Laws
clothes, pottery, for the weaving and plastic arts do not require the
use of metals. In those days they were neither poor nor rich, and
there was no insolence or injustice among them; for they were of noble
natures, and lived up to their principles, and believed what they were
told; knowing nothing of land or naval warfare, or of legal practices
or party conflicts, they were simpler and more temperate, and also more
just than the men of our day. 'Very true.' I am showing whence the need
of lawgivers arises, for in primitive ages they neither had nor wanted
them. Men lived according to the customs of their fathers, in a simple
manner, under a patriarchal government, such as still exists both among
Hellenes and barbarians, and is described in Homer as prevailing among
the Cyclopes:--
'They have no laws, and they dwell in rocks or on the tops of mountains,
and every one is the judge of his wife and children, and they do not
trouble themselves about one another.'
'That is a charming poet of yours, though I know little of him, for in
Crete foreign poets are not much read.' 'But he is well known in Sparta,
though he describes Ionian rather than Dorian manners, and he seems to
take your view of primitive society.' May we not suppose that government
arose out of the union of single families who survived the destruction,
and were under the rule of patriarchs, because they had originally
descended from a single father and mother? 'That is very probable.' As
time went on, men increased in number, and tilled the ground, living in
a common habitation, which they protected by walls against wild beasts;
but the several families retained the laws and customs which they
separately received from their first parents. They would naturally like
their own laws better than any others, and would be already formed by
them when they met in a common society: thus legislation imperceptibly
began among them. For in the next stage the associated families would
appoint plenipotentiaries, who would select and present to the chiefs
those of all their laws which they thought best. The chiefs in turn
would make a further selection, and would thus become the lawgivers
of the state, which they would form into an aristocracy or a monarchy.
'Probably.' In the third stage various other forms of government would
arise. This state of society is described by Homer in speaking of the
foundation of Dardania, which, he says,
'was built at the foot of many-fountained Ida, for Ilium,
the city of the plain, as yet was not.'
Here, as also in the account of the Cyclopes, the poet by some divine
inspiration has attained truth. But to proceed with our tale. Ilium was
built in a wide plain, on a low hill, which was surrounded by streams
descending from Ida. This shows that many ages must have passed; for the
men who remembered the deluge would never have placed their city at the
mercy of the waters. When mankind began to multiply, many other cities
were built in similar situations. These cities carried on a ten years'
war against Troy, by sea as well as land, for men were ceasing to be
afraid of the sea, and, in the meantime, while the chiefs of the army
were at Troy, their homes fell into confusion. The youth revolted and
refused to receive their own fathers; deaths, murders, exiles ensued.
Under the new name of Dorians, which they received from their chief
Dorieus, the exiles returned: the rest of the story is part of the
history of Sparta.
Thus, after digressing from the subject of laws into music and drinking,
we return to the settlement of Sparta, which in laws and institutions is
the sister of Crete. We have seen the rise of a first, second, and third
state, during the lapse of ages; and now we arrive at a fourth state,
and out of the comparison of all four we propose to gather the nature
of laws and governments, and the changes which may be desirable in them.
'If,' replies the Spartan, 'our new discussion is likely to be as
good as the last, I would think the longest day too short for such an
employment.'
Let us imagine the time when Lacedaemon, and Argos, and Messene were all
subject, Megillus, to your ancestors. Afterwards, they distributed
the army into three portions, and made three cities--Argos, Messene,
Lacedaemon. 'Yes.' Temenus was the king of Argos, Cresphontes of
Messene, Procles and Eurysthenes ruled at Lacedaemon. 'Just so.' And
they all swore to assist any one of their number whose kingdom was
subverted. 'Yes.' But did we not say that kingdoms or governments can
only be subverted by themselves? 'That is true.' Yes, and the truth is
now proved by facts: there were certain conditions upon which the three
kingdoms were to assist one another; the government was to be mild and
the people obedient, and the kings and people were to unite in assisting
either of the two others when they were wronged. This latter condition
was a great security. 'Clearly.' Such a provision is in opposition to
the common notion that the lawgiver should make only such laws as the
people like; but we say that he should rather be like a physician,
prepared to effect a cure even at the cost of considerable suffering.
'Very true.' The early lawgivers had another great advantage--they
were saved from the reproach which attends a division of land and the
abolition of debts. No one could quarrel with the Dorians for dividing
the territory, and they had no debts of long standing. 'They had not.'
