Laws
the neighbourhood of the agora for the safe-keeping of the generality
of offenders; another is to be in the neighbourhood of the nocturnal
council, and is to be called the 'House of Reformation'; another, to be
situated in some wild and desolate region in the centre of the country,
shall be called by some name expressive of retribution. Now, men fall
into impiety from three causes, which have been already mentioned, and
from each of these causes arise two sorts of impiety, in all six, which
are worth distinguishing, and should not all have the same punishment.
For he who does not believe in the Gods, and yet has a righteous nature,
hates the wicked and dislikes and refuses to do injustice, and avoids
unrighteous men, and loves the righteous. But they who besides believing
that the world is devoid of Gods are intemperate, and have at the same
time good memories and quick wits, are worse; although both of them are
unbelievers, much less injury is done by the one than by the other. The
one may talk loosely about the Gods and about sacrifices and oaths, and
perhaps by laughing at other men he may make them like himself, if he be
not punished. But the other who holds the same opinions and is called a
clever man, is full of stratagem and deceit--men of this class deal in
prophecy and jugglery of all kinds, and out of their ranks sometimes
come tyrants and demagogues and generals and hierophants of private
mysteries and the Sophists, as they are termed, with their ingenious
devices. There are many kinds of unbelievers, but two only for whom
legislation is required; one the hypocritical sort, whose crime is
deserving of death many times over, while the other needs only bonds and
admonition. In like manner also the notion that the Gods take no thought
of men produces two other sorts of crimes, and the notion that they may
be propitiated produces two more. Assuming these divisions, let those
who have been made what they are only from want of understanding, and
not from malice or an evil nature, be placed by the judge in the House
of Reformation, and ordered to suffer imprisonment during a period
of not less than five years. And in the meantime let them have no
intercourse with the other citizens, except with members of the
nocturnal council, and with them let them converse with a view to
the improvement of their soul's health. And when the time of their
imprisonment has expired, if any of them be of sound mind let him be
restored to sane company, but if not, and if he be condemned a second
time, let him be punished with death. As to that class of monstrous
natures who not only believe that there are no Gods, or that they are
negligent, or to be propitiated, but in contempt of mankind conjure the
souls of the living and say that they can conjure the dead and promise
to charm the Gods with sacrifices and prayers, and will utterly
overthrow individuals and whole houses and states for the sake of
money--let him who is guilty of any of these things be condemned by the
court to be bound according to law in the prison which is in the centre
of the land, and let no freeman ever approach him, but let him receive
the rations of food appointed by the guardians of the law from the hands
of the public slaves; and when he is dead let him be cast beyond the
borders unburied, and if any freeman assist in burying him, let him pay
the penalty of impiety to any one who is willing to bring a suit against
him. But if he leaves behind him children who are fit to be citizens,
let the guardians of orphans take care of them, just as they would of
any other orphans, from the day on which their father is convicted.
In all these cases there should be one law, which will make men in
general less liable to transgress in word or deed, and less foolish,
because they will not be allowed to practise religious rites contrary
to law. And let this be the simple form of the law: No man shall have
sacred rites in a private house. When he would sacrifice, let him go to
the temples and hand over his offerings to the priests and priestesses,
who see to the sanctity of such things, and let him pray himself, and
let any one who pleases join with him in prayer. The reason of this is
as follows: Gods and temples are not easily instituted, and to establish
them rightly is the work of a mighty intellect. And women especially,
and men too, when they are sick or in danger, or in any sort of
difficulty, or again on their receiving any good fortune, have a way of
consecrating the occasion, vowing sacrifices, and promising shrines to
Gods, demigods, and sons of Gods; and when they are awakened by terrible
apparitions and dreams or remember visions, they find in altars and
temples the remedies of them, and will fill every house and village with
them, placing them in the open air, or wherever they may have had such
visions; and with a view to all these cases we should obey the law. The
law has also regard to the impious, and would not have them fancy that
by the secret performance of these actions--by raising temples and by
building altars in private houses, they can propitiate the God secretly
with sacrifices and prayers, while they are really multiplying their
crimes infinitely, bringing guilt from heaven upon themselves, and also
upon those who permit them, and who are better men than they are;
and the consequence is that the whole state reaps the fruit of their
impiety, which, in a certain sense, is deserved. Assuredly God will not
blame the legislator, who will enact the following law: No one shall
possess shrines of the Gods in private houses, and he who is found
to possess them, and perform any sacred rites not publicly
authorised--supposing the offender to be some man or woman who is not
guilty of any other great and impious crime--shall be informed against
by him who is acquainted with the fact, which shall be announced by him
to the guardians of the law; and let them issue orders that he or she
shall carry away their private rites to the public temples, and if they
do not persuade them, let them inflict a penalty on them until they
comply. And if a person be proven guilty of impiety, not merely from
childish levity, but such as grown-up men may be guilty of, whether he
have sacrificed publicly or privately to any Gods, let him be punished
with death, for his sacrifice is impure. Whether the deed has been done
in earnest, or only from childish levity, let the guardians of the law
determine, before they bring the matter into court and prosecute the
offender for impiety.
