sentence
against him to forgive him. But if a person be convicted of a theft
against the state, then if he can persuade the city, or if 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 differences 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 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
gentleman patient, and using the language almost of philosophy,
beginning at the beginning of the disease and discoursing 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.
Cle. Very 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 grace of Heaven affirm, like, gatherers of stones or
beginners of some composite work, may gather a heap of materials,
and out of this, at our leisure, select what is suitable for our
projected construction. Let us then suppose ourselves to be at
leisure, not of necessity building, but rather like 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 at hand.
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 it?
Ath. There are many writings to be found in cities, and among them
there, are composed by legislators as well as by other persons.
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 advice about the conduct of life, and not to the writings of
legislators? or shall we give heed to them above all?
Cle. Yes; to them far above all others.
Ath. And ought the legislator alone among writers to withhold his
opinion about the beautiful, the good, and the just, and not to
teach what they are, and how they are to be pursued by those who
intend to be happy?
Cle. Certainly not.
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 so disgraceful for Lycurgus and Solon and
others who were legislators as well as writers? Is it not true that of
all the writings to be found in cities, those which relate to laws,
when you unfold and read them, ought to be by far the noblest and
the best? and should not other writings either agree with them, or
if they disagree, be deemed ridiculous? We should consider whether the
laws of states ought not to have the character of loving and wise
parents, rather than 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 should not take the gentler view of them
which may or may not be attainable-at any rate, we will show our
readiness to entertain such a view, and be prepared to undergo
whatever may be the result. And may the result be good, and if God
be gracious, it will 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
soon be. Let us, if you please, consider these matters.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. Concerning all things honourable and just, let us then
endeavour to ascertain how far we are consistent with ourselves, and
how far we are inconsistent, and how far the many, from whom at any
rate we should profess a desire to differ, agree and disagree among
themselves.
Cle. What are the inconsistencies which you observe in us?
Ath. I will endeavour to explain. If I am not mistaken, we are all
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 if all things
which are just are fair and honourable, in the term "all" we must
include just sufferings which are the correlatives of just actions.
Cle. And what is the inference?
Ath. The inference is, that a just action in partaking of the just
partakes also in the same degree of the fair and honourable.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And must not a suffering which partakes of the just principle
be admitted to be in the same degree fair and 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 had enacted, 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 stopped short, because we saw that these
sufferings are infinite in number and degree, and that they are, at
once, the most just and also the most dishonourable of all sufferings.
And if this be true, are not 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. Very true, Stranger.
Ath. Then now, Cleinias, let us see how far we ourselves 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
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 voluntary should be done
involuntarily is a contradiction; wherefore he who maintains that
injustice is involuntary will deem that the unjust does injustice
involuntarily. I too admit that all men do injustice involuntarily,
and if any contentious or disputatious person says that men are unjust
against their will, and yet that many do injustice willingly, I do not
agree with him. But, then, how can I avoid being inconsistent with
myself, if you, Cleinias, and you, Megillus, say to me-Well, Stranger,
if all this be as you say, 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
involuntary? 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 and contradictory.
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, involuntary; and they have legislated about them accordingly.
But shall this new word of ours, like an oracle of God, be only
spoken, and get away without giving any explanation or verification of
itself? 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 inflicted.
Cle. I agree with you, Stranger; for one of two things is certain:
either we must not say that all unjust acts are involuntary, 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 believe 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
between 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 these injuries are of two kinds-one, voluntary, and
the other, involuntary; for the involuntary hurts of all men are quite
as many and as great as the voluntary? And please to consider
whether I am right or quite wrong 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 such an
act under the idea that I am legislating 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 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 mankind do good
or harm to one 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
has been given for injustice, 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 fines 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 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.
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« Reply #17 on: February 14, 2007, 11:42:29 pm »

Cle. What you have said appears to me to be very reasonable, but
will you favour me by stating a little more clearly the difference
between hurt and injustice, and the various complications of the
voluntary and involuntary which enter into them?
Ath. I will endeavour to do as you wish:-Concerning the soul,
thus much would be generally said and allowed, that one element in her
nature is passion, which may be described either as a state or a
part of her, and is hard to be striven against and contended with, and
by irrational force overturns many things.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. And pleasure is not the same with passion, but has an
opposite power, working her will by persuasion and by the force of
deceit in all things.
Cle. Quite true.
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 a 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 times, 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.
Cle. You are perfectly right.
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 another inferior to ignorance.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. We are speaking of motives which incite men to the fulfilment
of their will; although an individual may be often drawn by them in
opposite directions at the same time.
Cle. Yes, often.
Ath. And now I can define to you clearly, and without 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 they do any harm or not-I
call all this injustice. But when the opinion of the best, in whatever
part of human nature states or individuals may suppose that to
dwell, 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,
the principle in individuals which obeys this rule, and is best for
the whole life of man, is to be called just; although the hurt done by
mistake is thought by many to be involuntary injustice. Leaving the
question of names, about which we are not going to quarrel, and having
already delineated three sources of error, we may begin by recalling
them somewhat more vividly to our memory:-One of them was of the
painful sort, which we denominate anger and fear.
Cle. Quite right.
Ath. There was a second consisting of pleasures and desires, and a
third of hopes, which aimed at true opinion about the best. The latter
being subdivided into three, we now get five sources of actions; and
for these five 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 the
judges elected to try the cause, on the appeal of the criminal or
his advocate, and 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
there dwell for a year; and if he return before 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 in the
public prison 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 homicides, 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 happens to any one in
war, or military exercises, or mimic contests. of which the
magistrates 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 dies 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 administering food or 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
deemed the agent, and shall suffer one of 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 purifications must be used greater and
more numerous than for 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 according to laws 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
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 end, when he
sees his murderer walking about in his own accustomed haunts, he is
stricken with terror and becomes disordered, and this disorder of his,
aided by the guilty recollection of is communicated by him with
overwhelming force to the murderer and his deeds. Wherefore also the
murderer must go out of the way of his victim for the entire period of
a year, and not himself be found in any spot which was familiar to him
throughout the country. And if the dead man be a stranger, the
homicide shall be kept from the country of the stranger during a
like period. If any one voluntarily obeys 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 show him all gentleness. But if any one
is disobedient, 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 murdered man will fix the guilt 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
unintentionally 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 purification, whether he have slain a
stranger, or a metic, or a citizen, he shall be banished for life from
the country which is in possession 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 seashore,
wetting his feet in the sea, and watching for an opportunity of
sailing; but if he be brought by land, and is not his own master,
let 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 momentary 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 the act. And, therefore, we must assume that these
homicides are of two kinds, both of them arising from passion, which
may be justly said to be in a mean between the voluntary and
involuntary; at the same 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 vengeance on
the instant, and without malice prepense, approaches to the
involuntary; and yet even he is not altogether involuntary, but 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 them respectively
as likenesses only of the voluntary and involuntary, and to
distinguish them accordingly as they are done with or without
premeditation. And we should 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 free man with his own
hand, and the deed be done in a moment of anger, and without
premeditation, let the offender suffer in other respects as the
involuntary homicide would have suffered, and also undergo an exile of
two years, that he may learn to school his passions. But he who
slays another from passion, yet with premeditation, shall in other
respects suffer 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 murderer who is judged by the law to be the 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 cognisance):-When a
homicide of either kind has completed his term of exile, the guardians
shall send twelve judges to the borders of the land; these during
the interval shall have informed themselves of the actions of the
criminals, and they shall judge respecting their pardon and reception;
and the homicides shall abide by their judgment. But if after they
have returned home, any one of them in a moment of anger repeats the
deed, let him be an exile, and return no more; or if he returns, 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 any 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 shall himself receive the fine in
accordance with the 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) whatever they please, and
they will be pure; or if he kills a freeman, who is not his master,
the owner 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 sometimes happen) a
father or a mother in a moment of passion slays a son or daughter by
blows, or some other violence, the slayer shall undergo the same
purification as in other cases, and be exiled during three years;
but when the exile returns 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 rites 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 wedded wife, or the wife her husband, the
slayer shall undergo the same purification, and the term of exile
shall be three years. And when he who has committed any such crime
returns, let him have no communication 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
purification and exile, as was the case with parents who killed
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
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 murdered person before
dying freely forgives 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 perpetrator of such a deed shall be amenable to many
laws;-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, alone of all men, 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 command to endure any extremity
rather than do 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 kills
brother in a civil broil, or under other like circumstances, if the
other has begun, and he only defends himself, let him be free from
guilt, as he would be if he had slain an enemy; and the same rule will
apply if a citizen kill a citizen, or a stranger a stranger. Or if a
stranger kill a citizen or a citizen a stranger in self-defence, 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, under the idea that his act was involuntary, 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 every kind and with 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 various
kinds. 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 mass of mankind: I mean where the power of wealth breeds endless
desires of never-to-be-satisfied acquisition, originating in natural
disposition, and a miserable want of education. Of this want of
education, the false praise of wealth which is bruited about both
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 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 requiring to be purged away by
other murders. But now, as I said at first, avarice is the chiefest
cause and source of the worst trials for voluntary homicide. 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 of violence in general; and I must not omit to
