menu_book Chapter 27

book six part two of laws by plato translated by benjamin jowett this librivox recording is in the public domain after the wardens of the country we have to speak of the election of wardens of the agora and of the city the wardens of the country were sixty in number and the wardens of the city will be three and will divide the twelve parts of the city into three like the former they shall have care of the ways and of the different high roads which lead out of the country into the city and of the buildings that they may be all made according to law also of the waters which the guardians of the supply preserve and convey to them care being taken that they may reach the fountains pure and abundant and be both an ornament and a benefit to the city these also should be men of influence and at leisure to take care of the public interest let every man propose as warden of the city any one whom he likes

out of the highest class and when the vote has been given on them and the number is reduced to the six who have the greatest number of votes let the electing officers choose by lot three out of the six and when they have undergone a scrutiny let them hold office according to the laws laid down for them next let the wardens of the agor be elected in like manner out of the first and second class five in number ten are to be first elected and out of the ten five are to be chosen by lot as in the election of the wardens of the city these when they have undergone a scrutiny are to be declared magistrates every one shall vote for every one and he who will not vote if he be informed against before the magistrates shall be fined fifty and shall also be deemed a bad citizen let any one who likes go to the assembly and to the general council it shall be compulsory to go on citizens of the first and second class and they shall pay a fine of ten drachmi if they be found not answering to their names at the assembly

but the third and fourth class shall be under no compulsion and shall be let off without a fine unless the magistrates have commanded all to be present in consequence of some urgent necessity the wardens of the agora shall observe the order appointed by law for the agora and shall have the charge of the temples and fountains which are in the agora and they shall see that no one injures anything and punish him who does with stripes and bonds if he be a slave or stranger but if he be a citizen who misbehaves in this way they shall have the power themselves of inflicting a fine upon him to the amount of a hundred drachmi or with the consent of the wardens of the city up to double that amount and let the wardens of the city have a similar power of imposing punishments and fines in their own department and let them impose fines by their own department and let them impose fines by their own authority up to a mina or up to two minae with the consent of the wardens of the agora in the next place it will be proper to appoint directors of music and gymnastic two kinds of each of the one kind the business will be education of the other the superintendence of contests

In speaking of education, the law means to speak of those who have the care of order and instruction in gymnasia and schools, and of the going to school and of school buildings for boys and girls. And in speaking of contests, the law refers to the judges of gymnastics and of music. These again are divided into two classes, the one having to do with music, the other with gymnastics, and the same who judge the gymnastic contests of men shall judge of horses.

But in music there shall be one set of judges of solo singing and of imitation, I mean of rhapsodists, players on the harp, the flute and the like, and another who shall judge of choral song. First of all, we must choose directors for the choruses of boys and men and maidens whom they shall follow in the amusement of the dance and for our other musical arrangements.

One director will be enough for the choruses, and he should be not less than forty years of age. One director will also be enough to introduce the solo singers and to give judgment on the competitors, and he ought not to be less than thirty years of age. The director and manager of the choruses shall be elected after the following manner. Let any persons who commonly take an interest in such matters go to the meeting, and be fined if they do not go. The guardians of

the law shall judge of their fault, but those who have no interest shall not be compelled. The elector shall propose as director someone who understands music, and he in the scrutiny may be challenged on the one part by those who say he has no skill, and defended on the other hand by those who say that he has. Ten are to be elected by vote, and he of the ten who is chosen by lot shall undergo a scrutiny and lead the choruses for a year according to law. And in

like manner the competitor who wins the lot shall be leader of the solo and concert music for that year, and he who is thus elected shall deliver the award to the judges. In the next place, we have to choose judges in the contests of horses and of men. These shall be selected from the third and also from the second class of citizens, and three first classes shall be compelled to go to the election, but the lowest may stay away with impunity. And let there be three elected by lot

out of the twenty who have been chosen previously, and they must also have the vote and approval of the examiners. But if any one is rejected in the scrutiny at any ballot or decision, others shall be chosen in the same manner and undergo a similar scrutiny. There remains the minister of the education of youth, male and female. He too will rule according to law. One such minister will be sufficient, and he must be fifty years old, and have children lawfully begotten, both boys and

girls, by preference at any rate, one or the other. He who is elected, and he who is the elector, should consider that of all the great offices of state, this is the greatest. For the first shoot of any plant, if it makes a good start towards the attainment of its natural excellence, has the greatest effect on its maturity, and this is not only true of plants, but of animals, wild and tame, and also of men. Man, as we say, is a tame or civilized animal. Nevertheless,

