Laws
stripes, imprisonment, or death. But as regards attendance at choruses
or processions or other shows, and as regards public services, whether
the celebration of sacrifice in peace, or the payment of contributions
in war--in all these cases, first comes the necessity of providing a
remedy for the loss; and by those who will not obey, there shall be
security given to the officers whom the city and the law empower to
exact the sum due; and if they forfeit their security, let the goods
which they have pledged be sold and the money given to the city; but
if they ought to pay a larger sum, the several magistrates shall impose
upon the disobedient a suitable penalty, and bring them before the
court, until they are willing to do what they are ordered.
Now a state which makes money from the cultivation of the soil only, and
has no foreign trade, must consider what it will do about the emigration
of its own people to other countries, and the reception of strangers
from elsewhere. About these matters the legislator has to consider,
and he will begin by trying to persuade men as far as he can. The
intercourse of cities with one another is apt to create a confusion of
manners; strangers are always suggesting novelties to strangers. When
states are well governed by good laws the mixture causes the greatest
possible injury; but seeing that most cities are the reverse of
well-ordered, the confusion which arises in them from the reception
of strangers, and from the citizens themselves rushing off into other
cities, when any one either young or old desires to travel anywhere
abroad at whatever time, is of no consequence. On the other hand, the
refusal of states to receive others, and for their own citizens never
to go to other places, is an utter impossibility, and to the rest of
the world is likely to appear ruthless and uncivilised; it is a practice
adopted by people who use harsh words, such as xenelasia or banishment
of strangers, and who have harsh and morose ways, as men think. And to
be thought or not to be thought well of by the rest of the world is no
light matter; for the many are not so far wrong in their judgment of who
are bad and who are good, as they are removed from the nature of
virtue in themselves. Even bad men have a divine instinct which guesses
rightly, and very many who are utterly depraved form correct notions
and judgments of the differences between the good and bad. And the
generality of cities are quite right in exhorting us to value a
good reputation in the world, for there is no truth greater and more
important than this--that he who is really good (I am speaking of the
men who would be perfect) seeks for reputation with, but not without,
the reality of goodness. And our Cretan colony ought also to acquire the
fairest and noblest reputation for virtue from other men; and there is
every reason to expect that, if the reality answers to the idea, she
will be one of the few well-ordered cities which the sun and the other
Gods behold. Wherefore, in the matter of journeys to other countries and
the reception of strangers, we enact as follows: In the first place, let
no one be allowed to go anywhere at all into a foreign country who is
less than forty years of age; and no one shall go in a private capacity,
but only in some public one, as a herald, or on an embassy, or on a
sacred mission. Going abroad on an expedition or in war is not to be
included among travels of the class authorised by the state. To Apollo
at Delphi and to Zeus at Olympia and to Nemea and to the Isthmus,
citizens should be sent to take part in the sacrifices and games there
dedicated to the Gods; and they should send as many as possible, and the
best and fairest that can be found, and they will make the city renowned
at holy meetings in time of peace, procuring a glory which shall be the
converse of that which is gained in war; and when they come home they
shall teach the young that the institutions of other states are inferior
to their own. And they shall send spectators of another sort, if they
have the consent of the guardians, being such citizens as desire to look
a little more at leisure at the doings of other men; and these no law
shall hinder. For a city which has no experience of good and bad men or
intercourse with them, can never be thoroughly and perfectly civilised,
nor, again, can the citizens of a city properly observe the laws by
habit only, and without an intelligent understanding of them. And there
always are in the world a few inspired men whose acquaintance is beyond
price, and who spring up quite as much in ill-ordered as in well-ordered
cities. These are they whom the citizens of a well-ordered city should
be ever seeking out, going forth over sea and over land to find him who
is incorruptible--that he may establish more firmly institutions in
his own state which are good already, and amend what is deficient; for
without this examination and enquiry a city will never continue perfect
any more than if the examination is ill-conducted.
CLEINIAS: How can we have an examination and also a good one?