mention a tradition which is firmly believed by many, and has been
received by them from those who are learned in the mysteries: they say
that such deeds will be punished in the world below, and also that
when the perpetrators return to this world they will pay the natural
penalty which is due to the sufferer, and end their lives in like
manner by the hand of another. If he who is about to commit murder
believes this, and is made by the mere prelude to dread 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 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 if a
cousin or nearer relative of the deceased, whether on the male or
female side, does not prosecute the homicide when he ought, and have
him proclaimed an outlaw, he 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 men against him; and in the second
place he shall be liable to be prosecuted by any one who is willing to
inflict retribution on behalf of the dead. And he who would avenge a
murder shall observe all the precautionary ceremonies of lavation, and
any others which the God commands in cases of this kind. Let him
have proclamation made, 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 accomplished 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 instituting such trials with due regard
to religion, the guardians of the law, aided by the interpreters,
and the prophets, and the God, shall determine, 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 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 those among
the judges of the case who are magistrates, 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 be 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 a murder with his own hand, but contrives the
death of another, and is the author of the deed in intention and
design, and he continues to dwell in the city, having his soul not
pure of the guilt of murder, let him be tried in the same way,
except in what relates to the sureties; and also, if he be found
guilty, his body after execution may have burial in his native land,
but in all other respects his 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 shall be no difference as touching murder by one's own
hand or by contrivance, 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 slaying a freeman voluntarily, either by his own
hand or by contrivance, let the public executioner take him in the
direction of the sepulchre, to a place whence he can see the tomb of
the dead man, and inflict upon him as many stripes as the person who
caught him orders, and if he survive, 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 any
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 impossible not
to legislate. If, for example, there should be murders of kinsmen,
either perpetrated by the hands of kinsmen, or by their contrivance,
voluntary and purely malicious, which most often happen in
ill-regulated and ill-educated states, and may perhaps occur 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 myth,
or saying, or whatever we ought to call it, has been plainly set forth
by priests of old; they have pronounced that the justice which
guards 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-if
a 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 the
blood of a family has been polluted there is no other purification,
nor can the pollution be washed out until the homicidal soul which the
deed has given life for life, and has propitiated and laid to sleep
the wrath of the 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 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 without the
city where three ways meet, and there expose his body naked, and
each of the magistrates on behalf of the whole city shall take a stone
and cast it upon the head of the dead man, and so deliver the city
from pollution; after that, they shall bear him to the borders of
the land, and cast him forth unburied, according 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 misfortune which has come upon him, nor because he has
had to suffer from irremediable and intolerable shame, but who 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 thereto relating, and do according to
their injunctions. 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 the land, in
such places as are uncultivated and nameless, and no column or
inscription 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 to a competitor 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 let them cast it 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, or by his falling
upon them, the nearest of kin shall appoint the nearest neighbour to
be a judge, and thereby acquit himself 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 having proceeded against him, they shall proclaim in the
agora by a herald, 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 this one law then be laid down by us about murder; and let
cases of this sort be so regarded.
And now let us say in what cases and under what circumstances the
murderer is rightly free from guilt:-If a man catch a thief coming,
into his house by night to steal, and he take 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 concerning 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 next in order we have to speak of deeds of
violence, voluntary and involuntary, which men do to one another;
these we will now distinguish, as far as we are able, according to
their nature and number, and determine what will be the suitable
penalties of each, and so assign to 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 are involuntary, and
which are given in passion or from fear, and those inflicted
voluntarily and with premeditation. Concerning all this, we must
make some such proclamation as the following:-Mankind must have
laws, and conform to 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 human society; or knowing,
always able and willing to do what is best. In the first place,
there is a difficulty in apprehending that the true art or politics is
concerned, not with private but with public good (for public good
binds together states, but private only distracts them); and that both
the public and private good as well of individuals as of states is
greater when the state and not the individual is first considered.
In the second place, although a person knows in the abstract that this
is true, yet if he be possessed of absolute and irresponsible power,
he will never remain firm in his principles or 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. These look at things as
they exist for the most part only, and are unable to survey the
whole of them. And therefore I have spoken as I have.
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 in all such cases:-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 these things, or not to determine any of them,
is alike impossible. There is one particular which they must determine
in all cases-the question of fact. And then, again, that the
legislator should not permit them to determine what punishment is to
be inflicted in any of these cases, but should himself decide about,
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 courts of law?
Ath. I may reply, that in a state in which the courts are bad and
mute, because the judges conceal their opinions and decide causes
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
ours would be able to determine, assigning to each offence what is due
both to the perpetrator and to the sufferer. We believe those for whom
we are legislating to be 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 which 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
anyone has a purpose and intention to slay another who is not his
enemy, and whom the law does not permit him to slay, and he wounds
him, but is unable to kill him, he who had the intent and has
wounded him is not to be pitied-he deserves no consideration, but
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 which 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 for
the rest of 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 ora 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, the kindred of the exiled man to the
degree of sons of cousins, both on the male and female side, shall
meet together, and after taking counsel with the guardians of the
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 owner leave no
posterity, but 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; 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 highest repute for virtue and also for good
fortune, in which there are a number of sons; from that family let
them take one and introduce him to the father and forefathers of the
dead man as their son, and, for the sake of the omen, let him be
called so, 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 the boundaries of some things do not touch one another, but
there is a borderland which comes in between, preventing them from
touching. And we were saying that actions done from passion are of
this nature, and come in 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 compensation for the injury, whether to be 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 natural; and if the estimate be disputed, then the kinsmen 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 or she ought to die, or
suffer some other punishment either 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 prescribed 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 be not give him up he shall himself 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 for the wrong three times over, but if he gains his case,
the freeman who conspired with the slave shall reliable to an action
for kidnapping. And if any one unintentionally wounds another he shall
simply pay for the harm, for no legislator is able to control
chance. In such a case the judges shall be the same as those who are
appointed in the case of children suing 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 in security and happiness. 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; similarly he shall keep his hands from
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 the
stranger 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 appears to have struck the citizen
unjustly, let them inflict upon him as many blows with the scourge
as he has himself inflicted, and quell his presumption. But if he be
innocent, they shall threaten and rebuke the man who arrested him, and
let them both go. If a person strikes another of the same age or
somewhat older 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
the person struck 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 smite another who is older than himself,
either by twenty or by more years, in the first place, he who is at
hand, not being younger than the combatants, nor 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 if the
judges approve of a longer period, their decision shall be final.
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 but not
resident, shall be imprisoned during a period of two years; and a
metic who disobeys the laws shall be imprisoned for three years,
unless the court assign him a longer term. 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 dass, 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 of 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 thay 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
one who is at hand 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, let him be made free, but if he do not
come 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 somewhere in the city beyond the limits of the agora, any
warden of the city is in residence shall punish him; or if in the
country, then the commanders of the wardens of the country. If those
who are near at the time be inhabitants of the same place, whether
they be youths, or men, or women, let them come to the rescue and
denounce him as the impious one; and he who does not come to the
rescue shall fall under the curse of Zeus, the God of kindred and of
ancestors, 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 the
temples; 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
have voluntarily touched him, he shall not enter into any temple,
nor into the agora, nor into the city, until he is purified; for he
should consider that he has become tainted by a curse. And if he
disobeys the law, and pollutes the city and the temples contrary to
law, and one of the magistrates sees him and does not indict him, when
he gives in his account this omission shall be a most serious charge.
If a slave strike a freeman, whether a stranger or a citizen, let
any one who is present come to the rescue, or pay the penalty
already mentioned; and let the bystanders 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 property. 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 let there be the same
laws about women in relation to women, about men and women in relation
to one another.

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« Reply #18 on: February 14, 2007, 11:43:55 pm »

BOOK X

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 the partly-common
rites in which tribes and phratries share; 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 an individual demands reparation. 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 who in obedience to the laws believed that
there were Gods, ever intentionally did any unholy act, or uttered any
unlawful word; but he who did 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 they were easily appeased and turned aside from their
purpose, by sacrifices and prayers.
Cleinias. What shall we say or do to these persons?
Athenian Stranger. 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 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 such things
said of them by those who are esteemed to be the best of poets, and
orators, and prophets, and priests, and by innumerable others, the
thoughts of most of us are not set upon abstaining from unrighteous
acts, but upon doing them and atoning 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 you? 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 it?
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 fear, my sweet friend, though I will not say that I much
regard, the contempt with which the profane will be likely to assail
us. For you do not understand the nature of their complaint, and you
fancy that they 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 a different atmosphere 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 in other ways a good or a bad influence, I should not
like to be severe upon them, because they are ancient; but, 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 Gods. 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, stars, and earth, 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, who are trying to escape
from the effect of our legislation; and that they say of us-How
dreadful that you should legislate on the supposition that there are
Gods! Shall we make a defence of ourselves? or shall we leave them and
return to our laws, lest the prelude 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
demonstrating to them at some length the things of which they demand
an explanation, partly making them afraid or dissatisfied, and then
proceed to the requisite enactments.
