Laws
Any man may also carry off a freedman, if he do not pay respect or
sufficient respect to him who freed him. Now the respect shall be, that
the freedman go three times in the month to the hearth of the person who
freed him, and offer to do whatever he ought, so far as he can; and he
shall agree to make such a marriage as his former master approves.
He shall not be permitted to have more property than he who gave him
liberty, and what more he has shall belong to his master. The freedman
shall not remain in the state more than twenty years, but like other
foreigners shall go away, taking his entire property with him, unless he
has the consent of the magistrates and of his former master to remain.
If a freedman or any other stranger has a property greater than the
census of the third class, at the expiration of thirty days from the day
on which this comes to pass, he shall take that which is his and go his
way, and in this case he shall not be allowed to remain any longer by
the magistrates. And if any one disobeys this regulation, and is brought
into court and convicted, he shall be punished with death, and his
property shall be confiscated. Suits about these matters shall take
place before the tribes, unless the plaintiff and defendant have got rid
of the accusation either before their neighbours or before judges chosen
by them. If a man lay claim to any animal or anything else which he
declares to be his, let the possessor refer to the seller or to some
honest and trustworthy person, who has given, or in some legitimate way
made over the property to him; if he be a citizen or a metic, sojourning
in the city, within thirty days, or, if the property have been delivered
to him by a stranger, within five months, of which the middle month
shall include the summer solstice. When goods are exchanged by selling
and buying, a man shall deliver them, and receive the price of them, at
a fixed place in the agora, and have done with the matter; but he shall
not buy or sell anywhere else, nor give credit. And if in any other
manner or in any other place there be an exchange of one thing for
another, and the seller give credit to the man who buys from him, he
must do this on the understanding that the law gives no protection in
cases of things sold not in accordance with these regulations. Again,
as to contributions, any man who likes may go about collecting
contributions as a friend among friends, but if any difference arises
about the collection, he is to act on the understanding that the law
gives no protection in such cases. He who sells anything above the value
of fifty drachmas shall be required to remain in the city for ten days,
and the purchaser shall be informed of the house of the seller, with a
view to the sort of charges which are apt to arise in such cases, and
the restitutions which the law allows. And let legal restitution be on
this wise: If a man sells a slave who is in a consumption, or who has
the disease of the stone, or of strangury, or epilepsy, or some other
tedious and incurable disorder of body or mind, which is not discernible
to the ordinary man, if the purchaser be a physician or trainer, he
shall have no right of restitution; nor shall there be any right of
restitution if the seller has told the truth beforehand to the buyer.
But if a skilled person sells to another who is not skilled, let the
buyer appeal for restitution within six months, except in the case of
epilepsy, and then the appeal may be made within a year. The cause shall
be determined by such physicians as the parties may agree to choose; and
the defendant, if he lose the suit, shall pay double the price at which
he sold. If a private person sell to another private person, he shall
have the right of restitution, and the decision shall be given as
before, but the defendant, if he be cast, shall only pay back the price
of the slave. If a person sells a homicide to another, and they both
know of the fact, let there be no restitution in such a case, but if he
do not know of the fact, there shall be a right of restitution, whenever
the buyer makes the discovery; and the decision shall rest with the five
youngest guardians of the law, and if the decision be that the seller
was cognisant of the fact, he shall purify the house of the purchaser,
according to the law of the interpreters, and shall pay back three times
the purchase-money.
If a man exchanges either money for money, or anything whatever for
anything else, either with or without life, let him give and receive
them genuine and unadulterated, in accordance with the law. And let us
have a prelude about all this sort of roguery, like the preludes of our
other laws. Every man should regard adulteration as of one and the same
class with falsehood and deceit, concerning which the many are too fond
of saying that at proper times and places the practice may often
be right. But they leave the occasion, and the when, and the where,
undefined and unsettled, and from this want of definiteness in their
language they do a great deal of harm to themselves and to others. Now
a legislator ought not to leave the matter undetermined; he ought to
prescribe some limit, either greater or less. Let this be the rule
prescribed: No one shall call the Gods to witness, when he says or does
anything false or deceitful or dishonest, unless he would be the most
hateful of mankind to them. And he is most hateful to them who takes a
false oath, and pays no heed to the Gods; and in the next degree, he who
tells a falsehood in the presence of his superiors. Now better men are
the superiors of worse men, and in general elders are the superiors of
the young; wherefore also parents are the superiors of their offspring,
and men of women and children, and rulers of their subjects; for all
men ought to reverence any one who is in any position of authority, and
especially those who are in state offices. And this is the reason why
I have spoken of these matters. For every one who is guilty of
adulteration in the agora tells a falsehood, and deceives, and when he
invokes the Gods, according to the customs and cautions of the wardens
of the agora, he does but swear without any respect for God or man.