he requires proper instruction and a fortunate nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized. Aristotle, politics. But if he be insufficiently or ill-educated, he is the most savage of earthly creatures wherefore the legislator ought not to allow the education of children to become a secondary or accidental matter in the first place he who would be rightly provident about them should begin by taking care that he is elected who of

all the citizens is in every way best him the legislator shall do his utmost to appoint guardian and superintendent to this end all the magistrates with the exception of the council and prytanes shall go to the temple of apollo and elect by ballot him of the guardians of the law whom they severally think will be the best superintendent of education and he who has the greatest number of votes after he has undergone a scrutiny at the hands of all the magistrates who have been his

electors, with the exception of the guardians of the law, shall hold office for five years, and in the sixth year let another be chosen in like manner to fill his office. If anyone dies while he is holding a public office, and more than thirty days before his term of office expires, let those whose business it is elect another to the office in the same manner as before. And if anyone who is entrusted with orphans dies, let the relations, both on the father's and mother's side, who are residing at home, including cousins, appoint another guardian within ten days, or be fined a drachma a day for neglect to do so.

A city which has no regular courts of law ceases to be a city. And again, if a judge is silent and says no more in preliminary proceedings than the litigants, as is the case in arbitrations, he will never be able to decide justly. Wherefore, a multitude of judges will not easily judge well, nor a few if they are bad. The point in dispute between the parties should be made clear, and time and deliberation and repeated examination greatly tend to clear up doubts. For this reason, he who goes to law with another should go first of all to his neighbors and friends who know best the questions at issue.

and if he be unable to obtain from them a satisfactory decision let him have recourse to another court and if the two courts cannot settle the matter let a third put an end to the suit now the establishment of courts of justice may be regarded as a choice of magistrates for every magistrate must also be a judge of some things and the judge though he be not a magistrate yet in certain respects is a very important magistrate on the day on which he is

determining a suit regarding then the judges also as magistrates let us say who are fit to be judges and of what they are to be judges and how many of them are to judge in each suit let that be the supreme tribunal which the litigants appoint in common for themselves choosing certain persons by agreement. And let there be two other tribunals, one for private causes, when a citizen accuses another of wronging him and wishes to get a decision, the other for public causes, in which

some citizen is of opinion that the public has been wronged by an individual and is willing to vindicate the common interests. And we must not forget to mention how the judges are to be qualified and who they are to be in the first place let there be a tribunal open to all private persons who are trying causes one against another for the third time and let this be composed as follows all the officers of state as well annual as those holding office for a longer period when the new year is about to commence in the month following after the summer solstice on the last day but one of the year shall meet in some temple and calling god to witness shall dedicate one judge from every magistracy to be their first fruits choosing in each office him who seems to them to be the best and whom they deem likely to decide the causes of his fellow citizens during the ensuing year in the best and holiest manner and when the election is completed a scrutiny shall be held in the presence of the electors

themselves and if anyone be rejected another shall be chosen in the same manner those who have undergone the scrutiny shall judge the causes of those who have declined the inferior courts and shall give their vote openly the counselors and other magistrates who have elected them shall be required to be hearers and spectators of the causes, and anyone else may be present who pleases. If one man charges another with having intentionally decided wrong, let him go to the

guardians of the law and lay his accusation before them, and he who is found guilty in such a case shall pay damages to the injured party equal to half the injury. But if he shall appear to deserve greater penalty the judges shall determine what additional punishment he shall suffer and how much more he ought to pay to the public treasury and to the party who brought the suit in the judgment of offences against the state the people ought to participate for when any one wrongs the state all are wronged and may reasonably complain if they are not allowed to share in the decision Such causes ought to originate with the people, and they ought also to have the final decision of them. But the trial of them shall take place before three of the highest magistrates, upon whom the plaintiff and the defendant shall agree, and if they are not able to come to an agreement themselves, the council shall choose one of the two proposed.