Cle. Yes, Stranger; but then how often have we repeated already that
on the present occasion there is no reason why brevity should be
preferred to length; who is "at our heels"?-as the saying goes, 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 do. The demonstration of this would be the best and noblest
prelude 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. Seeing you thus in earnest, I would fain offer up a prayer that
I may succeed:-but I must proceed at once. 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 tales 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 them in the sacrificial prayers, and seen sights
accompanying them-sights and sounds delightful to children-and their
parents during the sacrifices showing an intense earnestness on behalf
of their children 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 prostrations and
invocations which are made by Hellenes and barbarians at the rising
and setting of the sun and moon, in all the vicissitudes of life,
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 intelligence, 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 existence 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 their indignation at such persons. Our address to
these lost and perverted natures should not be spoken in passion;
let us suppose ourselves to select some one of them, and gently reason
with him, smothering our anger:-O my son, we will say to him, you
are young, and the advance of time will make you reverse may of the
opinions which you now hold. Wait awhile, and do not attempt to
judge at present of the highest things; and that is the highest of
which you now 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 importance, and about which I cannot be
deceived:-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 the other notion that
they do take heed of them, but are easily propitiated with
sacrifices and prayers. As to the opinion about the Gods which may
some day become clear to you, I advise you go wait and consider if
it be true or not; ask of others, and above all of the legislator.
In the meantime take care that you do not offend against the Gods. For
the duty of the legislator is and always will be to teach you the
truth of these matters.
Cle. Our address, Stranger, thus far, is excellent.
Ath. Quite 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 do become, have become, and will
become, 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 meaning of them
and their disciples.
Cle. By all means.
Ath. They say that the greatest and fairest things are the work of
nature and of chance, the lesser of art, which, receiving from
nature the greater and primeval creations, moulds and fashions all
those lesser works which are generally termed artificial.
Cle. How is that?
Ath. I will explain my meaning still more clearly. They say that
fire and water, and earth and air, all exist by nature and chance, and
none of them by art, and that as to the bodies which come next in
order-earth, and sun, and moon, and stars-they have been created by
means of these absolutely inanimate existences. The elements are
severally moved by chance and some inherent force according to certain
affinities among them-of hot with cold, or of dry with moist, or of
soft with hard, and according to all the other accidental admixtures
of opposites which have been formed by necessity. After this fashion
and in this manner the whole heaven has been created, and all that
is in the heaven, as well as animals and all plants, and 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. Art sprang up afterwards and out of these, 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 cooperate 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, these people would say that
the Gods exist not by nature, but by art, and by the 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; and hence arise factions, these philosophers inviting them to
lead a true life according to nature, that is, to live in real
dominion over others, and not in legal subjection to them.
Cle. What a dreadful picture, Stranger, have you given, and how
great is the injury which is thus inflicted on young men to the ruin
both of 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, proclaiming 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 to all the highest
things, and to all that relates to virtue and vice), and if they
will not make their actions conform to the copy which the law gives
them, then he who refuses to obey the law 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 exist by nature, and no less
than nature, if they are the creations of mind in accordance with
right reason, 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 mention 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
greatest help to rational legislation is that the laws when once
written down are always at rest; they can be put to the test 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 go over them and consider them again and again; nor
if they are tedious but useful, is there any reason or religion, as it
seems to me, in any man refusing to maintain the principles of them to
the utmost of his power.
Megillus. 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 for any vindication 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 mere conjecture of ours about his
meaning, but is what he really means.
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 their arguments with the utmost care, for their impiety is a
very serious matter; they not only make a bad and mistaken use of
argument, but they lead away the minds of others: that is my opinion
of them.
Cle. You are right; but I should like to know how this happens.
Ath. I fear that the argument may 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 that
there are Gods, of whom the law is said now to approve, let us take
this way, my good sir.
Ath. Then I suppose that I must repeat the singular argument 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
is 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 things, and
before all bodies, 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 prior to 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 for men 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 exist by nature; and this would
be true if you proved that the soul is older than the body, but not
otherwise.
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. Let us be on our guard lest this most deceptive argument with
its youthful looks, beguiling us old men, give us the slip and make
a laughing-stock of us. 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, take upon me the duty 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 shall invite you to follow, and my experience will
help to convey you across; but if the river is impassable by you, then
there will have been no danger to anybody but myself-would not that
seem to be a very fair proposal? I mean to say that the argument in
prospect is likely to be too much for you, out of your depth and
beyond your strength, and I should be afraid that the stream of my
questions might create in you who are not in the habit of answering,
giddiness and confusion of mind, and hence a feeling of unpleasantness
and unsuitableness might arise. I think therefore that I had better
first ask the questions and then answer them myself while you listen
in safety; in that way I can carry on the argument 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 at 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 things are in motion and others at rest. "And do not things which
move a place, and are not the things which are at rest at rest in 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 one place, just as the
circumference goes round of globes which are 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 more than one because they
turn upon their axis; and whenever they meet anything, if it be
stationary, they are divided by it; but if they get in the midst
between bodies which are approaching and moving towards the same
spot from opposite directions, they unite with them. "I admit the
truth of what you are saying." 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 how?" Clearly, they are created when the first principle
receives increase and attains to 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; only when at rest has
it real existence, but when passing into another state it is destroyed
utterly. Have we not mentioned all motions that there are, and
comprehended them under their kinds and numbered them with the
exception, my friends, of two?
Cle. Which are they?
Ath. Just the two, with which our present enquiry is concerned.
Cle. Speak plainer.
Ath. I 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 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 is co-incident with every action and every passion, and is the
true principle of change and motion in all that 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
strangely enough termed the ninth by us.
Cle. What do you mean?
Ath. I mean this: when one thing changes another, and that
another, of such will there be any primary changing element? How can a
thing which is moved by another ever be the beginning of change?
Impossible. But 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 self-moving principle?
Cle. Very true, and I quite agree.
Ath. Or, to put the question in another way, making answer to
ourselves:-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?
Cle. Clearly the self-moving; for there could be no change in them
arising out of any external cause; the change must first take place in
themselves.
Ath. Then we must say that self-motion being the origin of all
motions, and the first which arises among things at rest as well 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 we were to see this power existing in any earthy, watery, or
fiery substance, simple or compound-how should we describe it?
Cle. You mean to ask whether we should call such a 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 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. How?
Ath. Number like some other things is capable of being divided
into equal parts; when thus divided, number is named "even," and the
definition of the name "even" is "number divisible into two equal
parts"?
Cle. True.
Ath. I mean, that when we are asked about the definition and give
the name, or when we are asked about the name and give the
definition-in either case, whether we give name or definition, we
speak of the same thing, calling "even" the number which is divided
into two equal parts.
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 been already given-the
motion which can move itself?
Cle. You mean to say that the essence which is defined as the
self-moved is the same with that which has the name 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 become, 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 is produced in another, 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 second, or by
any lower number which you may prefer?
Cle. Exactly.
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 reasonings, 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.
Cle. To be sure.
Ath. In the next place, must we not of necessity admit that 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. We must.
Ath. And as the soul orders and inhabits all things that move,
however moving, 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.
Ath. Yes, very true; the soul then directs all things in heaven, and
earth, and sea by her movements, and these are described by the
terms-will, consideration, attention, deliberation, opinion true and
false, joy and sorrow, confidence, fear, hatred, love, and other
primary motions akin to these; which again receive the secondary
motions of corporeal substances, and guide all things to growth and
decay, to composition and decomposition, and to the qualities which
accompany 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 she
disciplines all things rightly to their happiness; but when she is the
companion of folly, she does 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 it is the soul which controls heaven and
earth, and the whole world?-that it is a 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 and movement of
heaven, and 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.
Ath. But if the world moves wildly and irregularly, then the evil
soul guides it.
Cle. True again.
Ath. Of what nature is the movement of mind?-To this question it
is not easy to give an intelligent answer; and therefore I ought to
assist you in framing one.
Cle. Very good.
Ath. Then let us not answer as if we would look straight at the sun,
making ourselves darkness at midday-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
make the answer on behalf of us all.
Cle. That will be excellent.
Ath. You will surely remember our saying that all things were either
at rest or in motion?
Cle. I do.
Ath. And that of things in motion some were moving in one place, and
others in more than one?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. Of these two kinds of motion, that which moves in one place
must move about a centre like globes made in a lathe, 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 proportion and order, and
are like the motion of a globe, we invented a fair image, which does
no discredit to our ingenuity.
Cle. It does us great 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?
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 perceived by mind;
and therefore by mind and reflection only let us apprehend the
following point.
Cle. What is that?
Ath. If 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, like the soul which
carries us about every way; or the soul provides herself with an
external body of fire or air, as some affirm, and violently propels
body by body; or thirdly, she is without such abody, but guides the
sun by some extraordinary and wonderful 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.
