Laws
the day when the trial for false witness takes place. If a man be twice
convicted of false witness, he shall not be required, and if thrice, he
shall not be allowed to bear witness; and if he dare to witness after he
has been convicted three times, let any one who pleases inform against
him to the magistrates, and let the magistrates hand him over to the
court, and if he be convicted he shall be punished with death. And in
any case in which the evidence is rightly found to be false, and yet to
have given the victory to him who wins the suit, and more than half the
witnesses are condemned, the decision which was gained by these means
shall be rescinded, and there shall be a discussion and a decision as
to whether the suit was determined by that false evidence or not; and
in whichever way the decision may be given, the previous suit shall be
determined accordingly.
There are many noble things in human life, but to most of them attach
evils which are fated to corrupt and spoil them. Is not justice noble,
which has been the civiliser of humanity? How then can the advocate
of justice be other than noble? And yet upon this profession which is
presented to us under the fair name of art has come an evil reputation.
In the first place, we are told that by ingenious pleas and the help
of an advocate the law enables a man to win a particular cause, whether
just or unjust; and that both the art, and the power of speech which is
thereby imparted, are at the service of him who is willing to pay for
them. Now in our state this so-called art, whether really an art or only
an experience and practice destitute of any art, ought if possible never
to come into existence, or if existing among us should listen to the
request of the legislator and go away into another land, and not speak
contrary to justice. If the offenders obey we say no more; but for those
who disobey, the voice of the law is as follows: If any one thinks that
he will pervert the power of justice in the minds of the judges, and
unseasonably litigate or advocate, let any one who likes indict him for
malpractices of law and dishonest advocacy, and let him be judged in the
court of select judges; and if he be convicted, let the court determine
whether he may be supposed to act from a love of money or from
contentiousness. And if he is supposed to act from contentiousness, the
court shall fix a time during which he shall not be allowed to institute
or plead a cause; and if he is supposed to act as he does from love of
money, in case he be a stranger, he shall leave the country, and never
return under penalty of death; but if he be a citizen, he shall die,
because he is a lover of money, in whatever manner gained; and equally,
if he be judged to have acted more than once from contentiousness, he
shall die.
BOOK XII.
If a herald or an ambassador carry a false message from our city to any
other, or bring back a false message from the city to which he is sent,
or be proved to have brought back, whether from friends or enemies, in
his capacity of herald or ambassador, what they have never said, let him
be indicted for having violated, contrary to the law, the commands and
duties imposed upon him by Hermes and Zeus, and let there be a penalty
fixed, which he shall suffer or pay if he be convicted.
Theft is a mean, and robbery a shameless thing; and none of the sons of
Zeus delight in fraud and violence, or ever practised either. Wherefore
let no one be deluded by poets or mythologers into a mistaken belief
of such things, nor let him suppose, when he thieves or is guilty
of violence, that he is doing nothing base, but only what the Gods
themselves do. For such tales are untrue and improbable; and he who
steals or robs contrary to the law, is never either a God or the son of
a God; of this the legislator ought to be better informed than all the
poets put together. Happy is he and may he be for ever happy, who is
persuaded and listens to our words; but he who disobeys shall have to
contend against the following law: If a man steal anything belonging
to the public, whether that which he steals be much or little, he shall
have the same punishment. For he who steals a little steals with the
same wish as he who steals much, but with less power, and he who
takes up a greater amount, not having deposited it, is wholly unjust.
Wherefore the law is not disposed to inflict a less penalty on the one
than on the other because his theft is less, but on the ground that the
thief may possibly be in one case still curable, and may in another case
be incurable. If any one convict in a court of law a stranger or a slave
of a theft of public property, let the court determine what punishment
he shall suffer, or what penalty he shall pay, bearing in mind that he
is probably not incurable. But the citizen who has been brought up
as our citizens will have been, if he be found guilty of robbing his
country by fraud or violence, whether he be caught in the act or not,
shall be punished with death; for he is incurable.