Certainly, it is an excellent rule not lightly to defile the names of
the Gods, after the fashion of men in general, who care little about
piety and purity in their religious actions. But if a man will not
conform to this rule, let the law be as follows: He who sells anything
in the agora shall not ask two prices for that which he sells, but he
shall ask one price, and if he do not obtain this, he shall take away
his goods; and on that day he shall not value them either at more or
less; and there shall be no praising of any goods, or oath taken about
them. If a person disobeys this command, any citizen who is present, not
being less than thirty years of age, may with impunity chastise and beat
the swearer, but if instead of obeying the laws he takes no heed, he
shall be liable to the charge of having betrayed them. If a man sells
any adulterated goods and will not obey these regulations, he who
knows and can prove the fact, and does prove it in the presence of the
magistrates, if he be a slave or a metic, shall have the adulterated
goods; but if he be a citizen, and do not pursue the charge, he shall be
called a rogue, and deemed to have robbed the Gods of the agora; or if
he proves the charge, he shall dedicate the goods to the Gods of the
agora. He who is proved to have sold any adulterated goods, in addition
to losing the goods themselves, shall be beaten with stripes--a stripe
for a drachma, according to the price of the goods; and the herald shall
proclaim in the agora the offence for which he is going to be beaten.
The wardens of the agora and the guardians of the law shall obtain
information from experienced persons about the rogueries and
adulterations of the sellers, and shall write up what the seller ought
and ought not to do in each case; and let them inscribe their laws on a
column in front of the court of the wardens of the agora, that they may
be clear instructors of those who have business in the agora. Enough
has been said in what has preceded about the wardens of the city, and if
anything seems to be wanting, let them communicate with the guardians of
the law, and write down the omission, and place on a column in the court
of the wardens of the city the primary and secondary regulations which
are laid down for them about their office.
After the practices of adulteration naturally follow the practices of
retail trade. Concerning these, we will first of all give a word of
counsel and reason, and the law shall come afterwards. Retail trade in
a city is not by nature intended to do any harm, but quite the
contrary; for is not he a benefactor who reduces the inequalities and
incommensurabilities of goods to equality and common measure? And this
is what the power of money accomplishes, and the merchant may be said to
be appointed for this purpose. The hireling and the tavern-keeper, and
many other occupations, some of them more and others less seemly--all
alike have this object--they seek to satisfy our needs and equalize our
possessions. Let us then endeavour to see what has brought retail trade
into ill-odour, and wherein lies the dishonour and unseemliness of it,
in order that if not entirely, we may yet partially, cure the evil by
legislation. To effect this is no easy matter, and requires a great deal
of virtue.
CLEINIAS: What do you mean?
ATHENIAN: Dear Cleinias, the class of men is small--they must have been
rarely gifted by nature, and trained by education--who, when assailed by
wants and desires, are able to hold out and observe moderation, and when
they might make a great deal of money are sober in their wishes, and
prefer a moderate to a large gain. But the mass of mankind are the
very opposite: their desires are unbounded, and when they might gain in
moderation they prefer gains without limit; wherefore all that relates
to retail trade, and merchandise, and the keeping of taverns, is
denounced and numbered among dishonourable things. For if what I trust
may never be and will not be, we were to compel, if I may venture to say
a ridiculous thing, the best men everywhere to keep taverns for a
time, or carry on retail trade, or do anything of that sort; or if, in
consequence of some fate or necessity, the best women were compelled to
follow similar callings, then we should know how agreeable and pleasant
all these things are; and if all such occupations were managed on
incorrupt principles, they would be honoured as we honour a mother or a
nurse. But now that a man goes to desert places and builds houses which
can only be reached by long journeys, for the sake of retail trade, and
receives strangers who are in need at the welcome resting-place, and
gives them peace and calm when they are tossed by the storm, or cool
shade in the heat; and then instead of behaving to them as friends, and
showing the duties of hospitality to his guests, treats them as enemies
and captives who are at his mercy, and will not release them until they
have paid the most unjust, abominable, and extortionate ransom--these
are the sort of practises, and foul evils they are, which cast a
reproach upon the succour of adversity. And the legislator ought always
to be devising a remedy for evils of this nature. There is an ancient
saying, which is also a true one--'To fight against two opponents is a
difficult thing,' as is seen in diseases and in many other cases. And in
this case also the war is against two enemies--wealth and poverty; one
of whom corrupts the soul of man with luxury, while the other drives him
by pain into utter shamelessness. What remedy can a city of sense find