Cle. Yes, by every man who has the least particle of sense.
Ath. And of the stars too, and of the moon, and of 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 Gods, 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 full of Gods?
Cle. No one, Stranger, would be such a madman.
Ath. And now, Megillus and Cleinias, let us offer terms to him who
has hitherto denied the existence of the Gods, and leave him.
Cle. What terms?
Ath. Either he shall teach us that we were wrong in saying that
the soul is the original of all things, and arguing accordingly; 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 celebrated
both by poets and prose writers-these draw you aside from your natural
piety. Perhaps you have seen impious men growing old and leaving their
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 such criminal
means from small beginnings attaining to sovereignty and the
pinnacle of greatness; and considering all these things you do not
like to accuse the Gods of them, because they are your relatives;
and so from some want of reasoning power, and also from an
unwillingness to find fault with them, you have come 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 conjure
away the evil before it arrives, we will add another argument to
that originally 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 any impediment comes in our way, I
will take the word out of your mouths, and carry you over the river as
I did just now.
Cle. Very good; do as you say, and we will help you as well as we
can.
Ath. There will probably 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. No doubt he 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 be
temperate and 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 honourable, and the other dishonourable?
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. That again is what everybody will admit.
Ath. But do we imagine carelessness and idleness and luxury to be
virtues? What do you think?
Cle. Decidedly not.
Ath. They rank under the opposite class?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. And their opposites, therefore, would fall under the opposite
class?
Cle. Yes.
Ath. But are we to suppose that one who possesses all these good
qualities 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?-he who dares to say this sort of thing must not be
tolerated for a moment.
Cle. Of course not. How could he have?
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 he knows that they are of
consequence, and he neglects them, his neglect must be attributed to
carelessness and indolence. Is there any other way in which his
neglect can be explained? For surely, when it is impossible for him to
take care of all, he is not negligent if he fails to attend to these
things great or small, which a God or some inferior being might be
wanting in strength or capacity to manage?
Cle. Certainly not.
Ath. Now, then, let us examine the offenders, who both alike confess
that there are Gods, but with a difference-the one saying 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 acknowledge that the Gods hear and
see and know all things, and that nothing can escape them which is
matter of sense and knowledge:-do you admit this?
Cle. Yes.
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.
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 carelessness
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 there is no cowardice in them.
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 the opposite of their
knowing?
Cle. There is none.
Ath. And, O most excellent and best of men, do I understand you to
mean that they are careless because 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 not to be denied.
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 it would not be natural
for the Gods who own us, and who are the most careful and the best
of owners to neglect us.-There is also a further consideration.
Cle. What is it?
Ath. Sensation and power are in an inverse ratio to each other in
respect to their case and difficulty.
Cle. What do you mean?
Ath. I mean that there is greater difficulty in seeing and hearing
the small than the great, but more facility in moving and
controlling and taking care of and unimportant things 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 parts which are
lesser?
Cle. Decidedly not well.
Ath. No better would be the result with pilots or generals, or
householders or statesmen, or any other such 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 both willing and able to take care, is like a lazy
good-for-nothing, or a coward, who turns his back upon labour and
gives no thought to smaller and easier matters, but to 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 argued enough with him who delights to
accuse the Gods of neglect.
Cle. Yes.
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 excellence and preservation of
the whole, and each part, as far as may be, has an action and
passion appropriate to it. Over these, down to the least fraction of
them, ministers have been appointed to preside, who have wrought out
their perfection with infinitesimal exactness. And one of these
portions of the universe is thine own, unhappy man, which, however
little, contributes to the whole; 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 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 are
ignorant how what is best for you happens to you and to the
universe, as far as the laws of the common creation admit. 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 do you mean?
Ath. In a way which may be supposed to make the care of all things
easy to the Gods. 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 regular order attaining to a first or second
or third birth, 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, like the Gods of popular opinion,
eternal, yet having once come into existence, were 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 ever by nature designed to profit men, and the evil to
harm them-he, seeing all this, contrived so to place 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 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 according to
law and to the order of destiny: natures which have undergone a lesser
change move less and on the earth's surface, but those which have
suffered more change and have become more criminal 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 which they picture to
themselves as in a dream, both while alive and when released from
the body. And whenever the soul receives more of good or 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 perfect in holiness; but when she has communion
with evil, then she also changes the Place of her life.

This is the justice of the Gods who inhabit Olympus.

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 the justice of heaven, which neither you nor any other
unfortunate will ever glory in escaping, and which the ordaining
powers have specially ordained; take good heed thereof, for it will be
sure to 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 here or in the world below or in some still more
savage place 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 grown 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?-he who knows it not can never form any true idea of the
happiness or unhappiness of life or hold any rational discourse
respecting either. If Cleinias and this our reverend company succeed
in bringing 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
whatsoever. For I think that we have sufficiently proved the existence
of the Gods, and that they care for men:-The other notion that they
are appeased by the wicked, and take gifts, is what we must not
concede to any one, and what every 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-if they are to be propitiated, how are they to be propitiated?
Who are they, and what is their nature? Must they not be at least
rulers who have to order unceasingly the whole heaven?
Cle. True.
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« Reply #19 on: February 14, 2007, 11:45:29 pm »

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 providing against the diseases which
make war upon the body, or to husbandmen observing anxiously the
effects of the seasons on the growth of plants; or I perhaps, to
shepherds of flocks. For as we acknowledge the world 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 watchfulness; 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 our salvation; and the place of these latter
is in the life of the Gods, although some vestige of them may
occasionally be discerned among mankind. But upon this earth we know
that there dwell souls possessing an unjust spirit, who may be
compared to brute animals, which fawn upon their keepers, whether dogs
or shepherds, or the best and most perfect masters; for they in like
manner, as the voices of the wicked declare, 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 pestilence
in years or seasons of the year, 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 can be propitiated argue thus?
Cle. Precisely so.
Ath. And to which of the above-mentioned classes of guardians
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 "libations of wine and the savour of fat," and at last overturn
both ship and sailors?
Cle. Assuredly 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 husbandmen, or
shepherds; and no one would compare them to dogs who have silenced
by wolves.
Cle. A thing not to be spoken of.
Ath. And are not all the Gods the chiefest of all guardians, 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 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 can never be persuaded to do
injustice, now sufficiently demonstrated? May we say that they are?
Cle. You have our entire assent to your words.
Ath. I have spoken with vehemence because I am zealous against
evil men; and I will tell dear Cleinias, why I am so. I would not have
the wicked think that, having the superiority in argument, they may do
as they please and act according to their various imaginations about
the Gods; and this zeal has led me to speak too vehemently; but if
we have at all succeeded in persuading the men to hate themselves
and love their opposites, the prelude 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 prelude 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 present shall give information to the magistrates, in
aid of the law; and let the magistrates who. first receive the
information bring him before the appointed court according to the law;
and if a magistrate, after receiving 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 any one 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 already mentioned, and from each of
these causes arise two sorts of impiety, in all six, which are worth
distinguishing, and should not all have the same punishment. For he
who does not believe in Gods, and yet has a righteous nature, hates
the wicked and dislikes and refuses to do injustice, and avoids
unrighteous men, and loves the righteous. 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 laughing at other men he may make
them like himself, if he be not punished. But the other who holds
the same opinions and is called a clever man, is full of stratagem and
deceit-men of this class deal in prophecy and jugglery of all kinds,
and out of their ranks sometimes come tyrants and demagogues and
generals and hierophants of private mysteries and the Sophists, as
they are termed, with their ingenious devices. 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 other needs 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 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 with a view to the improvement of
their soul's 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 in contempt of mankind 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 overthrow
individuals and whole houses and states for the sake of money-let
him who is guilty of any of these things be condemned by the court
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 guardians of the law from the
hands of the public slaves; and when he is dead let him be cast beyond
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
is 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 in a private house. When he would sacrifice,
let him go to the temples and hand over his offerings to the priests
and priestesses, who see to the sanctity of such things, 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
instituted, 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, vowing
sacrifices, and promising shrines to Gods, demigods, and sons of Gods;
and when they are awakened by terrible apparitions and 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 wherever they may have had such visions; and with a
view to all these cases we should obey the law. 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 by building
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 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 legislator, who will enact the following law:-No one
shall 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 their 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, before they bring
the matter into court and prosecute the offender for impiety.