and in private suits too as far as is possible all should have a share for he who has no share in the administration of justice is apt to imagine that he has no share in the state at all and for this reason there shall be a court of law in every tribe and the judges shall be chosen by lot they shall give their decisions at once and shall be inaccessible to entreaties the final judgment shall rest with that court which as we maintain has been established in the most

incorruptible form of which human things admit this shall be the court established for those who are unable to get rid of their suits either in the courts of neighbors or of the tribes thus much of the courts of law which as i was saying cannot be precisely defined either as being or not being offices a superficial sketch has been given of them in which some things have been told and others omitted for the right place of an exact statement of the laws respecting suits under their several heads will be at the end of the body of legislation let us then expect them at the end

hitherto our legislation has been chiefly occupied with the appointment of offices perfect unity and exactness extending to the whole and every particular of political administration cannot be attained to the full until the discussion shall have a beginning middle and end and is complete in every part at present we have reached the election of magistrates and this may be regarded as a sufficient termination of what preceded and now there need no longer be any delay or hesitation in beginning the work of legislation cleinias i like what you have said stranger and i particularly like your manner of tacking on the beginning of your new discourse to the end of the former one athenian thus far then the old men's rational pastime has gone off well cleinias you mean i suppose their serious and noble pursuit athenian perhaps but i should like to know whether you and i are agreed about a certain thing cleinias about what thing athenian you know the endless labour which painters expend upon their pictures they are always putting in or taking out colours or whatever be the term which artists employ they seem as if they would never cease touching up their works which are always being made brighter and more beautiful

cleinias i know something of these matters from report although i have never had any great acquaintance with the art athenian no matter we may make use of the illustration notwithstanding Suppose that someone had a mind to paint a figure in the most beautiful manner, in the hope that his work, instead of losing, would always improve as time went on. Do you not see that being a mortal, unless he leaves someone to succeed him, who will correct the flaws which time may introduce, and be able to add what is left imperfect through the defect of the artist, and who will further brighten up and improve the picture, all his great labor will last but a short time. cleinias true athenian and is not the aim of the legislator similar first he desires that his law should be written down with all possible exactness in the second place as time goes on and he has made an actual trial of his decrees will he not find omissions do you imagine that there ever was a legislator so foolish as not to know that many things are necessarily omitted which some one coming after him must correct if the constitution and the order of government is not to deteriorate but to improve in the state which he has established

cleinias assuredly that is the sort of thing which every one would desire athenian and if any one possesses any means of accomplishing this by word or deed or has any way great or small by which he can teach a person to understand how he can maintain and amend the laws he should finish what he has to say and not leave the work incomplete cleinias by all means athenian and is not this what you and i have to do at the present moment cleinias what have we to do athenian as we are about to legislate and have chosen our guardians of the law and ourselves in the evening of life and they as compared with us are young men we ought not only to legislate for them but to endeavour to make them not only guardians of the law but legislators themselves as far as this is possible cleinias certainly if we can athenian at any rate we must do our best cleinias of course athenian we will say to them O friends and saviors of our laws, in laying down any law there are many particulars which we shall omit, and this cannot be helped. At the same time we will do our utmost to describe what is important, and will give an outline which you shall fill up, and I will explain on what principle you are to act.

megillus and cleinius and i have often spoken to one another touching these matters and we are of opinion that we have spoken well and we hope that you will be of the same mind with us and become our disciples and keep in view the things which in our united opinion the legislator and guardian of the law ought to keep in view there was one main point about which we were agreed that a man's whole energies throughout life should be devoted to the acquisition of the virtue proper to a man

whether this was to be gained by study or habit or some mode of acquisition or desire or opinion or knowledge and this applies equally to men and women old and young the aim of all should always be such as i have described anything which may be an impediment the good man ought to show that he utterly disregards and if at last necessity plainly compels him to be an outlaw from his native land rather than bow his neck to the yoke of slavery and be ruled by inferiors and he has to fly and exile he must

be and endure all such trials rather than accept another form of government which is likely to make men worse these are our original principles and do you now fixing your eyes upon the standard of what a man and a citizen ought or ought not to be praise and blame the laws blame those which have not this power of making the citizen better but embrace those which have and with gladness receive and live in them bidding a long farewell to other institutions which aim at goods as they

are termed of a different kind let us proceed to another class of laws beginning with their foundation in religion, and we must first return to the number 5040. The entire number had and has a great many convenient divisions, and the number of the tribes, which was a twelfth part of the whole, being correctly formed by 21 times 20, 5040 divided by 21 times 20, that is 5040 divided by 420 equals 12 also has them and not only is the whole number divisible by 12 but also the number

of each tribe is divisible by 12 now every portion should be regarded by us as a sacred gift of heaven corresponding to the months and to the revolution of the universe compared to meis every city has a guiding and sacred principle given by nature but in some the division or distribution has been more right than in others and has been more sacred and fortunate in our opinion nothing can be more right than the selection of the number 5040 which may be

divided by all numbers from 1 to 12 with the single exception of 11 and that admits of a very easy correction. For if turning to the dividend, 5040, we deduct two families, the defect in the division is cured. And the truth of this may be easily proved when we have leisure. But for the present, trusting to the mere assertion of this principle, let us divide the state. And assigning to each portion some god or son of a god, let us give them altars and sacred rites, and at the

altars, let us hold assemblies for sacrifice twice in the month. Twelve assemblies for the tribes, and twelve for the city, according to their divisions, the first in honor of the gods and divine things, and the second to promote friendship and better acquaintance, as the phrase is, and every sort of good fellowship with one another. For people must be acquainted with those into whose families and whom they marry, and with those to whom they give in marriage.