Then what was the reason why their legislation signally failed? For
there were three kingdoms, two of them quickly lost their original
constitution. That is a question which we cannot refuse to answer, if
we mean to proceed with our old man's game of enquiring into laws
and institutions. And the Dorian institutions are more worthy of
consideration than any other, having been evidently intended to be a
protection not only to the Peloponnese, but to all the Hellenes against
the Barbarians. For the capture of Troy by the Achaeans had given great
offence to the Assyrians, of whose empire it then formed part, and
they were likely to retaliate. Accordingly the royal Heraclid brothers
devised their military constitution, which was organised on a far better
plan than the old Trojan expedition; and the Dorians themselves were far
superior to the Achaeans, who had taken part in that expedition, and had
been conquered by them. Such a scheme, undertaken by men who had shared
with one another toils and dangers, sanctioned by the Delphian oracle,
under the guidance of the Heraclidae, seemed to have a promise of
permanence. 'Naturally.' Yet this has not proved to be the case. Instead
of the three being one, they have always been at war; had they been
united, in accordance with the original intention, they would have been
invincible.
And what caused their ruin? Did you ever observe that there are
beautiful things of which men often say, 'What wonders they would have
effected if rightly used?' and yet, after all, this may be a mistake.
And so I say of the Heraclidae and their expedition, which I may perhaps
have been justified in admiring, but which nevertheless suggests to me
the general reflection,--'What wonders might not strength and military
resources have accomplished, if the possessor had only known how to use
them!' For consider: if the generals of the army had only known how
to arrange their forces, might they not have given their subjects
everlasting freedom, and the power of doing what they would in all the
world? 'Very true.' Suppose a person to express his admiration of wealth
or rank, does he not do so under the idea that by the help of these
he can attain his desires? All men wish to obtain the control of all
things, and they are always praying for what they desire. 'Certainly.'
And we ask for our friends what they ask for themselves. 'Yes.' Dear is
the son to the father, and yet the son, if he is young and foolish, will
often pray to obtain what the father will pray that he may not obtain.
'True.' And when the father, in the heat of youth or the dotage of age,
makes some rash prayer, the son, like Hippolytus, may have reason to
pray that the word of his father may be ineffectual. 'You mean that a
man should pray to have right desires, before he prays that his desires
may be fulfilled; and that wisdom should be the first object of our
prayers?' Yes; and you will remember my saying that wisdom should be the
principal aim of the legislator; but you said that defence in war
came first. And I replied, that there were four virtues, whereas you
acknowledged one only--courage, and not wisdom which is the guide of all
the rest. And I repeat--in jest if you like, but I am willing that you
should receive my words in earnest--that 'the prayer of a fool is full
of danger.' I will prove to you, if you will allow me, that the ruin
of those states was not caused by cowardice or ignorance in war, but
by ignorance of human affairs. 'Pray proceed: our attention will show
better than compliments that we prize your words.' I maintain that
ignorance is, and always has been, the ruin of states; wherefore the
legislator should seek to banish it from the state; and the greatest
ignorance is the love of what is known to be evil, and the hatred of
what is known to be good; this is the last and greatest conflict of
pleasure and reason in the soul. I say the greatest, because affecting
the greater part of the soul; for the passions are in the individual
what the people are in a state. And when they become opposed to reason
or law, and instruction no longer avails--that is the last and greatest
ignorance of states and men. 'I agree.' Let this, then, be our first
principle:--That the citizen who does not know how to choose between
good and evil must not have authority, although he possess great mental
gifts, and many accomplishments; for he is really a fool. On the other
hand, he who has this knowledge may be unable either to read or swim;
nevertheless, he shall be counted wise and permitted to rule. For how
can there be wisdom where there is no harmony?--the wise man is the
saviour, and he who is devoid of wisdom is the destroyer of states and
households. There are rulers and there are subjects in states. And the
first claim to rule is that of parents to rule over their children; the
second, that of the noble to rule over the ignoble; thirdly, the elder
must govern the younger; in the fourth place, the slave must obey his
master; fifthly, there is the power of the stronger, which the poet
Pindar declares to be according to nature; sixthly, there is the rule of
the wiser, which is also according to nature, as I must inform Pindar,
if he does not know, and is the rule of law over obedient subjects.
'Most true.' And there is a seventh kind of rule which the Gods
love,--in this the ruler is elected by lot.
Then, now, we playfully say to him who fancies that it is easy to
make laws:--You see, legislator, the many and inconsistent claims to
authority; here is a spring of troubles which you must stay. And first
of all you must help us to consider how the kings of Argos and Messene
in olden days destroyed their famous empire--did they forget the saying
of Hesiod, that 'the half is better than the whole'? And do we suppose
that the ignorance of this truth is less fatal to kings than to peoples?
'Probably the evil is increased by their way of life.' The kings of
those days transgressed the laws and violated their oaths. Their deeds
were not in harmony with their words, and their folly, which seemed to
them wisdom, was the ruin of the state. And how could the legislator
have prevented this evil?--the remedy is easy to see now, but was not
easy to foresee at the time. 'What is the remedy?' The institutions of
Sparta may teach you, Megillus. Wherever there is excess, whether the