BOOK XI

In the next place, dealings between man and man require to be
suitably regulated. The principle of them is very simple:-Thou shalt
not, if thou canst help, touch that which is mine, or remove the least
thing which belongs to me without my consent; and may I be of a
sound mind, and 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 another 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 those
who are called diviners, and 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
possession of wealth. And of many things it is well said-"Move not the
immovables," and this may be 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 was
not laid down by thee"-of him, I say, who despises these two
legislators, and takes up, not small matter which he has 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 commanders. When information has been received the city 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, and he who informs 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 unintentionally, let
him who may come upon 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 the thing is of
little worth, and the man who takes it a slave, be beaten with many
stripes by 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 a 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 denies that the
property in dispute belongs to other, if the property be registered
with the magistrates according to law, the claimant shall summon the
possessor, who shall bring it before the magistrates; and when it is
brought into court, 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 offer sufficient surety on behalf of the
absent person that he will give it up to him, shall take it away as
the representative of the other. But if the property which is
deposited be not registered with the magistrates, let it remain
until the time of trial with three of the eldest of the magistrates;
and if it be an animal which is deposited, then he who loses the
suit shall pay the magistrates for its keep, and they shall
determine the cause within three days.
Any one who is of sound mind may arrest his own slave, and do with
him whatever he will of such things as are lawful; and he may arrest
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 deemed guilty of violence, and being convicted shall pay
as a penalty double the amount of the damages claimed to him who has
been deprived of the slave. Any man may also carry off a freedman,
if he do not pay respect or sufficient respect to him who freed him.
Now the respect shall be, that the freedman go three times in the
month to the hearth of the person who freed him and offer to do
whatever he ought, so far as he can; and he shall agree to make such a
marriage as his former master approves. 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 has the consent of
the magistrates and of his former master to remain. If a freedman or
any other stranger has 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
magistrates. And if any one disobeys this regulation, and is brought
into court and convicted, he shall be punished with death, 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
judges chosen by them. If a man lay claim to any animal or anything
else which he declares to be his, let the possessor refer to the
seller or to some honest and trustworthy person, who has 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 include 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
give credit to the man who buys fram him, 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 among 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 above the value of
fifty drachmas shall be required to remain in 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. The cause shall be determined by such physicians
as the parties may agree to choose; and the defendant, if he lose
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
restitution, and the decision shall be given as before, but the
defendant, if he be cast, shall only pay back the price of the
slave. If a 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 shall be a right of restitution,
whenever the buyer makes the discovery; and the decision shall rest
with the five youngest guardians of the law, and if the decision be
that the seller was cognisant 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.
If man 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 prelude about all this sort of roguery, like the preludes of
our other laws. Every man should regard adulteration as of one and the
same class with falsehood and deceit, concerning which the many are
too fond of saying that at proper times and places the practice may
often be right. But they leave the occasion, and the when, and the
where, undefined and unsettled, and from this want of definiteness
in their language they do a great deal of harm to themselves and to
others. Now a legislator ought not to leave the matter undetermined;
he ought to prescribe some limit, either greater or less. Let this
be the rule 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 to them. And he is most hateful to them
takes a false oath, and pays no heed to the Gods; and in the next
degree, 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 off spring, 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 does but
swear without any respect for God or man. Certainly, it is an
excellent rule not lightly to defile the names of the Gods, after
the fashion of men in general, who care little about piety and
purity in their religious 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 for 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.
If a person disobeys this command, any citizen who is present, not
being less than thirty years of age, may with impunity chastise and
beat the swearer, but if instead of obeying the laws he takes no heed,
he shall be liable to the charge of having betrayed them. If a man
sells 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 pursue the
charge, he shall be called a rogue, and deemed to have robbed the Gods
of the agora; or if he proves 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 warden 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 wardens of the agora, that they may be clear instructors of
those who have business in the agora. Enough has been said in what has
preceded about the wardens of the city, and if anything 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 wardens
of the city the primary and secondary regulations which are laid
down for them about their office.
After the practices of adulteration naturally follow the 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 reduces the inequalities
and incommensurabilities of goods to equality and common 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-alike have this object;-they seek to satisfy our
needs and equalize our possessions. Let us then endeavour to see
what has brought retail trade into ill-odour, and wherein, lies the
dishonour and unseemliness of it, in order that if not entirely, we
may yet partially, cure the evil by legislation. To effect this is
no easy matter, and requires a great deal of virtue.
Cleinias. What do you mean?
Athenian Stranger. Dear Cleinias, the class of men is small-they
must have been rarely gifted by nature, and trained by
education-who, when assailed 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 the keeping of taverns, is denounced and numbered
among dishonourable 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 fate or necessity, the best women were compelled to follow
similar callings, then we should know how agreeable and pleasant all
these things are; and if all such occupations were managed on
incorrupt principles, they would be honoured as we honour a mother
or a nurse. But now that a man goes to desert places and builds bouses
which can only be reached be long journeys, for the sake of retail
trade, and receives strangers who are in need at the welcome
resting-place, 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 who are at his mercy,
and will not release them until they have paid the most unjust,
abominable, and extortionate ransom-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 nature. 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 involuntarily;
neither shall he be a merchant, or do any service for private
persons unless they equally serve him, 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 freeman. 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 for dishonouring his race by any one who
likes, before those who have been 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 thing; and if he repeat the offence, for two years; and
every time that he is convicted let the length 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 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 not only guardians of those who may be easily
watched and prevented from becoming lawless or bad, because they are
wellborn 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 guardians 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 to the retail trades, and they shall fix in
writing and strictly maintain what they find to be the right
percentage of profit; this shall be seen to 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 those in the state who practise it.
When a man makes an agreement which he does not fulfil, unless the
agreement be of 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 prevented from fulfilling against
his will by some unexpected chance, the other party may go to law with
him in the courts of the tribes, for not having completed his
agreement, if the parties are not able previously to come to terms
before arbiters or before their neighbours. 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,
to which divinities they too are rightly dedicated. 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 in such matters, out of respect to the Gods who
are their 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 undertakes 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 guardian of the city and
Athene, who are the partners of the state, and overthrows 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, although interest is not to be taken on loans, yet
for every drachma which he owes to the contractor let him 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, since we have
mentioned craftsmen at all, we must not forget the other craft of war,
in which generals and tacticians are the craftsmen, who undertake
voluntarily the work of our safety, as other craftsmen undertake other
public works;-if they execute their work well the law will never
tire of praising him who gives them 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 pleased, and this were to take effect in
whatever state he may have been at the end of his life; for most of us
lose our senses in a manner, and feel crushed when we think that we
are about to die.
Cle. What do you mean, Stranger?
Ath. O Cleinias, a man when he is about to die is an intractable
creature, and is apt to use language which causes 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 have been tested by 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 so?
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 liked; but
you and I, if I am 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, as the Delphic
oracle says, to know yourselves 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 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 property in a 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, considering 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 prelude and consolation
to the living and dying, Cleinias, and let the law be as follows:
He who makes a disposition in a testament, if he be the father of
a family, shall first of all inscribe as his heir any one of his
sons whom he may think fit; and if he gives 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 been adopted upon
any lot, and who may be expected to be sent out to a colony
according to law, to him his father may give as much as he pleases
of the rest of his property, with the exception of the paternal lot
and the fixtures on the lot. And if there are other sons, let him
distribute among them what there is more than the lot in such portions
as he pleases. And if one of the sons has already a house of his
own, he shall not give him of the money, nor shall he give money to
a daughter who has been betrothed, but if she is not betrothed he
may give her money. And if any of the sons or daughters shall be found
to have another lot of land in the country, which has accrued after
the testament has been made, they shall leave the lot which they
have 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 whom he pleases, and leave and inscribe
him as his son and heir. And if a man have lost his son, when he was a
child, and before he could be reckoned among grown-up men, whether his
own or an adopted son, let the testator make mention of the
circumstance and inscribe whom he will to be his second son in hope of
better fortune. 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; but let him not be blamed if he
gives all the rest to his adopted son, and makes a friend of him
according to the law. If the sons of a man require guardians, and: the
father when he dies leaves a will appointing guardians, those have
been named by him, whoever they are and whatever their number be, if
they are able and willing to take charge of the children, shall be
recognized according to the provisions of the will. 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, shall have the authority
of guardians, whom the guardians of the law shall appoint when the
orphans require guardians. And the fifteen eldest guardians of the law
shall have the whole care and charge of the orphans, divided into
threes according to seniority-a body of three for one year, and then
another body of three for the next year, until the cycle of the five
periods 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, they shall share in the protection
which is afforded by these laws.