In such matters, as far as possible, a man should deem it all important to avoid a mistake, and with this serious purpose, let games be instituted, compared the Republic, in which youths and maidens shall dance together, seeing one another and being seen naked at a proper age and on a suitable occasion, not transgressing the rules of modesty. the directors of choruses will be the superintendents and regulators of these games and they together with the guardians of the law will legislate in any matters which we have omitted for as we said where there are numerous and minute details the legislator must leave out something and the annual officers who have experience and know what is wanted must make arrangements

and improvements year by year until such enactments and provisions are sufficiently determined a ten years experience of sacrifices and dances if extending to all particulars will be quite sufficient and if the legislator be alive they shall communicate with him but if he be dead then the several officers shall refer the omissions which come under their notice to the guardians of the law and correct them until all is perfect and from that time there shall be

no more change, and they shall establish and use the new laws with the others which the legislator originally gave them, and of which they are never, if they can help, to change ought, or if some necessity overtakes them, the magistrates must be called into council, and the whole people, and they must go to all the oracles of the gods, and if they are all agreed in that case, they may make the change. But if they are not agreed by no manner of means, and anyone who dissents shall

prevail, as the law ordains. Whenever anyone over twenty-five years of age, having seen and been seen by others, believes himself to have found a marriage connection which is to his mind, and suitable for the procreation of children, let him marry, if he be still under the age of five and thirty years and let him first hear how he ought to seek after what is suitable and appropriate compare aristotle's politics for as cleinias says every law should have a suitable prelude cleinias you recollect at the right moment stranger and do not miss the opportunity which the argument affords of saying a word in season athenian i thank you we will say to him who is born of good parents o my son you ought to make such a marriage as wise men would approve now they would advise you neither to avoid a poor marriage nor especially to desire a rich one

but if other things are equal always to honour inferiors and with them to form connections this will be for the benefit of the city and of the families which are united for the equable and symmetrical tends infinitely more to virtue than the unmixed and he who is conscious of being too headstrong and carried away more than is fitting in all his actions ought to desire to become the relation of orderly parents and he who is of the opposite temper ought to seek the opposite alliance let there be one word concerning all marriages every man shall follow not after the marriage which is most pleasing to himself but after that which is most beneficial to the state for somehow every one is by nature prone to that which is likest to himself and in this way the whole city becomes unequal in property and indisposition and hence there arise in most states the very results which we least desire to happen now to add to the law an express provision not only that the rich man shall not marry into the rich family nor the powerful into the family of the powerful but that the slower nature shall be compelled to enter into marriage with the quicker and the quicker with the slower may awaken anger as well as laughter in the minds of many

for there is a difficulty in perceiving that the city ought to be well mingled like a cup in which the maddening wine is hot and fiery but when chastened by a soberer god receives a fair associate and becomes an excellent and temperate drink compare statesman yet in marriage no one is able to see that the same result occurs wherefore also the law must let alone such matters but we should try to charm the spirits of men into believing the equability of their children's disposition to be of more importance than equality in excessive fortune when they marry and him who is too desirous of making a rich marriage we should endeavour to turn aside by reproaches not however by any compulsion of written law let this then be our exhortation concerning marriage and let us remember what was said before that a man should cling to immortality and leave behind him children's children to be the servants of god in his place for ever all this and much more may be truly said by way of prelude about the duty of marriage but if a man will not listen and remains unsocial and alien among his fellow-citizens and is still unmarried at thirty-five years of age let him pay a yearly fine he who of the highest class shall pay a fine of a hundred drachmi and he who is of the second class a fine of seventy drachmi the third class shall pay sixty drachmi and the fourth thirty drachmi and let the money be sacred to hera he who does not pay the fine annually shall owe ten times the