BOOK XI.
In the next place, dealings between man and man require to be suitably
regulated. The principle of them is very simple: Thou shalt not, if thou
canst help, touch that which is mine, or remove the least thing which
belongs to me without my consent; and may I be of a sound mind, and do
to others as I would that they should do to me. First, let us speak of
treasure-trove: May I never pray the Gods to find the hidden treasure,
which another has laid up for himself and his family, he not being one
of my ancestors, nor lift, if I should find, such a treasure. And may I
never have any dealings with those who are called diviners, and who in
any way or manner counsel me to take up the deposit entrusted to the
earth, for I should not gain so much in the increase of my possessions,
if I take up the prize, as I should grow in justice and virtue of soul,
if I abstain; and this will be a better possession to me than the other
in a better part of myself; for the possession of justice in the soul
is preferable to the possession of wealth. And of many things it is
well said--'Move not the immovables,' and this may be regarded as one of
them. And we shall do well to believe the common tradition which says,
that such deeds prevent a man from having a family. Now as to him who is
careless about having children and regardless of the legislator, taking
up that which neither he deposited, nor any ancestor of his, without
the consent of the depositor, violating the simplest and noblest of laws
which was the enactment of no mean man: 'Take not up that which was not
laid down by thee'--of him, I say, who despises these two legislators,
and takes up, not some small matter which he has not deposited, but
perhaps a great heap of treasure, what he ought to suffer at the hands
of the Gods, God only knows; but I would have the first person who sees
him go and tell the wardens of the city, if the occurrence has taken
place in the city, or if the occurrence has taken place in the agora he
shall tell the wardens of the agora, or if in the country he shall tell
the wardens of the country and their commanders. When information has
been received the city shall send to Delphi, and, whatever the God
answers about the money and the remover of the money, that the city
shall do in obedience to the oracle; the informer, if he be a freeman,
shall have the honour of doing rightly, and he who informs not, the
dishonour of doing wrongly; and if he be a slave who gives information,
let him be freed, as he ought to be, by the state, which shall give his
master the price of him; but if he do not inform he shall be punished
with death. Next in order shall follow a similar law, which shall apply
equally to matters great and small: If a man happens to leave behind him
some part of his property, whether intentionally or unintentionally, let
him who may come upon the left property suffer it to remain, reflecting
that such things are under the protection of the Goddess of ways, and
are dedicated to her by the law. But if any one defies the law, and
takes the property home with him, let him, if the thing is of little
worth, and the man who takes it a slave, be beaten with many stripes by
him who meets him, being a person of not less than thirty years of age.
Or if he be a freeman, in addition to being thought a mean person and
a despiser of the laws, let him pay ten times the value of the treasure
which he has moved to the leaver. And if some one accuses another of
having anything which belongs to him, whether little or much, and the
other admits that he has this thing, but denies that the property in
dispute belongs to the other, if the property be registered with the
magistrates according to law, the claimant shall summon the possessor,
who shall bring it before the magistrates; and when it is brought into
court, if it be registered in the public registers, to which of the
litigants it belonged, let him take it and go his way. Or if the
property be registered as belonging to some one who is not present,
whoever will offer sufficient surety on behalf of the absent person that
he will give it up to him, shall take it away as the representative of
the other. But if the property which is deposited be not registered with
the magistrates, let it remain until the time of trial with three of the
eldest of the magistrates; and if it be an animal which is deposited,
then he who loses the suit shall pay the magistrates for its keep, and
they shall determine the cause within three days.
Any one who is of sound mind may arrest his own slave, and do with him
whatever he will of such things as are lawful; and he may arrest the
runaway slave of any of his friends or kindred with a view to his
safe-keeping. And if any one takes away him who is being carried off as
a slave, intending to liberate him, he who is carrying him off shall let
him go; but he who takes him away shall give three sufficient sureties;
and if he give them, and not without giving them, he may take him away,
but if he take him away after any other manner he shall be deemed guilty
of violence, and being convicted shall pay as a penalty double the
amount of the damages claimed to him who has been deprived of the slave.