And if a man dying by some unexpected fate leaves daughters behind
him, let him pardon the legislator if he gives them in marriage, he
have 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-the father, say, shall
forgive the legislator if he disregards this, which to him is an
impossible consideration. Let the law about these matters where
practicable 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 father or 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 the testator's father's brother, or in the fifth degree,
his father's brother's son, or in the sixth degree, the child of his
father's sister. Let kindred be always reckoned in this way: if a
person leaves daughters the relationship shall proceed upwards through
brothers and sisters, and brothers' and sisters' children, 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 grandchildren of a
brother, or to the grandchildren of a grandfather's children, the
maiden may choose with the consent of her guardians any one of the
citizens who is willing and whom she wills, and he shall be the heir
of the dead man, and the husband of his daughter. Circumstances
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 take
the lot according to the regulation of the law; but if he be not of
her kindred, she having no kinsmen within 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 relation;
be 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 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 naturally 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. I mean to say, that a case may occur in which the nephew,
having a rich father, will be unwilling to marry 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 and present, 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 dispute this, the reply is that the legislator
left fifteen of the 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 to
them as possible. In the first place, we say that the guardians of the
law are lawgivers and fathers to them, not inferior to their natural
fathers. Moreover, they shall take charge of them year by year as of
their own kindred; 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
former discourse, when we said that the souls of the dead have the
power after 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 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 men should have a
fear of the Gods above, 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 are
friendly to those who honour, and unfriendly to those who dishonour
them. Men should also fear the souls of the living who are aged and
high in honour; 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 such duties, and they
punish those who wrong the orphan and the desolate, considering that
they are the greatest and most sacred of trusts. 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, for he is making a
contribution 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 experience 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 distinguish 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 not different
from the case of those who have father, though in regard to honour and
dishonour, and the attention given to them, the two are not usually
placed upon a level. Wherefore, touching 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 to whom the superintendence of
this guardian has been assigned, shall love the unfortunate orphan
as though he were his own child, and he shall be as careful and
diligent in the management of his possessions as he would be if they
were his own, or even more careful and dilligent. Let every one who
has the care of an orphan observe this law. But any one who acts
contrary to the law on these matters, if he be a guardian of the
child, may be fined by a magistrate, or, if he be himself a
magistrate, the guardian may bring him before the court of select
judges, and punish him, if convicted, by exacting a fine of double the
amount of that inflicted by the court. 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 damages are given against 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 them to trial; and if any of them be convicted, the court
shall determine what he shall pay or suffer. And if magistrate shall
appear to have wronged the orphan by 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.
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Gwen Parker
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« Reply #20 on: February 14, 2007, 11:49:10 pm »

Greater differences than there ought to be sometimes arise between
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 think that they should be allowed to
indict their fathers on the charge of imbecility when they are
disabled by disease or old age. These things only happen, as a
matter of fact, where the natures of men are utterly bad; for where
only half is bad, as, for example, if the father be not bad, but the
son be bad, or conversely, no great calamity is the result of such
an amount of hatred as this. 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 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 obtains 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 population which is
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, makes 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 the law in that case or, that
he shall first of all go to the eldest guardians of the law and tell
them of his father's misfortune, 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 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 only 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 marry again in order
that they may have some one to grow old with and that the pair may
take care of one another in age. If a woman dies, leaving children,
male or female, the law will advise rather than compel the husband
to bring up the children without introducing into the house a
stepmother. But if he have no children, then he shall be compelled
to marry until he has begotten a sufficient number of sons to his
family and to the state. And if a man dies 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 acknowledged by
them, but there is need of a decision as to which parent the child
is to follow-in case a female slave have intercourse with a male
slave, or with a freeman or freedman, the 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 provence
offspring of the woman and its father shall be sent away by the
women who superintend marriage into another country, and the guardians
of the law shall send away the offspring of the man and its mother.
Neither God, nor a man who has understanding, will ever advise 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 we honour them,
of others we honour the images, raising statues of them which we
adore; and though they are 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 fathers or mothers 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. I 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 curses 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, whence it is clear
that the Gods listen to the imprecations of parents; for the curses of
parents are, as they ought to be, mighty against their children as
no others are. And shall we suppose that the prayers of a father or
mother who is specially dishonoured by his or her children, are
heard by the Gods in accordance with nature; and that if a parent is
honoured by them, and in the gladness of his heart earnestly
entreats the 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 a man
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 the living,
when they are honoured by us, 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 images
which above all others will win him the favour of the Gods.
Cle. Excellent.
Ath. Every man of any understanding fears and respects the prayers
of 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 it a blessing from heaven if their parents live to old age
and reach the utmost limit of human life, or if taken away before
their time they are deeply regretted by them; but to bad men parents
are always a cause of terror. Wherefore let every man honour 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 cars 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 youthful evil-doers with
stripes and bonds if they are under thirty years of age, that is to
say, if they be men, or if they be women, let them undergo the same
punishment up to forty years of age. But if, when they are still
more advanced in years, they continue the same neglect of their
parents, and do any hurt to any of them, 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 pay or suffer. If the person who has
been wronged be unable to inform the magistrates, let any freeman
who hears of his case inform, and if he do not, he shall be deemed
base, and shall be liable to have a suit for damage brought against
him by any one who likes. And if a slave inform, he shall receive
freedom; and if he be the slave of the injurer or injured party, he
shall be set free 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 magistrates take heed that no one wrongs him out of
revenge, because he has given information.
Cases in which one man injures another by poisons, and which prove
fatal, have been already discussed; 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 the kind just now explicitly mentioned,
which injures bodies by the use of other bodies according to a natural
law; there is also another kind which persuades the more daring
class that they can do injury by sorceries, and incantations, and
magic knots, as they are termed, and makes others believe that they
above all persons are 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 to believe him. And when men are
disturbed in their minds at the sight of waxen images fixed either
at their doors, or in a place where three ways meet, or on 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 multitude out of
their wits, as if they were children, compelling 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 has 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 be a 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 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 greater damages to the injured man, and
less for the smaller injury; but in all cases, whatever the injury may
have been, 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, 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
cowardly 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, whenever the law leaves to him to
determine what the offender shall suffer or pay; and the legislator,
like a painter, shall give a rough sketch of the cases in which the
law is to be applied. 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 is 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 drachmae, 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 mentioned; and there are
other kinds, which originate in an evil and passionate temperament,
and are increased by bad 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 occur 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 evilspeaking; for out of the
imprecations which men utter against one another, and the feminine
habit of casting aspersions on one another, and using foul names,
out of words light as air, in very deed 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 take to 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
utter any taunting word at a temple, or at the public sacrifices, or
at games, or in the agora, or in a court of justice, or in any
public assembly. And let the magistrate who presides on these
occasions chastise an offender, and he shall be blameless; but if he
fails 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 has begun the quarrel or is only retaliating,
let any elder who is present support the law, and control with blows
those who indulge in passion, which is another great evil; and if he
do not, let him be liable to pay the appointed penalty. And we say
now, that he who deals in reproaches against others cannot reproach
them without attempting to ridicule them; and this, when done in a
moment of anger, is what we make matter of reproach against him. But
then, 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; though
as we were saying, not if he be angry 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 likeness, either in anger or without anger. And if
any one is disobedient, the judges shall either at once expel him from
the country, 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 received permission shall be allowed to write verses at one
another, but they shall be without anger and in jest; 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 not the poet himself exhibit,
or ever teach anybody else, slave or freeman, under the penalty of
being dishonoured, and held disobedient to the laws.
Now he is not to be pitied who is hungry, or who suffers any
bodily pain, but he who is temperate, or has some other virtue, or
part of a virtue, and at the same time suffers from misfortune; 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 pick up a livelihood by unavailing 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 parts of the land across the border, in
order that the land 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 person
who suffers damage be not himself in part to blame, the master of
the slave who has done the harm shall either make full satisfaction,
or give up the the slave who has done has done the injury. But if
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 the person, who says that he has been injured, for
malpractices. And if he gain a conviction, 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 a beast of burden, or horse, or dog, or any other
animal, injure the property of a neighbour, the owner shall in like
manner pay for the injury.
If any man 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 does not, and have no more to do 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 a person calls up as a witness any one who is
acting as 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 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 only in cases of murder;
and 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 a cause may bring an
accusation of perjury against witnesses, touching their evidence in
whole or in part, if he asserts that such evidence has been given; but
the accusation must be brought 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 has been convicted three times, let
any one who pleases inform against him to the magistrates, and let the
magistrates 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
rightly 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 a discussion and a
decision as to whether the suit was determined by that false
evidence or 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 to us under the fair name of art 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 the power of
speech which is thereby imparted, are at the service of him sho 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 existence, or if
existing among us should litten 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 those who disobey, the voice of the
law is as follows:-If anyone 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 is 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 is supposed to act as be 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, in whatever manner gained; and
equally, if he be judged to have acted more than once from
contentiousness, he shall die.
BOOK XII

If a herald or an ambassador carry a false message from our city
to any other, 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 violated, contrary to the law,
the commands and duties imposed upon him by 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 mythologers into a
mistaken belief of such 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, is never
either a God or the son of a God; of this the legislator ought to be
better informed than all the, poets put together. Happy is he and
may he be forever happy, who is persuaded and listens to our words;
but he who disobeys shall have to contend against the following
law:-If a man steal 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, and he who takes up a greater
amount; not having deposited it, is wholly unjust. Wherefore 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 ground that the thief may
possibly be in one case still curable, and may in another case be
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.