Now for expeditions of war much consideration and many laws are
required; the great principle of all is that no one of either sex should
be without a commander; nor should the mind of any one be accustomed to
do anything, either in jest or earnest, of his own motion, but in war
and in peace he should look to and follow his leader, even in the least
things being under his guidance; for example, he should stand or move,
or exercise, or wash, or take his meals, or get up in the night to keep
guard and deliver messages when he is bidden; and in the hour of danger
he should not pursue and not retreat except by order of his superior;
and in a word, not teach the soul or accustom her to know or understand
how to do anything apart from others. Of all soldiers the life should
be always and in all things as far as possible in common and together;
there neither is nor ever will be a higher, or better, or more
scientific principle than this for the attainment of salvation and
victory in war. And we ought in time of peace from youth upwards to
practise this habit of commanding others, and of being commanded by
others; anarchy should have no place in the life of man or of the beasts
who are subject to man. I may add that all dances ought to be performed
with a view to military excellence; and agility and ease should be
cultivated for the same object, and also endurance of the want of meats
and drinks, and of winter cold and summer heat, and of hard couches;
and, above all, care should be taken not to destroy the peculiar
qualities of the head and the feet by surrounding them with extraneous
coverings, and so hindering their natural growth of hair and soles. For
these are the extremities, and of all the parts of the body, whether
they are preserved or not is of the greatest consequence; the one is
the servant of the whole body, and the other the master, in whom all the
ruling senses are by nature set. Let the young men imagine that he hears
in what has preceded the praises of the military life; the law shall
be as follows: He shall serve in war who is on the roll or appointed
to some special service, and if any one is absent from cowardice, and
without the leave of the generals, he shall be indicted before the
military commanders for failure of service when the army comes home; and
the soldiers shall be his judges; the heavy-armed, and the cavalry, and
the other arms of the service shall form separate courts; and they shall
bring the heavy-armed before the heavy-armed, and the horsemen before
the horsemen, and the others in like manner before their peers; and he
who is found guilty shall never be allowed to compete for any prize of
valour, or indict another for not serving on an expedition, or be
an accuser at all in any military matters. Moreover, the court shall
further determine what punishment he shall suffer, or what penalty he
shall pay. When the suits for failure of service are completed, the
leaders of the several kinds of troops shall again hold an assembly, and
they shall adjudge the prizes of valour; and he who likes searching
for judgment in his own branch of the service, saying nothing about any
former expedition, nor producing any proof or witnesses to confirm
his statement, but speaking only of the present occasion. The crown of
victory shall be an olive wreath which the victor shall offer up at
the temple of any war-god whom he likes, adding an inscription for a
testimony to last during life, that such an one has received the first,
the second, or the third prize. If any one goes on an expedition, and
returns home before the appointed time, when the generals have not
withdrawn the army, he shall be indicted for desertion before the same
persons who took cognizance of failure of service, and if he be found
guilty, the same punishment shall be inflicted on him. Now every man
who is engaged in any suit ought to be very careful of bringing false
witness against any one, either intentionally or unintentionally, if
he can help; for justice is truly said to be an honourable maiden, and
falsehood is naturally repugnant to honour and justice. A witness ought
to be very careful not to sin against justice, as for example in what
relates to the throwing away of arms--he must distinguish the throwing
them away when necessary, and not make that a reproach, or bring
an action against some innocent person on that account. To make the
distinction may be difficult; but still the law must attempt to define
the different kinds in some way. Let me endeavour to explain my meaning
by an ancient tale: If Patroclus had been brought to the tent still
alive but without his arms (and this has happened to innumerable
persons), the original arms, which the poet says were presented to
Peleus by the Gods as a nuptial gift when he married Thetis, remaining
in the hands of Hector, then the base spirits of that day might have
reproached the son of Menoetius with having cast away his arms. Again,
there is the case of those who have been thrown down precipices and lost
their arms; and of those who at sea, and in stormy places, have been
suddenly overwhelmed by floods of water; and there are numberless things
of this kind which one might adduce by way of extenuation, and with the
view of justifying a misfortune which is easily misrepresented. We must,
therefore, endeavour to divide to the best of our power the greater and
more serious evil from the lesser. And a distinction may be drawn in the
use of terms of reproach. A man does not always deserve to be called the
thrower away of his shield; he may be only the loser of his arms.
For there is a great or rather absolute difference between him who is
deprived of his arms by a sufficient force, and him who voluntarily lets
his shield go. Let the law then be as follows: If a person having arms
is overtaken by the enemy and does not turn round and defend himself,
but lets them go voluntarily or throws them away, choosing a base
life and a swift escape rather than a courageous and noble and blessed
death--in such a case of the throwing away of arms let justice be done,
but the judge need take no note of the case just now mentioned; for
the bad men ought always to be punished, in the hope that he may be
improved, but not the unfortunate, for there is no advantage in that.
And what shall be the punishment suited to him who has thrown away his
weapons of defence? Tradition says that Caeneus, the Thessalian, was
changed by a God from a woman into a man; but the converse miracle
cannot now be wrought, or no punishment would be more proper than that
the man who throws away his shield should be changed into a woman. This
however is impossible, and therefore let us make a law as nearly like
this as we can--that he who loves his life too well shall be in no