some which the treasurer of the goddess shall exact and if he fails in doing so let him be answerable and give an account of the money at his audit he who refuses to marry shall be thus punished in money and also be deprived of all honour which the younger show to the elder let no young man voluntarily obey him and if he attempt to punish any one let every one come to the rescue and defend the injured person and he who is present and does not come to the rescue shall be pronounced by the law to be a coward and a bad citizen of the marriage portion i have already spoken and again i say for the instruction of poor men that he who neither gives nor receives a dowry on account of poverty has a compensation for the citizens of our state are provided with the necessaries of life and wives will be less likely to be insolent and husbands to be mean and subservient to them on account of property and he who obeys this law will do a noble action but he who will not obey and gives or receives more than fifty drachmi as the price of the marriage garments if he be of the lowest or more than a mina or a mina and a half if he be of the third or second classes or two mini if he be of the highest class shall owe to the public treasury a similar sum

and that which is given or received shall be sacred to hera and zeus and let the treasures of these gods exact the money as was said before about the unmarried that the treasures of hera were to exact the money or pay the fine themselves the betrothal of a father shall be valid in the first degree that by a grandfather in the second degree and in the third degree betrothal by brothers who have the same father but if there are none of these alive the betrothal by a mother shall be valid in like manner in cases of unexampled fatality the next of kin and the guardian shall have authority what are to be the rites before marriages or any other sacred acts relating either to future present or past marriages shall be referred to the interpreters and he who follows their advice may be satisfied touching the marriage festival they shall assemble not more than five male and five female friends of both families and like number of members of the family of either sex and no man shall spend more than his means will allow he who is of the richest class may spend amina he who is of the second half a mina and in the same proportion as the senses of each decreases all men shall praise him who is obedient to the law but he who is disobedient shall be punished by the guardians of the law as a man wanting in true taste and uninstructed in the laws of bridal song

drunkenness is always improper except at the festivals of the god who gave wine and peculiarly dangerous when a man is engaged in the business of marriage at such a crisis of their lives a bride and bridegroom ought to have all their wits about them they ought to take care that their offspring may be born of reasonable beings for on what day or night heaven will give them increase who can say moreover they ought not to be beginning children when their bodies are dissipated by intoxication but their offspring should be compact and solid quiet and compounded properly whereas the drunkard is all abroad in all his actions and beside himself both in body and soul wherefore also the drunken man is bad and unsteady in sowing the seed of increase and is likely to beget offspring who will be unstable and untrustworthy and cannot be expected to walk straight either in body or mind hence during the whole year and all his life long and especially while he is begetting children he ought to take care and not intentionally do what is injurious to health or what involves insolence and wrong for he cannot help leaving the impression of himself on the souls and bodies of his offspring and he begets children in every way inferior

and especially on the day and night of marriage should a man abstain from such things for the beginning which is also a god dwelling in man preserves all things if it meet with proper respect from each individual he who marries is further to consider that one of the two houses in the lot is the nest and nursery of his young and there he is to marry and make a home for himself and bring up his children going away from his father and mother for in friendships there must be some degree of desire in order to cement and bind together diversities of character but excessive intercourse not having the desire which is created by time insensibly dissolves friendships from a feeling of satiety wherefore a man and his wife shall leave to his and her father and mother their own dwelling-places and themselves go as to a colony and dwell there and visit and be visited by their parents and they shall beget and bring up children handing on the torch of life from one generation to another and worshipping the gods according to law for ever in the next place we have to consider what sort of property will be most convenient there is no difficulty either in understanding or acquiring most kinds of property but there is great difficulty in what relates to slaves and the reason is that we speak about them in a way which is right and which is not right for what we say about our slaves is consistent and also inconsistent with our practice about them

megillus i do not understand stranger what you mean athenian i am not surprised megillus for the state of the helots among the lacedaemonians is of all hellenic forms of slavery the most controverted and disputed about some approving and some condemning it there is less dispute about the slavery which exists among the heracleots who have subjugated the meridinians and about the thessalian penesti looking at these and the like examples what ought we to do concerning property and slaves i made a remark in passing which naturally elicited a question about my meaning from you it was this we know that all would agree that we should have the best and most detached slaves whom we can get for many a man has found his slaves better in every way than brethren or sons and many times they have saved the lives and property of their masters and their whole house such tales are well known megillus to be sure athenian but may we not also say that the soul of the slave is utterly corrupt and that no man of sense ought to trust them and the wisest of our poets speaking of zeus says far-seeing zeus takes away half the understanding of men whom the day of slavery subdues