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, even in the least things being 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
always and in all things as far as possible 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 we ought in time of peace from youth upwards 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 view to military excellence; and agility and ease
should be cultivated for the same object, and also endurance of the
want of meats and drinks, and of winter cold and summer heat, and of
hard couches; and, above all, care should be taken not to destroy
the peculiar qualities of the head and the feet by surrounding them
with extraneous coverings, and so hindering 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, in whom all the ruling senses are by nature set. Let the
young man imagine that he hears in what has preceded the praises of
the military life; the law shall be as follows:-He shall serve in
war who is on the roll or appointed to some special service, and if
any one is absent from cowardice, 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 any 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 suits for failure of service are completed, the
leaders of the several kinds of troops shall again hold an assembly,
and they shall adjudge the prizes of valour; and he who likes shall
give judgment in his own branch of the service, saying nothing about
any former expedition, nor producing any proof or witnesses to confirm
his statement, but speaking only of the present occasion. The crown of
victory shall be an olive wreath which the victor shall offer up 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 prize. If any one goes on an expedition, and
returns home before the appointed time, when the generals. have not
withdrawn the army, be shall be indicted for desertion before the same
persons who took cognisance 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 repugnant to honour
and justice. A witness ought to be very careful not to sift 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 reproach, or bring in action against some innocent
person on that account. To make the distinction maybe difficult; but
still the law must attempt to define the different kinds in some
way. Let me endeavour to explain my meaning by an ancient tale:-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 presented 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 extenuation,
and with the view of justifying a misfortune which is easily
misrepresented. We must, therefore, endeavour to divide to the best of
our power the greater and more serious evil from the lesser. And a
distinction may be drawn in the use of terms of reproach. 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 is 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 advantage 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 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 at all in the ranks of soldiers; and the officer
who gives the coward any place, shall suffer a penalty which the
public examiner shall exact of him; and if he be of the highest
dass, he 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 of
cowardice, shall not only be dismissed from manly dangers, which is
a disgrace appropriate 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 magistrates, who will
be a sufficient censor or examiner, if any of them, weighed down by
the pressure of office or his own inability to support the dignity
of his office, be guilty of any crooked practice? It is by no means
easy to find a magistrate who excels other magistrates 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-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 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
destruction. Wherefore the examiners 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 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 leave
the half which have the great 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
with 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 providence of the Gods, is again preserved, and
presents to the Sun and to Apollo her three best men as
first-fruits, to be a common offering to them, according to the
ancient law, 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 completed 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 by every
sort of test to which a freeman may be subjected; 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 in the agora about each magistracy, and what
the magistrate ought to suffer or pay, according to the decision of
the examiners. 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 be acquitted by their decision, let him, if he will,
accuse the examiners themselves; if, however, he be convicted, 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; what will
their examination be, and how conducted? During the life of these men,
whom the whole state counts worthy of the rewards of 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 shall 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 crying
or lamentation over them; but a chorus of fifteen maidens, and another
of boys, shall stand around the bier on either side, hymning the
praises of the departed priests in alternate responses, declaring
their blessedness in song all day long; and at dawn a hundred of the
youths who practise gymnastic and whom the relations of the departed
shall choose, shall carry the bier to the sepulchre, the young men
marching 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 boys neat the bier and in front of it shall sing their
national hymn, and maidens shall follow behind, and with them the
women who have passed the age of childbearing; next, although they are
interdicted from other burials, let priests and priestesses follow,
unless the Pythian oracle forbid them; for this burial is free from
pollution. The place of burial shall be an oblong vaulted chamber
underground, constructed of tufa, which will last for ever, having
stone couches placed side by side. And here they will lay the
blessed person, and cover the sepulchre with a circular mound of earth
and plant a grove of trees around on every side but one; and on that
side the sepulchre shall be allowed to extend for ever, and a new
mound will not be required. 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 at the
examination are found blameless; 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 pleases shall indict him, and let the cause be tried in the
following manner. In the first place, the court shall be composed 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
dass, pay twelve minae, and eight if he be of the second class, and
six if he be of the third dass, and two minae if he be of the fourth
class.
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Gwen Parker
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« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2007, 11:51:00 pm »

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 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 men, is that in return for small sacrifice and
a few flattering words they will be their accomplices in purloining
large sums and save them from many terrible punishments, the way of
Rhadamanthus is no longer suited to the needs of justice; for as the
needs 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 an action should write, down the charges, but should 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 meet one another quite unconcernedly 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 is choosing
magistrates for the state shall either vote on oath or with a voting
tablet which he brings from a temple; so too the judge of dances and
of all music, and the superintendents and umpires of gymnastic and
equestrian contests, and any matters 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 ever be teaching and
learning what is just in auspicious words; and he who does otherwise
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 as at present have
power to give and receive oaths, for they will not often grow old in
the city or leave a fry of young ones like themselves to be the sons
and heirs of the land.
As to the initiation of private suits, let the manner of deciding
causes between all citizens be the same as in cases in which any
freeman is disobedient to the state in minor matters, of which the
penalty is not stripes, imprisonment, or death. But as regards
attendance at choruses or processions or other shows, and as regards
public services, whether the celebration of sacrifice in peace, or the
payment of contributions in war-in all these cases, first comes the
necessity of providing remedy for the loss; and by those who will
not obey, there shall be security given to the officers whom the
city and the law empower to exact the sum due; and if they forfeit
their security, let the goods which they have pledged be, 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 trying to persuade men 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, when any one either young or old desires to
travel anywhere abroad at whatever time, is of no consequence. On
the other hand, the refusal of states to receive others, and for their
own citizens never to go to other places, is an utter impossibility,
and to the rest of the world is likely to appear ruthless and
uncivilized; it is a practise adopted by people who use harsh words,
such as xenelasia or banishment of strangers, and who have harsh 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 of the differences
between the good and bad. And the generality of cities are quite right
in exhorting us to value a good reputation in the world, for there
is no truth greater and more important than this-that he who is really
good (I am speaking of the man who would be perfect) seeks for
reputation with, but not without, 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, she will before of the few
well-ordered cities which the sun and the other Gods behold.
Wherefore, in the matter of journeys 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, 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 there dedicated to the 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 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 experience 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. These are they whom the citizens of a well ordered city should
be ever seeking out, going forth over sea and over land to find him
who is incorruptible-that he may establish more firmly institutions in
his own state which are good already; and amend what is deficient; for
without this examination and enquiry a city will never continue
perfect any more than if the examination is ill-conducted.
Cleinias. How can we have an examination and also a good one?
Athenian Stranger. In this way: In the first place, our spectator
shall be of not less than fifty years of age; he must be a man of
reputation, especially in war, if he is to 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, the ten eldest being
chosen; the general superintendent of education shall also be
member, as well the last appointed as those who have been released
from the office; and each of them shall take with him as his companion
young man, whomsoever he chooses, between the ages of thirty and
forty. These shall be always holding conversation and discourse
about the laws of their own city or about any specially good ones
which they may hear to be 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. 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 have himself
made any observations, let him communicate his discoveries 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 praised so much the more; and not only while
he lives but after his death let the assembly honour him with
fitting honours. But if on his return home he appear to have been
corrupted, pretending to be wise when he is not, let him hold no
communication 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
appointed 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 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 festivals of the Muses; such ought
to have entertainment provided them at the temples by hospitable
persons, and the priests and ministers of the temples 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 receive or do any
wrong up to the sum of fifty drachmae, but if any greater charge be
brought, in such cases the suit shall come before 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 received only by the generals and commanders of horse
and foot, and the host by whom he is entertained, in conjunction
with the Prytanes, shall have the sole charge of what concerns him.
There is a fourth dass 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 one of them himself: let him go, for example,
to the house of the superintendent 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 from other
countries, and should send forth her own citizens, showing respect
to Zeus, the God of hospitality, not forbidding strangers at meals and
sacrifices, as is the manner which prevails among the children of
the Nile, nor driving them away by savage proclamations.
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. The agent of a dishonest or untrustworthy
seller shall himself be responsible; both 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 wearing only a short
tunic and without a 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 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 the other 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. As to houses and lands there can be no dispute in
this state of ours; but if a man has any other possessions which he
has used and openly shown in the city and in the agora and in the
temples, and no one has put in a claim to them, and some one says that
he was looking for them during this time, and the possessor 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, the claim
of the seeker shall not be allowed after the expiration of the year;
or if he does not use or show the lost property in the market or in
the city, 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 but
within the house, 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, but whenever the owner 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 person
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, the other who has
prevented him shall be imprisoned for a year, and shall be
prosecuted for kidnapping 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 judges, 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 in any case 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 and
enemy; and if any one makes peace or war with another on his own
account, and without the authority of the state, he, like the receiver
of the exile, shall 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 proceeding, 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 saying, "Men should receive gifts as the reward of good,
but not of evil deeds"; for to know which we are doing, and to stand
fast by our knowledge, 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 taxation, for
various reasons, every man ought to have had his property 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 annuary 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, a moderate man should observe
moderation in what he offers. Now the land and the hearth of the house
of all men is sacred to all Gods; wherefore let no man dedicate them a
second time to the Gods. Gold and silver, whether possessed by private
persons or in temples, are in other cities provocative of envy, and
ivory, the product of a dead body, is not a proper offering; brass and
iron, again, are instruments of war; but of wood let a man bring
what offerings he likes, provided it be a single block, and in like
manner of stone, to the public temples; of woven work let him not
offer more than one woman can execute in a month. White is a colour
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
birds and images, and they should be such as one painter can execute
in a single day. And let all other offerings follow a similar rule.
