Laws
if a guardian appears to the relations of the orphan, or to any other
citizen, to act negligently or dishonestly, let them bring him before
the same court, and whatever damages are given against him, let him pay
fourfold, and let half belong to the orphan and half to him who procured
the conviction. If any orphan arrives at years of discretion, and thinks
that he has been ill-used by his guardians, let him within five years
of the expiration of the guardianship be allowed to bring them to trial;
and if any of them be convicted, the court shall determine what he shall
pay or suffer. And if a magistrate shall appear to have wronged the
orphan by neglect, and he be convicted, let the court determine what
he shall suffer or pay to the orphan, and if there be dishonesty in
addition to neglect, besides paying the fine, let him be deposed from
his office of guardian of the law, and let the state appoint another
guardian of the law for the city and for the country in his room.
Greater differences than there ought to be sometimes arise between
fathers and sons, on the part either of fathers who will be of opinion
that the legislator should enact that they may, if they wish, lawfully
renounce their son by the proclamation of a herald in the face of the
world, or of sons who think that they should be allowed to indict their
fathers on the charge of imbecility when they are disabled by disease
or old age. These things only happen, as a matter of fact, where the
natures of men are utterly bad; for where only half is bad, as, for
example, if the father be not bad, but the son be bad, or conversely,
no great calamity is the result of such an amount of hatred as this. In
another state, a son disowned by his father would not of necessity cease
to be a citizen, but in our state, of which these are to be the laws,
the disinherited must necessarily emigrate into another country, for
no addition can be made even of a single family to the 5040 households;
and, therefore, he who deserves to suffer these things must be renounced
not only by his father, who is a single person, but by the whole family,
and what is done in these cases must be regulated by some such law as
the following: He who in the sad disorder of his soul has a mind, justly
or unjustly, to expel from his family a son whom he has begotten and
brought up, shall not lightly or at once execute his purpose; but first
of all he shall collect together his own kinsmen, extending to cousins,
and in like manner his son's kinsmen by the mother's side, and in their
presence he shall accuse his son, setting forth that he deserves at the
hands of them all to be dismissed from the family; and the son shall be
allowed to address them in a similar manner, and show that he does not
deserve to suffer any of these things. And if the father persuades them,
and obtains the suffrages of more than half of his kindred, exclusive
of the father and mother and the offender himself--I say, if he obtains
more than half the suffrages of all the other grown-up members of the
family, of both sexes, the father shall be permitted to put away his
son, but not otherwise. And if any other citizen is willing to adopt
the son who is put away, no law shall hinder him; for the characters of
young men are subject to many changes in the course of their lives. And
if he has been put away, and in a period of ten years no one is
willing to adopt him, let those who have the care of the superabundant
population which is sent out into colonies, see to him, in order that
he may be suitably provided for in the colony. And if disease or age or
harshness of temper, or all these together, makes a man to be more out
of his mind than the rest of the world are--but this is not observable,
except to those who live with him--and he, being master of his property,
is the ruin of the house, and his son doubts and hesitates about
indicting his father for insanity, let the law in that case ordain that
he shall first of all go to the eldest guardians of the law and tell
them of his father's misfortune, and they shall duly look into the
matter, and take counsel as to whether he shall indict him or not. And
if they advise him to proceed, they shall be both his witnesses and his
advocates; and if the father is cast, he shall henceforth be incapable
of ordering the least particular of his life; let him be as a child
dwelling in the house for the remainder of his days. And if a man and
his wife have an unfortunate incompatibility of temper, ten of the
guardians of the law, who are impartial, and ten of the women who
regulate marriages, shall look to the matter, and if they are able to
reconcile them they shall be formally reconciled; but if their souls
are too much tossed with passion, they shall endeavour to find other
partners. Now they are not likely to have very gentle tempers; and,
therefore, we must endeavour to associate with them deeper and softer
natures. Those who have no children, or only a few, at the time of
their separation, should choose their new partners with a view to the
procreation of children; but those who have a sufficient number of
children should separate and marry again in order that they may have
some one to grow old with and that the pair may take care of one another
in age. If a woman dies, leaving children, male or female, the law will
advise rather than compel the husband to bring up the children without
introducing into the house a stepmother. But if he have no children,
then he shall be compelled to marry until he has begotten a sufficient
number of sons to his family and to the state. And if a man dies leaving
a sufficient number of children, the mother of his children shall remain
with them and bring them up. But if she appears to be too young to live
virtuously without a husband, let her relations communicate with the
women who superintend marriage, and let both together do what they think
best in these matters; if there is a lack of children, let the choice be
made with a view to having them; two children, one of either sex, shall
be deemed sufficient in the eye of the law. When a child is admitted
to be the offspring of certain parents and is acknowledged by them,
but there is need of a decision as to which parent the child is to
follow--in case a female slave have intercourse with a male slave, or
with a freeman or freedman, the offspring shall always belong to the
master of the female slave. Again, if a free woman have intercourse with
a male slave, the offspring shall belong to the master of the slave; but
if a child be born either of a slave by her master, or of his mistress
by a slave--and this be proven--the offspring of the woman and its
father shall be sent away by the women who superintend marriage into
another country, and the guardians of the law shall send away the
offspring of the man and its mother.
