Laws
by Plato
translated by Benjamin Jowett
Book VIII
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:
An ATHENIAN STRANGER;
CLEINIAS, a Cretan;
MEGILLUS, a Lacedaemonian
[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.
[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 erection
of houses shall be around these temples, where the ground is
highest, in order to provide the safest and most defensible place
of retreat for the guards. All the rest of the country they shall
settle in the following manner:-They shall make thirteen
divisions of the craftsmen; one of them 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.
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