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. The first of the courts
shall consist of elected judges, who shall be chosen by the
plaintiff and the defendant in common: these shall be called
arbiters rather than judges. And in the second court there shall be
judges of the villages and tribes corresponding to the twelvefold
division of the land, 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 find 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 in addition to the
damages a fifth part more, 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, and the plaintiff, if he lose, shall pay half of the
damages claimed, Now the assignment by lot of judges to courts and the
completion of the number of them, 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 answers have to be put in 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 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 guardians 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 different notions of the just and good and honourable which
exist in our: own as compared with other states, they have been partly
mentioned already, and another part of them will be mentioned
hereafter as we draw near 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; otherwise there would be no meaning the divine and
admirable law possessing a name akin to mind (nous, nomos). 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 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 say truly again and again. And such 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, and the assignment shall be
made through the herald immediately after each decision 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 length in due time he
grows old under the protection of the laws, and his end comes in the
order of nature. Concerning the dead of either sex, the religious
ceremonies which may fittingly be performed, whether appertaining to
the Gods of the underworld or of this, shall be decided by the
interpreters with absolute authority. Their sepulchres are not to be
in places which are fit for cultivation, and there shall be no
monuments in such spots, 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, their foster-parent, is
naturally inclined to provide for 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 out of the dead in the house
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 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 quite rightly said to be our shades or
images; for the true and immortal being of each one of us which is
called the soul goes on her way to other Gods, before them to give
an account-which is an inspiring hope to the good, but very terrible
to the bad, as the laws of our fathers tell us; and they 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 moderately
on the lifeless altar of the Gods below. But the legislator does not
intend moderation to be take, in the sense of meanness. Let the law,
then, be as follows:-The expenditure on the entire funeral of him
who is of the highest class shall not exceed five minae; and for him
who is of the second class, three minae, and for him who is of the
third class, two minae, 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 age. And at the end of all, let
there be some one guardian of the law presiding, who shall be chosen
by the friends of the deceased to superintend, and let it be glory
to him to manage with fairness and moderation what relates to the
dead, and a discredit to him if they are not well managed. Let the
laying out and other ceremonies be in accordance with custom, but to
the statesman who adopts custom as his law we must give way in certain
particulars. It would be monstrous for example 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 house; also, he may forbid the
bringing of the dead body into the open streets, or the processions of
mourners in 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 with a fitting penalty. Other modes of burial, or again the denial
of burial, which is to be refused in the case of robbers of temples
and parricides and the like, have been devised and are embodied in the
preceding laws, so that now our work of legislation is pretty nearly
at an end; but in all cases the end does not consist in doing
something or acquiring something or establishing something-the end
will be attained and finally accomplished, when we have provided for
the perfect and lasting continuance of our institutions until then our
creation is incomplete.
Cle. That is very good Stranger; but I wish you would tell me more
clearly what you mean.
Ath. 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?
Ath. The saying that Lachesis or the giver of the lots is the
first of them, and that Clotho or the spinster is the second of
them, and that Atropos or the unchanging one is the third of them; and
that she is the preserver of the things which we have spoken, and
which have been compared in a figure to things woven by fire, they
both (i.e., Atropos and the fire) producing the quality of
unchangeableness. I am speaking of the things which in a 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 no small matter if we can only discover how such a
nature can be implanted in anything.
Ath. But it certainly can be; so much I 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.
Megillus. I 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:-The ten oldest guardians of the law, and
all those who have obtained prizes of virtue, were to meet in the same
assembly, 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 assembly;-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 was worthy by
nature and education, and then suggesting him to the others, and if he
seemed to them also to be worthy they were to adopt him; but if not,
the decision at which they arrived was to be kept a secret from the
citizens at large; and, more especially, from the rejected
candidate. The meeting of the council was to be held early in the
morning, when everybody was most at leisure from all other business,
whether public or private-was not something of this sort said by us
before?
Cle. True.
Ath. Then, returning to the council, I would say further, that if we
let it down to be the anchor of the state, our city, having everything
which is suitable to her, will preserve all that we wish to preserve.
Cle. What do you mean?
Ath. Now is the time for me to speak the truth in all earnestness.
Cle. Well said, and I hope that you will fulfil your intention.
Ath. Know, Cleinias, that everything, in all that it does, has a
natural saviour, as of an animal the soul and the head are the chief
saviours.
Cle. Once more, what do you mean?
Ath. The well-being of those two is obviously the preservation 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.
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 a ship, when the pilot and the sailors
unite their perceptions with the piloting mind, do they not save
both themselves and their craft?
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 war, and
do not the physician and his assistants aim at producing health in the
body?
Cle. Certainly.
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. They cannot.
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, in
the first place, to be called a ruler at all; 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 to that
end. 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. I am 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 understand me perfectly, Cleinias; and we must assume, as
the argument iniplies, that this council possesses all virtue; and the
beginning of virtue is not to make mistakes by guessing many things,
but to look steadily 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 others, again, is towards freedom; and some
legislate with a view to two things 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 former assertion will hold, for we were
saying that laws generally should look to one thing only; and this, as
we admitted, was rightly said to be virtue.
Ath. Yes.
Cle. And we said that virtue was of four kinds?
Ath. Quite true.
Cle. And that mind was the leader of the 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 already said that the mind of the
pilot, the mind of the physician and of the general look to that one
thing to which they ought to look; and now we may turn to mind
political, of which, 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 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 where
it is to be found?
Cle. For example, where?
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 virtue, and that prudence is virtue, and the same of the
two others, as if they were in reality not many but one, that is,
virtue.
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. I have no difficulty in explaining what I mean. Let us
distribute the subject questions and answers.
Cle. Once more, what do you mean?
Ath. Ask me what is that one thing which 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 children-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; it is of a different nature.
Cle. That is true.
Ath. I have now told you in what way the two are different, 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 of all this without
discredit where great and glorious truths are concerned?
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 won the palm of excellence, that these very
qualities of which we are now speaking-courage, temperance, wisdom,
justice?
Cle. How can there be anything greater?
Ath. And ought not the interpreters, the teachers the lawgivers, the
guardians of the other citizens, to excel the rest of mankind, and
perfectly to show him who desires to learn and know or whose evil
actions require to be punished and reproved, what is the nature of
virtue and vice? Or shall some poet who has found his way into the
city, or some chance person who pretends to be an instructor of youth,
show himself to be better than him who has won the prize for 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, must we do as we said? Or can we give our guardians
a more precise knowledge of virtue in speech and action than the
many have? or is there any way in which our city can be made to
resemble 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 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 or
some other be the order of our state? Are all our citizens to be equal
in acquirements, or shall there be special persons among them who have
received a more careful training and education?
Cle. That they should be equal, my; good, sir, is impossible.
Ath. Then we ought to proceed to some more exact training than any
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? this he should know, and
knowing, order all things with a view to it.
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 we take counsel among ourselves, 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.
Ath. 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, it ought to be, if it can be.
Ast. Well, and about the good and the honourable, are we to take the
same view? Are our guardians only to know that each of them is many,
or, also how and in what way they are one?
Cle. They must consider also in what sense they are one.
Ath. And are they to consider only, and to be unable to set forth
what they think?
Cle. Certainly not; that would be the state of a slave.
Ath. And may not the same be said of all good things-that the true
guardians of the laws ought to know the truth about them, and to be
able to interpret them in words, and carry them out in action, judging
of what is and what is not well, according to nature?
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. Is not the knowledge of the Gods which we have set forth with
so much zeal 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? do
indeed excuse the mass of the citizens, who only follow the voice of
the laws, but we refuse to admit as guardians any who do not labour to
obtain every possible evidence that there is respecting the Gods;
our city is 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 the motion of the stars, and of
all things under the dominion of the mind which ordered the
universe. If a man look upon the world not lightly or ignorantly,
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 accompanying
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, as I said, 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
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 with numerical exactness so
wonderful; 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 the bodies which
they saw moving in heaven all appeared to be full of stones, and
earth, and many other lifeless substances, and to these they
assigned the 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 talking other nonsense of the same sort. But now, as I said, the
case is reversed.
Cle. How so?
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 music with these things,
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, 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 shared in the whole scheme of education
proposed by us, 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 in any
degree possible.
Ath. Let us make a common effort to gain such an object; for I too
will gladly share in the attempt. Of these matters 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 council is constituted; when that is done,
then we will determine what authority they 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, and what new thing is this?
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 circumstances?
Ath. As the proverb says, the answer is no secret, but open to all
of us:-We must risk the whole on the chance of throwing, as they
say, thrice six or thrice ace, and I am willing to share with you
the danger by stating and explaining 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. 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. I will.


-THE END-
.
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