Neither God, nor a man who has understanding, will ever advise any
one to neglect his parents. To a discourse concerning the honour and
dishonour of parents, a prelude such as the following, about the service
of the Gods, will be a suitable introduction: There are ancient customs
about the Gods which are universal, and they are of two kinds: some of
the Gods we see with our eyes and we honour them, of others we honour
the images, raising statues of them which we adore; and though they
are lifeless, yet we imagine that the living Gods have a good will and
gratitude to us on this account. Now, if a man has a father or mother,
or their fathers or mothers treasured up in his house stricken in years,
let him consider that no statue can be more potent to grant his requests
than they are, who are sitting at his hearth, if only he knows how to
show true service to them.
CLEINIAS: And what do you call the true mode of service?
ATHENIAN: I will tell you, O my friend, for such things are worth
listening to.
CLEINIAS: Proceed.
ATHENIAN: Oedipus, as tradition says, when dishonoured by his sons,
invoked on them curses which every one declares to have been heard and
ratified by the Gods, and Amyntor in his wrath invoked curses on his son
Phoenix, and Theseus upon Hippolytus, and innumerable others have also
called down wrath upon their children, whence it is clear that the Gods
listen to the imprecations of parents; for the curses of parents are,
as they ought to be, mighty against their children as no others are. And
shall we suppose that the prayers of a father or mother who is specially
dishonoured by his or her children, are heard by the Gods in accordance
with nature; and that if a parent is honoured by them, and in the
gladness of his heart earnestly entreats the Gods in his prayers to do
them good, he is not equally heard, and that they do not minister to his
request? If not, they would be very unjust ministers of good, and that
we affirm to be contrary to their nature.
CLEINIAS: Certainly.
ATHENIAN: May we not think, as I was saying just now, that we can
possess no image which is more honoured by the Gods, than that of a
father or grandfather, or of a mother stricken in years? whom when a man
honours, the heart of the God rejoices, and he is ready to answer their
prayers. And, truly, the figure of an ancestor is a wonderful thing,
far higher than that of a lifeless image. For the living, when they are
honoured by us, join in our prayers, and when they are dishonoured,
they utter imprecations against us; but lifeless objects do neither. And
therefore, if a man makes a right use of his father and grandfather and
other aged relations, he will have images which above all others will
win him the favour of the Gods.
CLEINIAS: Excellent.
ATHENIAN: Every man of any understanding fears and respects the prayers
of parents, knowing well that many times and to many persons they have
been accomplished. Now these things being thus ordered by nature, good
men think it a blessing from heaven if their parents live to old age and
reach the utmost limit of human life, or if taken away before their time
they are deeply regretted by them; but to bad men parents are always
a cause of terror. Wherefore let every man honour with every sort of
lawful honour his own parents, agreeably to what has now been said. But
if this prelude be an unmeaning sound in the ears of any one, let the
law follow, which may be rightly imposed in these terms: If any one in
this city be not sufficiently careful of his parents, and do not regard
and gratify in every respect their wishes more than those of his sons
and of his other offspring or of himself--let him who experiences this
sort of treatment either come himself, or send some one to inform the
three eldest guardians of the law, and three of the women who have the
care of marriages; and let them look to the matter and punish youthful
evil-doers with stripes and bonds if they are under thirty years of age,
that is to say, if they be men, or if they be women, let them undergo
the same punishment up to forty years of age. But if, when they are
still more advanced in years, they continue the same neglect of their
parents, and do any hurt to any of them, let them be brought before
a court in which every single one of the eldest citizens shall be the
judges, and if the offender be convicted, let the court determine what
he ought to pay or suffer, and any penalty may be imposed on him which
a man can pay or suffer. If the person who has been wronged be unable
to inform the magistrates, let any freeman who hears of his case inform,
and if he do not, he shall be deemed base, and shall be liable to have a
suit for damage brought against him by any one who likes. And if a slave
inform, he shall receive freedom; and if he be the slave of the injurer
or injured party, he shall be set free by the magistrates, or if he