Different persons have got these two different notions of slaves in their minds. Some of them utterly distress their servants, and as if they were wild beasts, chastise them with goads and whips, and make their souls three times or rather many times as slavish as they were before, and others do just the opposite. Megillus, true. Cleinius, then what are we to do in our own country, stranger, seeing that there are such differences in the treatment of slaves by their owners? Athenian, well, Cleinius, there can be no doubt man is a troublesome animal, and therefore

he is not very manageable, nor likely to become so, when you attempt to introduce the necessary division of slave and freeman and master. Cleinius, that is obvious. Athenian. He is a troublesome piece of goods, as has been often shown by the frequent revolts of the Mycenaeans and the great mischiefs which happen in states, having many slaves who speak

the same language, and the numerous robberies and lawless life of the Italian banditti, as they are called. A man who considers all this is fairly at a loss. Two remedies alone remain to us, not to have the slaves of the same country, nor, if possible, speaking the same language, compare aristotle's politics in this way they will more easily be held in subjection secondly we should tend them carefully not only out of regard to them but yet more out of respect to ourselves and the right treatment of slaves is to behave properly to them and to do to them if possible even more justice than to those who are our equals for he who naturally and genuinely reverences justice and hates injustice is discovered in his dealings with any class of men to whom he can easily be unjust. And he who, in regard to the natures and actions of his slaves,

is undefiled by impiety and injustice, will best sow the seeds of virtue in them. And this may be truly said of every master and tyrant, and of every other having authority in relation to his inferiors. Slaves ought to be punished as they deserve, and not admonished as if they were free men, which will only make them conceited. The language used to a servant ought always to be that of a command. Compare Aristotle's politics. And we ought not to jest

with them, whether they are males or females. This is a foolish way which many people have of setting up their slaves and making the life of servitude more disagreeable, both for them and for their masters. Cleinias, true. Athenian, now that each of the citizens is provided as far as possible with a sufficient number of suitable slaves who can help him in what he has to do, we may next procedure described their dwellings cleinias very good athenian the city being new and hitherto

uninhabited care ought to be taken of all the buildings and the manner of building each of them and also of the temples and walls these cleinias were matters which properly came before the marriages but as we are only talking there is no objection to changing the order if however our plan of legislation is ever to take effect then the house shall precede the marriage if god so will and afterwards we will come to the regulations about marriage, but at present we are only

describing these matters in a general outline. Kleinius, quite true. Athenium, the temples are to be placed all round the Agora, and the whole city built on the heights in a circle. Compare Aristotle's politics. For the sake of defense and for the sake of purity, near the temples are to be placed buildings for the magistrates and the courts of law. In these, plaintiff and defendant will receive their due, and the places will be regarded as most holy, partly because they have

to do with holy things, and partly because they are the dwelling places of holy gods, and in them will be held the courts in which cases of homicide and other trials of capital offenses may fitly take place. As to the walls, Megillus, I agree with Sparta in thinking that they should be allowed to sleep in the earth, and that we should not attempt to disinter them. Compare Aristotle's politics. There is a poetical saying which is finely expressed that walls ought to be of steel and iron and not of earth.

Besides how ridiculous of us to be sending out our young men annually into the country to dig into trench and to keep off the enemy by fortifications under the idea that they are not to be allowed to set foot in our territory. and then that we should surround ourselves with a wall which in the first place is by no means conducive to the health of cities and is also apt to produce a certain effeminacy in the minds of the inhabitants inviting men to run thither instead of repelling their enemies and leading them to imagine that their safety is due not to their keeping guard day and night but that when

they are protected by walls and gates then they may sleep in safety and if they were not meant to labor and did not know that true repose comes from labor and that disgraceful indolence and careless temper of mind is only the renewal of trouble but if men must have walls the private houses ought to be so arranged from the first that the whole city may be one wall having all the houses capable of defense by reason of their uniformity and equality towards the streets compare aristotle's politics the form of the city being that of a single dwelling will have an agreeable aspect and being easily guarded will be infinitely better for security until the original building is completed these should be the principal objects of the inhabitants and the wardens of the city should superintend the work and should impose a fine on him who is negligent and in all that relates to the city they should have a care of cleanliness and not allow a private person to encroach upon any public property either by buildings or excavations further they ought to take care that the rains from heaven flow off easily and of any other matters which may have to be administered either within or without the city