ATHENIAN: In this way: In the first place, our spectator shall be of not
less than fifty years of age; he must be a man of reputation, especially
in war, if he is to exhibit to other cities a model of the guardians of
the law, but when he is more than sixty years of age he shall no longer
continue in his office of spectator. And when he has carried on his
inspection during as many out of the ten years of his office as he
pleases, on his return home let him go to the assembly of those who
review the laws. This shall be a mixed body of young and old men, who
shall be required to meet daily between the hour of dawn and the rising
of the sun. They shall consist, in the first place, of the priests
who have obtained the rewards of virtue; and, in the second place,
of guardians of the law, the ten eldest being chosen; the general
superintendent of education shall also be a member, as well as the last
appointed as those who have been released from the office; and each of
them shall take with him as his companion a young man, whomsoever he
chooses, between the ages of thirty and forty. These shall be always
holding conversation and discourse about the laws of their own city
or about any specially good ones which they may hear to be existing
elsewhere; also about kinds of knowledge which may appear to be of use
and will throw light upon the examination, or of which the want will
make the subject of laws dark and uncertain to them. Any knowledge of
this sort which the elders approve, the younger men shall learn with all
diligence; and if any one of those who have been invited appear to be
unworthy, the whole assembly shall blame him who invited him. The rest
of the city shall watch over those among the young men who distinguish
themselves, having an eye upon them, and especially honouring them if
they succeed, but dishonouring them above the rest if they turn out
to be inferior. This is the assembly to which he who has visited the
institutions of other men, on his return home shall straightway go,
and if he have discovered any one who has anything to say about the
enactment of laws or education or nurture, or if he have himself made
any observations, let him communicate his discoveries to the whole
assembly. And if he be seen to have come home neither better nor worse,
let him be praised at any rate for his enthusiasm; and if he be much
better, let him be praised so much the more; and not only while he lives
but after his death let the assembly honour him with fitting honours.
But if on his return home he appear to have been corrupted, pretending
to be wise when he is not, let him hold no communication with any one,
whether young or old; and if he will hearken to the rulers, then he
shall be permitted to live as a private individual; but if he will not,
let him die, if he be convicted in a court of law of interfering about
education and the laws. And if he deserve to be indicted, and none of
the magistrates indict him, let that be counted as a disgrace to them
when the rewards of virtue are decided.
Let such be the character of the person who goes abroad, and let him go
abroad under these conditions. In the next place, the stranger who comes
from abroad should be received in a friendly spirit. Now there are four
kinds of strangers, of whom we must make some mention--the first is he
who comes and stays throughout the summer; this class are like birds of
passage, taking wing in pursuit of commerce, and flying over the sea
to other cities, while the season lasts; he shall be received in
market-places and harbours and public buildings, near the city but
outside, by those magistrates who are appointed to superintend these
matters; and they shall take care that a stranger, whoever he be, duly
receives justice; but he shall not be allowed to make any innovation.
They shall hold the intercourse with him which is necessary, and this
shall be as little as possible. The second kind is just a spectator who
comes to see with his eyes and hear with his ears the festivals of the
Muses; such ought to have entertainment provided them at the temples by
hospitable persons, and the priests and ministers of the temples
should see and attend to them. But they should not remain more than a
reasonable time; let them see and hear that for the sake of which they
came, and then go away, neither having suffered nor done any harm. The
priests shall be their judges, if any of them receive or do any wrong up
to the sum of fifty drachmae, but if any greater charge be brought,
in such cases the suit shall come before the wardens of the agora. The
third kind of stranger is he who comes on some public business from
another land, and is to be received with public honours. He is to be
received only by the generals and commanders of horse and foot, and the
host by whom he is entertained, in conjunction with the Prytanes, shall
have the sole charge of what concerns him. There is a fourth class of
persons answering to our spectators, who come from another land to look
at ours. In the first place, such visits will be rare, and the visitor
should be at least fifty years of age; he may possibly be wanting to
see something that is rich and rare in other states, or himself to show
something in like manner to another city. Let such an one, then, go
unbidden to the doors of the wise and rich, being one of them himself:
let him go, for example, to the house of the superintendent of
education, confident that he is a fitting guest of such a host, or let
him go to the house of some of those who have gained the prize of virtue
and hold discourse with them, both learning from them, and also teaching
them; and when he has seen and heard all, he shall depart, as a friend
taking leave of friends, and be honoured by them with gifts and suitable
tributes of respect. These are the customs, according to which our
city should receive all strangers of either sex who come from other
countries, and should send forth her own citizens, showing respect to
Zeus, the God of hospitality, not forbidding strangers at meals and
sacrifices, as is the manner which prevails among the children of the
Nile, nor driving them away by savage proclamations.
When a man becomes surety, let him give the security in a distinct form,
acknowledging the whole transaction in a written document, and in the
presence of not less than three witnesses if the sum be under a thousand
drachmae, and of not less than five witnesses if the sum be above a
thousand drachmae. The agent of a dishonest or untrustworthy seller
shall himself be responsible; both the agent and the principal shall
be equally liable. If a person wishes to find anything in the house of