the guardians of the law shall pass any further enactments which their experience may show to be necessary and supply any other points in which the law may be deficient and now that these matters and the buildings about the agora and the gymnasia and places of instruction and theatres are all ready and waiting for scholars and spectators let us proceed to the subjects which follow marriage in the order of legislation cleinias by all means athenian assuming that marriages exist already cleinias the mode of life during the year after marriage before children are born will follow next in order in what way bride and bridegroom ought to live in a city which is to be superior to other cities is a matter not at all easy for us to determine there have been many difficulties already but this will be the greatest of them and the most disagreeable to the many still i cannot but say what appears to me to be right and true cleinias cleinias certainly athenian he who imagines that he can give laws for the public conduct of states while he leaves the private life of citizens wholly to take care of itself who thinks that individuals may pass the day as they please and that there is no necessity of order in all things

he i say who gives up the control of their private lives and supposes that they will conform to law in their common and public life is making a great mistake why have i made this remark why because i am going to enact that the bridegroom should live at the common tables just as they did before marriage this was a singularity when first enacted by the legislator in your parts of the world megillus and cleinias as i should suppose on the occasion of some war or other similar danger which caused the passing of the law and which would be likely to occur in thinly peopled places and in times of pressure but when men had once tried and been accustomed to a common table experience showed that the institution greatly conduced to security it in some such manner the custom of having common tables arose among you cleinias likely enough athenian i said that there may have been singularity and danger in imposing such a custom at first but that now there is not the same difficulty there is however another institution which is the natural sequel to this and would be excellent if it existed anywhere but at present it does not

the institution of which i am about to speak is not easily described or executed and would be like the legislator combing wool into the fire as people say or performing any other impossible and useless feat cleinias what is the cause stranger of this extreme hesitation athenian you shall hear without any fruitless loss of time that which has law and order in a state is the cause of every good but that which is disordered or ill-ordered is often the ruin of that which is well-ordered and at this point the argument is now waiting for with you cleinias and megillus the common tables of men are as i have said a heaven-born and admirable institution but you are mistaken in leaving the women unregulated by law they have no similar institution of public tables in the light of day and just that part of the human race which is by nature prone to secrecy and stealth on account of their weakness i mean the female sex has been left without regulation by the legislator which is a great mistake and in consequence of this neglect many things have grown lax among you which might have been far better if they had been only regulated by law for the neglect of regulations about women

may not only be regarded as a neglect of half the entire matter aristotle's politics but in proportion as woman's nature is inferior to that of men in capacity for virtue in that degree the consequence of such neglect is more than twice as important the careful consideration of this matter and the arranging and ordering on a common principle of all our institutions relating both to men and women greatly conduces to the happiness of the state but at present such is the unfortunate condition of mankind that no man of sense will even venture to speak of common tables in places and cities in which they have never been established at all and how can any one avoid being utterly ridiculous who attempts to compel women to show in public how much they eat and drink there is nothing at which the sex is more likely to take offence for women are accustomed to creep into dark places and when dragged out into the light they will exert their utmost powers of resistance and be far too much for the legislator and therefore as i said before in most places they will not endure to have the truth spoken without raising a tremendous outcry but in this state perhaps they may and if we may assume that our whole discussion about the state

has not been mere idle talk i should like to prove to you if you will consent to listen that this institution is good and proper but if you had rather not i will refrain cleinias there is nothing which we should both of us like better stranger than to hear what you have to say athenian very good and you must not be surprised if i go back a little for we have plenty of leisure and there is nothing to prevent us from considering in every point of view the subject of law cleinias true athenian then let us return once more to what we were saying at first every man should understand that the human race either had no beginning at all and will never have an end but always will be and has been or that it began an immense while ago cleinias certainly athenian well and have there not been constitutions and destructions of states and all sorts of pursuits both orderly and disorderly and divers desires of meats and drinks always and in all the world and all sorts of changes of the seasons in which animals may be expected to have undergone innumerable transformations of themselves cleinias no doubt

athenian and may we not suppose that vines appeared which had previously no existence and also olives and the gifts of demeter and her daughter of which one tryptolemus was the minister and that before these existed animals took to devouring each other as they do still cleinias true athenian again the practice of men sacrificing one another still exists among many nations while on the other hand we hear of other human beings who did not even venture to taste the flesh of a cow and had no animal sacrifices but only cakes and fruits dipped in honey and similar pure offerings but no flesh of animals from these they abstained under the idea that they ought not to eat them and might not stain the altars of the gods with blood for in those days men are said to have lived a sort of orphic life having the use of all lifeless things but abstaining from all living things cleinias such has been the constant tradition and is very likely true athenian someone might say to us what is the drift of all this cleinias a very pertinent question stranger athenian and therefore i will endeavor cleinias if i can to draw the natural inference cleinias proceed athenian i see that among men all things depend upon three wants and desires of which the end is virtue if they are rightly led by them or the opposite it wrongly. Now these are eating and drinking which begin at birth. Every animal has a natural

desire for them, and is violently excited and rebels against him who says that he must not satisfy all his pleasures and appetites, and get rid of all the corresponding pains, and the third and greatest and sharpest want and desire breaks out last, and is the fire of sexual lust, which kindles in men every species of wantonness and madness. And these three disorders we must endeavor to master by the three great principles of fear and law and right reason, turning them away from

that which is called pleasantest to the best, using the muses and the gods who preside over contests to extinguish their increase and influx. But to return after marriage, let us speak of the birth of children, and after their birth of their nurture and education. In the course of discussion, the several laws will be perfected and we shall at last arrive at the common tables whether such associations are to be confined to men or extended to women also we shall see better when we approach

and take a nearer view of them and we may then determine what previous institutions are required and will have to precede them as i said before we shall see them more in detail and shall be better able to lay down the laws which are proper or suited to them. Cleinias, very true. Athenian, let us keep in mind the words which have now been spoken, for hereafter there may be need of them. Cleinias, what do you bid us keep in mind? Athenian, that which we comprehended under the

three words, first eating, secondly drinking, thirdly the excitement of love. Cleinias, we shall be sure to remember, stranger. Athenian, very good. Then let us now proceed to marriage and teach persons in what way they shall beget children, threatening them if they disobey with the terrors of the law. Cleinias, what do you mean? Athenian, the bride and bridegroom should consider that they are to produce for the state the best and fairest specimens of children which

they can. Now all men who are associated in any action always succeed when they attend and give their mind to what they are doing, but when they do not give their mind, or have no mind, they fail. Wherefore let the bridegroom give his mind to the bride, and to the begetting of children, and the bride in like manner give her mind to the bridegroom, and particularly at the time when their children are not yet born. And let the women whom we have chosen to be the overseers

of such matters, and let them in whatever number, large or small, and at whatever time the magistrates may command assemble every day in the temple of ae le thira during a third part of the day and being there assembled let them inform one another of any one whom they see whether man or woman of those who are begetting children disregarding the ordinances given at the time when the nuptial sacrifices and ceremonies were performed let the begetting of children and the supervision of those who are begetting them continue ten years and no longer during the time when marriage is fruitful But if any continue without children up to this time, let them take counsel with their kindred and with the women holding the office of overseer, and be divorced for their mutual benefit. If, however, any dispute arises about what is proper and for the interest of either party, they shall choose ten of the guardians of the law and abide by their permission and appointment. The women who preside over these matters shall enter into the houses of the young, and partly by admonitions and partly by threats make them give over their folly and error.

If they persist, let the women go and tell the guardians of the law, and the guardians shall prevent them. But if they too cannot prevent them, they shall bring the matter before the people, and let them write up their names, and make oath that they cannot reform such and such in one. and let him who is thus written up if he cannot in a court of law convict those who have inscribed his name be deprived of the privileges of a citizen in the following respects let him not go to weddings nor to the thanksgivings after the birth of children and if he go let any one who pleases strike him with impunity and let the same regulations hold about women let not a woman be allowed to appear abroad or receive honour or go to nuptial and birthday festivals if she in like manner be written up as acting disorderly and cannot obtain a verdict and if when they themselves have done begetting children according to the law a man or woman have connection with another man or woman who are still begetting children let the same penalties be inflicted upon them as upon those who are still having a family and when the time for procreation has passed let the man or woman who refrains in such matters be held in esteem and let those who do not refrain be held in the contrary of esteem that is to say disesteem

now if the greater part of mankind behave modestly the enactments of law may be left to slumber but if they are disorderly the enactments having been passed let them be carried into execution to every man the first year is the beginning of life and the time of birth ought to be written down in the temples of their fathers as the beginning of existence to every child whether boy or girl let every have inscribed on a whited wall the names of the successive archons by whom the years are reckoned and near to them let the living members of the fratria be inscribed and when they depart life let them be erased the limit of marriageable ages for woman shall be from sixteen to twenty years at the longest for a man from thirty to thirty-five years and let a woman hold office at forty and a man at thirty years let a man go out to war from twenty to sixty years and for a woman if there appear any need to make use of her in military service let the time of service be after she shall have brought forth children up to fifty years of age and let regard be had to what is possible and suitable to each book six